Re: hormone imbalance help!

 Thanks for all your support - I needed to hear some reassurance. I can't believe how an imbalance can make you feel so awful - I forgot to mention that I do yoga, eat 75-80% organic products, plenty of raw food and i'm attempting to minimise my exposure to further disruptors by buying organic beauty and cleaning products. i do have another query though....my periods were going along nicely until this last one, which was DIRE! Not in terms of flow but everything PMSY seems heightened - the acne, the sobbing and the rage. To top it all off I ovulated at day 9 which means I'll probably have about 6 days respite when I may feel better. Someone suggested to me that the vitex may be causing my luteal phase to lengthen and encouraged me to switch out for Oil of Evening Primrose instead. Any thoughts??

The PMS symptoms you are talking about is from a surge in progesterone, which is an androgen.  As I mentioned in my last post the body frequently overcompensates initially as it tries to balance its hormones.  Cleansing the liver, B vitamins, building the flora and eating plenty of vegetables will all help get the hormones back in balance.

As far as evening primrose oil (EPO) goes I am not a big fan of it.  One thing you have to watch for is that much of it is solvent (hexane) extracted. So if you do use it make sure that it was cold pressed and not hexane extracted. Even at that though EPO is unpredictable. Some women get great results from it, but with others it really aggravates their hormonal issues.