hormones

Hi P,

Another Torontonian! ...and Canadian....it scares me to think about what's in store for women, and gays, and just about everyone I care about under the new government...yikes!

Thanks for your question. I can certainly offer what I've been doing for the ever elusive hormones, but truthfully, I have recently been experiencing an imbalance again and have not yet isolated what seems to be causing it.

What I do know is that the female organs are very closely connected to the large intestine and so you should probably approach this by making sure that your colon is very clean. So, yes, bowel cleansing should come first. I have not had much luck with psyllium and bentonite. I have used Colosan (http://www.healthsprings.net/Colosan/colosan.htm)
but it seems to be only available on order from the US. There is a similar product made in Canada called Bioxy (http://www.greenalive.com/bioxy.html), but I have not found it to be quite as good. You can get Bioxy at Noah's Health Food Store.

I would suggest a series of enemas or colonics as well to make sure that the bowel is moving well. Here are some Toronto recommendations:
//www.curezone.org/forums/m.asp?f=333&i=4304

Once the bowel is moving well you can begin a series of liver flushes. I like Andreas Mortiz' protocol. He has a forum on this site. His protocol involves a little more preparation and also bowel cleansing than some of the others. I did a couple of flushes using Julia Chang's protocol (www.sensiblehealth.com) and got really sick because I released stuff but didn't pass it out. I think the Liver Flushes also help to balance hormones. The liver has an important role in hormone regulation. If the liver is taxed and not able to do its job properly, it will cause the hormones to be out of whack.

Diet is super important. For hormone considerations you should not eat meat or dairy, not eat or drink out of plastic containers, and certain food items are highly estrogenic....soy is a big one, carrots, chick peas and there are others too. Xenoestrogens leech from plastics into the food and the body does not quite know what to do with these synthetic structures. So, plastic wrap, styrofoam cups and even rubbermaid are out for me.

Julia Chang (www.sensiblehealth.com) does make excellent products, several of which are very effective for hormonal imbalance in women (FemMate, Chinese bitters and Coptis all work wonderfully). I am not familiar with Vitex. You would do well to read through her website carefully.

Uttara Vasti does not need to be supervised. It is a series of herbal douches practiced at home. It just requires a bit of a time committment. The idea is to align the cycle better with the moon, which is thought to be very healing and the natural state for women. I learned the technique from a friend who studied with Maya Tiwari at the Wise Earth School. I believe I did type out the instructions at one point and would be happy to locate it and post it here if you are interested.

Yoga asanas. Yes, there are several which are thought to be very helpful in regulating hormones. They are also the asanas which are good to practice in pregnancy, menstruation etc. Keeping in mind that a fuller yoga practice is most beneficial, here are the asanas I recommend, which all work on the 2nd chakra which is located mid-way between the navel and pubic bone, the sex centre:
http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/486_1.cfm
http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/472_1.cfm
http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/684_1.cfm
http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/663_1.cfm

And...back to me. I have been bowel cleansing for over 2 years now and I have completed 27 liver flushes. I recently did a trial of dairy kefir and am experiencing an Acne outbreak again. I attribute it to the dairy and to hormonal stuff. I did practice Uttara Vasti for a while and cannot say conclusively that it is the answer, but it definately helped and it feels wonderful! It helped me to truly feel comfortable in my female skin for probably the first time ever. Awesome! I have taken a break from Liver Flushing and also from uttara vasti, partly because I felt I'd done enough and partly just because I haven't had the time or space to be able to do them comfortably. But I am thinking that I would like to start doing a monthly Liver Flush again, and also some Uttara Vasti. I have come to the conclusion that if I want to feel *great* that bowel cleansing should be a regular part of my life.

I hope that this helps. I would suggest, begin tracking your cycle carefully and track the full and new moon days on your calendar to get a sense of whether you are menstruating with the full or new moon, and also track anything that might be causing your cycle to fluctuate (stress, emotions, travel etc.)

Please post again if I can help more. Sorry for writing a book!

Om,
Janaki