I hope I can get help with this one! I started low carbing in April, had a couple of tough (heavy flow, painful cramping) periods, then not much of a problem. I even posted replies to women who had bad cramps letting them know that it will pass. Well, the last two months have been terrible! Heavy flow (accidents) and extremely painful cramps! I can endure a lot of pain but these are really bad. Here's what I think and if anyone can add some additional info I would certainly appreciate it.

I'm 43 years old, in good health, never been pregnant. Normal periods all of my life. I ate a lot of junk (starchy carbs) as a kid, then drank my sugar for many years. I gave up alcohol 14 years ago, nicotine 12 years ago. I continued to eat "healthy" with lots of good carbs (rice, beans, tons of fruit). I finally began low carbing first on Atkins then I switched to Schwarzbein which I follow and adjust to meet my activity level (I'm an ultrarunner, run 50 and 100 mile races, fastpack at altitude, etc). I've been doing fairly well on TSP except for relapes on jellybeans and pork rinds. I've lost 12 pounds since April.

I was re-reading the section of Christine Northrup's book Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom about painful menstration and she attibutes it to a diet of red meat, eggs, dairy and transfatty acid which causes the body to produce too much of the hormone prostaglandin F2 alpha which causes cramping pain.

Well the first day of my period this month I drank diet Mountain Dew (one pint) and ate one bag of pork rinds and 3 ounces of jelly beans. I ate my usual breakfast of steel cut oats, Irish cheese, cucumber and two hard boiled eggs.

My question to you. Has any one had the same experience and have they adjusted their food or used other means? I don't want to go on birth control pills but if I don't get relief I will. I do plan on eliminating egg yolks, some red meat (I eat only good lean) and much of the cheese especially around my TOM.

Another thing that has been happening is hair loss, the whole shaft root and all. This has been going on since June. I have a good thick head of hair so it's not too noticeable. I attributed this to the fact that my husband was involved in a serious motorcycle accident (three weeks in the hospital, long recovery) which caused stress in my life.


Thnak you,
Maureen