PMS Bloating & Weight Gain
PMS Bloating and Weight Gain
by Dr. Daniel J. Heller
Dr. Daniel J. Heller 
Dr. Heller is a family practitioner who specializes in helping patients with hormonal conditions like PMS & PMDD; diabetes and prediabetes; and other chronic diseases. He is the founder, formulator, and clinical director of PMS Comfort. [more]
A week before your period you step onto the scale and ...Wham! You weigh four pounds
more than you did a few days before. Or, the week before your cycle starts, your
bra size increases and your breasts become painfully tender. Your rings don't fit,
your ankles are swollen, your clothes are tight, your abdomen is bloated, your skin
feels stretched out and there are bags under your eyes—do we need to mention
that it makes you want to scream?
*This, of course, is premenstrual bloating, a symptom of premenstrual syndrome
for many women. Even women who don't suffer from PMS often note some degree of premenstrual
edema or water retention. Many women feel that PMS bloating and weight gain are
two of the most annoying premenstrual symptoms, because they don't come and go like
cramps or irritability might; they effect how you look, so they can affect your
confidence and how you feel about yourself; and they can affect how every part of
your body feels.
Premenstrual bloating has been with us a very long time. PMS was not even
recognized before the 1970s, and was not the subject of much medical research at
all before the 1980s, but premenstrual bloating was the subject of medical research
long before almost any other PMS symptom.
Understanding Premenstrual Bloating
Unfortunately, doctors and laypeople alike often mistakenly believe PMS is imaginary.
We have discussed this misunderstanding extensively elsewhere on this site, but
it's worth mentioning again because weight gain is often suggested to be one of
the most dubious of PMS symptoms. However, PMS bloating and weight gain are real,
although the reason they occur is not completely understood. Women with PMS bloating
retain water, and have increased fluid balance hormone levels, in the second half
of their cycles.
The Problem with Diuretics
You might think—and the marketing of over-the-counter PMS products might lead
you to believe—that the logical approach to PMS water retention is to take
a diuretic drug that causes you to urinate excess water (in other words, makes you
pee). But this approach is far from ideal, for two good reasons. To start with,
diuretics rob your body of precious minerals, as you excrete them along with the
water you eliminate, but second because it's fundamentally preferable to treat both
the symptoms and the cause of any health problem. Taking a diuretic drug
for PMS is not treating the underlying hormonal imbalance that is believed to be the cause of PMS.
Specifically, most diuretics deplete the body of potassium and magnesium. Both are
important nutrient minerals that actually help with bloating. You read that correctly:
Diuretics rob your body of the very nutrients you need to fight bloating!
Potassium is the natural counterbalance to sodium in the body, and it's easy to
obtain from fruits and vegetables. The saltier the food you eat, the more potassium
your body requires and the more PMS bloating you may be prone to experience. But
diuretic drugs, which can deplete potassium reserves, can make your bloating even
worse in the long run. Another way to think of this is that the more you take diuretics, the more you will need the diuretics.
The same is true for magnesium and premenstrual bloating: whereas taking magnesium
supplements helps offset premenstrual water retention, diuretic drugs deplete your
magnesium, making PMS bloating worse in the long run! And, unlike potassium, magnesium
is difficult to get from your diet. (The PMS Comfort Nutritional Multivite contains 100% of your daily magnesium
requirement.) Magnesium deficiency is surprisingly common, and is increasingly being
associated with common and troublesome conditions such as prediabetes and heart
disease.
Relief from Premenstrual Bloating and Weight Gain
You can overcome PMS bloating yourself, beginning with these five simple steps:
-
Drink plenty of water. It might seem counterintuitive to recommend
hydration as a remedy for water retention, but if your cells and tissues are properly
hydrated throughout the month you'll probably retain less water, and you may just
feel better, too! As is the case with most holistic solutions, starting a day or
two after the symptoms begin is too late. Adopting the healthy habit of 6–8 glasses
of water per day, all month long, is ideal.
-
Cut back on salt. Excess salt—specifically, sodium chloride—causes
you to retain water. You can balance that effect out by hydrating properly, and
by loading up on fruits and veggies, though ideally you'd also cut way back on any
snacks, meats, canned foods, and restaurant meals that are chock full of sodium,
and minimize your use of the salt shaker as well. We'd rather not suggest a specific
number of milligrams of sodium you can eat per day, since every woman is different.
As a rule of thumb, though, one highly salted food (snack or meal) per day is more
than enough.
-
Eat plenty of vegetables and fruits. Veggies and fruits are the
ultimate health foods: they are a great source of fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins
and minerals. They are also a great source of potassium—this is especially
true for all fruits, not just bananas—and that will help balance out the salt
in your diet.
-
Cut back on refined sugars. When you eat sweets, your pancreas
releases insulin to control your blood sugar. Insulin can cause you to retain salt,
which then leads to bloating. (Anyone who has ever tried a low-carb diet and lost
several pounds in just a few days is familiar with this phenomenon. As your insulin
level plummets, you lose water weight very quickly because your body excretes salt
and water together.)
-
Take a holistic approach. We suggest you take these steps as part
of an overall program that balances optimal nutritional supplementation and herbal
PMS relief with a mind-body-spirit approach. While you may gain some benefit from
addressing the symptom of premenstrual bloating in isolation, the best results come
from recognizing how PMS affects you as a whole person, and taking that whole-person
approach to optimal wellness.
*Success Stories (or what Google refers to as Testimonials; henceforth referred to as Success Stores) appearing on this site are actually received via text, audio, or video submission. They are individual experiences, reflecting real life experiences of those who have used PMS Comfort products and/or services in some way or another. However, they are individual results and results do vary. We do not claim that they are typical results that consumers will generally achieve. The Success Stories are not necessarily representative of all of those who will use our products and/or services.
The Success Stories displayed (text, audio and/or video) are given verbatim except for correction of grammatical or typing errors. NOTE: PMS Comfort changed the names and any personally identifiable information to ensure confidentiality of the storyteller.
PMS Comfort is not responsible for any of the opinions or comments posted to our site. PMS Comfort is not a forum for Success Stories; however, it provides Success Stories as a means for online users to share their experiences with one another. To prevent against abuse, all Success Stories appear after they have been reviewed by PMS Comfort.
Additionally, these Success Stories are not intended to make claims that PMS Comfort products can be used to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. The information and the contents contained on this Web site has not been evaluated by the FDA.
Real, Natural Relief—So You Can Feel Great All Month Long
PMS and PMDD misery aren't always taken seriously enough by doctors, family, and
friends. At PMS Comfort, our whole purpose is to empower and educate you about premenstrual
symptoms, and to provide real, natural relief so that you can feel great all month
long. Our all-natural doctor-designed programs are based on decades of experience
helping thousands of women recover from what you've been going through. Our Herbal
Relief formula, when combined with our diet and lifestyle guidance, addresses more
than just your symptoms—it can help bring your body and mind back into balance,
and help you get and stay healthy. Plus, we're here to support you, every step of
the way.
To learn more about your PMS and PMDD symptoms, take the
PMS Comfort quiz. Or, start feeling better today,
for as little as 89 cents per day.
We want to help. Give us a call at
1-800-731-6327, drop
us an e-mail, or
send us your question.
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