Is Dairy Setting You Up For Painful PMS?

It was a beautiful fall afternoon in Brooklyn.  I was spending the day window-shopping around the neighborhood when my phone rang.  It was a former patient of mine.  I had treated her pelvic pain as a physical therapist.  As a physical therapist, I treated pelvic pain symptoms with exercise, hands-on manual therapy, and other techniques to relax and strengthen the muscles of the pelvic floor, calm inflamed nerves, and release stuck scars from surgeries or birth injuries.  Very often my patients got much better.  Many of them had complete pain relief.

But, sometimes what I could do as a physical therapist was not enough.  Some patients still suffered with painful sex, or pain so debilitating each month (or constantly!) that they could barely get out of bed to participate in their lives.

In fact, I was once one of those women.  My period cramps, endometriosis, and painful ovarian cysts landed me in the fetal position on the floor more times than I care to recall, and once almost landed me in the OR for an emergency surgery.

But, back to that phone call.  The woman on the other end of the phone said, “I finally listened to you.  My pain is gone.  I didn’t have to have that surgery.”  She was scheduled to have a hysterectomy as a last ditch effort to relieve her severe pelvic pain.  The pain was interfering with her life, and it had been for years.

“What did you do?” I asked, shocked!  “I ate everything that you told me to eat, and I stopped eating dairy,” she replied.

It really was that simple.  Her monthly Mexican food cravings were the only time that she would eat cheese all month.  As it turned out she had a sensitivity to cheese, causing her monthly pelvic pain.  She almost had a completely unnecessary surgery.

Since that day, I have worked with many, many more clients and have seen the same story play out again and again.  “My periods have never been normal. But, I have had three normal periods in a row this last three months,” said one recent client after we dramatically reduced the gluten, dairy and sugar in her diet and added much more nutrient dense food.  Every day I see complete pelvic pain relief, normalization of period flow and hormone levels once common food sensitivities are addressed.

What’s your first step if you’re struggling with period pain?  Are there options besides surgery, birth control pills, or pain medication? Yes!

First, ask your doctor to test you for celiac disease.  This genetic allergy to gluten is on the rise, and if you’re truly allergic to gluten you need to take special steps when removing it from your diet.

Next, add in lots of nutrient dense foods to your diet to help your body’s detoxification, digestive, and immune systems work well.  Foods like wild salmon, leafy green and cruciferous veggies, raw walnuts, and berries.

Then, take out the foods that most commonly trigger pelvic pain for 3 weeks, and see if your pain resolves.  These include dairy, gluten, soy, and a few others that we discuss in detail in my Pelvic Pain Natural Relief Method™ Group Coaching Program.

Pelvic pain doesn’t have to steal your mojo, your energy, your relationships, or your life!

Listen to the audio interview for deeper insights about this topic.

Visit our website for more information about The Pelvic Pain Natural Relief Method™, the Group Coaching Program offered by The Integrative Pelvic Health Institute.

By Jessica Drummond, MPT, CCN, CHC, the Founder and President of The Integrative Pelvic Health Institute. She is passionate about caring for and empowering women with pelvic pain conditions such as endometriosis, period pain, painful sex, and post-surgical, orthopedic, or pregnancy related pelvic health conditions.  She is equally passionate about educating and supporting clinicians in confidently and safely using integrative tools to treat chronic pelvic pain.  Having over a decade of experience as a pelvic physical therapist plus owning a private women’s health clinical nutrition and coaching practice gives her a unique perspective on the integrative, conservative options for pelvic pain management.
Jessica was educated at the University of Virginia, Emory University, The Institute of Integrative Nutrition, and Duke Integrative Medicine.

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