What are your PMS cravings/hunger like?

leejoyce31 wrote: »

Some women are more sensitive to hormonal fluctuations than others. Sometimes, this sensitivity can result in compulsive overeating and/or binge eating behaviors. Since not every woman experiences it, oftentimes they may advise you to do the usual 3 things that you listed.

The only thing that resolved my food issues was to get my hormonal issues under control. After that was done, I no longer have food cravings. Sometimes, I may have a slight uptick in appetite in that my normal meals don't satisfy me. When that happens, I'll just put a tiny bit of L-glutamine powder on a spoon and take that. Then I'm fine. That may not work for you.

Thanks for your advice, @leejoyce31 How did you manage to get your hormonal issues under control, if you don't mind me asking? I tried bringing it up with my GP and gyno the last time, but they both didn't seem too concerned and said the usual "eat more balanced meals/more protein/fiber/avoid sweets", which left me frustrated and made me fish I didn't bring it up at all.

It's interesting what you're saying actually, because I've struggled with binge eating pretty much since puberty. At some point it turned into a binge-restrict cycle. For the longest time I thought, I was binging simply because I had no self-control or because I was too hungry from restricting my intake. Then when I realized that my eating patterns were disordered, I started thinking that the urges to binge were mostly psychological. When I finally broke the binge-restrict cycle and started to eat normally, I realized that it's definitely very physical and also isn't caused by undereating and that there's a certain pattern to it. But I was on the pill at that time and didn't think I could have a cycle or PMS since I wasn't ovulating. It took me a long time to connect it to hormones, because of the pill and because its pattern was never very regular. I had month where I didn't experience these bottomless-pit days and then other months it was almost non-stop, other times it would last for 4-5 days every 2-4 weeks etc. But this irregularity may be a symptoms of some hormonal issues, like you said.

I went off the pill 6 months ago, had what appeared like 3 normal cycles (but probably was just withdrawal bleeding) and since then no period (no chance of pregnancy). At first the bottomless-pit days were gone so I thought they might have been caused by the pill. But then they came back in full force, if not worse!

If my period doesn't come back soon, I will go see a gyno again, but not sure how to bring up the hunger issue... I feel somewhat ashamed talking about it, especially when people almost always say something along the lines of "yeah, most women have it! stop exaggerating, stop complaining, woman up and learn some self-control!". I'm expecting my gyno won't even be really concerned with me missing my period for so long as from what I've heard /read it's very common and doctors usually say to just wait it out.

Most tips on the internet and books about stabilizing your hormones post-pill is about getting in proper nutrition and taking magnesium, B vitamins, Omega-3's and iron supplements. Tried all of this, no luck. Some advice herbs like Vitex Agnus, but from what I've read it seems like a powerful herb and I'm afraid to mess up my hormones even more with it. Not sure what else I can try...