Hormone Harmony: Natural Ways to Balance PMS and Mood Swings

Understanding the Message Behind Your Symptoms

Many women have been taught that suffering through a complex menstrual cycle is just "part of being a woman." In my practice at Healing Arts NYC, we view these symptoms differently. Pain, irritability, and extreme emotional fluctuations are common, but they are certainly not normal. They are red flags waving in the wind, signaling that your endocrine system needs support.

Emotional Volatility and Anxiety

One of the most distressing aspects of PMS is the feeling of losing control over your own emotions. You might find yourself snapping at a loved one over a minor inconvenience or feeling a wave of anxiety that seems to come from nowhere. This emotional volatility often stems from a sharp drop in progesterone relative to estrogen in the luteal phase of your cycle. When these hormones are not communicating effectively, your neurotransmitters—the brain chemicals that regulate mood—can become erratic.

Physical Discomfort and Pain

Beyond the emotional toll, the physical manifestations of hormonal imbalance can be debilitating. Cramping, breast tenderness, headaches, and significant bloating are all classic signs of inflammation and fluid retention driven by hormonal shifts. These physical symptoms often exacerbate the emotional ones, creating a feedback loop of discomfort that can last for days or even weeks every month.

Fatigue and Brain Fog

Another frequent complaint I hear from patients is a crushing fatigue that sleep doesn't seem to relieve. This is often accompanied by "brain fog," where focusing becomes difficult and memory feels slippery. This happens when cortisol, your stress hormone, begins to steal resources from your reproductive hormones, leaving you feeling drained and unfocused just when you need your energy the most.

The Root Causes of Hormonal Chaos

To find true hormone harmony, we have to look deeper than just suppressing symptoms. We need to ask why the body is struggling to maintain balance. In Nutrition Response Testing, we often find that the root causes are environmental and lifestyle factors that disrupt endocrine function.

The Impact of Chronic Stress

Your body has a hierarchy of needs, and survival always trumps reproduction. When you are chronically stressed, your body prioritizes cortisol production over progesterone. This is often called the "pregnenolone steal." Since progesterone is your natural calming, anti-anxiety hormone, a deficiency here leaves you feeling wired, anxious, and prone to severe PMS. Modern life keeps many of us in a permanent state of fight-or-flight, which is disastrous for hormonal balance.

Hidden Environmental Toxins

We live in a chemical soup. Xenoestrogens are synthetic chemicals found in plastics, personal care products, and pesticides that mimic estrogen in the body. When these chemicals enter your system, they can dock onto your estrogen receptors, creating a state of "estrogen dominance." This doesn't necessarily mean you produce too much estrogen; rather, it means the ratio of estrogen-like activity to progesterone is far too high. This imbalance is a primary driver of heavy periods, mood swings, and breast tenderness.

Nutritional Deficiencies

Your endocrine system requires specific raw materials to build hormones and break them down once they've done their job. The liver is responsible for metabolizing excess hormones, but it needs nutrients such as B vitamins, magnesium, and specific amino acids to do so effectively. If your diet lacks these nutrients, or if your digestion is compromised, your body recycles old hormones back into the bloodstream instead of eliminating them, leading to toxic buildup and symptom flare-ups.

Dr. Armitstead's Natural Solutions for Balance

At Healing Arts NYC, we don't guess; we test. Using Muscle Testing, we can identify exactly which organs are under stress and what nutritional support your body is crying out for. The goal is always to restore the body's innate ability to heal itself.

Supporting the Liver for Hormone Detoxification

Since the liver is the clearinghouse for hormones, supporting liver function is often the first step in treating PMS. We focus on gently enhancing the liver's detoxification pathways. This might involve dietary changes to include more cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli and kale, which contain compounds that help the liver process estrogen safely. When the liver functions well, it clears excess estrogen efficiently, significantly reducing the severity of PMS symptoms.

Regulating Blood Sugar

Stable blood sugar is the foundation of stable hormones. When your blood sugar spikes and crashes, it triggers a stress response that further disrupts your cycle. I advise my patients to focus on eating protein and healthy fats with every meal. This prevents the insulin spikes that can trigger inflammation and androgen production. Simple shifts, like eating a savory breakfast instead of a sweet one, can have a profound ripple effect on your hormonal health throughout the month.

Stress Management Techniques

Because stress is a major disruptor of hormones, active relaxation must be part of your treatment plan. This isn't just about "chilling out"; it's about physically shifting your nervous system from sympathetic (stress) to parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) dominance. This could mean prioritizing sleep, engaging in gentle movement like yoga, or simply taking ten minutes a day for deep breathing exercises. Lowering cortisol production naturally allows your body to produce adequate progesterone again.

Recommended Standard Process Supplement

While everybody is unique, there is one supplement that frequently tests well for women struggling with the symptoms described above.

A System-Wide Approach to Emotional Balance

A single issue rarely causes mood swings. They often involve a complex interplay between your hormones, nervous system, nutritional status, and stress levels. Dr. Armitstead's methods are designed to identify and support the specific areas of your body that are under stress, creating a personalized roadmap to stable, predictable moods.

Nutrition Response Testing®

The cornerstone of treatment at Healing Arts NYC is Nutrition Response Testing. This non-invasive technique allows Dr. Armitstead to communicate directly with your body to uncover the underlying cause of your health concerns. By analyzing neurological reflexes, we can pinpoint which organs are struggling—whether the adrenals from chronic stress, the liver from toxic overload, or the gut from inflammation—and identify the specific nutritional support they need to function correctly. For mood swings, this testing can reveal hidden food sensitivities, heavy metal toxicities, or nutrient deficiencies that are disrupting your brain chemistry and hormonal balance. The result is a highly individualized plan that ensures you get exactly what your body needs to heal.

Chiropractic Care

Your nervous system is the master communication network of your body, and your spine is its primary conduit. Structural misalignments, known as subluxations, can create interference in this network, disrupting the signals between your brain and your organs, including the glands of your endocrine system. Chiropractic adjustments help remove this interference, restoring proper nerve flow. This can have a profound effect on mood by calming the "fight-or-flight" stress response, which is governed by the sympathetic nervous system. A well-adjusted spine helps your body shift into a "rest-and-digest" parasympathetic state, which is essential for hormone production and emotional regulation.

Emotional Release Techniques

Sometimes, the root of mood instability isn't purely physical. Trapped emotions or subconscious stress patterns can contribute to a state of chronic alarm in the nervous system, which in turn dysregulates hormones and neurotransmitters. Dr. Armitstead may incorporate emotional release techniques to help the body process and release this stored energetic stress. By addressing the emotional component alongside the physical, we can break the feedback loop where stress creates physical symptoms, and physical symptoms create more emotional stress. This integrated approach is often the key to unlocking lasting emotional freedom and resilience.

Lifestyle and Stress Management Counseling

True healing extends beyond the treatment room. Dr. Armitstead's holistic approach includes practical guidance on lifestyle factors that significantly impact your mood. This involves identifying key stressors in your daily life and developing sustainable strategies to manage them. Recommendations might include simple breathing exercises to lower cortisol, advice on improving sleep hygiene to support hormonal rhythms, or tips for incorporating gentle movement to boost endorphins. By empowering you with tools to support your nervous system and reduce your overall stress load, this counseling helps solidify the gains made through in-office treatments, making stable moods your new normal.

Summary

Dr. Alicia Armitstead at Healing Arts NYC offers a holistic approach to treating mood swings by addressing their root causes rather than just managing symptoms. Her methods include Nutrition Response Testing to identify organ stress, Designed Clinical Nutrition for personalized dietary support, and chiropractic care to restore nervous system balance. Emotional release techniques and lifestyle counseling further help reduce stress and promote emotional stability. Together, these services create a comprehensive plan to restore harmony and improve overall well-being.