Have you ever heard of using Damiana Leaf for the treatment of pms? Damiana is known as a sexual stimulant so how can it help with pms? Pms causes many women to suffer from many different aches and pains as well as mood swings and period pain. This can include maladies such as depression, anxiety, lack of energy and even low estrogen levels and sometime hot flashes. There can be over 100 different symptoms associated with premenstrual syndrome with a women’s menstrual cycle.
I know most of us associate hot flashes with menopause but some women do experience them also during the time before their period as part of their pms symptoms. There are many over the counter and prescription remedies that might address these pms symptoms, but there is also an herb that is by far superior and more effective for these problems. A healthy woman can experience pms over her lifetime for a cumulative timeframe of four to five years. Is it any wonder women are constantly seeking the best possible remedies for pms?
Damiana Leaf, whose formal name is Turnera Diffusa, and can also go by the scientific names T. aphrodisiaca and T. microphylla can assist with pms and has been shown to be very effective for these many of these particular symptoms. More common names for Damiana Leaf also include rosemary but not the herb, herba de la pastora, old woman’s broom and Mexican damiana.
In many parts of the world Damiana Leaf is boiled and the fumes are inhaled to treat headaches. Damiana Leaf is also a diuretic and retention of fluid is one of the primary causes of cramping and pain during the menstrual cycle. Many in Central America including as far back as the Myans, used Damiana Leaf for these purposes.
The Mayans called this herb mizibcoc. It grows as a short shrub that blooms yellow colored flowers. It has been used for a variety of medicinal purposes over the centuries, with one of the most common being for sexual vitality and another for some of the symptoms of pms. The Mayans used it this way and gave it to both men and women as an aphrodisiac.
Medicine men and women both used it for the symptoms of menopause in women including hot flashes, vaginal dryness, mood swings, and night sweats. They learned from this that is might help the mood swings during pms and then discovered it also helped with headaches and cramps.
It was a Spanish missionary that brought it to the attention of the settlers of the New World as he reported that the native Mexican tribes used it in a tea form with sugar added as an aphrodisiac. Then in the mid 1870’s it was first imported to the United States. Needless to say it was very popular, very quickly and has remained so to this day. It did fall out of favor in the US from the mid 1940’s until the Hippie Era of the 1960’s brought it back to US popularity. It is now an alternative therapy for pms and EDS (erectile dysfunction syndrome).
This herb called Damiana Leaf is also used anxiety, stress and depression as they affect the sexual libido and so they are also effective for the same symptoms during pms. Because Damiana Leaf affects the hormone release in the body and thereby helps to re-establish the hormonal balance that is disturbed during the menstrual cycles.
There are multiple stages of the menstrual cycle starting with the pre-menstrual stage. It is here that pms symptoms can begin. Menstrual headaches, sore breasts, beginnings of bloat and cramping are also attributed to this stage. Then you have the follicular stage followed by the luteal stage, all before a women ever begins her “period of bleeding”.
In the follicular stage of the menstrual cycle the body is flooded with estrogen and then again during the luteal cycle there is a massive release of progesterone. These releases in large amounts cause a hormonal imbalance that is at the core of all premenstrual symptoms. Because it addresses this imbalance is one reason why Damiana Leaf is so effective for these symptoms.
For centuries, Damiana Leaf has been used to attempt to counteract the maladies that women experience in their menstrual cycle. It has been used to treat depression for those with pms.
Damiana Leaf is known to strengthen the nervous system, balance the hormone levels, increase the woman’s energy level and counteract the depression, fatigue and headaches of the menstrual system. It is the leafy part of the plant that is used and it is either boiled or the leaves are dried and crushed. The usual dosage is either a cup of tea made from the leaves two or three times a day or if you use the capsules made with the dried leaf take three or four grams two times a day. There is also a liquid made from the leave that can be taken in two or four milliliter amount a couple times a day.
Damiana Leaf has been listed by the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) as a GRAS food additive (Generally Recognized as Safe) and can be found in some liquors from Mexico as well as a substitution for some teas. It makes a nice tea itself. It is considered a “nervine herb”, meaning that it is most often used to treat issues within the human nervous system. The Damiana Leaf has therapeutic effects that can strengthen or rejuvenate the nervous system. It has the same type of mood lifting effects as well. This is why the Mayans used it as a recreational drug, smoking it much as some people today smoke Marijuana.
There can however be serious complications for an excessive use of Damiana Leaf including things like convulsions. Pregnant women should not take it and anyone with a serious medical condition should not take it without physician’s advice.
So if you are struggling with a loss of energy, exhaustion or headaches due to pms prior to the menstrual cycle, then Damiana Leaf in any of these forms might be a good solution. There are no known side effects from this herb if used according to these recommended doses. You will find it to be a very effective solution. However you will find it to be even more effective as an element in a compound such as Period Vitamin.
It is often the case that these herbs are much more effective when used in conjunction with other herbs, minerals and vitamins. For instance Period Vitamin and compounds like it contain a combination of vitamins, herbs and minerals in the correct dosage and combination for the most effectiveness on a multitude of pms symptoms.
There are at least ten pms symptoms that Period Vitamin combats including pain, headaches, period cramps, bloating, food cravings, back pain, weight gain, sore breasts, mood swings, acne and sleep issues. Period Vitamin contains at least 8 herbs, 9 vitamins and 3-4 minerals. Including in this set of very effective ingredients are the fruit and herbs Damiana Leaf,
“A 10-year study at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst revealed women who included a sufficient amount of calcium in their diets reduced PMS symptoms by 30%. And according to Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center a large double-blind, placebo-controlled study found calcium significantly reduced mood swings, pain, bloating, depression, back pain, and food cravings.” (http://www.periodvitamin.com/)
Magnesium also helps with the effectiveness of EPO (Evening Primrose Oil) and also “Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center reports Magnesium effective in controlling mood swings and reducing fluid retention related to PMS. In another study reported by Beth Israel, women experienced significant reduction in weight gain, breast tenderness, swelling and bloating during period.”
In 2008 a group of holistic and alternative medicine practitioners, trying to find a solution once and for all to the pms issues women face every month, created Period Vitamin. They did so after much research and anecdotal testing. Years of experience and experimentation went into the creation of Period Vitamin. Period Vitamin will help you to fight off or prevent pms related stress, hormonal imbalance, cramping and headaches. It will help with your fluid retention, weight gain, loss of appetite, mood swings and fatigue or insomnia.
You will need to take Period Vitamin every day all during the month if you want to prevent these symptoms and issues from even occurring. If you do this your body will be ready to fend off pms before it can take hold. After a couple months of taking Period Vitamin you will not have these symptoms at all. Of course you can take any compound with this combination of herbs, vitamins and minerals for pms. You can also benefit from Damiana Leaf on its own, but it is much better in this type of compound.
