The last few days I have been feeling really horrible. Not like the stomach flu kind of horrible. But anxious. And when I say anxious, I don’t just mean nervous. I mean…a constant state of self-doubt. Rapid heart rate, fear so intense that it’s nearly immobilizing. Irregular sleep patterns…as in, only sleeping for 3 hours a night and being physically and emotionally exhausted. In addition to this, it has taken a huge amount of self control to keep from lashing out at others, because I feel so irritable and short tempered. I want to cry or vomit or purge myself of this feeling somehow so that I can feel better. I simply haven’t felt myself.
Then I realized it’s “that time of the month” and my hormones seem to be all out of whack. A primary contributor, I am sure, is the fact that I have been eating things the past couple of weeks that I NEVER eat anymore; homemade mashed potatoes with hamburger gravy (talk about a real wild canon for someone who has eaten practically no dairy or meat for months and very limited cooked foods!), store-bought, microwaved chicken taquitos and cheap chocolate, homemade meatloaf with pork sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes, rum cake and ice cream with lots of wine. I mean, what have I been thinking? Of course I am going to feel like CRAP! But, even more so considering that I am 45 and have been experiencing symptoms of perimenopause for a while now.
But the funny thing is, I was feeling GREAT when I was on 95% raw foods just a couple of months ago. So, I did some research last night, after spending several days and nights experiencing the above symptoms, in addition to some others not mentioned and here is what I found…the following are all symptoms typical of perimenopause. My own symptoms are marked with an X: (from http://www.project-aware.org/Experience/symptoms.shtml )
- Hot flashes, flushes, night sweats and/or cold flashes, clammy feeling – X
- Irregular heart beat – X
- Irritability – X
- Mood swings, sudden tears – X
- Trouble sleeping through the night (with or without night sweats) _ X
- Irregular periods; shorter, lighter periods; heavier periods, flooding; phantom periods, shorter cycles, longer cycles – X
- Loss of libido
- Dry vagina
- Crashing fatigue -X
- Anxiety, feeling ill at ease – X
- Feelings of dread, apprehension, doom – X
- Difficulty concentrating, disorientation, mental confusion – X
- Disturbing memory lapses
- Incontinence, especially upon sneezing, laughing; urge incontinence
- Itchy, crawly skin
- Aching, sore joints, muscles and tendons – X
- Increased tension in muscles – X
- Breast tenderness
- Headache change: increase or decrease
- Gastrointestinal distress, indigestion, flatulence, gas pain, nausea – X
- Sudden bouts of bloat
- Depression
- Exacerbation of existing conditions
- Increase in allergies – X
- Weight gain
- Hair loss or thinning, head, pubic, or whole body; increase in facial hair
- Dizziness, light-headedness, episodes of loss of balance
- Changes in body odor
- Electric shock sensation under the skin and in the head
- Tingling in the extremities
- Gum problems, increased bleeding
- Burning tongue, burning roof of mouth, bad taste in mouth, change in breath odor
- Osteoporosis (after several years)
- Changes in fingernails: softer, crack or break easier
- Tinnitus: ringing in ears, bells, ‘whooshing,’ buzzing etc.
The interesting thing is…I wasn’t experiencing most of these symptoms while sustaining a primarily raw foods lifestyle. The exception would be the sporadic/irregular periods or spotting between periods. But most of the other symptoms…the general lack of a sense of well being, confusion and fear issues were all pretty much non-existent while on raw foods.
So, my theory is this – I believe these symptoms can be managed or eliminated all together simply by ridding my system of all processed foods and beverages and consuming primarily raw foods. I have had difficulty re-comitting to the 95% raw foods lifestyle…mostly at night. I do quite well most days, but generally give in at night. However, the experiences I have had the past few days have really showed me that I can’t afford to consume foods that are clearly toxic to my system. The pain FAR out weighs the pleasure! So, I will post my results here. I will be most interested to see how I am feeling one month from now, during the week prior-to and week of my period.
If you have had any of the same symptoms and you are even in your late 20’s on, I would highly recommend trying the same thing to see if you get better results with raw foods.
Stay tuned!
