Dizziness with PMS

I would see what a doctor says about her iron count, and if it's low, supplement with vitamins or through diet. I agree, red meat is not the only way to get iron. If you are mostly vegetarian, try the meat-free options. You can also cook food in a cast-iron skillet. The iron will be absorbed by the food!

I am a vegetarian and say she does not need red meat! :-)
You might make sure she has plenty of iron and b vitamins. I work with a nutritionist (long distance) who helps me make sure that I am getting the right things for my body naturally.
I can't say I know of one locally, but if your insurance covers a visit to a dietitian, you may be able to pursue that route, too.
Though I do not have a specific answer to your question, I hope you are able to find an answer.

Hi T.,
I had permanent tubes put in my ears about 5 years ago (I had tubes when I was three too...I always had problems with my ears and when we would fly I would get fluid behind my eardrums and would have to get a perscription as soon as we got home...I would even lose hearing)
Anyway, for a while sometime after I had my tubes put in I felt dizzy and off balance.
My ENT Doctor gave me some exercises to try at home to see if they could help me.
Here's what the pamphlet says:

POSITIONING EXERCISES

A SPECIFIC TYPE OF DIZZINESS, CALLED POSITIONAL VERTIGO, CAN BE HELPED OR EVEN CURED BY THESE EXERCISES. THESE SHOULD BE DONE TWICE DAILY: ONCE ON GETTING UP IN THE MORNING AND BEFORE YOU GO TO BED AT NIGHT. PLEASE KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN DURING THESE EXERCISES AND FOCUS ON A FIXE OBJECT WHENEVER YOU FEEL DIZZY.
**While sitting on the side of the bed with your feet on the floor, lie flat on your back and turn your head to the right. Keep your eyes open and wait until the dizziness stops. Then sit up and look straight ahead. When you feel stable, lie back again on the bed turning your head to the right, keeping your eyes open until the dizziness stops. Repeat this exercise five times turning your head to the right.

**Repeat the same exercixe, turning your head to the left when you lie back. Sit up after the dizziness stops and look straight ahead. Then lie back, again turning your head to the left and keeping your eyes open. Repeat this exercise of turning your head to the left.

**This exercise will make you dizzy at first, but the spinning feeling will get less as you continue to do the repetitions. In time the amount of dizziness will decrease or may even suddenly stop. You will be asked to continue doing these until seen back in the office for a repeat examination.

If your daughter continues to have the spells, take her to a doctor and see what is going on with her body. It could be nothing...you never know...don't risk it.

There are also exercises on this paper to improve your balance but it is longer...if you're interested in them too just send me an e-mail.

I hope the POSITIONING EXERCISES help!!!
Good luck!

Definitely protein and iron, but it doesn't have to be in the form of red meat. If you are vegitarian, spinach and tofu will do the same. She can also take an iron suplement if she needs it.

Hi T.
I hope I can help your daughter. I remember I felt the same way in my teens and even into my early 20's. I am assuming if you are mostly vegetarians and into nutritional/holistic methods that she is intaking enough water but I don't want to assume that, make sure that is a priority.

My two other suggestions are a vitamin line called Standard Process Inc. There vitamins are plant dirived and are super! They cannot be purchased online, they have to be purchased at a medical office. My chiropractor sells them, so you might want to try at a chiropractor office. Which brings me to my next point, chiropractic care. There are a lot of different view points on this but I believe in an adjustment at least once a month or maybe twice depending on the situation at hand. Sounds like she is either low on the B vitamins and/or iron. I recommend Catalyn and Ferrofood by Standard Process. If she currently is taking vitamins, they may not be metabolizing correctly for her. Good luck!

Oh, I forgot to mention that my chiroprator does hair analysis and saliva testing also to messure different things, ie hormones, thyroid, etc. So that is something else to think about. If these routes don't help her any then obvoiusly going to a MD may be helpful. I always try the natural way first and if that doesn't help then I will finally go to the doctor. Again, good luck!

Hello T.. Could her blood sugar be dropping? I know alot of women crave different food when menstrating. When I was pregnant with my youngest I had horrible dizzy spells, and my hands and arms would start to tremble, I just needed to eat something high in sugar and it would pass quickly. I have known some women to keep the sugar packets around (like ones for coffee) and when they get dizzy they just eat a packet of sugar. Hope it works out!

I also have pre period dizziness and have found that if I eat red meat it helps a lot. My family and I are very conscious of what we eat as well. You may want to consider organically rasied beef. We buy our meat at Claudia's and it has no hormones, antibiotics and the cows are humanely raised or organically fed.

my blood pressure drops during my cycle or if i am pregnant and i actually hae passed out, though dizziness is much more common for me. so that could be the culprit. as for fixes for that i havne't found one. she could also have some anemia issues though and iron, from food or a pill, could help.

I am vegan/vegetarian as well. You might try a protein shake to see if that will help. Also, make sure she's getting plenty of leafy green vegetables with iron. She might be a little anemic.

Hope this helps!

Hi T.,
I'm a health nut too so I appreciate your position. You might want to check to see if T. has hypoglycemic symptoms. I'm hypoglycemic and it's always worse right before my period. I get dizzy if I go more than three hours without a high protein snack. I also get headaches, irritability, and have a hard time concentrating if I go too long without eating. No one has the same exact symptoms, but dizziness, headaches, irritability, anxiety, and difficulty concentrating are common. I've had several glucose tolerance tests done to test my sugar level, but none of them have confirmed hypoglycemia and from the literature I've read, it's very rare to get a conclusive answer from lab tests. Do some google searching and see what you think. I noticed my symptoms when I was about 15. If she does have hypoglycemic symptoms, frequent, high protein snacks make a big difference. Processed foods make it much worse. She should take extra iron during this time. Most women are low in iron, especially right around their period. Good luck with this issue.

I would contact her DR, I have both very very low iron and low blood sugar, when I was a teen, I would get so dizzy during my period, that once I fell down.

Hi,
I have a little bit of experience with this and I think it could mean low iron.
You may try beefing up a little bit, literally just before period time, if you know when it's coming. Try leaner cuts of beef like tenderloin or chicken breast(about 4 ounces) is enough.
The best source is through meats because they have the natural amino acids in them, however, if meats are completely not tolerable, try a supplement and try soy products such as soy milk and beans are very good for getting protein in the system, too.
Taking a supplement might work, go for something natural like Nature's Sunshine Herbal Iron Supplement.
Build up the blood with raisins and grapes and try, L-Glutamine (Amino Acid), and a B Complex Vitamin and B-12.
Nature's Sunshine also has a product called Blood Build that might work.
www.Naturessunshine.com

While sugar can bring up low blood sugar quickly that is not the way to handle this problem long term--small freqent meals high in protein and healthy fats will keep her blood pressure and sugar where it needs to be--also she needs a small amount of good quality unprocessed salt--not processed foods which are high in not just sodium but lots of other junk. My fiance has HBP so we cook with very little salt and then I add sea salt to my food since I tend towards low blood pressure--which can cause dizzyness. I also have the low blood sugar problem. I was a vegetarian for many years but when pregnant with my 3rd my midwife said she would not do a home birth with me unless I ate animal protein(she beleived that the problems I had with baby #2 were because of my strict veg diet) I added free range eggs, salmon and other fish, some free range chicken and turkey and had a healthy pregnancy and I found that I felt better too--far less of the low blood sugar and pressure problems. WHen we women are on our menstrual cycles or in menopause often problems we have are magnified. Hope this helps.

I would suggest finding foods that are high in iron. Because having her period of course, causes blood loss, her iron levels are probably down. The best source for iron is going to be meats and some veggies have a decent amount of iron in them as well. I would look over nutritional information on the packages and see what foods she eats now she may be able to eat more of. Most of the time issues like these are caused from a lack of iron and not protein. If changing her diet does not help, then get her an over the counter iron supplement, but keep watch that she does not get too much iron because it can cause liver damage and other health issues. Meat is also a good source of protein too which may also help her.

D.

I am 31 and have been married for almost 12 yrs. My husband and I have 3 boys ages 10,7, and 4.

Hi T.,
I used to have really horrible PMS and periods. Irritability, bloting, headaches, and terrible cramps to the point that I would throw up. (My doctors told me nothing was wrong medically.) I've only had a couple times that I felt dizzy. A friend told me that sassafras can help alleviate PMS symptoms and mentrual cramping. I tried it and it has worked for me. It doesn't take a lot. I usually drink 1/2 a small glass (about 3 or 4 ounces) of root beer once a day for a few days before my cycle begins until the middle of my cycle when I usually stop having cramps. I rarely drink softdrinks. Root beer is one of the worst tasting ones, but it is the easiest way to get sassafras. Plus the pay off of no PMS and mentrual cramps is worth it. I've also used Fennel tea and Raspberry tea for PMS. They relieved some of my symptoms, but they didn't help much with the cramping. Hope that helps,
D.
Oh, on an added note. I know that green tea is becoming a popular healthy drink in the States. Although there is tons of sugar in the stuff compared to the real stuff you can get in Japan. If she drinks green tea, she should probably cut that out of her diet. Green tea has something in it that causes your blood to thin. If your blood gets thin, you feel dizzy. I know this because I am living in Japan now. I'm originally from Richmond, IN, but my husband is Japanese. Green tea is drank like water here. When I was pregnant the doctors told me to cut the green tea entirely. I had already stopped drinking green tea because I had some dizzy spells, not related to PMS or pregnancy though. I had been drinking at least one pet bottle of green tea a day. Once I stopped drinking the tea, my dizzy spells also stopped. Maybe she should see the doctor first to rule out any serious problems though.

T., quite honestly I would take her to a doctor immediately for a check up and make sure all is okay. Could be her blood pressure goes higher or lower during her period time or she may be enemic. Either way, it sounds like something that you shouldn't be messing with. I'm all for home remedies but with my children, I approach holistic methods cautiously.

Find out first what is wrong, and then you can decide whether or not you want to treat holisticly.

Good Luck.

Dizziness and lack of concentration can be caused by low blood sugar. I would check this out.