Are there any other women out there who have experienced WORSE menstrual cramping since becoming raw?

I became a vegetarian and then a vegan right after high school because of extremely painful periods. Advil popping 6 pills every 3 hours kind of bad.
I had no period cramping whatsoever for years. It only started up again when I turned raw. My long term vegan diet was extremely supportive to my GYN health issues, so I cannot understand this pain. No, it is not "detox" symptoms. It is some sort of hormonal or biological issue that does not get better regardless of what raw diet ( no fruit, low fat, fasting, no nuts, etc. etc ) I have experimented with over the years. A lot of of these experiments actually made them more painful.

I have no desire to live on Advil anymore but I am at a loss...both diet wise and medicine wise.

My acupuncturist believes that raw food can cause shock to some women's reproductive organs when they are menstruating, particularly women who are prone to cramping, because raw food is "cold" energetically( chinese medicine term) and not "warming", which is apparently the type of nourishment a woman needs when she is is on her period. I think there could be some merit to this Chinese theory, but I'm not entirely in agreement with her based on my food and health knowlege. Then again however, I have not spent 4+ years studying Chinese medicine, acupuncture and herbology like she has...

I did notice for myself though that hot teas *have* been soothing to me internally. But I haven't been ready yet to take the plunge and go full force back into cooked food like was recommended to me. I could try going cooked for the 14 days prior to, and including the week of my period, but somehow 2 weeks cooked and 2 weeks raw a month seems so oddly off.

Thanks..

i breathe in
i breathe out
love
courage
peace
Bikini

hi bikini-i am new to this raw food thing and finally done with my monthly for life hopefully.when i had horrid periods-i found out it was from fibroids.so that is all i know.i have not been on this diet and life style actually to be able to say about the cold-raw foods. i know i am cold alot but iam also trying to loose weight and also it is winter but i know what u mean.a steaming hot bowl of soup or hot coffee sounds pretty good.i did drink coffee but am off of it now.i did get a hot drink-coffee substitute called roma.it is just so cold.so sorry-i don't know but i do know alot of what u mean about horrid cramps and being cold.

I noticed that I get it every 24 days!! However the pain has gone down since becomming raw.

But form what I hear, after going raw for quit a time, it should stop all together...we'll see!

Love you,
Jamie

Bikini:
It is VERY IMPORTANT That You will go and see a EXPREIENCED RAW/VEGAN doctor.

I would recommend consultation with one over the phone. You can find addreses here on BB. Dr. Graham, Dr. Vetrano.

My Raw food friend had problem with Menstruation.
At first it was painfull,
than after going raw plus meditations(TAO) it stopped.
Then she got scared, and asked me for advice, and while i recommended for HEr to start using some raw unprocessed thermicaly or chemicaly flax seed oil made locally, As She tried to go 100% RAW, and cut ALL Fats from her diet, not eating enough fruit.

As predicted She "regained" Menstruation, fortunately with little pain.
now.. IT is NOT cure for the cause!!,

I suspected problems with hormones/ glands.
Possibly she had parasites living in her blood system / robing her body of hormones regulating her cycle/ internal organs.

When "fed", parasites cannot eat all hormones/ or what looks like one to them: Oil, Vitamine E is exactly That= symptoms go away.

Please do check with experienced parasitology doctor/ or better yet Read Dr. Hulda Clark booc: cure for all diseases:
She has and IS scientificaly curing from: unable to become pregnant, to cancer.

My friend had a DOG, thus possibly denying herself possibility to get healthy by getting continous infections with parasites, from living with animal.

Also: please check for HIDDEN toxic substances: in perfumes, water, fumes/ paints , hairdryer etc. that you may be using and continuosly inducing into your body: allowing for parasites to grow/overtake your body.

right diet WILL NOT cure you IF You everyday spend 14 hours breathing in POISON.

As a matter of fact NOTHING WILL !

Try to take a leave for a couple of weeks, to a DIFFRENT, CLEAN Environment, with NO ANIMALS, Use different cosmetics, Drink Different WATER.
You may be supriced by the results of ANY change.

Best to You All of You, WOMAN

Bikini Wrote:
at a loss...both diet wise and medicine wise.
>
> My acupuncturist believes that raw food can cause
> shock to some women's reproductive organs when
> they are menstruating, particularly women who are
> prone to cramping, because raw food is "cold"
> energetically( chinese medicine term) and not
> "warming", which is apparently the type of
> nourishment a woman needs when she is is on her
> period. I think there could be some merit to this
> Chinese theory, but I'm not entirely in agreement
> with her based on my food and health knowlege.
> Then again however, I have not spent 4+ years
> studying Chinese medicine, acupuncture and
> herbology like she has...
>
>Hi Bikini,

Just like to share my experiences with you...

I have studied five element medicine.
I think it is a wonderful system of medicine.

I struggled with similar issues as you, related to IBS
My acupuncturist advised against the raw vegan diet as she felt it was causing too much cold and dampness in a system that was struggling with damp issues.
(at that stage i was transitioning)
she advised that i eat warming soups and include chicken and fish in my diet.

I chose to ignore her advice,
I stopped acupuncture treatments and decided to be totally raw vegan.

Within a few weeks on a totally raw vegan diet IBS, and chronic candida related issues that i had suffered with for over 15 years had gone!!!!

A whole host of other problems vanished too!
I have more energy that I can ever remember having!

I know that not all 5 element practitioners work in the same way.
I felt that the acupuncturist that was treating me was accustomed to treating people eating cooked food.
I understand what she was trying to do.
Im just pleased that even in a very weakened vulnerable state I had the courage to listen to my intuition and follow the path I felt was right for me..

I dont get any pain during menstruation these days.
I have found that when i incorporate lots of green juices and green smoothies in my diet i have no pain.
If i eat cooked or too many dehydrated foods or heavy nut based foods the pain returns the following month.

many tcm practitioners do not have any working knowledge of raw foods as a diet/lifestyle, only as how something eaten raw affects a sad eater. whether a food is warming or cooling has to do with it's mineral content, not it's actual temperature. seeking advice from a tcm practitioner about a totally or high raw diet is fairly useless IMHO.
i also cured myself from chronic, untreatable ibs. after two months 100%raw, the master cleanse and a colonic it magically disappeared never to return again. now, if i eat a not so great diet for a while some symptoms can return. but no where near as bad as before and only very occasionally and i have to be eating poorly for quite some time. needless to say, it doesn't happen very often.
as for menstruation and the raw diet. this topic has been discussed countless times on this and other sites. so. many. times. there are those who believe that menses is a sign of detoxification and that once raw for a time it will stop entirely. there are those who think that not getting your period is very, very unhealthy and a sign of deep physical disfunction. certainly, change or loss of your menstrual cycle before several years of 100%raw and otherwise extremely clean living is a sign of imbalance. no matter how much you would like to beleive that not having your period is a good thing, unless you have been high raw and very healthy for a long, long time, it is not.
cramps, i believe they are a symptom of resistance. resisting the flow of life, resisting woman-hood, resisting self, and succumbing to the beauty myth which tells us how ugly and unworthy we are. once we accept and make friends with who we are as women and as people, once we learn to love our cycle and honour it, the pain vanishes. it's like the pain of childbirth, it's an illusion that it has to hurt. it doesn't, mine didn't. resist and you will feel the universe pushing you, sometimes very hard, into the place you need to be. learn to relax, accept, honour and value What Is and you will flow with the river instead of against it.
i know this is hard to accept, i suffered from the worst cramps imaginable for many years and i still feel the pain of ignoring myself on occasion. but it's an opportunity to really be in your body, to be in your mind, to be in yourself. it's a chance to be still, forget all the little things you have to do and just pay attention for a time. it's a gift.
good luck.
and a hot water bottle and some woman's tea works wonders too.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2007 08:20PM by coco.

Recommendations on the mark.

Also would urge reading of an article I posted here recently "Estrogen Dominance and Health."

Blissed be, Annie

Anne Kaspar
BodyByBliss.com
bodybybliss@gmail.com
505.690.0169