Home > Raw > Articles

Living with natural menstruation December 2000 I have documented last year's periods, to see how they've changed over time. If you recognise the first six months, it's because it was from my online journal. However, the next six months is new to this web site. Happy red reading! January This month was my first raw month -- so my period was exactly as it always has been -- agonising for hours, so I had to take very strong pain killers which make me drowsy for days. I can't wait until this gets better. February My period was no better this month -- I still had to take pain killers. I wish I wouldn't have to. I hope raw cures this horrible disease. March Saturday 18th March After feeling feverish for a couple of days, I woke up at 2am with period pains -- no rest for the wicked, eh? I had to take some tablets but they didn't work very well and I stayed awake on the settee, drifting in and out of sleep until about 7.30. I went back upstairs for a snuggle and got about half an hour's sleep. I still felt ill in the evening but was going to a get-together at Karen's which I really wanted to go to. When I got there, I sat on the settee feeling sorry for myself and very brittle. It wasn't long before all my pain had gone, though -- which I can only put down to the good raw vibe of everyone around me. I do absorb the energy of others, good and bad, but this one was really good. Bless them for making me feel better. April Sunday 16th April I came on last night which was a bit of a surprise. It's exactly 28 days which is the way I should be but never have been. Also I had very little pain compared to usual. A good sign that I've got less toxins in me. I didn't have any PMS, either -- as far as I can recall. May Monday 15th May I must be premenstrual, I shouted at my neighbour today for cutting my wild flower garden down. Well, he probably deserved it... Saturday 20th May 2000 Woke up at 8 am and noticed that I'd came on -- no pain to begin with. Stevie and I went into town. Had to buy a mobile phone if I'm going to start a new business. Blimey the last time I owned one of them was about 5 years ago and it was like walking round with a brick. I don't like mobile phones but I can see how useful they are! I'll just not hold it to my ear much. I bought some pecans from the health food shop and ate some of them, then got some raw olives from the market. Hmm -- they're not quite right -- I got a funny mouth feeling with them -- must be the stuff they put it in. Had to take some tablets for my pain -- poo -- I didn't want to take any. Maybe next month? June Monday 12th June Had a mango for tea -- made Stevie's pizza and chips for him to watch the football and ate about 10 chips -- that's not like me. I also ate 4 dates. Tuesday 13th June I did some work and at 4 I decided to put my shopping away. I opened the fridge to put some stuff in and the rest of the chips were there (about 10 of them). I ate one. I then got the plate out and microwaved them and put tomato sauce on them and ate them. This is the worst I've ever been -- what's wrong with me? They don't even taste nice -- they taste of hardly anything. And they were soggy by this time. Ugh. I put the shopping away and ate gorgeous 2 apple bananas and a couple of walnuts. I'd rather fill up on nuts than chips. Saturday 17th June This was the weekend of the fresh summer party. Two days ago I've been hyper, I was planting my garden until 10pm on Thursday, and I got one hour sleep last night. I have mad fantastic energy this month! It was a full moon tonight and I did feel funny, but I put that down to being in a strange place. I came on in the night -- there was barely any pain at all, I just felt a bit delicate -- this was the best one yet. I'm finally almost clean on the inside. It's a shame blokes don't get such an obvious signal such as this. It's a really good indicator. Interesting that it was a full moon tonight. There's no wonder I've been craving potatoes all week - I don't remember my last period being a whole month ago but when I looked back in my journal it was exactly 28 days ago. I'm on proper times now for the first time in my life! This period lasted about 4 days and continued to be pleasant. I even played rounders the day after I came on (which is a miracle in itself), and apart from my lungs I felt really good. July Wednesday 12th July I'm making sure I don't eat 10 chips this month like I did last month by remembering that I'm due on (I just usually forget and then am all surprised and then think: "Oh that's why I've been a cow all week") and making myself a "my premenstrual week kit" which comprises: Lots of avos (I ate 3 today) Lots of nuts - walnuts and pecans. (Don't anyone dare tell me off, because this is something that unless you've suffered you can't comment!! - that wasn't a premenstrual statement, was it??). Normally I don't eat many nuts, but I thought that I can either eat nuts or crave (and probably give in to) chips. I'm going for the nuts. Heavy food such as nori - I've got through 20 sheets in 2 days. Spoiling myself with my favourite fruits - sharons, mangoes and figs right now. Rest and sleep. Yesterday I slept in the middle of the day and I'd have done the same today had I been home. I am, though, at the moment extremely tired, grumpy, vacant and listless. Got a lot to do and am not doing much of it. Warmth. I've got an extra blanket on my bed due to my extra need for comfort (I can't snuggle Stevie because of his foot!) I read somewhere once that women consume about 500 calories extra per day on their pre-menstrual week -- well that might be a cooked count! I don't think I consume much more than 500 calories a day normally. Anyway I thought these heavier foods may fill that gap as well as the craving gap. So far, I've not fancied chips at all which is a world record for Shazzie. I'll let you know how this tactic goes. If it works then I'll refine it next month (after all, I'll be a month cleaner inside) to get rid of some of the nuts. Monday 17 July A miracle happened to me today... I was feeling all horrid and periody, and had a bath to try to ease it but I was too hot so I got out and gave myself a massage with lavender which didn't work either and by this time it wasn't even 10am and I'd pooed 4 times and felt so grim. I didn't want to take tablets or lie in bed but didn't know what to do. Then I was drawn to look for yoga and menstruation on the web. I printed off some yoga exercises to do while menstruating -- and guess what? The pain and pooey feeling and grimness and sickness has totally gone -- I don't feel like I'm on at all at the moment. August Tuesday 15th August Think I've got PMS as some emails are annoying me. I'm on a really strange on this month. All I've wanted to do is lock myself away and paint, so that's what I've done. Some slimy salesman rang me up trying to sell me advertising space and I was so arsey with him, then he pretended to be a customer and said "I was going to ask you to do me a web site, but I'm not now" -- what's that all about? Like I couldn't tell! So I thought I should calm down and count to ten before picking the phone up. Someone's sold my company number to a load of businesses, though, because I'm getting loads of these calls and it's wasting my time. I gorged 20 Greek olives tonight, without rinsing the salt off. I'll get balloon legs. Thursday 17th August Came on today and it wasn't painful at all. Absolutely nothing odd, so nothing to report. Smashing! September Saturday 16 September I have a tomato craving which has lasted 2 days. I need to be a bit careful here as I'm still finding my feet regarding how many I can eat before they bloat and constipate me (experimenting with tomatoes as a possible allergen). I made a lovely pasta (courgette) and tomato sauce yesterday and today. My other strong food cravings have been garlic. I've put it on top of my salads and everything. I don't usually eat it. Sunday 17 September I was showing Karen my puffy ankles on the train back from the Vegan Festival. They were quite bad this time. Monday 18 September 20.50 Just came on. Yesterday I had a slight feeling in my right hand side (the place I used to get pain radiating from). About half an hour ago I got the feeling again and it got stronger. It's strange, because it's not a pain, it's just like a gentle nudge. I instantly needed a poo. I hadn't had one all day, so I knew I was going to come on. It's 32 days since my last one. They're getting longer. I went from the 28 day typical one, back to this which is what I was like when I was younger. Maybe I'm detoxing stuff from when I was a teenager, so my body's behaving like it did then. This is the month in which I may get pain (I get it worse every other month). It's bright red. According to Dr Bieler in A Natural Way To Sexual Health, he says that bright red blood (profuse, odourless with cramps) comes from improper digestion of starch and sugar. "The offending toxins are acids such as lactic, acetic, pyruvic, oxalic and formic". So If I have cramps with this, and if it's heavy then that's what's going on. I'm wondering if it's because I ate carrots and bananas this month (at the Healing Fayre and the Vegan Festival) I weighed 8 stone this morning, which is more than usual. I think because I was overdue I got more water retention than normal. Tonight I made a lovely salty soup: 1 head of celery 1 clove garlic 1 chili quarter of a pint of water half an avocado 2 dessertspoons hemp oil Blended it all together. I started to get pain so I did some yoga but it was different to what I did 2 months ago. I didn't follow the instructions, I followed something within me. I was guided through about 30 minutes of poses, and the pain completely disappeared as before. The pain wasn't as bad this time -- but if I hadn't done the yoga, who knows what it'd have been like? It's strange that our instinct is it curl up in pain. This does menstrual pain no good. All the yoga exercises make you open up. Working against instinct is weird, but after doing it once, I totally trust it now. I realise that we shouldn't have period pains so the instinct we use to curl up isn't right -- our bodies weren't designed to have period pain, otherwise we'd instinctively open up into a yoga pose! Does that make any sense at all? Tuesday 19 September Last night was uncomfortable. Even though I was tired out, and Stevie had given me a massage, I couldn't sleep. It wasn't awful pain, but it was that down my right leg feeling which I always got. I went to do some more yoga in the spare room, where I eventually fell asleep. I woke up a few times during the night for the toilet. Got back into my own bed at about 6am and went to sleep. Most of today was spent in a fog. I couldn't do much at all. I did some client's work, in between lying down and feeling very weak. Wednesday 20th September Didn't wake up until 9.45. I can't remember the last time I slept in so late. This must be a very significant period as it's still affecting me. I went to the bank today and clipped someone's wing mirror when trying to park (no damage). I then nearly crashed into someone on the way home. Then I got to the local grocers to get a watermelon and got out of my car as it started to roll backwards! I'd left the handbreak off. I've never done anything like this in my life. It's the universe telling me to stop for a bit. When I got home I tried to do some work but couldn't. I tried to sleep but couldn't. I just flitted from place to place, doing nothing. Luckily I got some petrol while I was out (the first time there's been any for almost 2 weeks round here as there's a petrol strike across the country). I'll be able to go to my yoga class tomorrow with Karen. I think this period's so bad because of my recent emotional detox (Stevie and I splitting up). My body's releasing a lot of stored up emotional toxins. Had a little bit of period pain today, but nothing that needed attention. Got loads of spots on my face. Didn't feel like eating in the morning, so had watermelon after 12. Felt like eating in the afternoon and got through about a pound of fresh wet walnuts, 2 avocados, 1 chili and some unripe durian. God, that was a big durian as well -- I've left the rest in the garage but don't know if the other pods will ripen once one of them has been opened. Doh! What a horrible clumsy day. Started to feel better at about 8pm, so did a bit of web surfing, or skidding as Ruth calls it! Still couldn't focus enough to work. Went to sleep at about 12. Thursday 21st September Felt much better today, but my head is pounding a bit. I am taking it easy still. I've done the urgent client work which needed doing, and will spend the rest of the day writing and reading. Sat in the garden for about an hour reading -- it was a beautiful morning, so sunny with only a slight September chill. Still feel the need to take it easy...didn't do yoga tonight, but went to Karen's and made a beautiful wild salad from things in my garden. Was very tired by 11pm so we went to bed and nattered for a while. Friday 22nd September Didn't sleep well last night. Had lots of dreams and kept waking up to the church bells chiming. Woke up properly at about 8am, and did some stretching. Felt full of energy today. Well, more than full. I was pacing the floor. I have the feeling that something's about to happen. I had this feeling the day Stevie and I split up, a kind of anticipatory nervousness. Wonder what it is? Maybe it's Reiki which we have got at the weekend? My period more or less finished by the early afternoon. October Saturday 14th October I'm on week 3 of the Ejuva cleanse at the moment. It was a beautiful full moon tonight, red like a sovereign. I usually come on when it's a full moon, but didn't think I would this time as I wasn't due. 'twas a strong one, though! I was sleeping over at Grant's in London tonight as I'm helping with this weekend's fresh events. Fred's doing uncooking classes and Roz is doing A Date With Destiny. I was on an airbed and couldn't sleep as I was freezing cold, even though I had 2 quilts. I got up at 5am. I had a tiny bit of period pain in the same right hand side place. I went to the loo and saw that I'd come on -- this is something like 10 days early. What a detox! I did a poo and felt something odd come out so I had a look. It was a kind of clay coloured rubber thing about 10 inches long. It looked like some sort of gluey stuff -- this is my first good Ejuva thing to come out of my colon. I want more! Apart from the little tell tale pain I had for a few minutes at the beginning, this period was really trouble-free. However, because I am detoxing heavily on the Ejuva, it was very dark and smelled quite a lot. It only lasted about 4 days. November Monday 27th November Went out with Arun tonight and was going to the toilet at about 6pm in the bookshop when I noticed that I'd come on. This was about 50 days since my last one, so I was quite overdue. I had PMS about 2 weeks ago (when I was due on) but the last 2 weeks weren't premenstrual at all. I have been eating so much, though and weigh more now than I have done since I lost my weight at the beginning of the year. I'm going to keep an eye on this food thing. I have been feeling like I just want to burst. It's since I stopped Ejuva. I wouldn't recommend anyone do a major cleanse like that while going into a colder season, it's thrown me completely. Well, as I came on in an inappropriate place again, I just used some tissue. I didn't get any pain, which was really good, especially as it was overdue. Tuesday 28th November Woke up at 7am, had felt some period feelings in my sleep, but it wasn't pain as such. I felt full of energy. My blood was suspended in mucous, and looked very clean -- bright red. It didn't look so much like haemorrhage as it has done in the past. I started to get period pains at about 11am, and then my colon was just going mad -- I did about 5 poos in an hour. I had a massage booked at 12 and so was in discomfort throughout -- that was a shame as I don't get many massages now and was so looking forward to it. I had to get up twice for a poo. I went to bed after the massage, and read for a while. The I returned to work. I had excellent energy levels all day, which was great considering I'm getting over having my mercury fillings out which has left me feeling worse for wear. The pain went after about 4 hours. Wednesday 29th November Woke up after 9 hours sleep. I'd leaked blood onto the sheets -- that's not happened for years. I wonder why I'm suddenly bleeding so much? Maybe it's one last purge after my Ejuva cleanse? Well, there's no pain and my need to eat excessively is subsiding now. I only bled for 5 days and it wasn't heavy after the third day. December Monday 25th December I had felt very premenstrual last week. There's been a lot of tension in my house, and I've been very sensitive to people's energies, but I haven't snapped at anyone (which is very good progress considering what's gone on this week). In fact, for the first time, I consciously channelled this extra premenstrual gift and did loads of work, loads of house clearing (more stuff for charity), loads of cleaning, and loads of socialising. I felt so full of energy on Wednesday night that I was driving to a party with my sunroof open on a cold frosty night, music on full blast and singing at the top of my voice (I was alone!!). And I was driving the steering wheel with my knee to free up my hands for dancing. I even overtook someone on a blind bend. Now, that's what people would call crazy. But I knew I was safe. I won't do it again though -- you don't need to live like that. Came on at about 7.30pm. Very light and brown. It's only 27 days since the last one so maybe it'll be heavier tomorrow. I hope I don't get any pain. I can't believe it's been a month since I was last on, it only feels like yesterday. This last month has flown by. Wow. Well, I haven't overeaten much this month. In fact, in the two days preceding my period this time I haven't wanted to eat at all. The trouble was, as I was going through the day fasting, I could feel some spiritual connection occurring which I just didn't have time for. I had to get ready for Christmas. I think it's tragic that I have to force my body to eat when it doesn't want to because I've got my artificial life to be getting on with. Well, I know I live more naturally than most, but it's still not enough for me. I won't rest until I'm climbing trees naked. Which I plan on doing at new year if it's not too nippy! Wednesday 27th December My period stopped for 2 days but started again today. It's very heavy, red and painful. I also have food poisoning from some dehydrated nut loaf I made on Boxing Day. I can't eat that food any more. I sometimes didn't know where the pain was coming from, the food poisoning or the period. Sunday 31st December My period lasted until Sunday, so that's 7 days from start to finish but only 5 days really as it didn't do anything for 2 days. I have been in very strange moods throughout the week, but I think it's related to moving out of my house and other stuff rather than menstrual hormones. I've had a tiny appetite as well. Conclusion Even after a year on raw food, my body is still very busy cleansing itself of 30 years of toxic eating. I feel fortunate that I'm a woman in this respect because I can see such progress each month. I also think it's lucky for us to have this extra valve to allow toxins out of! Some months have been great, with little pain and little blood, but others have been quite painful. However, for about the last 5 months the pain has been nothing like it used to be. It used to be that I couldn't move for days, with pain raging through my fingers and toes. I haven't felt like that for a long time now, which I'm so pleased about. My periods aren't perfect yet, but that's because I'm not! Hard to believe, eh! As I write this I'm approaching my first period of 2001, I'll document it as I have documented last year's, so stay tuned... Update It's now three and a half years since I began my raw journey, and what an amazing amount of stuff I've discovered! My menstruation is about as perfect as I could imagine. I'm pain free every month now, and the blood is so pleasant! Hard one to explain that, it just looks so fresh and *happy*! Help for period pains I wish these existed when I was younger! If you have period pains, then check out the Senza device. It's a natural way to treat pain, without resorting to harmful drugs. Once you've been raw for a while, you won't need it, but it can make a BIG difference to your quality of life in the meantime!

You can order raw foods, my products and lots more online. or by phone. Give us a tinkle on 08700 113 119.

Copyright © 2000-2008 Shazzie | All Rights Reserved | Privacy statement | UK raw food events | Raw food UK | Special things | Products | About