GladRags Gab

Did you know that your liver is one of the most important players when it comes to hormone production and balance?  It is the liver's job to help make our hormones as well as clear any excess hormones that might be overstaying their welcome.  Those of us who experience PMS often have a slight hormone balancing issue and with a bit of support to the liver can resolve the common complaints that we experience monthly.  Cramping is a great example of what I am talking about.  Much of the time cramping is a result of excess estrogen in the body.  By supporting the elimination of this excess, the estrogen levels can be returned to normal, often times diminishing cramps.  Of course inflammation also plays a role in this, but again through offering the liver some support inflammation can be lowered as well.  Irregular periods, breast tenderness, spotting and menstrual headaches might all be lessened with a good liver support treatment protocol.

Some of those treatment protocols would be:

1. Dietary guidelines - following anti-inflammatory diet, and look up those great liver loving foods!

NUTRITION

Food to Include:
    Dark green leafy vegetables, beets, endive, cucumbers, garlic, onions, artichoke, sprouted seeds, grains, tahini, vegetable products (raw or juiced only).
Foods to Exclude:
    All processed and refined foods, salt, strong spices, sugar, alcohol, drugs, synthetic vitamins, fats/oils, non-organic meats and dairy (due to hormones), coffee, heavy starches (potatoes, rice, bread, cereal), heavy proteins, chicken, eggs, milk or milk products, and  vitamins and herbal supplements (except as directed by your physician).
    Condiments except lemon juice and a little salt.
    
    
JUICE/TEA
    Red beet mixed with carrot (1/2 cup) once a day.
    Dandelion root tea: steep 1 teaspoon in 1 pint boiling water for 20 minutes.  Take once a day.

OTHER
    Deep breathing, 30 seconds each time, 10 times a day.
    Brisk walk or other exercise 20-30 minutes a day.
    Drink clean filtered water (at least 2 quarts a day).
    Do not use aluminum cookware.

2. Liver herbs - burdock, bupleurum, celandine, dandelion root, oregon grape, milk thistle, dang gui - go to your local herb store for a nice daily tea tonic, or liquid drop preparation.

3.  The ever famous castor oil packs

4.  Detox season is upon us!  The spring is the appropriate time to cleanse the liver.  Just as new shoots come up from the ground, this is the season the liver awakes from its winter slumber and shoots forward — creating motivation and movement.  Do your research before initiating any detox/fast protocol.  Best to work with a qualified practitioner as it is important to find the right type of detox for you.

Be well - and be happy!

Dr. J.J. Pursell ND, LAc.

The Herb Shoppe 2410 E. Burnside Portland, OR 97214

503-234-7801

 


After reading Ellen's story (see below), Talia had her own sad tale to tell.  Read on!

It was just yesterday that I finished my first period fest with my *new* mooncup. So of course, the next thing to do? Sanitize via boil-age. Well, the water was just taking forever to boil. I decided to go downstairs real quick and planned to quickly return to the kitchen and tend to my newly clean lil moo'cup.

2 hours later.

The water boiled, evaporated and is nowhere in sight. My poor moo'cup is no longer with us. It is now a charred mess that thankfully did not lead to my house burning down.

 I suppose excessive boil-age is not covered under the guarantee warranty??

; )

Editor's note: Boiling your silicone cup is a-ok (just don't let the water boil off!) but it is not necessary for sanitation.  The vagina is strong and can accept foreign objects that are not entirely sterile…

Saturday was a sad day for an alternative menstrual product user.  I found myself unexpectedly bleeding… shows you how "in tune" I've been with my body as of late… and had to resort to using the two pathetic little OB tampons I had hanging out in my bag from years past… shows you how often I clean out my bag. When those quickly ran out, I resorted to the plastic pads my grandmother had sitting in her bathroom drawer.  I don't enjoy pads much… apologies to the 'rags… and so bemoaned the fact that I didn't keep my Keeper with me when traveling.  duh.  I eventually made my way to the local grocery store to get something that I wouldn't have to adhere to my underwear.  Alas, more OB tampons it was.  I look forward to the day when alternative menstrual products are not so alternative and I can find a Keeper in a Chicago suburbian Jewel.

- An email sent by Diana's great friend Ellen - teacher, friend, wife and person extraordinaire

The basics about Herpes Simplex Virus are as follows;    

• About 50 percent to 80 percent of the adult population in the United States has oral herpes (commonly called cold sores or fever blisters), with as many as 90% having the virus by age 50.
• Most people contract oral herpes when they are children by receiving a kiss from a friend or relative.
• About one in five persons in the United States has genital herpes; however, as many as 90 percent are unaware that they have the virus.

As these facts display - herpes is quite common and while the symptoms are uncomfortable and sometimes emotionally devastating - please rest assured that there are many natural treatments to aid in the healing process.

Herpes is an infection that is caused by a herpes simplex virus (HSV). Oral herpes causes cold sores around the mouth or face. Genital herpes affects the genitals, buttocks or anal area. Genital herpes is a sexually transmitted disease (STD). You get it from having sex, even oral sex. The virus can spread even when sores are not present and that is why it is always important to communicate with your sexual partner(s) about your diagnosis of HSV.
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I stumbled upon the GladRags website about 2 years while 'mindlessly' looking up cloth diapers on google.  I don't even have kids yet, but I grew up on cloth diapers, and want my kids to do the same.  Even though I had always known diapers were bad for the environment, I had never even thought about how pads were just as bad!  I had also started boycotting tampons around this time b/c one of my friends who is a pediatric nurse had a patient with toxic shock syndrome and it freaked me out.

Once I started using GladRags (1.5 years ago), I never looked back…I love them!  Maybe it's just in my head, but I think having a completely cloth pad feels so much cleaner b/c my skin can breathe, as opposed to a disposable pad that has the plastic-like lining that sticks to your underwear.  They have cute designs, prettier flowers, etc…I feel great when I wear them!  And all of my friends are getting hooked on them too…!

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As announced in last Friday's newsletter, Jennifer Purcell, a Portland-based naturopathic physician and herbalist, will be posting monthly entries on GladRags Gab discussing a variety of women's health issues.  Dr. Purcell's first topic is PMS.  Get ready for some great thoughts on this prolific 'syndrome'.  ~Diana

PMS - a word so common to women these days as 85% of us experience at least one symptom per month.  The average onset is 26 years of age and the symptoms are wide and varied.  So much so that they are now classified by an increasing number of subtypes based on predominating symptom.  But whether it is breast tenderness, bloating/distension, cramping spasms, migraines (and on a on) - it all leads to one thing - Imbalance.

This is where is gets tricky - finding where the balance lies.

Often the first place we investigate is the reproductive system itself.  But if you are ovulating and bleeding monthly the problem may be elsewhere.  A good place to look is the liver.  The liver's job is multifactorial and it is one of the most important organs of the human body.  In relation to PMS, it is a contributor in the production of hormones.  The short version of the story - if your liver is strained or overworking, your hormonal balance could be disturbed.

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What about that 'ick' factor of reusables, huh?  We all know that they are far from icky and closer to FANTASTIC but do you remember a time when you didn't think so fondly of your GladRags?  Here's what Elise remembers.  ~Diana

Hard to say what changed my mind about the "ick".  It wasn't one thing and somewhat coincided with starting a compost pile, recycling, eating more whole natural foods, organic gardening, and being a Mom…all things that have to do with preserving the environment for the future, and being less self-conscious but more conscious of the world around me.  I still have my original Keeper (and so does one of my sisters who I got started on GladRags too).  I can't go back, of course.  The Keeper is so great for everything from hiking and camping to business trips.  I don't need a box of supplies, but just some negligible space in a purse or carry-on.  Thanks for great products that last and last.  Certainly money well spent.  Hopefully, I can continue the trend–my young daughter recently asked what that isle in the supermarket was for, and I told her many women use disposables they buy each month instead of the things I have…she wrinkled her nose…"oh, they just throw them away?" (maybe that will be the new ick factor some day)

- Elise 

Take a few minutes to read E.McKibbon's beautiful words.  She tells us of the various transformations she has undergone in how she thinks about her body, menstruation and nature.  There are some great insights here - grab a cup of coffee. ~Diana 

I'm writing to say that I love your products. But I also appreciate that you give people the opportunity to talk about the wrongly- tabooed subject of menstruation, for long ago, it was something to be respected and honored.

I use your Sea Pearls tampons and your GladRags. I have never been a woman who thought periods were disgusting or a hindrance to my life-quite the opposite actually. When I was in my early teens, I looked forward to starting my period, and when it came at 14, my mother took me to our local gourmet market. She bought me a special sandwich, a piece of chocolate cake, a bouquet of flowers, and my first box of pads. I felt so special and womanly.

A few years later, I went on the pill. My period lightened significantly and only became a symbol of not being pregnant. I didn't think too much more of it than that. However, as I got into my early twenties, I became much more aware of nature. I surfed, I hiked, I lay on the beach and listened to Mama Ocean's waves, and I began to have an intuition that being on the pill was not for me.

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Avid GladRags enthusiast Jenny Rose shares with us the story of the rag bag and her personal account of struggling with endometriosis (and a cyst named Janice) and the relief that she has found in GladRags.  Read on for some great takes on the 'Rag ~ Diana

My grandma Lucy, knitter and canner extraordinaire, sometimes mentioned the "rag bag” that she and her sisters shared.  In a household of women, it was a known secret – kept under the bed and well-stocked in a family of many teenagers close in age.  I don’t know if she and her sisters designed and sewed their own snapping pads or if the bag really was filled with rags as its name indicates (she died when I was 12), but I do know that she liked the quiet community it created in her childhood home.  While no one fought over cleaning the rags, she and her sisters did work together to find the best and most absorbent fabrics and argued over who got to use those rags when her period came around.

In my life, GladRags have been a savior.  I have endometriosis (and an ovarian cyst that I’ve carried for a year and a half and named Janice).  For me, this disease means really hard-to-control periods, near-constant bloating and pain.  Sometimes this pain translates to early-morning cowering on the bathroom floor – where my uterus seems to want to jump ship.  Disposables make me uncomfortable and self-conscious (and also wasteful), and other reusable devices are too invasive and sometimes painful.  When I discovered GladRags, well, I immediately saw a difference in my body.  Not only did I feel less self-conscious and “crinkly,” I also saw a marked reduction in pain.  Perhaps grandma was really onto something when she, too, sought out soft and cozy fabrics for her own monthly visitor!

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I have had my keeper for the past seven years!!! wow, I can't believe it.  We have traveled through India, across the US, camping trips,music festivals, through bad breakups and happy reunions.  I had one episode on an Indian train.  It was awful and scary.  The toilets are just a hole through the bottom of the train and I emptied my keeper and it almost fell out of my hands to the ground.  But thank the lord I didn't lose my constant companion.  I am a singer/songwriter from Asheville, NC and sometimes I can't believe how much I love this product, it makes my heart swell with happiness!!!

Angi West

Thanks for sharing your story, Angi.  What a close call in India!  We all have our Keeper stories, huh?  My first time using a cup was less for menstrual purposes and more for taking a shot of liquor purposes! ~Diana

Angi's a beautiful singer.  Check her out on www.angiwest.com or on her myspace page.