NaPro TECHNOLOGY & Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)

Third Appt:You will return to the office in 8-10 weeks to review the results of your hormone panels as well as the biomarkers on your CrMS chart. Most often at this time I will have made one or more more diagnoses to identify the root cause of your symptoms. Together we will discuss a treatment plan, which will be implemented. 

Follow Up Appts: You will return to the office every 2-6 months. During this time, I will conduct a comprehensive medical interview to ensure your symptoms have resolved, and to ensure you are responding well and not having any negative responses to the management plan. Depending on the individual patient and your individual diagnosis, I may need to monitor your progress with serial laboratory tests and/or serial imaging. 

I will be asking you to tell me very specifically how much you are bleeding. An example of a "detailed flow" is: M, M, H, L, L, VL/B

TAMPON or PADS: 

• Very Heavy (VH): changing every 1-2 hours
• Heavy (H): changing every 3-4 hours 
• Moderate (M): changing every 5-7 hours
• Light (L): changing every  8-12 hours
• Very Light (VL): changing less frequently than every 12 hours.

MENSTRUAL CUP MEASUREMENTS

• Very Heavy (VH): 60 cc in a 24 hours
• Heavy (H): 40 cc in 24 hours
• Moderate (M): 20 cc in 24 hours
• Light (L): 10 cc in 24 hours
• Very Light (VL):  5 cc in 24 hours

**The Diva Cup comes in 20, 30 and 32 ml cups 32 being the largest but other cups may vary. 1 ml = roughly 1 cc 

Other important information about your flow: 

• Tail End Brown Bleeding (TEBB): brown bleeding at tail end of period. 
• Premenstrual bleeding: pink spotting or brown spotting at the prior to a full period starting. 
• Intermenstrual bleeding: bleeding between periods. 

Mainstream ObGyn doctors will almost always recommend the birth control pill as first line treatment. The birth control pill will suppress your normal menstrual cycle and simply provides a band-aide for the underlying problem(s). 

Please know NaPro Providers to not prescribe the birth control pill (mentioned briefly towards the end of this video). 

To the contrary, we believe the birth control pill is harmful to women physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We pride ourselves on taking our patients OFF hormonal contraception, finding the root cause of their symptoms, making a proper diagnosis and providing superior treatments for all of the conditions we treat. 

For more information about the spiritual harm brought  into the relationship via contraception, visit my  CrMS page, scroll to the bottom and read about SPICE. 

Micronized Progesterone which is a bioidentical hormones. Dr. Lara Briden has an excellent podast where she discusses indications for, safety and efficacy of these supplements. Micronized” progesterone is biochemically identical to the progesterone your ovaries naturally make; it is very different from the synthetic progesterone which is found in many types of contraception pills and devices. 

Your CrMS charting is of the utmost importance. If you are prescribed progesterone hormone replacement therapy, this must be timed accurately and specifically to your menstrual cycle. Taking this medication too early or too late can cause more bleeding problems and increase your risk infertility. Whereas, taking this medication timed correctly will resolve these two problems. I will offer you two options for dosing .   

• Oral capsules taken at bedtime once daily on P+3 through P+12  
• Oral capsules inserted per vagina twice daily on P+3 through P+12 

Naltrexone: 

• NaPro Protocols recommends full dose naltrexone (50 mg) for PMS. 
• Naltrexone is commonly used to help people with addictions avoid alcohol use and or opioid use.  
• This medication is an opioid-receptor antagonist (blocks opioid receptors).  
• Thus, we call this an "off-label" use of this medication, which is somewhat common to do in mainstream medicine. 
• Many NaPro patients report wonderful success using naltrexone to treat PMS. 

We would start at a very low dose and slowly titrate up as follows: 

• 0.25 mg 4 x daily for 10 days 
• 0.50 mg 4x daily x 10 days 
• 1 mg 4x daily x 10 days 
• 2 mg 4x daily x 10 days
• 4 mg 4x daily x 10 days 
• 8 mg 4x daily x 10 days 
• 50 mg, one tab daily, thereafter

- at Natural Women’s Health: call 215-939-4251 (in-person/ TeleHealth)

- at MyCatholicDoctor: call 314-888-5233 ext 1111 or book online here.

- if you are from Our Lady of Providence Medical, LLC, book here.