Symptopro

From our quarterly Live and Love Naturally newsletter, NFP Instructor, Colleen Fuller talks about Self-Care Tips for Dry Cycles.

Some women struggle with continually dry tissue or mucus patterns or only a few days of mucus. If this applies to you then there are some things you can do to help improve your tissue/mucus pattern. Dryness can be due to many factors. Assessing which might apply is helpful. Cervical dryness can be due to dehydration, recent changes in medication, like anti-histamines (for allergies), hormonal imbalance, poor circulation and other certain health conditions.

A person’s level of thirst can vary. However, everyone needs around a certain amount of water each day to flush toxins out and to supply certain parts of the body with the water it needs. After all, we are mostly water. Cervical mucus is around 90% water. Electrolytes sometimes are needed to absorb the water that is consumed. If we get too dehydrated, like after hard exercise, then even if you consume water, you might struggle with getting it into the cells that need it. Examples of the main electrolytes needed are sodium, potassium and magnesium. Electrolytes are found in coconut water, fruit juices, sports drinks, milk, and rehydration formulas. The rough amount of water someone needs is around half your body weight in ounces. So if you weigh 200 pounds then you need to drink 100 ounces of water a day. Signs of dehydration include: thirst, dry mouth, fatigue, dizziness, and headaches.

Medications can affect cervical mucus. Common ones include anti-histamines like those for allergies, certain antibiotics (which are usually used short-term), some anti-seizure or anti-anxiety medications, clomiphene, tamoxifen (used for cancer treatments), along with many others. It’s important to notice if you begin a new medication and then the next cycle, you notice a decrease in your cervical mucus, to either speak with your doctor about other medications that might work but do not decrease mucus production. There are some things to take to improve mucus production, like vitamin C, guaifenesin, N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC for short), which help thin or increase the production of mucus if medication cannot be changed. However, checking with your pharmacist or prescribing doctor is important as there are nutrient drug interactions.

Hormonal imbalance, meaning either too low estrogen or progesterone, can decrease cervical mucus. Sometimes, other signs in a chart will help identify this, but not always. Finding out the root cause is important. Root causes can range from conditions such as a lack of nutrients needed in the diet to health conditions like Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), which should be diagnosed by your Primary Care Provider. One self-care approach that can help is to include a seed and oil cycle. Fish oil, flax seed/oil or pumpkin seeds contain Omega 3 essential fatty acids(EFA’s).   Omega 3 EFA’s are needed in the first half of the cycle to help the formation of estrogen. Generally speaking, it’s good to have around 1 cap of fish oil (given no allergies), and 2 tablespoons of ground flax or pumpkin seeds a day from day 1 of menses to around day 14 (in a normal cycle range of around 25-34 days range). The seeds need to be ground up finely, like from a coffee grinder, otherwise, it’s hard for the body to get to the EFA’s. Seeds should be unroasted and unsalted, as heat changes the EFA’s. The second half of the cycle, should be either 1 cap of Evening Primrose oil or Borage oil and 2 tablespoons of ground sunflower or sesame seeds. These contain Omega 6 EFA’s that are needed to form Progesterone. If you have an underlying health conditions that affects your hormones, like PCOS, it’s important to address that.

Another issue that can decrease cervical mucus is poor circulation to the reproductive organs. Nitric Oxide helps increase or dilates blood vessels to the reproductive organs and increasing the production of cervical mucus. Foods to include in your diet to help increase your Nitric Oxide levels are: turkey, chicken, lamb, pork, salmon, nuts, ricotto cheese.

Other medical conditions can affect cervical mucus. It’s important to speak with your Primary Care Provider about any possible conditions you might have that could affect your cervical mucus.

This is not meant for medical advice. Its intent is solely informational and educational.

By Colleen Fuller N.D.                                                           

References:

1) Marz, Russell N.D. 2002. Medical Nutrition. Omni-Press. Portland, Oregon.

2) Hudson, Tori N.D. 2008. Women’s Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine. McGraw-Hill. New York, New York.