Essential oils work better than the Bach Flower Remedy I promote below. Either skip to the update at the bottom of this post, or head on over to this one.
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Dealing with PMS mood swings has been the bane of my (and in recent years, my husband’s) existence. Despite eating all the right foods, avoiding the wrong foods, etc., I still experience an emotional rollercoaster ride several days each month. And it always hits without warning.
I thought I would have to endure mood swings through menopause. I mean, I was doing everything I could, right? Then one day, I was searching online for natural health remedies in general, and ran across a website about Bach Flower Therapy.
Back in the 1930′s, Dr. Edward Bach got fed up with conventional medicine and set out to find a method of treating disease that was even more pure than homeopathy. In the process, he discovered that extracts from different flowers alleviated particular emotional states of distress.
There is a Bach Flower Remedy (which you can find here) for every emotional problem; for example, to help a timid person feel more confident, an impatient person feel calmer, an irritable person feel happy. This sounds too good to be true, I thought.
Then I went to one of my crunchy mama forums and found a thread about Rescue Remedy, a combination of Bach remedies that some mamas were saying instantly stopped their kids’ tantrums. I was intrigued.
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Could it help with PMS?
Not too many days later, I bought a bottle of the mustard, which “brings back joy and cheerfulness when gloom descends for no obvious reason”, and a bottle of the cherry plum, which “helps you act rationally and think clearly with a calm and balanced mind when you fear losing control.” I was armed and ready.
About a week before my next period, I woke up wanting to do great violence to somebody. When I realized that my mood was hormonally related, I prepare the Bach essences. I had read that you can combine them, so I did: I half-filled a glass with water and put two drops from each of the two bottles of Bach Therapy in the water.
And I began to sip it down. A sip here, a couple more sips, and I went out to do some work in the garden. Five minutes later the heavy cloud that had been crushing me down was completely gone. And I didn’t have any more moodiness the rest of the day.
I have taken it several times since then. Every time, a mood that previously would have persisted for three hours was gone within ten minutes.
Amazing.
Except that it leaves me with one burning question:
Where were Bach Flower Essences when I was a teenager?
And remember, they were not created as a PMS remedy per se. Rescue Remedy, for example, was formulated to help anyone of either gender that is under stress–even kids throwing a tantrum! Whether you’re struggling with feeling overwhelmed, depression, anger, or fear, Bach Flower has a remedy for you. There are even remedies for your cat and dog!
Although the remedies are formulated with alcohol, since you take mere drops at a time they have no negative effect whatsoever on your system.
Finally, a natural and effective way to get rid of mood swings! (What are you waiting for? 
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UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
Since writing this post, I have discovered something that works better than Bach Flower remedies – and it has no alcohol, a big downside with the Bach Flower.
Several essential oils work as fast and as well as, if not better than, the Bach Flower. Chamomile and lavendar are two. The one I’ve found that works best for me is rosemary essential oil.
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