Health Library

In the November, 2001 issue of this publication, we highlighted a study that showed women with PMS symptoms had a high incidence of spinal problems that not only could cause PMS but could be helped through chiropractic care.

For years, the medical answer for PMS has been the hormone progesterone. Now comes a study in the October 6, 2001 issue of the British Medical Journal that finds progesterone and similar drugs (called pregestogens) are no more effective at treating PMS symptoms than a placebo.

In a review of 14 studies involving more than 900 women, the researchers found that when it came to treating the symptoms of PMS, which include depression, fatigue, irritability, abdominal pain, and headache, a placebo was just as effective as the hormone therapy.

Lead author Dr. Katrina Wyatt, from Keele University in Stoke-on-Trent, UK, says, “There is no evidence to support the claimed efficacy of progesterone in the management of premenstrual syndrome.”

She goes on to say that the use of progesterone therapy to treat PMS is based on the unsubstantiated belief that a lack of hormones actually causes the symptoms.

By way of commentary, last month’s article on chiropractic care for women who suffer PMS symptoms found that subluxations were a likely cause of their problems. We can’t help but believe that a properly functioning body free of subluxation interference will help more people than hormone replacement therapy that is based on a faulty assumption.