Pms - Can Neurofeedback Help?

The term PMS, or pre menstrual syndrome can mean different things to different women. You may feel extremely tired a week or so before a period; or become irritable, snippy, or downright angry about things that wouldn't normally bother you. Perhaps you suffer with extreme and debilitating cramps, or struggle with feelings of depression, sadness, and anxiety. Many women consider PMS to be an unavoidable part of their lives, and resign themselves to having to cope with it every month. If your PMS symptoms are acute and uncontrollable, however, they can truly disrupt your life.

Many women seek relief from PMS symptoms through over-the-counter medications. Most of these drugs, however, don't completely relieve the symptoms, and they can leave you feeling groggy, or cause stomach complaints or other symptoms. Moreover, medications do not treat the cause of the problem, nor do they offer permanent relief.

The good news is that a therapy called neurofeedback has been found to significantly reduce or completely eliminate PMS symptoms in some women. Treating PMS with neurofeedback therapy, or 'biofeedback for the brain', can mean regaining that extra week every month and getting your life back in order. It can help you to feel much more normal as your body goes through its natural cycle.

The reason that neurofeedback can make such a difference in PMS symptoms is that these symptoms are hormonal, and the brain actually controls the way the body releases hormones. If you can support your brain to regulate your hormones properly throughout the month, you may notice a significant reduction in PMS symptoms. That is why some natural treatments such as herbal supplements that mimic the body's hormones can be helpful in treating PMS, although they often do not offer a long-term solution that neurofeedback does.

Neurofeedback, on the other hand, has the potential to eradicate your worst PMS symptoms for the rest of your life. While research is still being conducted, some studies have found neurofeedback therapy to work for nine out of ten women. Some of these women were 100% symptom-free after twenty-four neurofeedback treatments.

How does neurofeedback therapy work? It is basically a way of teaching your brain to work and respond in the way that you want it to. When your brain is functioning within the proper wavelengths, it is perfectly capable of regulating hormones correctly. But factors such as stress can affect the way your brain functions, which in turn affects your body's responses.

A neurofeedback therapy session involves the use of an electroencephalogram, or EEG, machine that reads and responds to your brain waves through thin leads that are comfortably attached to your scalp with a special gel. Using your brain waves, you will make an image on a monitor move a certain way. Your brain perceives this action as a reward, and will strive to use the same patterns that caused the movement. After several sessions, your brain may eventually habitually function within the desired brain wave cycles, and may be better able to regulate your hormones and control your PMS symptoms. And you may get your life back.