Understanding PMS/PMDD

At its core, PMS and PMDD are signs that your brain and body are sensitive to hormonal shifts and need support. In the second half of your cycle, estrogen and progesterone naturally fluctuate, and these shifts directly influence brain chemicals like serotonin and GABA, which control your mood, focus, and sense of calm.

When your body struggles to adapt to these changes, your brain’s ability to regulate emotions becomes unstable. You might feel anxious, sad, or irritable for no clear reason, even though nothing in your life has changed. Physically, this can also lead to fatigue, poor sleep, and cravings, making emotional symptoms even harder to manage.

When we balance your hormones, replenish nutrients, and calm inflammation, your neurotransmitters can stabilize, and you can feel grounded, focused, and emotionally steady throughout your entire cycle.

Did you know?

• Up to 90% of women of reproductive age report some form of premenstrual symptoms (like mood changes, irritability, fatigue) in the days before their period.

• Nearly half of all women experience PMS symptoms strong enough to affect their daily life, not just mild discomfort. 

How I Treat PMS/PMDD

In my practice, I recognize that PMS and PMDD aren’t just about mood swings or cramps, they’re signs that your brain and hormones are struggling to stay in sync. My BrainMax Method approach is designed to help you uncover why your symptoms feel so intense and what’s actually driving the monthly emotional and physical rollercoaster. Together, we identify the hormonal, biochemical, and nervous system imbalances behind your symptoms and create a plan to bring your body and mind back into balance.

This approach blends naturopathic medicine with brain-based hormone support and nervous system regulation, helping you experience steady moods and energy throughout your cycle, not just temporary relief. Instead of masking symptoms, we focus on restoring hormonal communication, improving nutrient status, supporting liver and gut function, and retraining your brain’s stress response.

The result is a calm, more balanced cycle, fewer emotional crashes, clearer focus, deeper sleep, and more ease in your body all month long.

Phase 1: Understanding & Assessment

The first phase of your care is all about understanding how your cycle is impacting your brain and body. We’ll explore how hormonal fluctuations, nutrient levels, stress patterns, and inflammation are affecting your mood, focus, and energy throughout the month.

During this stage, we take a deep look at your health history, menstrual patterns, sleep, nutrition, stress load, and emotional well-being to uncover what’s keeping your body out of balance.

Targeted lab testing helps us assess key areas such as estrogen and progesterone balance, nutrient status, thyroid health, cortisol rhythm, inflammation, and blood sugar regulation, all of which can play a major role in PMS and PMDD symptoms.

By the end of this phase, you’ll have a clear picture of what’s driving your symptoms and a personalized roadmap to help your brain and hormones work with your cycle, not against it.

You can expect to leave this phase with:

• A full analysis of your results and what they reveal about your hormones, brain health, and stress patterns.

• Clarity on the root causes of your cyclical mood, energy, and focus changes.

• A foundational plan to begin balancing hormones, stabilizing your nervous system, and improving emotional resilience.

This phase sets the stage for long-term hormonal and emotional balance, helping you feel grounded, confident, and in control, no matter what time of the month it is.

Phase 2: Rebalancing & Integration

Now that we have a clear picture of what’s driving your PMS or PMDD, this phase focuses on restoring balance and helping your hormones, brain, and body communicate effectively again. This is where we start rebuilding your inner rhythm, so your cycle supports you, rather than controls you.

During this stage, we follow your personalized plan to regulate estrogen and progesterone balance, restore optimal liver and gut function (to improve hormone metabolism), replenish key nutrients, and calm inflammation so your mood, focus, and energy can stabilize across the month.

At the same time, we integrate mindset and nervous system techniques, such as breath work, reframing thought patterns, and cycle-aware stress management, to help your brain become more resilient to hormonal fluctuations.

You’ll leave this phase with:

• A sustainable plan that supports your hormones through nutrition, targeted supplementation, movement, and lifestyle changes.

• Tools to help you stay grounded and emotionally balanced throughout your cycle.

• Noticeable improvements like fewer mood swings, lighter or less painful periods, steadier energy, clearer thinking, and better sleep.

This is the stage where your body begins to find its rhythm again. Your hormones start working with you instead of against you, and you feel more calm, clear, and in control each month.

Phase 3: Long-Term Resilience

In this final phase, we bring everything together to help your hormones, brain, and body stay aligned, so emotional balance, energy, and clarity become your new normal. By this stage, the root causes of PMS or PMDD have been addressed, and the focus now shifts to strengthening your foundation so your cycle remains smooth and stable month after month.

We work on fortifying your nervous system, anchoring the mindset shifts that prevent symptom relapse, and building daily habits that help you sustain energy, focus, and calm throughout each phase of your cycle. You’ll learn how to recognize early signs of imbalance, set healthy boundaries around stress, and support your body and mind through life’s demands with confidence and ease.

You’ll leave this phase with:

• A resilient nervous system that adapts to hormonal shifts and everyday stress with ease.

• Sustainable routines that protect your hormonal and emotional balance long-term.

• A personalized plan to maintain progress, prevent symptom flare-ups, and support your cycle for life.

This is where regulation becomes resilience, where your body feels in sync, your mood feels steady, and you move through each month feeling grounded, capable, and fully yourself.