Dermatological problems

Hello doctors,

I anxiously await a response from you as I still suffer from these issues- dermatitis on my chin, eczema on my hands and fungus between the toes (athlete's foot)...please help!

Jennifer

Hello, Thank you for your reply, here is the information you requested. I know it is quite detailed and lengthy, but I hope it helps to paint a complete picture in order to better serve you.

Jennifer


Patient ID: Sex: FEMALE Age: 29

Please answer the following questions in a descriptive manner after careful analysis and recollection of previous experiences and happenings.

1. Describe your main suffering?
For approximately the past 7-8 years I have been suffering from a type of dermatitis which forms only around the mouth (perioral- from the limit of my bottom lip to the lowest point of my frontal chin, flanking the corners of my mouth, and filling the space between my upper lip skin and my nostrils) and it is confined to appearing around September, lasting until around the Spring and then clearing up completely. It does not cause me any real pain, it is just a bother aesthetically, except sometimes when the skin itches or is dry and scaly (but that is not a consistent or regular symptom during the periods when it is apparent), however the last 4 years I have spent trying to understand what the deeper problem might be- emotional, psychological ?- so I think that I’ve come to associate a bit of foreboding stress with this issue which of course doesn’t help.

The other two issues have developed just within the past few months : eczema confined to both of my palms and inner wrists, but sometimes it transiently appears between some of my fingers- it is not terribly itchy, but it does seem to have periods of increased redness and dryness which causes a greater itchy discomfort , however I am very careful to never scratch and I believe that this has helped me to maintain the problem just in the palms/wrists. It started as a small patch about .5 to .75 inch diameter, in the 4 areas, but has now grown to cover about 1.5 inches in all four areas, having developed around mid-late October 2011 and still lingering today mid-January 2012.

The third problem is athlete’s foot (fungus) which I have developed between the last 4 toes on my left foot and a small patch of irritation extending along the far left top side of my left foot from the pinky toe, about 1.5 inches long. On the right foot the fungus is only between my last two toes. This developed around late August 2011 and I still have it, but it has reduced in surface area and in level of discomfort.

2. What other physical sufferings do you have in your body?
Since childhood I have always suffered from chronic headaches which occasionally become migraines, I would say I develop a headache at least once a week, sometimes less frequently sometimes more frequently ; migraines I would say once every month or two. I know that these are due to a number of particular stimuli which I have been able to narrow down to caffeine (too much or lack thereof), fatigue, over-stimulation of senses either auditory, visual or olfactory, over-active mind, waiting too long between meals, not drinking enough water…migraines, however usually result after a few days of headaches which don’t subside, combined with severe exhaustion or emotional stress.


3. What mental sufferings / feelings do you have associated with your physical sufferings?
In the past, that is up until about a year and a half ago, the dermatitis I have around my mouth was something that was more of an annoyance but also sometimes a source of stress since I would have to put makeup on to cover it up for work or jobhunting (I was working as a bartender in NYC where the industry is quite superficial and based often on a person’s look rather than experience, but I’ve since moved and changed profession) or if I wanted to have a night out with my husband or friends and look good/feel good, so I would say that it caused me a very minimal amount of frustration and disappointment with my physical appearance just at those moments when my appearance would become more of an important factor. Since I’ve been dealing with this problem for so many years, I’ve come to accept it as a part of «seasonal » change and not think much about it any more, though I do wish I could alleviate the problem once and for all.

The two recent issues which have developed are more concerning to me. The eczema is very disturbing and has become a source of mental anxiety, since I spend a considerable amount of time reflecting inwardly and trying to seek what might be a psychological source. I’m very worried about it getting worse and I’m also very worried about some other issue developing elsewhere on my body because I now have come to understand that the stress which I fail to manage properly in my life, ultimately manifests itself as a physical ailment somewhere in or on my body. (I will touch further on this in question #5). The athlete’s foot I’m less worried about because I feel quite confident in my belief that it is a direct result of having poorly cared for my feet which spent a lot of time in moist areas this past summer, my first summer living in a new climate which is very very dry and hot, but working in a bed and breakfast out of our home for which I was cleaning daily the bathrooms and showers, sometimes just getting in there without wearing shoes and then not focusing on actually cleaning or drying off my feet before re-shoeing. So I probably contracted the fungus in this manner.

4. What exactly do you feel when you are at your worst?
I’m not 100% sure if this question is referring to the ailments I’m seeking treatment for or if it is referring to a general mood which we all go through from time to time when we just feel down and lame.. ? I’ll answer, therefore, in both ways, just in case ! Regarding the dermatitis, when it is at its worst, it’s itchy and dry with bright red little bumps that can even sometimes cause a burning sensation. This usually lasts about a day or two and then goes away. When it is like this, I feel a nervous sensation of being bothered by it, for example, I know it is there and it’s driving me crazy and I want to do something about it, but I have nothing to do about it so I feel blocked and frustrated. In general, I am a more « nervous » person, very active and moving, have a very very active mind which can sometimes deprive me of sleep, but after 29 years I’ve finally started to learn how to live with this and control it in my mind and in my body. I mention this because this « nervousness » often leads me to touch my face when I’m thinking or listening or talking, and that place is usually my chin, when I am going through a period when the dermatitis has flared up, I have the urge to always want to touch it, which I have to resist but sometimes just can’t, even though I know that doesn’t help.
To answer the second possibility of this question, when I feel « at my worst » for me that is when I have days of low vitality when I feel like doing nothing, feel lame and the lack of motivation activates a negative reflection upon myself, making me feel a deep sense of failure, regardless of whether or not it is actually true. Fortunately, days like this are few and far between and now that I am older and more understanding of my emotional cycles, I know that when I feel like this it is a passing lull of energy that I just have to wait out, so I am able to manage it without causing myself or those around me any unnecessary trouble.

5. When did it all start? Can you connect it to any past event or disease?

The dermatitis on my chin started when I was in college, around 2004/2005 I estimate, though after years of reflection the only thing I can relate this problem to is the fact that since my childhood I have always felt a sense of foreboding or apprehension to the arrival of late fall/winter. When I was a kid it was because I never wanted to go back to school after the summer, when I was in college it was because that period coincided also with the start of new semesters (a source of stress), as an adult in my work life that represents the end of the fun time of the year (spring/summer) and the beginning of the « end ». I now understand that the fall/winter seasons for me have always represented a time of « death » of the end. It has taken me my entire life to understand this feeling and now that I do, I have only this year begun to work on changing my paradigm of « the end », having passed a better automn and so far a more positive winter season, although now at this point in my life these seasons also represent a period of financial difficulty, a new source of stress ! I guess somehow it all boils down to a matter of dealing with my stressors, which is still a huge area of work.

The eczema I equate to two particular sources and periods : around late October, when this first appeared, I had begun working in the garden, something I had never done in my entire life, being that I lived my whole life in the city. I had my hands often in direct contact with the dirt and with different plants, weeds, roots which I’ve never touched before so I think that probably had something to do with the initial irritation, but I have not had any such contact for over a month now and the eczema has not disappeared. Secondly, the exact same time period coincided with the beginnings of apprehensive and stressful thoughts about the arrival of my parents-in-law who spend 3 weeks living with us every December-January and also another 6 weeks during the summer months. In fact, without going into unnecessary details here, I will tell you that we currently reside in their home in order to care for it and operate their bed and breakfast business in their absence as they have moved to another country to complete 4 years of contract-based work there, and thus they return to their home to be with us during their vacations. This is an enormous source of stress for me, however, perhaps one of the biggest I’ve ever had to tackle and I am certain that this variable plays a larger role in the development of my eczema, which concerns me for the future because this issue of eczema is the third phsyical apparition of anxiety in anticipation of their arrival and during their time with us. The first time it was heart palpitations and nausea, the second time it was severe abdominal cramps, diarrhea and loss of appetite, the third time it was eczema and a spasmophilic episode which occurred one evening…thus, I think about the upcoming visits and I ask myself now what will it be next?
I have discussed these issues with them, detailing exactly why I derive a feeling of stress from their presence due to their overwhelming demands and expectations and their daily extremes of mood changes and nervosity, but they refute what I present them with and thus I realize it is up to me to figure out how to deal with the presence of their personal individual stress as well as the stressful atmosphere they create when they are here. In fact, if you can recommend me something for this stress issue, I would also appreciate it! In the meantime, I’m trying to learn to meditate in order to remain calm during the tense moments that inevitably develop when they are here with us.

To touch on what I mentioned in question #3…In November 2009 I experienced a very strange period of heavy psychological transformation, emotional distress and mysterious illness. This time coincided with a number of endings/beginnings in my life, in my work, in my personal relationships and in myself, coupled with the overwhelming stress of the job I held during the year 2009 and also the overwhelming stress of being rejected at that point in my life by both of my parents. I ended up developing an ordinary yeast infection which I let go untreated because I thought I could take care of it with over-the-counter medications, since I didn’t have health insurance and had neither the time nor the money to see a doctor (these days I take my health more seriously, however, thanks to this horrible experience, in fact). The yeast infection became a more serious problem, turning into what is called « moniliasis » in which I appeared to have all the symptoms of genital herpres, actually, however my diagnosis was vague. I was in a horrible condition physically and emotionally for about 2 weeks and the quality of the care at the hospital I finally went to for help was extremely low…ie I was sent to see a radiologist in the place of a gynecologist because they were short staffed at the moment and my analyses were never revealed to me so I never found out if I had herpes, which seemed impossible considering mine and my husband’s sexual backgrounds, so to this day I still don’t know what exactly I experienced, but I never had any other symptoms typical of genital herpes since then. In the end, I took a medication called « zelitrex » which cleared up the sickness completely within a few days. For me, this experience was a major turning point in how I perceived my personal health and how I managed my body. It was already looming in the background for a while with a distrust and disagreement with the medical/healing approach I grew up around in USA, but following this sickness I began to renounce western medicine almost completely and since then, I’ve tried very hard to put more work and effort into healing the little sicknesses that come up here and there via natural methods, especially via the mind. I’ve had successful results everytime except for the three issues I bring to you today.

6. Which time of the day you are worst?
Regarding the three ailments : no period of the day appears to be worse than others, concerning the dermatitis on my face and the eczema, however the fungus on my feet is worse at the end of the day, I conclude because of having been on my feet and in socks/shoes the entire day.

7. What are the things which aggravate your suffering and which are those which ameliorate the same?

The dermatitis on my face : initially, I was prescribed a topical steroid ointment by a dermatologist which I used because I didn’t know any better. It cleared up the problem, but then came back even worse the next year, at which point I did some research and learned that that is how steroidal creams/ointments work, so I stopped using any steroid-based treatments altogether. I looked into homeopathic treatments and so started washing my face with a very netural soap, unscented, for sensitive skin, and began to apply an ointment based on red marine algae. This helped/helps quite a bit to keep the flare-up under control, but the oitnment is very expensive for a very small quantity and it doesn’t actually cure the problem. Furthermore, I have moved to another country where this product appears to be unavailable to me. So currently I wash my face with an olive oil based soap, unscented, as natural as possible and I don’t put anything on my skin what-so-ever, except for a small amount of the little bit of the RMA ointment I have left which I save for days when my husband and I will go out and I don’t want those red bumps to be so evident. There is nothing in particular that aggravates the dermatitis, except it I touch it or if I don’t keep on top of cleaning my face daily.

The eczema : at first, I went to my local pharmacy where they gave me a tube of boiron « arsenicum iodatum » granules which I took for a week until it was finished, but it reflected no results and I knew that it was not a good idea to play around with treatments I know nothing about so I did not continue to take any treatments as of about 1 month ago now. I read about making hot compresses of fresh sage leaves, which I apply every few days to the affected areas. The compresses seem to help soothe the itchiness and the spreading, but cause a bit of increased redness for a day afterward. In between I apply a moisturizing cream throughout the day which helps with the itchiness and scaliness of the skin. What aggravates the eczema is the fact that I wash my hands innumerably throughout the day between doing dishes, after using the toilet, before and after cooking, and also everytime I change my daughter’s diaper, which is quite frequently. I know that this does not help, but it is inavoidable and so afterward I apply the hand cream… (I’m using L’Occitane 20% shea butter hand cream, it is still a commercial product but it is one of the best products I can find for now which has little to no perfumes and is very thick, pasty but penetrates the skin well, rather than being watery or greasy and resting on the skin surface).


The fungus : the same local pharmacy recommended I use « teinture mer de calendula officinalis », applying daily to the areas affected after washing and drying. I’ve been doing this since early December and it is working very well, so far the topical appearance of the fungus has reduced by about 60-70% and it does not itch at all, the skin does not peel as much as it was in the beginning and I feel confident that this issue is well under control, however I have a doubt that it will go away 100%, only time will tell. The issue is aggravated if I do not keep on top of washing and drying my feet daily and applying the calendula officinalis. I know that it will help if I let my feet rest open and ventilated without socks and shoes, but it is quite difficult to achieve this simple act because of the amount of movement I make in a day between the garden, the interior of the house and all the work I must complete between the two areas in a day, as well as caring for my 9month old daughter nearly all day everyday.


8. Do your think your sufferings have relation to any external stimuli (like, change of place) or any internal biological changes in the body, like, menses (in females)?
Certain that there is no relation to menstruation.
External stimuli mentioned in responses #5.
Additionally, want to note that there is no stress at all related to the fact of having moved to another country, in fact it’s quite the opposite. The move we made was heavily driven by my desire to put myself in another envrionment completely opposite to that which I had known my entire life- far from civilization, deep in the nature and at a much much slower pace. This has proven to be a great relief for my mental and physical states, except for the stress that comes along with the arrival of my parents-in-law every 6 months or so.


9. When do you feel better, during hot weather or cold weather, humid or dry weather?
Always feel generally better during warm sunny days ! Cold weather makes me not want to go out, but I don’t allow myself to submit to this inevitable element, especially since there is exterior work to be done and because my daughter needs to spend time outside as well. Although, my deep instinct is to avoid going out when it is cold ! Rain and humidity don’t bother me.

10. Describe your general mental set up? Are you Moody, Arrogant, Mild, Agreeable Changeable, Nervous, Suspicious, Easily offended, Quiet, Arguing, Irritating, Lazy etc.
I used to be a bit more moody and « hormonal » but I’ve conquered these aspects of my personality. I am, however, still a very nervous and often changeable person. My natural instinct is to be a bit more of a fighting person when I feel there has been an injustice or if I feel offended. Otherwise I am a very quiet, calm and peace-seeking person that prefers to spend my days in the calm, without much noise, reading and thinking. After 28 years of living in the city and now 1 year of living in the deep countryside, I realize that it has been the nature that my body and mind have been missing, as it is the nature which has offered me great solace and opportunity for healing.

- How do you feel before or during a thunderstorm? No change, although I do find it mildly exciting during the thunderstorm.

- Do you like being consoled during your tough times? Not necessarily consoled, but I like to talk out my feelings or write them out as it helps me to better understand them.

- Are you sensitive to external stimuli like smell, noise, light etc? Yes extremely sensitive, often I will develop a headache simply due to a strong perfume or floral aroma, or if my eyes take in too much light (more artificial lighting, but lots of sunlight in the eyes can cause a headache too sometimes), conversely, if I spend too many hours reading in low light I’ll cause a mild headache. Noise is very fatguing to my mind and my body, especially after my life in the city I believe I’ve exerperienced an oversaturation of noise and light stimulation.

- Do you have any typical habit or gesture like nail biting, causeless
weeping, talking to one self etc? All three. Nailbiting I can control to the point of it being nearly a nonissue, however, I do talk to myself insomuch as I have such an active mind that my brain races through ideas on a regular basis so the « talking to myself » is not really outloud but more in my head. I also have a serious issue with getting musical melodies/songs stuck in my head to the point where I can’t control their monotnous repetition and it can even drive me to feel nauseous after days. The causeless weeping used to be an issue every few months or so, but I haven’t experienced this in a long time, I believe since I am in better control of my emotional cycles.

- How do you feel about your friends, family, your children and especially your husband / wife?
I feel a great sense of fulfillment and happiness from my husband and my daughter. I’ve been married almost 6 years now and our relationship has changed my life completely for the better, the arrival of our daughter marked a new period in my life, a new stage of growth- only good things !
I’ve experienced only disappointments, however in my friend relationships, in fact I can’t say I have even one single true friend nor have I had one throughout my entire life, other than my husband. I realize now that part of that is my own fault and so I am working on better managing myself in my daily interactions with friends and acquaintances. My own personal family (parents, siblings, etc) is unfortunately a nonexistent sphere at this point my life. My parents have chosen to « cut » me from their life as of about 2 years ago, despite the great relationship we had when I was a child (they have a hard time accepting me in my adult life due to numerous conflicts in my personal choices versus how they « raised me »). It was quite difficult to deal with, but I have come to terms with their absence from my present life, although I often envision how a dialogue between us might transpire with a successful outcome, yet no such dialogue has yet to occur in person (my parents avoid confrontations and therefore communicate via email, which I no longer wish to support).

11. What are your fears and do you dream of any situation repeatedly? I have a deep hidden fear of my husband and/or daughter going out of my life AND/OR my own death occurring before being able to teach my daughter everything I would like to about life. I know these are unwarranted fears but they exist deep down inside nonetheless.
As I mentioned just earlier, I very often envision what would happen if I had the opportunity to have a peaceful, coherent conversation with my parents. I envision what I would want them to know and why and also how I would respond to what they might say. However, these are still just visions since I don’t feel ready to contact them at this point in my life.

12. What do you crave for in food items and what are your aversions? I have less regular « cravings » but rather have regularly changing periods during which I eat either the same food item or a similar group of food items until I’m sick of it/them. The one thing I do absolutely crave even though I know it’s not the best for my body and my nervosity is coffee. I am concious of my coffee consumption and what it does to me so I make an effort to limit how much and how frequently I do consume it. I’ve succeeded in going long periods without drinking coffee a few times in the past few years, but somehow I always come back to it for some reason or another. There are times, however when I am aware that I am going through a period of heightened internal excitement/nervosity and those times I avoid completely caffeinated tea and coffee.
My overall diet is not too bad…Junk food is practically nonexistent except for the occasional cookie/cake/ice cream. I eat homecooked meals about 96% of the time, maybe even more, consisting of very little meat (mostly due to financial constrictions and because I am less of a meat-lover than my husband), I try to eat some sort of vegetable serving 2-3 times a day either in the form of a simple salad accompaniment or by including frozen spinach/green beans/peas in whatever dish I’m preparing, otherwise I eat a lot of whole-grain homemade bread, regular commercial pasta, whole grains, potatoes, cheese & eggs provide the animal protein mostly in my diet, I do believe I can always fit more fruits and veggies in daily, but I feel confident in the fact that I am aware of maintaining a balanced diet in correspondance with what our budget can afford.
In my mid-twenties I went through a period of heavy drinking which corresponded with a lot of partying and compensating for the amount of work I was doing, since I was working in restaurants doing late nights, this type of lifestyle was very difficult to avoid. I realized it was doing me no good about 3 years ago and I began to make a conscious effort to balance work and my personal life and also to moderate my alcohol consumption. It’s been about a good 2 years now that my relationship with alcohol has matured and I know better my limits and how not to surpass them. It’s even easier since we don’t have the money to pay for alcoholic excesses, but if we did, I am confident now in knowing how to restrict myself, especially now that we have a child. These days I drink 1 beer a day and only at the end of the day, after or during my dinner, once my daughter has gone to bed. This works out well for me and I don’t crave any more than that.

Aversions : though I love cheese and fatty greek/arabic yogurt and cappuccinos, I absolutely cannot support physically or psychologically the possibility of drinking a glass of milk. The thought and the sight of others doing so nearly nauseates me. However, the moment it is mixed in coffee or even as a hot chocolate, there is no problem. It has been this way since my childhood and though I have tried anyway to force myself to overcome it by tasting milk on its own a few times in my life, I just can’t seem to get past the aversion. At the same time, however, when I do consume products heavy in milk (excepting fermented products like yogurt and cheese), my digestive system has a bit of difficulty processing it, ie gas, bloating, cramping, loose stool.
Another aversion is meat in general. As a child I did not like to eat animal flesh at all. I didn’t start to incorporate meat into my regular diet until I was almost in my twenties and even then it was a matter of overcoming a psychological blockage. My mid-twenties I went through a period of loving red meat, but now in my last 2 years of my twenties, I have little desire for meat in general and only really eat it from time to time when we can afford it, in order to completment my diet of the protein. Furthermore, I have a very difficult time eating offals, that is, organ meat. I would rather not eat it at all, but being married into a French family now, foie gras, heart, kidney have become items more frequently presented at the dinner table and so I force myself to eat at least a little bit out of politeness, but I actually gag while it is in my mouth, so strong is my aversion.


13. How is your thirst: Less, Normal or Excessive? Normal. I drink water all day long and am lucky enough to have access to water high in sulfur (thermal water).

14. How is your hunger: Less, Normal or Excessive? I would say it is a bit excessive. I love food, I love eating, but I don’t binge or abuse food. In comparison to the majority of ppl I know or have met, I would say that I have a larger appetite, but it is just what my body seems to require in order to be in good form. When I do not eat enough, I feel awful and the breakdown of my physical and psychological state happens quickly, starting with low vitality and headache. As long as I eat enough and drink enough water, I’m fine.

15. Is there any kind of food which your body can’t stand? Milk and organ meat, terrines, most pates, jellos.

16. Is your sweat normal or less or more? Where does it sweat more: Head, Trunk or Limbs? Before my pregnancy my sweat was normal and limited to the armpits. Post-pregnancy, I find I sweat a lot more than before, in armpits and feet.

17. How is your bowel movement and stool type? Regular, not liquid not too firm. I find that eating yogurt daily helps maintain my regularity. The moment I stop eating yogurt I start to have difficulty up to and including mild constipation.

18. How well do you sleep? Do you have a particular posture of sleeping? I like to sleep flat on my back without a pillow. I cannot sleep in moving vehicles regardless of how tired I am. I prefer to sleep in my bed, as opposed to on the couch (except if I am really tired and fall asleep while reading or watching a film) or any possible other place. I tend to have difficulty falling asleep in other ppl’s houses, but not if I’m staying at a hotel, which I find a bit strange. Taking naps throughout the day is nearly an impossibility for me. As I mentioned earlier, my mind and body feel a great sense of activity throughout the day so much so that in order to fall asleep I must be physically exhausted. This does cause me some difficulty now with my daughter in the picture because I think it would be beneficial for me to catch up on lost sleep by taking naps while my daughter naps, but if I lay down in order to nap, I simply can’t relax because my body wants to move.


19. Do you think you are able to satisfy your sexual desires in general? I don’t think my sexual self is very healthy. I have little sexual desire and I often feel a disharmony with myself in sexual acts, as though I can’t relax and receive pleasure, and I often feel as though I’m being watched. There was a period of time during which this problem was conquered a few years ago, but since my pregnancy, I have regressed to this sexual blockage.

20. How do you think you are different from others, if at all? I think I am very different from the large majority of ppl in that I have a closer connection to my unconscious self than do most ppl. I don’t believe that this makes me special or better than others because I am convinced that every person is capable of accessing and exploring their unconscious as intensely as I feel I do, it is just a matter of self-mastering and self-awareness. I believe that this aspect of my personality is a deep-rooted source of every positive and negative event in my entire life and for that I believe that I don’t fit it to a lot of the systems and structures which form much of our modern occidental societies, which causes me both great success and great difficulty in a variety of areas including education, healthcare, religion/spirituality, work, politics, justice. Though the past few years have been very revealing to me and I finally start to understand myself better and feel more comfortable in my skin, which helps me find my place in the societies in which I live, as well as the existence in which we all live.

21. What medications have been taken earlier by you to treat the diseases and do you have any particular symptom surfacing after the medication?

For 3 years I have not taken any medication regarding the perioral dermatitis except for the red marine algae ointment I mentioned earlier.

One month ago I took for one week granules of arsenicum iodatum as prescribed by a pharmacist. After that I starting boiling fresh organic sage leaves in water for 10 minutes then applying a clean rag soaked in this mixture to the areas affected by eczema, as well as perioral dermatitis. This seems to soothe, but I have not consistenly done this.

For the fungus between toes I have been applying daily calendula officinalis with positive results.

22. What major diseases are running in your family?
Diabetes type 2, hypertension, alzheimers, breast can.cer, ovarian can.cer, drug/alcohol addiction/abuse, depression

23. Describe, how do you look like? Describe your overall appearance
I am approximately 165cm tall and weigh 68kg (still losing postpartum weight !). I have green eyes and chestnut color hair. I have skin that is fair but bronzes easily and nicely. I have always been rather sturdy and curvy compared to other women- bigger breasted and wider-hipped.

24. (ONLY FOR FEMALES)

Please answer the following questions:

(Please give details of your past menstruation if you have attained menopause.)
- Are the periods early, regular or late in general? How long do they last?
Before my pregnancy periods were inconsistent, light and usually short- 3-4 days
After pregnancy, I began having periods one month after giving birth even though I was breastfeeding and they have since been heavier, longer (5-7 days) and more regular, although now I experience menstrual cramps about a day leading up to the cycle and 1-2 days into the cycle. (I stopped breastfeeding in October, as well.)

- Do you suffer from any kind of physical or mental discomfort before, during or after the periods?
Other than menstrual cramps in the pelvis and lower back a day before and 2 days during the beginning of the cycle, I sometimes experience a bit of moodiness, but otherwise nothing very prominent.

- Is the flow scanty, normal or excessive? Normal.

- Is the blood thick bright red or pale watery? Bright red, sometimes darker

- Do you notice any clots in the flow? Yes, frequently

Hello,

Thank you very much, I will look for this medication and report back when I do begin the treatment. Are there any other guidelines I should be aware of other than no coffee, no raw onion/garlic, no strong perfumes and no eating/drinking within 30 minutes before/after taking medication?

-Jennifer

One more question, I am trying to purchase this medication from your site and I have two choices for the 200C : unit dose or 80 pellets. Am I to take 3 unit doses of 200C or take the 80 pellets and just keep what remains?

Jennifer