Parsley tea for period troubles

Working alongside doctors and nurses everyday means they are all subjected to me firing questions at them about medical complaints, of which I have plenty. About five months ago, I was busy complaining about how badly I suffer from late periods and pains and oily skin and hair at the joyous time of the month, when a colleague popped up and told me I needed parsley. I have never given much thought to parsley, I mean; it’s not that riveting is it? I knew nothing about it apart from that it came in two forms: flat leaf or curly. Fascinating stuff.

I was very apprehensive when I was told that I should brew myself some parsley tea. I am a tea enthusiast. I love the stuff. Normal tea, green tea, cranberry tea, ginger tea, black tea, tea with milk, tea with honey. All of the tea. The idea of parsley tea however, did not really fill me with caffeine delight. Apparently parsley, which is rich in vitamin C and A, both powerful antioxidants, is actually laden with health benefits. The most surprising thing to hear is that it can help to regulate periods and hurry along late ones. Upon hearing this, I politely nodded and thought to myself ‘errr, yeah okay.’

However, after a really horrible stressful month, my period was very late (about 2 weeks and I was definitely not pregnant), I was bloated, I was grumpy, my skin was horrible and my hair needed washing twice a day to look presentable. I was so fed up that I swung by Sainsbury’s and got some parsley (and about 2000 calories worth of M&Ms). My housemates were mildly horrified to see me throwing some freshly chopped herbs into a cup of boiled water, and to be honest, I was with them. It doesn’t look or smell like much fun. I was instructed to drink two cups for two days. It was pretty easy, just finely chop a handful, pour over the water and wait five minutes. Guess what happened after cup 3?

It worked. Or it was a coincidence, but either way, I was impressed. I also had the most mild and quickly passing stomach cramps for a very long time. I began googling parsley tea and stumbled across loads of forums and posts stating that it really helped with periods and bad skin and a number of other things. There were also a few that said it was rubbish, of course. I decided to try it again the following month, and drank a few cups in between for good measure, and hey presto, barely any period pains and it was bang on time, another extremely novel and sadly exciting thing in my life. After two months of herby, bitty, light green tea, my skin was also looking better. I am as sceptical as the next person about this kind of thing, but I believe in parsley tea. I have used it for four months, and my period pains have subsided, it’s been on time and I don’t look seven months pregnant the week before. I mentioned it in passing to my GP, who said it was definitely good for you, though in true GP fashion when it comes to herbal remedies, she didn’t have much else to say.

I would recommend giving it a try if you have similar woes. However, please brace yourself for the taste. Unless you are parsley groupie, I would add honey or lemon to soften the blow. Drinking it quite hot works too, as the longer you leave it the stronger the taste. It can also apparently help with fatigue and is good for cleansing the kidneys as it is rich in potassium; ideal after a heavy weekend or mid-week happy hour. However I have been told that it isn’t recommended for people with kidney conditions and shouldn’t be drank when pregnant.

If you suffer from misbehaving periods however, I would give it a go.  Just another reason why tea is fabulous.

Life as a chronic pain sufferer: Hypermobility and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Alex's Story.

If you ask a 22 year old woman to describe her life, you would expect something along the lines of work, friends, socialising, holidays, opportunities and plans. When I asked 22 year old Alex-Marie Wood, I didn’t get any of those things. Instead she listed daily chronic pain, endless GP appointments, being unable to work and losing her dream job, unable to socialise or exert herself and feelings of depression. A day in Alex’s life can consist of migraines, mental and physical fatigue, abdominal pain, waiting rooms for medical appointments and when she is at her worst, help with dressing, bathing and eating. It doesn’t remotely sound like a life anyone should be leading, even though her current situation is a big step up from being diagnosed with growing pains and hypochondria in her teens. Alex has hypermobility syndrome and suspected Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Two conditions that few doctors know much about and aren’t widely heard of in the public. They aren’t actually rare; they are sadly quite common, but rarely diagnosed properly.

EDS is a genetic connective tissue condition that is a multi-systemic syndrome. Connective tissue covers over 95% of your body so there is little that escapes the symptoms. (EDS UK) More can be read about EDS here: http://bend-trend-hms.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/ehlers-danlos-syndrome-confusion-types.html

Joint hypermobility means some or all of a person's joints have an unusually large range of movement.

People with hypermobility are particularly supple and able to move their limbs into positions others find impossible. (EDS UK)

Many people with hypermobile joints do not have any problems or need treatment. However, joint hypermobility can sometimes cause unpleasant symptoms, such as:

• joint pain
• back pain
• dislocated joints – when the joint comes out if its correct position
• soft tissue injuries, such as tenosynovitis (inflammation of the protective sheath around a tendon)

If hypermobility causes these types of symptoms it is often called joint hypermobility syndrome. http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/joint-hypermobility/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Lots of sufferers of both of these syndromes will know that diagnosis is a battle. A long hard, painful one at that. Alex shared her story with me from symptoms when she was a child to where she is at now with referrals and treatments:

I had been in and out of the doctor’s office on a regular basis from a rather young age, complaining of chest pains, fatigue, shortness of breath, joint pains, dislocations, anxiety and feeling dizzy but it was put down to growing pains and a case of hypochondria. I wasn't able to do as much as the other children as I was always falling over or damaging myself by accident so I lived a rather sheltered life. In March 2013 I became ill with glandular fever, and this then seemed to exacerbate the symptoms I had been suffering throughout my childhood. The doctors initially thought I had Chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia as I was in chronic pain and very lethargic. I was sent to an endocrinologist which examined me and did endocrinology and rheumatology blood work, everything came back negative. I rapidly deteriorated in December, losing between 7-9 pounds a week for six weeks as I struggled to keep food and liquid down. After ten months of testing and going back and forth to the GP I was sent to a rheumatologist for a second opinion in January of this year and that was when I was diagnosed with hypermobility syndrome (with a beighton score of 9/9).

The beighton score is a measure of how hypermobile an individual is and how widespread it is. Clinically, it is quick to do and can be assessed in minutes. However it is not always straight forward to diagnose someone with hypermobility syndrome, as there are other symptoms that can be present. More info on this can be found on the Hypermobility Syndrome Association’s website: http://hypermobility.org/help-advice/hypermobility-syndromes/beighton-score/

Pain from hypermobility varies greatly from person to person. It can come on suddenly and can be completely debilitating for one person, whereas for others it can come and go as nagging pains through the day, disappearing at times then returning. Unfortunately for Alex, she is at the high end of the pain scale. It is difficult for people to look at someone who appears normal and looks healthy and understand that they are actually suffering chronic pain. Expressing to people that the pain is real is sometimes hard enough, even to doctors and physiotherapists. The life of a ‘spoonie’ as chronic pain sufferers are known can turn into an isolated and very miserable one.

I can become bed ridden for days, sometimes up to a week if I can't move because the pain is simply too much to bear. However, on a good day I am able to care for myself and go about my day as long as I am cautious and don't partake in anything too strenuous. I have a lot of bad days but I spend a lot of time educating researching this condition and I am making positive lifestyle changes to reduce the amount of time I spend as a prisoner in my own body.

 

As I am limited in what I am capable of, I do not go to any social events or go out to town to shop or socialise as I will really suffer for it for the next few days. I experience good days and bad days but I can never tell how I will be feeling from one day to the next. Being so limited in what I was able to do, I feel that this has really affected my relationships with family and friends. My mental and physical fatigue plagues me the most, I get tired very easily and I struggle to keep up with conversation so I spend a lot of my time sitting quietly. I am told that I am distant and I don't get myself involved, but I am usually in a state where I am overwhelmed by pain and I can't concentrate on what is going on around me. I'm not able to keep up with the pace of life that my family and friends are at, and I sometimes can get left behind which can be lonely at times. My friends and family are very supportive and they try to include me in what they can, but given my fragility I wouldn't be able to go out for a meal, partying, out shopping, go to Thorpe park or on a family holiday so I miss out on quite a lot of things.

 

It is not just socialising and taking part in days out and normal activities that is a problem. Working when in pain can become impossible and opportunities can become scarce and non-existent as employers will more often than not dismiss ‘hypermobility’ or ‘over-bendy joints’ as an excuse. This is not because people are unreasonable, it’s because they don’t have an understanding, which is why Alex is keen that people know what can happen when you have an invisible illness.

 

I have been dismissed from my place of work because of my illness, and not only was the company providing me with amazing career prospects but they were paying for me to complete a degree with other accreditation. I was working towards becoming a systems engineer and I was working for one of the best IT companies in the world, it was my dream and I was just over half way through when I was told I would be unable to continue working and studying as I was no longer well enough to work or sit an exam. I am still unable to work and I fear that I am not going to get back into a healthy state so that I can return to work.

 

Everyone knows what it’s like to miss out on stuff for being ill, but for most this is due to having flu, or a virus and they can jump back into life as soon as they are better. However, imagine having to face the fact that to get better, you must first convince the right people that something is wrong before you can begin a long path of referrals, appointments and therapy to begin to get yourself back on track. It’s an overwhelming and very realistic thing for many people in Alex’s shoes. Awareness for HMS and EDS must improve, as well as training for medical professionals, so her story doesn’t get repeated time and time again.  Alex’s last words in her summary are certainly not something that should be felt or said by anyone: I have become depressed, I have nearly given up and I have almost lost my mind to this condition.

 

The more awareness the conditions get, the quicker and better suffers can be treated and get the help they need to keep their lives, and their minds, in happier times.

The HMSA website offers lots of help and advice: http://hypermobility.org/

As does the EDS support UK: http://www.ehlers-danlos.org/

There are also big social networks on Facebook and Twitter where stories are shared and advice offered, so anyone suffering in silence should take a look and speak up, just like Alex.