Living Well with PMDD

Happy Spring! Have you ever done something stupid, but it took doing it a few times to realize it was stupid? That's what happened to me in January of this year regarding my natural progesterone supplements. Listen in to hear what I've learned.

Next week: Special Guest sharing about how her whole food, plant-based eating + exercise has eliminated her pmdd symptoms. 

April is PMDD Awareness month. Special Guest Marybeth Bohn will be with us. She lost her daughter to pmdd in 2021.

Take Aways

• I still sometimes make stupid decisions even though I've been addressing pmdd for years. 
• Changing the timing of progesterone supplements really messed with my body
• Not going to bed RIGHT after taking progesterone supplements made me light-headed.
• My tiredness has increased so much while using the 300 mg dose that I think my body is producing more progesterone now.
• Transitioning to a low-dose progesterone cream for some of my cycle will be better, I think.

Support the show

Want more support? ❤️Click here for a free 20 minute consultation call to help you get clear on your next best step and if working with me is good fit. 

• Want to support the show? Consider donating a few dollars through my support page. It helps to offset the costs of producing the show. Go here to donate. Thanks! 

Free resources:

• Heidi's website
• Heidi's YouTube

Music 

• Music- Island Breeze by Surf House Productions | https://surf-house-productions.bandcamp.com 
• Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Last week, I shared how a health challenge can inadvertently make you think your marriage is terrible. But what if it IS terrible? 

Today I'll address the negative effects a bad relationship can have on your health. This may be why your health is bad...it's your body's response to the relationship. We'll look at how to assess if the relationship is bad or if your perception and emotions are skewing your vision of the relationship. Also available on YouTube here.

Take Aways

•  Physical effects of being in a bad relationship: increased stress and strain, increased cardiovascular reactivity, increased immune response, increased inflammation, and increased cortisol, higher risk of heart disease, higher risk of obesity and weight issues, and higher risk for high blood pressure. https://www.megawecare.com/wellness-we-care/chronic-diseases/the-hidden-impact-how-bad-relationships-affect-your-health
• Psychological effects of being a bad relationship: anxiety, depression, mood swings, social isolation
• Are you in a great relationship going through a hard time? Or is the relationship bad?
• A "good" relationship: You feel loved, appreciated, and/or respected most of the time.
• A "bad" relationship: You feel unwanted, disliked, and/or rejected most of the time.
• If there is any form of physical, emotional, verbal, sexual abuse = you're in a bad relationship
• Your perceptions affect your beliefs about your marriage. 
• Remember to factor in YOU. Do you have underlying issues that affect your perception? Factor those in.
• Due to pmdd, I sometimes have false perceptions which lead to false beliefs about my marriage. My marriage is GREAT though. My perception is sometimes off.
• Are you looking through newlywed glasses? Victim glasses? 
• Look at your spouse's actions. Then put their actions in a different setting. Are they okay there? This can help to separate possible emotional biases you may have and help look at the actions more logically.
• If you've assigned your emotional well being to your spouse, ending the relationship won't necessarily help. 
• There are many ways to move forward if you have a bad relationship. You may want to start by talking about what is bothering you with your spouse.
• Communication may be the solution.
• You don't need to suffer in silence. Take care of your mind and body. 
• Being in a marriage built on love and respect is one of the most wonderful ongoing experiences a person can have. 
• National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 or text BEGIN to 88788

Support the show

Want more support? ❤️Click here for a free 20 minute consultation call to help you get clear on your next best step and if working with me is good fit. 

• Want to support the show? Consider donating a few dollars through my support page. It helps to offset the costs of producing the show. Go here to donate. Thanks! 

Free resources:

• Heidi's website
• Heidi's YouTube

Music 

• Music- Island Breeze by Surf House Productions | https://surf-house-productions.bandcamp.com 
• Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Today we look at an analogy of hiking with an uncomfortable shoe and how it relates to being in a marriage while experiencing a health challenge. Watch the show here.

If you'd like personal support, please reach out to me.

Take Aways

•  A health challenge can throw a wrench in so many areas of a marriage that it can cause the marriage to want to collapse and decay. 
• Bad stuff is going to happen sometimes.
• Hiking analogy. 
• How does having an uncomfortable shoe affect the experience would have on a hike? 
• Just as an uncomfortable shoe lessens the overall good and amplifies any bad of a hiking experience, a health challenge can lessen the overall good and amplify the bad of your marriage experiences.
• Specific guidance on what to do: 

1. Recognize when this is happening...the NON-rose colored glasses of illness are shaping the view you have of your marriage.
2. Talk with your spouse. Share concerns about how this illness is affecting your thoughts about your marriage.
3. Apologize for actions you take that are not in-line with who you want to be. Actions taken from annoyance/discomfort/anger (even if it's because of your health challenge).
4. Listen to your spouse's concerns and ideas. Together, look for ideas to improve your marriage during this difficult time.
5. Do enjoyable things together!
6. Take pictures during good times. Print them and display them in your home where you will see them often.
7. Give and receive grace and compassion. 
8. Give compliments to your spouse.
9. Recognize the good they do and tell them verbally (out loud) that you appreciate it. Be specific when possible.
10. Hug and hold one another.
11. Bite your tongue when you want to say something mean or want to challenge a compliment they've given you.

• This is your challenge right now, but they may go through a health challenge later. Your child may go through one later. Gaining skills to handle this challenge will bless you and your family now and maybe later too. 

Support the show

Want more support? ❤️Click here for a free 20 minute consultation call to help you get clear on your next best step and if working with me is good fit. 

• Want to support the show? Consider donating a few dollars through my support page. It helps to offset the costs of producing the show. Go here to donate. Thanks! 

Free resources:

• Heidi's website
• Heidi's YouTube

Music 

• Music- Island Breeze by Surf House Productions | https://surf-house-productions.bandcamp.com 
• Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Want to feel better? I'd love to help. Book a 30 minute call with me here. 

Today, come with me to look at two approaches to feeling better. We'll look at the benefits of both and how to utilize them in your life. 

Take Aways

• We are taught and trained to take action.
• Taking action often looks like accomplishing tasks, fulfilling responsibilities, or goal setting and achievement.
• The immediate benefit for taking action is relief. You have a goal. You have steps to get there. Cue relief.
• Sometimes taking action after action leads to burn out.
• Having a mix of connection and action can limit burn out and help us feel better faster.
• We want to connect with who we are. An amazing creation. The person we've been since birth. She's beautiful and highly valuable as she is.
• The immediate benefit for connecting you YOU is naturally feel better in that moment. Peace comes. A sense of everything being okay comes.
• Just take a few minutes, sitting with your eyes closed, pondering the wonder of you, as you are, as a creation.
• Decision making will come more easily.
• Results that you want will flow to you.
• It's hard to describe.
• Solving a problem becomes less insistent. 
• You become less desperate.
• Taking actions and feeling connection both lead to feeling better. 
• Which one do you do a lot of? 
• Which one could you practice a little bit more?
• This episode on YouTube is here.

Support the show

Want more support? ❤️Click here for a free 20 minute consultation call to help you get clear on your next best step and if working with me is good fit. 

• Want to support the show? Consider donating a few dollars through my support page. It helps to offset the costs of producing the show. Go here to donate. Thanks! 

Free resources:

• Heidi's website
• Heidi's YouTube

Music 

• Music- Island Breeze by Surf House Productions | https://surf-house-productions.bandcamp.com 
• Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Histamine intolerance is a relatively new thing. Discover how it could be making your PMS symptoms worse. You'll also hear what to change to have less PMS symptoms related to histamine intolerance.

Take Aways

• My terrible experience with severe PMS symptoms last week. 
• My symptoms were likely heightened by high histamine levels.
• About histamines from Healthline.com
• The body can get overloaded with histamine and have an allergic response
•  "Histamine intolerance is the temporary state of having too much histamine, which is the part of the immune system that causes allergies and swelling. In addition to its role in immune function, histamine also regulates stomach acid, stimulates the brain, boosts libido and plays a key role in ovulation and female reproduction." -Lara Briden, Naturopathic doctor, Period Repair Manual, page 123.
• If you're healthy, your body should be able to clear histamine with the DAO (diamine oxidase enzyme).
• You may be more vulnerable to histamine intolerance at different times of your menstrual cycle.
• During ovulation and right before your period your body is higher in estrogen. Estrogen stimulates histamine production. Having too much histamine stimulates the body to produce more estrogen. The cycle continues.
• " Taking steps to lower histamine can dramatically improve PMS, period pain, and heavy periods." -Lara Briden, Period Repair Manual, page 124.
• "Steps include avoiding cow's dairy (histamine-stimulating food), avoiding fermented foods (histamine-containing food), and taking vitamin B6 which clear histamine by up regulating the DAO enzyme." -Lara Briden, Period Repair Manual, page 124
•  Treatment for histamine intolerance can include enhancing progesterone or taking progesterone as well. -Lara Briden, Period Repair Manual, page 205
• Note: natural progesterone (also called micronized progesterone) is different from progestin.

Support the show

Want more support? ❤️Click here for a free 20 minute consultation call to help you get clear on your next best step and if working with me is good fit. 

• Want to support the show? Consider donating a few dollars through my support page. It helps to offset the costs of producing the show. Go here to donate. Thanks! 

Free resources:

• Heidi's website
• Heidi's YouTube

Music 

• Music- Island Breeze by Surf House Productions | https://surf-house-productions.bandcamp.com 
• Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Today I will share benefits of calcium and then walk you through performing a calcium "audit." This will help you see where you get your calcium from and help you to know if you are getting enough calcium regularly.  You will also hear ways to increase your intake of calcium. 

To follow along with the video version on YouTube, click here. 

Take Aways

• Calcium benefits us by helping us to have strong bones, good cardiovascular health, plays a role in nerve signaling, affects muscle contractions, and aids in blood clotting. https://ancientnutrition.com/blogs/all/calcium-benefits-for-women
• We need 1000-1200 mg of calcium/day.
•  Sometimes our brain is just too hard on us and it fools us into thinking things that aren't true. 
•  But sometimes we need to look at the facts. We actually need to step back and actually see, "Is it true? Is it true that I'm not getting enough exercise?"
• Let's see if we are getting enough calcium.
• This calcium audit has two parts: What do I usually eat? What's a good mix of what I usually eat that will get me 1000 mg daily? 
• On a piece of paper, write down the foods you usually eat. Feel free to look around your kitchen.
• Next, while looking at a food, write down the amount of calcium it has. Write the amount based on how much of it you will eat. (If a serving size is a cup, but you'll only have 1/2 cup then write how much calcium is in a 1/2 cup.)
• While looking at the foods you eat, identify 3-4 foods that you have daily that will get you 700-800 mg of calcium every day. These are your calcium foundation. 
• What other foods will you eat? Nuts? Fruits? Vegetables? Yogurt? Based on what is written on your paper, will you get to 1000 mg with these additional foods? 
• If yes, YAY! You're getting enough calcium. Keep going!
• If not, tweak what you are going to eat so you that you can get enough calcium regularly. Maybe drink some orange juice or some milk each day.
• YOU DID IT. Now you know more about how much calcium you're getting and you can make changes if you'd like to.

Support the show

Want more support? ❤️Click here for a free 20 minute consultation call to help you get clear on your next best step and if working with me is good fit. 

• Want to support the show? Consider donating a few dollars through my support page. It helps to offset the costs of producing the show. Go here to donate. Thanks! 

Free resources:

• Heidi's website
• Heidi's YouTube

Music 

• Music- Island Breeze by Surf House Productions | https://surf-house-productions.bandcamp.com 
• Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

It's been a while since I've addressed pmdd specifically. I'm excited to do that today and plan to do so off and on going forward. Today I share some things I wish I'd known 3 years ago--when I was early into my pmdd journey. Hopefully these will help you be able to be healthier and live a better life... especially if you have pmdd (premenstrual dysphoric disorder) or other premenstrual issues. 

Take Aways

• The "5 Keys to Living Well with PMDD" are still applicable. Listen here to review those.
• Lesson 1: There is no "one-size-fits-all" solution for women with pmdd.
• Lesson 2: Your general health matters. It impacts the severity of your pmdd symptoms. (So make attempts to be healthier!)
• Lesson 3: Mindset matters.
• Lesson 4: You know better than anyone else your body and what is best for you right now.
• Lesson 5: Support makes having pmdd bearable.
• There is hope. 
• You're not alone.

Support the show

Want more support? ❤️Click here for a free 20 minute consultation call to help you get clear on your next best step and if working with me is good fit. 

• Want to support the show? Consider donating a few dollars through my support page. It helps to offset the costs of producing the show. Go here to donate. Thanks! 

Free resources:

• Heidi's website
• Heidi's YouTube

Music 

• Music- Island Breeze by Surf House Productions | https://surf-house-productions.bandcamp.com 
• Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

It can be easy to get caught up in new or different "health hacks" for good health and wellness. Let's calm ourselves down and tap into timeless wellness strategies instead. These will help with any health goal you have... weight loss, brain fog, joint pain, and insomnia. 

In this episode, I (Heidi) share basic, free ways that you can improve your health today. 

Take Aways

Here's the list of strategies discussed today.  

• Getting 10-15 minutes of sunlight every day
• Moving your body.
• Laughing
• Being in nature
• Getting outside in the morning
• Getting fresh air
• Being hydrated
• Journaling
• Creating something with your hands
• Feeling grateful
• Eat vegetables, whole foods, and as much home cooked as possible
• Limit the amount of blue light you're exposed to
• Take vitamins
• Hum
• Prioritize sleep
• Take warm baths, use a hot tub, or visit a spa
• Spending time with others
• Take a breath when you're overwhelmed
• Manage stress
• Have routines, but hold onto them loosely
• Read before bed
• Declutter
• Track your menstrual cycle
• Lift your legs and rest them on the wall while you lie on your back

Article referenced in this episode: https://www.womenshealthmag.com/uk/health/a64317392/free-health-wellness-habits/

Support the show

Want more support? ❤️Click here for a free 20 minute consultation call to help you get clear on your next best step and if working with me is good fit. 

• Want to support the show? Consider donating a few dollars through my support page. It helps to offset the costs of producing the show. Go here to donate. Thanks! 

Free resources:

• Heidi's website
• Heidi's YouTube

Music 

• Music- Island Breeze by Surf House Productions | https://surf-house-productions.bandcamp.com 
• Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Happy 2026!! Welcome back to the Living Well with PMDD podcast. I hope your new year is starting out wonderfully. 

In today's episode, I share with you about a decision I made right before my 17th birthday that changed my life. I decided to go without chocolate for a year. 

Summary

• Why and when I made the decision
• Surprises (and sacrifices) along the way while keeping to my goal
• Results: then and now
• How you can apply this in your life

Take Aways

• I was inspired by my dad having gone a year without candy. 
• Decisions don't have to be well thought out to be worth doing.
• My decision and keeping to that commitment has provided strength over the years for me to hard things.
• Think about who you want to be in 5 years. What is something you could start doing today that would help you become that person?
• Consider: What have you already done that can give you strength? Remember it. Let it lift you and be a foundation to what you want to pursue (or endure) now.

Support the show

Want more support? ❤️Click here for a free 20 minute consultation call to help you get clear on your next best step and if working with me is good fit. 

• Want to support the show? Consider donating a few dollars through my support page. It helps to offset the costs of producing the show. Go here to donate. Thanks! 

Free resources:

• Heidi's website
• Heidi's YouTube

Music 

• Music- Island Breeze by Surf House Productions | https://surf-house-productions.bandcamp.com 
• Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Heidi shares her client's top three weight loss tools of 2025. These are the most talked about, most used, and most helpful tools from this year.

Take Aways

• #1 The 100 Allowed Urges Worksheet
• #2 Reminding themself: IT'S OKAY when they mess up
• #3 Stick with the plan. (This is her individualized plan we made together.)

Download a copy of the 100 Allowed Urges Worksheet here and try it for yourself today! It can work for a weight loss goal, a time management goal, or even financial and relationship goals. It's pretty sweet. 

The 100 Allowed Urges worksheet comes from my Life Coach School Training. Thank you, Brooke Castillo!

Support the show

Want more support? ❤️Click here for a free 20 minute consultation call to help you get clear on your next best step and if working with me is good fit. 

• Want to support the show? Consider donating a few dollars through my support page. It helps to offset the costs of producing the show. Go here to donate. Thanks! 

Free resources:

• Heidi's website
• Heidi's YouTube

Music 

• Music- Island Breeze by Surf House Productions | https://surf-house-productions.bandcamp.com 
• Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com