PMS: Premenstrual Syndrome Self-Help Book (Paperback)

~ Susan M. Lark (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A woman's guide to feeling good all month, bringing welcome relief through natural methods. The book discusses symptoms and causes of fatigue, anxiety, and pain; provides nutritional guidelines to help reduce premenstrual symptoms; and is fully illustrated throughout with a comprehensive workbook.

About the Author

DR. SUSAN M. LARK is one of the foremost authorities on women's health care and preventative medicine and is the author of nine books on women’s health issues. She has served on the faculty of Stanford University Medical School where she continues to teach in the Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 234 pages
• Publisher: Celestial Arts (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0890875871
• ISBN-13: 978-0890875872
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #427,580 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great guide to help start an understanding and useful strategies, February 3, 2006

By	Christopher "CLJ" (Hollywood Hills, CA USA) - See all my reviews

I purchased this book years ago for myself & x-girlfriend, to help us understand & create some kind of plan for her drastically debilitating PMS. As an outsider, I'd see the changes and pains she go through and could differentiate the PMS from her (she had a hard time seeing the forest for the trees since she was in the eye of the storm).

The insight on which foods & habits (exercise) affect mood swings and cramps was a welcome realization. I could count the minutes that would follow consumption of foods like chocolate, coffee, or sweets (even strawberries) where moods would crash & burn. It was extremely difficult realizing how vulnerable she was to a biological force that would come like an unwanted guest and wreck house.

We ended up reading 4 books that gave histories, case studies of extreme PMS (which hers was), and biological & physiological assumptions & reasonings about PMS. Susan Lark's book was the best for looking at what lifestyle choices might affect PMS onsets & taking action to help minimize those. This book was a life saver, it gives you a doable plan and helps monitor daily cause and effect of any implemented changes with a 'mood calendar" which helped her realize her moods weren't her but because of the PMS and gave her the ammunition to take action.

Susan Lark had PMS supplements she had put together that used to be sold at any pharmacy chain manufactured by Squibbs. I don't know if they are still made, but I believe they helped a lot as well. I'm purchasing this book again for my younger sister who only has mild PMS, but she finds herself craving chocolates and coffee during PMS and doesn't realize she's only adding wood to the fire. Those foods are like allergies/addictions to the body that only throw it off balance.

Life is too short to not learn how to make it better, this books will help put some tools that do make it better under your belt. Good luck...

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book saved my sanity, November 30, 2006

By	Kathryn Hinds "Kathryn" - See all my reviews

Fourteen years ago, I had such serious depression and mood swings that I was on the verge of committing myself to a mental institution. Then I started tracking those periods of "insanity" and found that they always hit a few days after I ovulated and ended a day or two after my period started. I went to an OB/GYN, told her I had PMS, and asked her for help. She informed me that there was no such thing as PMS and that I needed counseling. I was devastated because I *knew* what I was experiencing and I was desperate for a remedy. I left her office in tears and walked for a long time, until I reached a bookstore. I went in, hoping to distract myself for at least a little while.

And then I saw this book. And I read that many of Dr. Lark's patients had gone through years of counseling and treatment for mental illness before they were finally correctly diagnosed with PMS. I bought the book.

As another reviewer has pointed out, Dr. Lark does advocate some fairly drastic lifestyle changes--which, like any other medical treatment, may not be as effective for some people as they are for others. For me, however, they worked. I increased my exercise and followed her dietary recommendations and vitamin regime meticulously for two or three years, and I also used her accupressure massage every day during my PMS times. The depression lifted, the mood swings stopped, and I was finally able to function and relate to my family and just deal with life in general--no matter what time of the month it was. Gradually, I was able to back off the megavitamins and to allow myself caffeine, sugar, and chocolate in moderation--the time I spent following Dr. Lark's regime apparently "reset" my cycle. Of course, now my body and my cycle are changing again, so pretty soon I guess I'll be buying Dr. Lark's Menopause Self-Help Book!

17 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed feelings: Somewhat useful, but preachy, July 26, 2004

By	Reginleif II "reginleif2" (Noo Hampsha) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PMS Self Help Book (Paperback)

I found this book at a tag sale for a quarter. Since I've suffered from PMS at different levels of severity since adolescence, and since the price was right, I bought it.

There is definitely a good deal of useful information therein. Lark has some tips on herbs, yoga, and other things that might prove useful, and I intend to use the book as one of several reference guides and to experiment with a few of her suggestions.

What bugs me, though, is the unrelenting emphasis that you MUST radically change your diet if you want to get rid of your PMS. How does Lark want you to change your diet? Why, she wants you to get rid of beef, pork, caffeine, booze, cheese, white pasta and bread, salty snacks, and sweet desserts (especially chocolate) -- in other words, all the fun stuff.

This, to be frank, is hooey, at least for me. I've found that if I minimize my intake of these things from a week before onset of menses until four or five days into my period, and also up my intake of Vitamin B, things get much better.

As David Shaw writes in _The Pleasure Police_ -- a book I highly recommend, by the way -- one of the best things you can do for your health is to enjoy yourself. Despite all the scolding nanny types out there who want to convince us that everything we consume should be oh so wholesome, we all know that fettucine alfredo, Southern barbecue, Godiva chocolates, steaming lattes, and good stiff drinks are some of what make life worthwhile. (Sex is, too. Given this, it's rather odd that Lark doesn't mention how orgasm can diminish PMS and cramps. However, I digress.)

Judging from Lark's other books, in which she hawks a macrobiotic diet, homeopathy (what a crock *that* is), and other "natcheral" cures, it seems like she's really into this lifestyle and devoutly believes everyone else should be, too. Hey, if it's your cup of herbal tea with honey in it, go ahead. But it's not mine. If it's not yours, either, you should be aware that it's not your only option.

One last note: Antidepressants can also help immensely with PMS. But if another edition of this book ever comes out, expect Lark to condemn them as the product of "overly goal-focused Western medicine obsessed with magic pills." Thing is, sometimes pills *do* work like magic.