Is Bee Pollen a Cure For PMS?
Although most women experience symptoms of PMS every month, the only things that are commonly used to treat it are birth control pills, diuretics, and antidepressants. But a recent story in the Cut explores a new, albeit odd, option - Serenol, a non-prescription supplement that contains bee pollen.
A similar supplement called Femal has been available in Sweden for years, and is marketed as an anti-PMS product. "A 2002 randomized, placebo controlled, double blind study of 29 women on Femal showed that it improved PMS symptoms like irritability and bloating," reports the Cut. Still, 29 isn't a huge sample, and researchers from the original Femal study noted that PMS treatments like Femal have a high incidence of creating a placebo effect, where even women who weren't receiving the supplement note an improvement in PMS symptoms.
But Miriam Greene, an ob-gyn at the NYU Langone Medical Center, told the Cut she's been giving her patients Serenol for the past year, and believes it really has helped them. " A small amount of patients might have a placebo effect, but I don't think it would be long lasting," she said. "I had a patient today who said, 'This saved my life.' How long can a placebo do something like that?"
Serenol's website says the supplement is "theorized to have a mild serotonergic effect on the hypothalamus," reports the Cut. Or in other words, it's theorized to make you feel good. So it doesn't totally rid you of PMS symptoms, but it might make you feel a bit better. If you want a total cure, you can talk to your doctor - but most likely, you'll be given a prescription for birth control or Lexapro and sent on your way.
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