Frequently Asked Questions About Our Hormonal Balance Herbal Products

Below are some common questions about Radiant Wonder and our Herbs.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. We’d love to help!

Can Stress Affect my FSH levels?

Absolutely stress can affect your FSH levels. We have seen dramatic rises of FSH after extreme stress. We have also seen FSH levels drop back below ten when the woman has learned how to help herself physically recover. Your FSH does not have to stay high. As you regain more calm and more energy you also gain adaptability, so stress does not make such a lasting physical impression.

This is the importance of the Radiant Wonder Fertility Programs. They are designed to bring back qualities needed for strong sexual vitality. They are designed to teach you how to restore your energy and your natural flexibility. The key is not just the special nourishing herbal formulas, it is also the healing foods, the Hot Water Detox, the breathing exercises and the Radiant Eight Energy Exercises. Everything you learn to do is focused upon helping you both renew your energy and reduce the tension that inhibits your healing.

Usually it is not your mind that is keeping you from relaxing. It is your body. And key to that is your energy. If your energy (without the help of sugar or caffeine) is low it is harder to heal. If you have low energy and you have a traumatic event it is harder for you to bounce back to balance. So, if your energy is low your tension can be higher.

How can I get rid of my cramps?

Most women accept pain with their period as normal or something they have to live with. The truth is, you do NOT have to live with painful periods.

Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners address painful periods the same way we address any other health issue: we go to the root of the problem.

To get to the root, let’s look at what is causing your period cramps.

When you have strong uterine contractions, the blood supply to the uterus is momentarily shut down, depriving the uterine muscles of oxygen. When your uterus is deprived of good circulation the lack of warmth, blood, and energy cause the muscles to get tight and spasm. This is why you experience cramps and pain.

If the cramping pain is due to an identifiable medical problem such as endometriosis, uterine fibroids, or pelvic inflammatory disease, your cramps may be even more extreme. All of this is caused by a blockage of blood and energy.

If you chill easily or eat a large amount of cold food or drinks, then you have what Chinese Herbalism calls a “cold uterus.” This will make your cramps even worse, because coldness restricts the free flow of blood and energy, as well as tightens the muscles.

So, this means one of the key ways to resolve your cramps is to introduce warmth into the uterus. The best way to do this is by adding Cinnamon & Poria to your herbal program for one month. This formula adds warmth, as well as increases circulation of blood and energy in this area. Cinnamon directly affects the uterus.

If you feel cramps coming on, then we recommend taking our formula, Peony and Licorice. Take 3-5 capsules as soon as you feel the pain beginning, or even beforehand, when you anticipate you might have pain. Repeat every few hours. This should get rid of or greatly reduce the cramps.

There are also some adjustments to your lifestyle you can make to rid yourself of cramps.

What to Avoid to Get Rid of Cramps:

1. Smoking – constricts the blood vessels

2. Alcohol – adds a lot of stress to your body and is known to prolong cramps

3. Cold drinks & food – restricts circulation of blood & energy, causing the uterus to tense up and cramp

4. Sugar – causes inflammation & negatively affects your blood sugar (limiting sugar also reduces mood swings)

Ideally, you would avoid these things all together, but we realize that’s not always realistic!
So, the most important time to avoid these foods and drinks is the week before your period and the week during your period.

Always apply heat (a heating pad or hot water bottle) to your abdomen before & during your period. Also, drink warm drinks (like tea or hot water with lemon) to really support your circulation and prevent cramping.

If you experience severe cramps, we have a few more steps you can take. First of all, start preparing in advance. We recommend taking Cinnamon and Poria all month long.

Then, the week before your period is due, take A Woman’s Vitality (2 capsules 2x/day). You can take it until the cramping is gone, but if you notice your bleeding is increasingly heavy, then stop. The formula is mean to warm and move blood and energy. It can’t harm you, but we don’t want you to unnecessarily bleed to heavily. If you use this formula regularly for 1-2 cycles, your cramps will be greatly reduced.

Why the Surge in Headaches, Crazy Periods, Hot Flashes & Irritability right now?
hot-flashes-coming-back

Every summer we get the same questions. Let’s talk about what is really going on and what you can do about it.

Can you believe this heat?? The heat and humidity this year is very intense. And it is constant. This is a big factor, because it means your body isn’t able to catch a break from the heat!

Some of the complaints we are getting daily right now:
  • Hot flashes/flushes returning with a vengeance
  • Increase in headaches
  • Irritability
  • Feelings of heaviness and lethargy
  • Fatigue
  • Blood pressure not as easy to control
  • Anger
  • Depression
  • Uncontrollable sweating
  • Bright red blood with the menses
  • Heavy bleeding
  • Shorter cycles
  • Longer days of bleeding

Why?

The hot weather is the reason! Especially if you are already internally ”hot”or ”humid.” The summer heat will compound that internal heat, causing you to feel miserable.

And then to make matters worse, this heat injures your body fluids and impairs the movement of your internal energy. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, we call this dehydration Yin or Essence deficiency.

One of the many qualities of Essence/Yin is that it fuels the coolant system for your body. When the coolant gets low the heat gets even worse. Things get more stuck, more hot, more humid, and you’ll feel even worse.

Finding Relief

You can’t change the weather, but you can learn how to take care of yourself during this harsh time and get some relief. You can also prepare your body during winter months so next summer the heat will not affect you as much!

The Chinese are very aware of the effects of weather on our health. In fact, they feel weather can be the trigger for many chronic health complaints, even certain diseases. Each season has its own challenges.

By the way, Western Medicine is not unaware of weather related health complaints. A recent study published by the American Academy of Neurology demonstrates that an increase of hot and humid weather patterns will result in an increase of headaches.

So what can you do right now?

  • Protect your body fluid by hydrating! — Drink lots of water. Enjoy fruits with high water content, like berries and melons.
  • Go to bed a little earlier.
  • Release tension by doing the Radiant Eight Energy Exercises (maybe do them in the pool!) or even some gentle stretching. — Include side stretches, which allow your rib cage to massage your liver (Exercise #4 of the Radiant Eight Energy Exercises).
  • Don’t forget to breathe! — When we are tense or stressed, sometimes we forget to breathe. This can lock the heat and tension in your body.

You can’t change the weather, but you CAN change the heat imbalance in your body.

Protect yourself from the heat with cooling foods!

  1. Drink Cooling Teas: Homemade celery/cucumber tea, Green tea, or Peppermint tea
  2. Make Asian Summer Tea: Goji Berries  and Chrysanthemum flowers. This tea is consumed all over Asia in the hot summer months. You can find these ingredients at your local health food store or on Amazon.
  3. Make Peach & Pear Summer Soup! This is one of our all time favorite summer recipes. It is not a hot soup. You make it and sip a cup of it every day. You can take it cold from the fridge and then let it sit out just a little bit and sip it. It will be cool, but not cold, and the ingredients are so perfect for the hot.

Avoid Iced Drinks

It may sound counter intuitive, but it’s important not to drink too many cold drinks during summer. A full glass of an iced drink actually makes your body hotter inside because your body heats up, working to get warm enough to keep working. I don’t blame you for wanting something cold and refreshing! If you’re dying for that cold drink in this hot weather, I recommend you suck on ice chips or sip your iced drinks, rather than gulping them down quickly. Just be mindful.

Eating According to the Season

Summertime Foods:

  • More fruit with high water content (watermelon, berries, apples, etc.)
  • More veggies with high water content (cucumbers, celery, cauliflower, etc.)
  • Less fried foods
  • Less sugar (this causes a lot of heat)

Wintertime Foods:

  • More cooked foods
  • More hot foods
  • More root vegetables

If you practice this season to season, you will not be such a victim to intense weather patterns. If you are one of those sensitive to heat, do not be severe with yourself if you are suffering a lot right now. Know that you are still healing. Be dedicated to making next summer much easier by using some of these tips.  Learn what you can do to help yourself.

Experiment

Which tea works better for you? Can you feel even a little difference after you drink a cup? If you don’t spend so much time in the sun, is it better?
Test it out, see for yourself. Everybody is different. You know yourself better than anyone.

It is very, very important to support your body through the summer, since the heat really zaps your energy.
This can be such a problem because a lack of energy causes energy to get stuck in the body, which can cause inflammation (more heat).

You do NOT have to continue through life with all of these symptoms. You can ease the problem now, and you can make it disappear completely in the future.
I hope you enjoy yourselves this summer with family, friends, and lots of trips to the pool!

What can I do to bring Down my Hot Flashes?

It would be unusual for you to truly be in menopause at your age. When you’re faced with a lot of challenges in life, it’s easy for imbalances to occur. It’s also common to get hot flashes when the weather is hot and dry. The good news is they will most likely go away.

In Asia hot flashes are not a common occurrence until a woman is truly in menopause, which usually happens in her mid 50s. Why the difference?

Because women in Asia are receiving the benefits of herbs and a healthy diet, which keeps them balanced. With the right herbal support and understanding of food as medicine, you can start seeing results within a short period of time. There is nothing like being hot flash free, able to sleep well again, and knowing you did it yourself.

The Western answer to hot flashes is to add hormones to the body, to override your body’s hormonal balance. If you stop taking the hormones  the symptoms return, often worse than before.

The Eastern answer may take a little more time, but it addresses not only the symptoms, but also the root cause of the issue, so that it can be resolved long term. That way the symptoms won’t come back to haunt you later. If you support the body, nine times out of ten, it rediscovers its own natural balance and you no longer need the herbs.

So how does this work?

First of all, look beyond the diagnosis you may have been given and identify how you feel. Most likely you are feeling both hot and dry. This is the way of Chinese Medicine: become aware of the symptoms (hot and dry) and then address what changes you can make.

Next let’s identify the changes you want. You want to turn down the thermostat. You are hot, so you want to feel cooler. You also want more moisture.

Note: If you think about “hot” and “dry,” you can easily understand how they affect each other.

When you get too dry, there is no moisture to control the heat; when you get too hot, the moisture will be burning away. So you can understand why it might be difficult in the beginning to break the cycle of hot flashes! Once you turn that corner, it gets so much easier. So now, what can you do for yourself?

First, take your herbal formulas.

You want the powerful support of the right combination of herbal formulas to help you bring down the heat and bring in the moisture. Below are the most effective combos.

If you’re trying to get pregnant: Super Fertility #2 and Stress Relief

If you’re not trying to get pregnant: Super Nourishing Formula and Stress Relief

Second, think of certain foods as your medicine, foods that cool and foods that moisten.

“Food is your medicine and your medicine is food.” – Hippocrates, father of Western Medicine. In Asia, everyday people live this truth in their daily lives. It is part of daily life to use food to help the body. This sounds complicated, but it is actually simple. It’s so simple because all it means is to bring your attention to how you are feeling.

Only you can make the adjustments you need, because only you know how you are feeling inside. Now that’s taking charge of your own health and well being! Adding the right food to your Hot Flash Program will speed up your body’s ability to rebalance.

Let me suggest some helpful foods to help with hot flashes that you’ll also enjoy:

Cooling foods: Watermelon, Cucumber, Celery, Green Leafy Vegetables, Bamboo Shoots, Alfalfa Sprouts, Peppermint Tea.

Moistening Foods: Flax seed, fruits, melons, barley, millet, Slippery Elm Tea, Marshmallow Root Tea.

 

I am not suggesting you only eat these foods, just to be aware they can support your healing.

What else is causing heat in your body?

Fried foods, too much sugar, overeating at night, too many spicy foods, alcohol, too much chocolate, and exercising heavily in the late evening. If you do your best to reduce the above, it will greatly reduce the excess heat you’re experiencing. I am not telling you never to eat these foods. Just be aware. That’s the key, okay? To draw awareness to how certain foods and behaviors affect how you’re feeling.

Make some adjustments. Try adding certain foods to your diet or cutting other ones out. Your body will talk to you. Listen. If chocolate cake gives you more hot flashes, try eating it again. If it does the same thing, cut it out for a few months and see how it makes you feel. This is the way of Chinese Medicine: listening to the body and playing with the energies of the foods.

Why do I always Spot around my Period? What does it mean and what can I do about it?

Spotting between periods is an indication of some weakness in your digestive function. Excessive spotting can result in loss of too much blood. Spotting can resolve quickly with the right adjustments to diet and formula. Try the following for two months. For most women this is enough time for things to change.

Concentrate on what you know to do to strengthen digestion and build blood:

  • Be sure to do the Hot Water Detox once a week.
  • Eat lots of greens, especially cooked greens to build more high quality blood. Make sure you are taking Organic Spirulina.
  • Be very strict about not having anything cold to eat or drink before 11am any day.
  • The formula specific to resolve spotting: Super Fertility #4. Builds blood, strengthens digestion, stops excess bleeding.

Remember strong digestive function also brings you more energy, stronger ovulation, and the ability to hold the pregnancy.

Sometimes my Period is Heavy, sometimes it's Light. Why?

There are many ways the body can be off balance and this pattern of sometimes ”heavy”, sometimes ”not”, is one of them.

Also, there are many reasons why you could have a heavy period or a light period.

First of all remember, as a woman, blood is a key part of your entire energy matrix. You need it for your period — building the endometrium and then releasing the blood if you are not pregnant. What you forget is that you also need blood to keep going, to get through a tough schedule, to push a little to go the extra mile for success. Blood is the fuel for your activity.

We women lose blood every month. Then the body wants to replenish itself to renew the blood levels again. So we loose it, gain it back, loose it, gain it back.  It is SO easy to get behind in this game.

Especially if we never eat the foods needed for building back our blood (dark green leafy vegetables COOKED), or if we drink lots of cold drinks all the time, weakening our digestive functioning (the digestive system is a series of muscles and muscles tighten up and then weaken under the burden of too much cold).

Often times if the body does not have enough energy (or blood) then the body’s fatigue may not allow the blood to be released viewing the blood as the key to your health and vitality. The body then holds onto the blood as a  vital substance it wants to keep. This may also occur in women who don’t get a period at all. Or if the body is fatigued, then a heavy period may occur because the body is too tired to hold on to it. Normally this type of tiredness is coming from digestive weakness. Build back some strength and digestive ”fire” and the periods become more normal.

if the body is fatigued, then a heavy period may occur because the body is too tired to hold on to it. Normally this type of tiredness is coming from digestive weakness. Build back some strength and digestive ”fire” and the periods become more normal.

We herbalists are here to help you translate the signals your body is sending to you and then learn how to help yourself. Do you have cramps, if so when, at the beginning or end? Do you have clots?  Are they tiny, or do they seem large? What is the color of the blood, I mean, really evaluate the color. There are usually 4 choices: dark brownish, sometimes blackish red; the red of a dark red rose; bright red; pale or orangish blood.

Try adding Spirulina into your herbal program to help balance out this pattern of your period!

When should I do the Radiant Wonder Fertility Massage if I am not having a Period?

Find the date of the full moon. This will be the “first day of your menses.“ The next week will be the 2nd week of your “cycle” and the week you do the fertility massage.

When you are bringing back your period your main job is to provide the body with the right environment. That environment includes warmth and rich beautiful oxygenated blood. It also includes better circulation of blood and energy to the reproductive area.

The Radiant Wonder Fertility Massage softens the muscles of the uterus, now tight from not having had the exercise of having a period. And it brings better circulation of blood and energy to the area for healing. The reason you want to do the massage only one week out of the month is because you want to help the body remember there is a rhythm, a monthly rhythm. You are helping the body get the “beat.”

Why has my Period been Shifting since started Clear Flow with Cinnamon & Poria?

Please do not worry. This does not happen to everyone, but it can certainly happen. It is temporary and it is a sign your body is making adjustments, positive adjustments.

There is nothing in these formulas that can harm you. They are so safe. Your body is working for you all the time, doing things you don’t understand. Your body works best with flexibility as it balances, not an exact schedule.

It needs this flexibility, to release what you don’t need or to rebuild what you do.. The formulas you are taking are famous for releasing blockage, in a very safe and gentle way. The formulas do many things, but they are also moving energy and blood. As this starts happening (usually right away) there may be, for even 3-4 months, some shifting with your cycle. It isn’t just your cycle that is shifting to a healthier place, it is your entire fertility health.

A few other reasons why your cycle might be irregular.

A shorter cycle might mean:

* There is some internal heat that needed to be released.That internal heat can be inflammation, maybe a really hot month in the summer, or intense chronic stress.

* You might be taking too many blood and energy moving formulas.
Understanding How to Adjust Your Formulas. (More is not always better!)

Can an HSG test Delay my Menses?

Don’t worry. You have not hurt yourself. And with time, the right foods and formula your period will be returning.

It was not the HSG test. That was not a big event for your body. The ART drugs, however, are very intense and your body needs a lot of energy and blood to process them. The body must recover from the dramatic event of the IVF. That is totally normal. Your menses is on its way back.

The most important thing for you to do is to build back your blood. We have made a quick video (5 minutes) about the food and formulas best for building blood. Below you will find the video and the list by category of Radiant Wonder blood building formulas. If you study the list you will be able to select the right formula for you.

Always follow your symptoms. Are you extra tired? Did you start having hot flashes or becoming overheated after the IVF? Do you easily chill? (In other words: Everyone else in the room is fine. You are searching for a sweater and socks.)

Remember: Your body is not your enemy. It is working 24/7 to help you. The more you understand how to listen and respond to its simple calls for help, the better it can do its job, and the more empowered you will feel. You will know it was your decisions to choose the right formulas and food (warm soups and the right cooked foods).

You are the most important member of your healing team. And we are here to support you.

If you have a way to Lower FSH and Raise AMH levels, why isn’t it common knowledge?

I just read a brilliant article by a doctor for whom I have a lot of respect. I will put a link to his full article a the bottom of the page. It is worth reading.

He answers your question precisely. He calls it the “Myth of the Diagnosis.”

You have been diagnosed with high FSH and low AMH. And you have been told that these are indications of menopause. Why? Because it is true? No.

You are being labeled with a group of women who have similar numbers only, and it is immediately assumed the attributes of your situation also match theirs. This is wrong. They are labeling you in a “one-size-fits-all” diagnosis based only on numbers. When you approach your situation from the Radiant Wonder perspective, you find you have a lot of personal power to change your situation.

Doctors are good at taking a snapshot of where you are, but you are not stuck there, or trapped by the “diagnosis.” You can become a moving picture.

By working with your symptoms (hot flashes, low sexual fluids and cervical mucus, lack of cycle, low libido, irregular cycle, etc) you find you start to heal. Things change. Your hot flashes go away. Your cycle returns. You are obviously becoming more fertile. So don’t think of yourself in terms of hormonal levels. Don’t label yourself. Instead, think of your symptoms and from that perspective start turning things around.

For the fastest results you will need both the herbal formulas and the Radiant Wonder Fertility Plan. If you do this your will begin to transform. You will feel a shift in the first month. There will be noticeable but subtle evidence that things are changing. As it accumulates your symptoms start to drop away.

So this is why you do not hear about solutions for your AMH and FSH:

Doctors are not trained to see beyond the numbers that created your diagnosis. They don’t see you. So they can’t treat you.

Dr. Mark Hyman, MD “The Myth of the Diagnosis”

Why do I have Pain with my Period and what can I do about it?

There are 3 things at play here:

1. A free flow of energy. This is why Chinese Medicine concentrates so much on de-stressing. There are herbs to destress the tightness left in the body after (or while) we are dealing with life’s challenges. There are also very specific exercises like the Radiant 8 Energy Exercises, or Radiant Wonder Fertility Massage. When there is truly a free flow of energy, there is no pain.

2. Pain is caused by a blockage of energy. When it comes to the menses the warm blood wants to flow and it is being blocked. So pain occurs.

3. Figure out what kind of energy blockage is creating the pain.
There are 4 energies in the body (besides “stuck”): hot – cold – dry – damp.

One of these is causing the blockage that is creating your pain. Most likely, you have already discovered which one it is. You don’t look for an icepack to give you relief. You find relief, even if temporary, when you take a hot bath or put a hot water bottle on your belly. Right?

So the blockage is being caused by cold energy.

Drinking too many cold drinks and cold food, never having anything hot, if this went on in your life for a few years, has created a coldness deep in the body. If it gets colder it is called a “cold uterus.”

What can you do to start turning things around?

  • Do the free Radiant Wonder Fertility Massage the second week of your cycle each month
  • Do the free Radiant 8 Energy Exercises every day
  • Find some breathing exercises you like and do them everyday
  • Put warmth over your lower abdomen before ovulation
  • Eat and drink warm things
  • Try one of the products listed below. All 3 are very helpful.

Peony & Licorice

A Woman’s Vitality

Balance

1) If the pain is dull, crampy, achy you may take the formula Peony and Licorice – take 3 capsules every 4 hours.

OR

If the pain is sharp and piercing – you may take the formula A Woman’s Vitality – take at least 1 capsule twice a day on the week leading up to your period.

2) If you have extremely severe sharp pain then take A Woman’s Vitality, but this time an extra dose or double your dose on the week before your period. Do not take this formula during your period unless you have spoken with an herbalist.  It is safe to take Peony and Licorice as directed above during the period for anyone.

*Balance is a lovely formula that helps increase blood flow and balances hormones, it can be taken throughout the entire month by itself or in combination with either of the other two formulas above.

Featured Products

Super Fertility #2

Cinnamon & Poria

Balance

Stress Relief

Fertility Boost

POF Program