Anecdotal report: for the first year or so of nursing I had moderate,
painfree periods for the first time in my life.  Then I started having
quite heavy, painful periods,  worse than before my daughter's birth.
 These problems were very much alleviated by taking Vitex (Agnus
Castus or Chasteberry) during the second half of my cycle (i.e.,
starting 14 days after the beginning of my period).  After I took it for
three months, I stopped taking it and stayed on the level for a year
or so.  I have now started back on the Vitex since the problem
resurfaced (~2 yrs post-weaning) and am hoping to have a
reduction in symptoms.

Vitex is a traditional medicinal herb for "balancing" women's
hormones and appears to have some effect on the proportion of
estrogen to progesterone in the second half of the cycle.  I believe
there were some medical journal articles mentioned here a while
back documenting this effect.

Rachael Hamlet
Breastfeeding Busybody

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