In this post, I will be discussing my experience with aloe vera to treat hormonal and IBS bloating.
The Problem
Even though I've kept both my ovaries, a few months after my hysterectomy I started having menopausal symptoms, including hot flashes, weight gain, mood swings, depression, nausea.
My IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) got worse, I got severe ovarian pain on my left side, and my belly was bloated like a balloon.
I did go to my OBGYN who was also my surgeon. He said he couldn't see anything from the ultrasound, that it's impossible for me to be on menopause due to my young age (34) despite I no longer have a uterus (the main blood supply of the ovaries), and he said it's probably organs that got stuck together due to the surgery. I have no idea if that makes any bloody sense but he prescribed ibuprofen for it. Ibuprofen! Madness!
So while I was trying to get a referral for another doctor to get a second opinion, I thought I should explore on how to provide myself with some relief until then, at least for the ovarian pain which got me floored in agony often.
The Treatment
One thing to note, I have been taking wild yam on and off for these symptoms, and it did wonders for the ovarian pain, the back pain and the hot flashes, but it was making the nausea and bloating worse for some reason. So I thought I need to look for a better alternative. I thought of taking soy isoflavones at first, but I also wanted to go back to taking aloe vera, to help with the IBS symptoms.
My history with Aloe Vera
I used to take aloe vera when I had fibroids and it cleared them right up without having to do any surgery or anything. Of course it was really painful the first few weeks of treatment, due to its cleansing effect. So it might feel it's getting worse at first (more abnormal bleeding, bigger blood clots etc), but if you give it enough time to do the cleansing, you will start feeling better soon enough, and might get the fibroids shrunk or even pass them out of your system.
Tip: Only test one supplement at a time
So I haven't tried the soy isoflavones yet, I wanted to try with aloe vera first. It's always wise to try one supplement at a time. Otherwise when you start noticing improvement, or you get any side effects, you won't know which one caused the improvement or the side effects. So try one thing at a time.
Bear in mind that natural treatments may take several weeks or even months to work, so give them enough time.
The medicine
So there are two ways to take this supplement: tablets or juice / extract. When it comes to the juice, you need to ensure you're getting the real thing, 99% at least, without any additives. So many products out there claiming they're aloe vera drinks, but looking at the labels, what you're getting is sugar water with a small percentage of aloe vera. That's not gonna do anything for you. If anything, the sugar or artificial sweeteners will make your symptoms worse. So always read the labels before buying. Get the real aloe vera extract / juice, not a watered down version.
The tablets
As you will see in the video, I've tried both the aloe vera tablets and the juice. Now I mistakenly stated the aloe vera tablets were €30, but they were more like €15 for 2 months worth. So they were quite cheap. Now the tablets used the words Super Strength which unfortunately didn't seem that way to me.
The tablets worked great to improve my digestion, but that's just about it. They also take longer to work.
Conclusion: If you're only looking to improve digestion or IBS symptoms, the tablets will do just fine. But not for more serious problems.
The magic potion
The 99% aloe vera juice as shown in the video cost me €45 for 2 weeks worth. So it's crazy expensive compared to the tablets.
But I prefer the aloe vera juice and that's all I keep buying. Why?
- The effects are immediate. Like literally from the first day I noticed an improvement.
- They didn't just improve digestion. As you will see in the video, they also decreased the hormonal bloat considerably.
- The nausea and ovarian pain were also gone.
- I even lost some weight without a change in my diet.