More Than Hormones: The Inflammation Connection Behind PMS Symptoms 🔄️ – Oleia Oil

Hey there! 👋🏻

I was listening to a health podcast recently, an interview with a panel of hormone and fertility experts, and one thing just stayed with me: most of what we know about human health was studied on men. Women of reproductive age were systematically excluded from clinical trials for decades, and the requirement to include us wasn't law in the US until 1993. Which means a lot of the "universal" health advice out there? Wasn't built with our bodies in mind. 🤷🏻♀️

That realization hit differently when the conversation turned to PMS.

What’s actually happening during our cycle?

The menstrual cycle runs in four phases. The menstrual phase is when bleeding occurs, the uterine lining sheds. The follicular phase follows, overlapping with menstruation at the start, where estrogen rises and the body prepares to release an egg. Ovulation is that release. Then comes the luteal phase, the two weeks after ovulation, where progesterone peaks to prepare the uterine lining for a potential pregnancy. If fertilization doesn't happen, progesterone drops sharply, and the whole cycle resets.

That progesterone drop is where PMS lives. 🙈

So is PMS really just hormones?

It's hormones—and then some.

The sharp progesterone decline in the late luteal phase triggers the release of prostaglandins, lipid compounds with strong pro-inflammatory effects. Their job is to help the uterine lining shed, but they don't stay contained. Elevated prostaglandin levels are linked to cramping, headaches, digestive upset, and that full-body achiness that's hard to pin down but impossible to ignore. 👀

The hormones set it off…the inflammation is what we feel.

Does that mean PMS is an inflammatory event?

Partially, yes.

Research confirms the luteal phase creates a measurably more pro-inflammatory environment compared to the follicular phase. Ovarian hormone fluctuations also affect the nervous system's pain sensitivity, which is why discomfort feels amplified in those days.

Some people even notice drier eyes before their period, because the ocular surface is hormone-sensitive too. 🫣

What’s happening isn’t random. It’s patterned. Predictable. Just not widely explained in a way that connects the dots.

What’s best to support our bodies during these stages?

Bea Oleia Clary Sage Pure Essential Oil is one of my go-tos during this window.

Clary sage (Salvia sclarea) contains linalyl acetate and linalool, compounds with documented anti-inflammatory and antispasmodic properties. A 2026 crossover trial on female athletes found that inhaling clary sage essential oil reduced menstrual pain, sleep disturbances, and irritability across a full cycle. 🙌🏻

Because it's a pure essential oil, it needs to be diluted before skin application ofc, with Oleia Pure Oil!

A few drops massaged onto the lower abdomen, or diffused at night when everything feels louder than it should be.

We're still catching up on decades of missing data about women's bodies. In the meantime, we work with what we know.

And what we know is knowledge—and supporting our bodies is key.

Here’s to it! 😄

Show me your bottle and I'll show you mine? 'Til next time! 👯♀️

xo, L.

References:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kizDk8idpT8

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3297513/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7068519/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37309068/