Book Review: Period Repair Manual

Have you ever read a book and you just can’t stop recommending it to people? Maybe even start to feel like everyone is going to think you are paid to recommend it to them?

Yeah, that. That’s how I’ve been feeling about Period Repair Manual by Dr. Lara Briden.

I bought the book basically the second it came out, because

1. I am always reading different hormonal health books both for the information but also to see which ones I like for recommending to people, and
2. I liked Lara Briden’s blog a ton, so I figured her book would be a nicely put together, more in depth version of what she covers on her blog.

And it turned out I liked it way more than I even thought I would. Why? Not only does she talk about so many common hormonal health concerns, but she also talks about how hormonal birth control does not fix your hormonal health issues (!), recommends fertility awareness as the least invasive form of birth control, and gives great explanations for all of the hormonal health fixes recommended. BAM.

The only small complaint I had was that there was a bit in the FAM section that was sort of mixing the sympto-thermal method (what I teach here through my HER fertility program) with rhythm method. Though, to my knowledge, this is being fixed.

 

So let’s talk about what’s actually included in Period Repair Manual!

The first part is all about understanding your period (really, understanding your cycles, but I can see why she chose to use period instead of cycles :p). This includes talking about how what your cycle is doing is giving you a window into your hormonal health (exactly why I love fertility awareness so much!), why the pill doesn’t fix your hormonal health issues, what to do instead of the pill, how your period/cycles should be, and things that can go wrong with your period/cycles.

I really liked how well she explained how your cycles and health are connected and that your period/cycle is giving you a window into what is going on. She calls it “your report card”. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

In the next part she starts getting into fixing your period/cycles. She starts by covering the general health stuff that is so important as a basis. Good nutrition, not stressin’ to hard, getting your Zs, moving your body… You know, that good stuff. After the basics she starts getting into the specific problems. I think this is really good because you want to make sure you are covering your bases before you even decide you have a problem. Start with the stuff that is benign and then you can think about taking specific supplements and such.

For the specific problems she has:

• PMS
• Heavy periods
• Light Periods
• Fibroids
• Adenomyosis
• Endometriosis
• Period pain (aka cramps)
• Bleeding between periods
• Ovarian cysts (and PCOS)
• Acne
• Thyroid disease
• Hormonal hair loss

…. So lots of good stuff.

She also has advanced trouble shooting (admittedly, some of the above is within that section, I just thought it fit better talking about it in those bullets) and cover environmental toxins (like in your make-up and plastic), how other health problems can be screwing up your hormones, hysterectomy, and bioidentical hormones.

 

Who do I think should read this book? Ummm… Everyone. Seriously, I’m not joking it’s ten frickin’ dollars on kindle and about $13.50 for the hard-copy. That isn’t very much for a well put together book condensing so many years of someone’s work, right?

But if you are going to get picky, I recommend anyone struggling with their hormones or symptoms they think might be hormonally related pick up this book and give it a read.

Here is a link to the book.

 

Do you have any questions for me about the book? Let me know in the comments!