Brigitte Warne is a Sydney based model and mother, who has PCOS. With a bachelor of Public Health and Health Promotion, she believes using herbs, specifically tea can give your body its natural rhythm back.
At the age of 27, after 10 years on the hormonal contraceptive pill, Brigitte Warne decided to stop taking the pill and found herself experiencing a variety of symptoms such as cystic acne, hair loss, fatigue and a missing menstrual cycle.
After many doctor appointments and pleading for answers, Brigitte was diagnosed with PCOS in 2017.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common condition, present in 12–21% of women of reproductive age according to the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
For many women coming off of hormonal contraception, or struggling with hormonal issues and imbalances, this story is all too common. Women, such as Brigitte, who present these symptoms are often told “if you go back on the pill your period will come back” or “if you are really struggling with your acne you can either go back on the pill or use some other kind of medical intervention like antibacterial cremes or Roaccutane”, and as such the underlying issue is never investigated.
After receiving her diagnosis of PCOS Brigitte decided to do and learn all she could about how to manage her symptoms and condition naturally and has since not only got her period back (and healed her acne) but also had a baby boy.
Today, Brigitte shares her tips on how to get your period back (and manage your hormones) naturally.
Herbs and Naturopathic Medicine
Soon after her diagnosis Brigitte began seeing a Chinese Medicine Doctor and a Naturopath who introduced her to Chinese herbs.
She took these herbs daily and says they are pivotal in her hormone and PCOS management. So important, that she created her own herbal tea – appropriately called Cysterhood – which is designed to help support and manage the symptoms of PCOS such as menstrual health, acne and skin, hair, and energy levels.
Some of the herbs included are alfalfa (for detoxification), spearmint leaf (for managing testosterone), Lady’s leaf (period regulation and fertility) and lemon balm (assisting with bloating and digestive issues).
Low Inflammatory Diet
“In all the research that I did, everything was showing me that essentially PCOS is one of those things that if there is any inflammation in the body your systems will be a lot worse. For me, it was then about finding a lower inflammatory diet. I was already Vegetarian at the time but decided to become predominately plant-based because dairy was incredibly inflammatory for me.”
- Dairy
- Alcohol
- Caffeine
- Artificial sugar
Reducing stress levels
Brigitte says, “A lot of us have this low-grade stress constantly in our lives, and particularly as women we are doing so much.
“I had to learn how to manage my stress levels better. I started doing yoga and practicing mindfulness and switching off my phone a lot more so that I wasn’t contactable 24/7.”
She also reminds people that, “Stress is stress, regardless of whether it is a mental, emotional or physical thing. So, I switched over to more cortisol conscious workouts like walking, hiking, swimming, surfing, yoga and Pilates as opposed to high intensity exercise.”
When it comes to periods and menstrual cycles, many women can think of them as inconvenient or unimportant – especially if you are not looking to try for a baby anytime soon. But Brigitte stresses the importance of learning about and getting in tune with your own body and menstrual cycle as, “Your period is like your health report card. If your cycle is irregular, missing, longer than normal or your flow is heavier than normal, these are all signs that your body is trying to tell you something.”
