Dr. Dalton, according to Marla Ahlgrimm, is the inspiration for everything we know about PMS today. In 1948, Dr. Dalton realized that her pregnant body was suddenly free of recurrent migraine headaches. After consulting with friend and endocrinologist Dr. Raymond Green, Dr. Dalton made the connection between a lack of progesterone and many cyclic symptoms plaguing herself and countless other women across the globe, says Marla Ahlgrimm.
Marla Ahlgrimm explains that Dalton went as far as to study the behaviors of teenage girls and women and linked certain moods, feelings, and actions to a monthly progesterone deficiency, brought on by the onset of menstruation. Dr. Dalton found a correlation between lower grades, anxiety, depression, and violence and the menstrual cycle. Her solution: replace the missing hormones. This early hormone therapy would eventually lead to a greater understanding of how women’s bodies were different from men’s; previously, women with what we now know as PMS were often described as hysterical and subject to tortuous “treatment.”
Dr. Dalton’s work was rooted in solid scientific methods. She was notorious for her insistence on testing and retesting theories and working with other physicians to verify her ideas. Marla Ahlgrimm says Dr. Dalton applied many of her findings regarding progesterone across a spectrum of other hormone-related disorders, including post-pregnancy hair loss and toxemia.
It was Dr. Dalton’s opinion that progesterone was akin to a “golden key” in a woman’s body.
Ahlgrimm based her career on Dr. Dalton’s research and expanded into numerous other women’s health topics. Today, women enjoy easy access to PMS, PMDD, and menopause relief thanks to Dr. Dalton and others, like Marla Ahlgrimm, who have furthered her work and made women’s health a top priority.
