Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)

Nervousness, aggression, apathy, and depression during PMS – here is my eternal problem. I have tried everything to avoid the unpleasant symptoms! But, unfortunately, it is virtually impossible to find perfect medication, which would kill the pain, improve spirits, and show no side effects. At least this is what I thought before trying out Vitamin В6.

At first I not in the least believed in this medication, which is not surprising, because I usually take strong pain killers and antidepressants, so it was very difficult to believe that simple vitamins would take away the pain and mood swings. However, I decided to try it out, and now from my own experience I see that Vitamin В6 actually makes me feel much better during PMS.

They say that Vitamin В6 should work with magnesium, lack of which, as the latest scientific data prove, provokes most of PMS symptoms. I started to take this medication, and it really helped me. There are no such mood swings, as there were before. I feel more even-tempered and not as aggressive as I used to. However, some kind of excitement still can be noticed if I drink a cup of coffee, strong tea or something energizing. Unfortunately, Vitamin В6 can not fight caffeine, so for maximum effect it is better to limit caffeine consumption during PMS.

Another problem I faced when I started to take Vitamin В6 is drum belly. But mu doctor came to conclusion that it is provoked not by the vitamin itself, but by its combination with dairy products. So from now on I will have to keep myself from drinking kefir or yoghurt before going to bed, well, at least during PMS.

As for the pain, I can not say that Vitamin В6 is 100% effective. Sometimes I still can not do without painkillers, and sometimes the first days of my periods are almost painless.

For some people PMS is in the first place connected with mood swings, but in my case every new month brings intolerable pain, which I always have in the first days of any menstrual cycle. The pain starts from the bottom of my belly and sometimes it becomes so severe that it provokes nausea or head ache. I tried great number of pain killers, both the simplest and more expensive ones. American medication Midol was one of them.

One can’t say that pain killers not in the least help during PMS. However, it is difficult to find among them such medication, which would really help to take away the pain any month. Actually, on one day it can be helped with simple no-spa, while on another day even complex of strong pain killers can do nothing about it. However, I have discovered for myself miraculous pills, which always take away the pain. Midol has become such “savior” for me.

Midol is sometimes called an American analogue to our baralgin. But, unlike the later, it really works. Only one pill taken on the first day of periods allows getting rid of pain and even improves spirits. Midol pills help me to normally tolerate beginning of the cycle, while I still remember the times when the first day of periods simply fell out of my life!

The only thing, which I find disturbing about this medication, is that as any other strong pain killer it mismatches alcohol and other medications. It is the biggest problem about it. For me Midol is only a pain killer, because it does not help with bad mood and apathy. However, one should take good care when taking these pills together with other PMS medications, because they might provoke large hemorrhage, which would only make the pain stronger and wield negative influence on the overall health.

I got to know about Sarafem from my gynecologist. I had constant complains associated with pain during the first days of my periods and frequent mood swings in the course of PMS, that is why my doctor recommended to start pharmaceutical treatment, which would help me to restore and normalize menstrual cycle.

According to the doctor, Sarafem medication has complex effect on the body and not only help to cope with mood swings and depression, but also regulates pain during menstruation. At first I had doubts about this medication, because they write almost nothing about it. But, considering doctor’s recommendations I decided to try it out.

Sarafem medication did not in the least take away the pain, which I always have in the first days of menstrual cycle. However, it really helped me with my depression, apathy, irritation, and aggression taking turns within several days before my periods begin. Before that I could burst crying at the slightest pretext and become cheerful again in few minutes without any particular reason. PMS had some kind of magical effect on me – I could be active and gay or, on the contrary, feeling abandoned and castaway. After I started taking Sarafem, my disposition became more stable. It would seem to me that I had found perfect pills from the unpleasant syndrome, but eventually I had to give up on taking this medication. The thing is that Sarafem did not take away the pain, which kept torturing me every 1 to 2 days of the cycle. In order to get rid of the pain, I took aspirin or similar pain killers. Together these medications provoked large hemorrhage, due to which I had to stop taking Sarafem. By the way, alcohol also mismatches this medication.

PMS has always been a problem for me. Mood swings, apathy, depression, severe pain during the first days of the cycle – all this constantly repeated every month. Discovery of medication from the severe syndrome was a surprise. It was Yaz oral contraceptive, which was recommended by my gynecologist as a contraceptive.

At the beginning I could not even believe that Yaz can bring my woman’s health to norm. But the medication really works! The best thing in it is that Yaz normalizes the length of menstrual cycle, so from now on my periods always begin in time. Besides, as any hormonal agent, this medication wields positive influence on condition of my skin. Since my early days I had problems with butterfly patch. Today, there is almost no problem with that, but after taking Yaz I totally forgot about acne and unpleasant pimples. Another particularity of this medication is that it can influence your weight and your breast. From my experience I see that if one takes Yaz regularly, breasts really somewhat grow, and the overall weight becomes bigger as well. So, in few months my weight got two kilograms larger. Also after I had taken this medication, in the first days of the periods pain became not that severe, but it did not entirely disappear. Now I combine regular taking of Yaz wil pain killers, which I still have to take in the first days of my periods.

Along with all the evident advantages Yaz also has a number of disadvantages. It is extremely important to take the medication at the same time every day; otherwise you will not get any positive effect. Yaz also has considerable side effects, which often show themselves at the beginning. Thus, when I took this medication, for few days I had head ache and slight nausea, whereas in the instruction it says it might provoke diarrhea and a number of other unpleasant symptoms.

PMS is the eternal “curse” of women, which makes us suffer virtually each month. The nature of this phenomenon has not been completely studied yet, but the symptoms are evident: few days before the cycle begins we face problems of psychological and physical nature. The worst thing is that perfect PMS medication has not been discovered yet. The thing is that PMS somewhat resembles the very nature of women – it is extremely unstable and each time it can show itself differently. In my case PMS is mostly connected with mood swings. Sometimes my head aches, sometimes it can be stomach pain, and at times the pain can be so intolerable, that it provokes nausea, apathy, and faintness. So what is the best way to fight it, and what PMS medication really works?

I have tried great many of things to get rid of pain. The first thing I started from was strong painkillers I had taken a couple of days before the cycle began. Those were traditional pills known to everyone since childhood, such as no-spa or baralgin, as well as more recent strong PMS medication. This is how I started to take Midol. In these pills combination of aspirin and caffeine helps to kill the pain, but it does not improve my mental condition. In order to get rid of mood swings, I took two medications: Sarafem and Vitamin B6. In the instruction it said that these PMS medications both killed pain and improved overall health. They did not help me to get rid of pain, but my disposition actually became more stable. However, in combination with Midol these medications really help.

Another good PMS medication is Yaz. Actually, Yaz is an oral contraceptive, but is so good at normalizing hormonal bursts, that it also helps to normalize menstrual cycle and reduce PMS symptoms.

In some cases women mix up and got the wrong point of view of pms symptoms. As the pms symptoms are quite similar to pregnancy symptoms.

Perhapes, the woman can feel depressed with several symptoms similar to pms symptoms. One of the most well-known fact is that during pregnancy there is so-called pregnancy depression, firstly, it’s connected with the hormonal changes. One should remember that pms depression is connected with the menstrual cycle changes as pregnancy depression is connected with hormonal changes in the body.

One should also remember that pms depression can last for 2 weeks maximum only (as the level of serotonin at this very period lowers).

Other symptoms like headaches, pains in back, breasts pains and so on are also can be taken for pms symptoms. In this case, they are quite alike. But to identify depression symptoms among which are delay of menstruation (but it’s the only symptom to be identified among 45% of pregnant women only). Usually pms symptoms start at the same period each month ( 2 weeks to 2 days before menses) as pregnancy symptoms start usually at the period of expected menses. In case of menses (if there is no suppression of menstruation) pregnancy symptoms can be easily mixed up with pms symptoms and to define them a woman should consult a doctor.

One more factor to identify pregnancy as the doctors recommend in case of sex with no contraception is pregnancy test. It’s recommended to use monthly before expected menses to identify pregnancy. Pregnancy tests are not of high accuracy at the starting point of pregnancy as they are highly recommended to use at the periods of suppression of menstruation.

At first sight pms symptoms can be easily mixed up and the only way is to consult a doctor and to make haemanalysis to define pregnancy.

Perimenopause

Perimenopause is a period of women life cycle when her childbearing abilities decay and the organism is getting ready for menopause. Usually perimenopause starts within several years before menopause and the core process of this period is the decrease of estrogen production by the ovaries. The usual age for perimenopause is 40’s, but it can start earlier.

The menopause period is characterized by the stop of producing eggs and more rapid decrease of estrogen. During this period lots of women experience various menopausal symptoms

What Is the Time Period of Perimenopause Last?

As a rule, perimenopause lasts about 4 – 5 years, but it is not a standard value. Some women experience it only a few month, and some for 10 years. Perimenopause ends after a 12 month period without menstruation.

What Symptoms of Perimenopause Can Be?

The most widespread signs of perimenopause are:

· PMS worsening

· Decreased sexual desire

· Night Fever and Sweating

· Breast sensitivity

· Tiredness

· Slumber problems

· Constant mood changes

· Sex without satisfaction

· Irregular menstruations

· Vaginal and urinary tracts dryness

· Frequent urination

How Do Define whether Periods Changes Are the Normal Perimenopausal Side Effects or the Symptoms of Other Disorder?

Indeed irregular periods can be the signs of various diseases of woman’s organism. Here is the list of situations that require medical consultation:

· You experience rapidly increased bleeding during the periods.

· Your menstruation takes a few days more than usual.

· There are blood spots between periods.

· You experience insignificant bleeding during or after sex.

· Your periods became more frequent.

The most common reasons of the aforementioned changes are hormonal disbalance, tumors, hormonal pills, pregnancy or cancer disease. Also there can be problems with blood coagulation.

How Can Perimenopause Be Diagnosed?

The qualified doctor will analyze the existing symptoms, make some blood tests to define the hormones levels, as well as any other medical tests required due to the concrete situation. The correct diagnosis is possible only with qualified medical assistance.

Is It Possible to Get Pregnant During the Perimenopause?

Yes, it is fully possible if you feel necessity in having a child. While your natural childbearing functions are going to decline, there is a chance to become pregnant thanks to various medical methods. If you do not want to get pregnant during the perimenopause, you should take birth control medications during the first year of menopause (12 month without menstruation). During this period there is still a possibility to conceive a child.

Many women experience difficulties with getting pregnant at the age of late 30’s – 40’s due to the hormonal changes in the organism. Nevertheless if you are aimed at successful results, you may use fertility-enhancing therapies that will increase the chances of successful pregnancy.

Ovulation is the process when eggs come out from the ovary. As a rule this process takes place at the 14th day of the cycle, but this is very individual feature that depends on the cycle length, periods’ regularity, etc. If your menstrual cycle is regular and lasts 28 days, most likely you will experience the ovulation on the 14th day.

The symptoms of ovulation can be easily missed. The ovulation is preceded by light and clear secretions from your vagina. They much resemble the raw egg whites. Later, when ovulation finishes, you may see that vaginal secretions became heavier and got whiter mate structure. Also the secretions can disappear at all. After this period the chances to get pregnant become less.

The slight growth of basal temperature is also may be a sign of the ovulation. To define ovulation you should measure the basal body temperature regularly by using special digital thermometer made for this purpose. The best time for measuring basal body temperature is in the morning before getting out from bed. Two – three days before the raise of temperature is the best period of your fertility. Some women experience slight abdominal cramps before the ovulation.

Also there are some ovulation kits that are available on a market. They detect specific hormones in your urine that indicate ovulation.
The doctors advise to have sex once a day during the period before, during and after ovulation. Such sexual activity will increase the chances to get pregnant.

Menopause is a state of female organism when the menstruation cycle stops, it is a natural finish of childbearing age. The perimenopause is a pre-menopause period, during which your body meets the hormonal changes with various symptoms, individual at any separate case. The level of estrogen, as well as other hormones drops and this is attended by different reactions of the organism. Here is the list of possible menopause symptoms, some of them are common for almost all women, and some are unusual and rare.

Typical Symptoms of Menopause

Irregular Menstrual Cycle
As a rule, changing of the cycle length is the first sign of coming menopause. The cycle may differ from time to time from longer to shorter periods between menstruations.

Night Perspiring & Heat
The night sweats when you feel like in fever for a short periods of time are also typical for pre-menopause period. As a rule these flashes of heat are attended by high sweating. This symptom is experienced by 75% of women.

Frequent Mood Changes
Due to the decrease of estrogene and progesterone production during the perimenopause lots of women characterize their mood state as “highly emotional”. The periods of extreme nervousness are changed by constant sadness or even anxiety. The positive emotions like delight and happiness are also present, but in minority comparing with negative ones.

Headaches
During the menopause there can be frequent migraine attacks and headaches. The hormonal changes may reflect on vascular system, and these changes causes frequent headaches that can be difficult to overcome.

Insomnia
As we already told, menopause coming is accompanied with night sweats and raised emotional excitability. Both of these symptoms may cause another one – difficulties with falling asleep. Lots of women experience insomnia during menopause, frequent awakenings with no ability to fall asleep again.

Vaginal & Uretra Dryness
The estrogene hormone is responsible for the normal moisturing of vagina, as well as urinary tracts. As its production reduces, women may experience problems with raised dryness that cause discomfort and problems with urination.

Weight Changes
The menopause is accomplied with the slowdown of metabolism. The nutrients you intake may not assimilate completely in the organism. That is why it is a high probability of weight gain. Sport and dieting will help to prevent this.

Memory Changes
The changes of memory interfering the everyday activity is also a sign of menopause. Partial loss of memory like forgetting necessary words or some dates are quite normal within the age, but if you feel that this affects you very often and became much more frequent, it is a time to visit a doctor.

Tiredness
The menopause period is rather difficult in terms of vitality. Many women feel constant tiredness even when doing less than usually. It is a temporary side effect of estrogen lowering. If you feel constant tiredness during the long period (more than 2 month), you need to see a doctor to find out the nature of this state.

Decreased Sexual Activity
When coming to menopause many women feel less desires of having sex due to various reasons. Sometimes it is caused by hormonal disbalance, another problem is depressive state or stresses. If your sexual activity is constantly lessening or you don’t feel satisfaction during the sex and this is a problem for your relationship, consult a doctor. He may help you with this.

Harmful Symptoms of Menopause

You should consult a doctor if some of the following symptoms appeared:

Heavy or Frequent Bleeding
If during the periods you feel much heavier bleeding than usual, like changing tampons or pads more than once an hour during eight hours, such bleeding can be dangerous for your health and needs medical assistance. Its reason can be various tumors, uterine diseases and even cancer. It needs urgent medical aid.

High Blood Pressure
The blood pressure needs to be checked regularly. And if your pressure becomes more than 140/80, it causes numerous risks for heart and vascular system. This is medical problem that required qualified diagnostics and therapy.

Heart Palpitations
Irregular heartbeat can be a common symptom of menopause. But if it causes discomfort and bad feeling for you with anxiety and pain in chest, it requires doctor’s assistance. Perhaps it is not only the menopause symptoms, but the signs of heart attack or other health disorders. Anyway, it needs qualified look.

Depression
Feeling hopeless, sad and anxious for a prolonged period of time can be the signs of clinical depression. You do not need to suffer from it, as it is dangerous for your health. You should see a doctor and take appropriate treatment. The depression displays in different ways, individual for each case. But the general symptom is that you do not satisfied with your way of living, and this needs to be fixed up not to turn into psychosis.

Unusual Menopause Symptoms
Sometimes menopause causes very unusual things in your organism that can’t be defined as its direct symptoms. But the fact is that women react in different ways and hormonal problems can have unexpected side effects, including the following:

• Low blood pressure
• giddiness
• Tinnitus (Ringing of the ears)
• Asthma
• Muscles and Joints pains
• Nightmares
• Digestion problems
• Rapid hair fall
• Heartburn in mouth
• Offensive breath odor
• Body odor changes
• Various neurological symptoms like cramps or creepy gooseflesh, itching, raised skin, breasts sensivity, etc.

If you have some of the symptoms described above, consult a medic to define whether it is a menopause symptom or it has another nature.

The variety of pregnancy symptoms really impresses, as they are very individual for each woman. The definite sign of possible pregnancy is the absence of menstruations, but many women don’t experience this symptom during the early pregnancy stages. Most of such symptoms can be caused by other things, that is why the best way to define whether you pregnant or not is use the pregnancy test or consult a doctor.

If you are planning to conceive a child, you should prepare your organism for pregnancy period. You should find more about this aspect to be ready for successful pregnancy and childbirth. You should adjust your diet, habits and lifestyle in accordance with your future state, as well as study the physical activity exercises that may help to gain the best form for easy birth.

Signs That You Are Pregnant

Changes in Menstrual Cycle
It is the most popular pregnancy “side effect”. Most of women don’t experience periods during the menstruation, or menstruations become shorter and less intensive till the full stopping. Also the regularity of periods is changing slightly. You should remember that such changes are not 100% signs of pregnancy, as they can have another nature like rapid weight changes, stresses or hormone disbalance. It can also be a side effect of stopping the intake of hormonal drugs.

Implantation Bleeding
When the embryo is trying to attach itself to the uterus wall, the process can be accompanied with short period bleeding that usually starts in six – twelve days after the conception was made. Very often this bleeding is taken as a menstruation by mistake. Sometimes the process of embryo implanting causes menstruation-like spasms or cramping. To relief these symptoms, you can use a heating pad. In case you are pregnant it is better to avoid painkilling drugs.

Sickness and Vomiting
These are the most famous symptoms of pregnancy that can accompany you during the whole period. Usually the morning sickness starts in two – eight weeks since conception was made. Don’t think that it is only the morning ‘hello’ to pregnant women: the nausea can happen any time during the day and night. Also it can be a specific reaction on some food or fragrances. Some women do not experience it at all, most feel sickness during the first trimester. There is a possibility to regard nausea as a pregnancy side effect instead of its real cause like food poisoning or other disorders. Regular visits to a doctor will help to avoid such mistakes. By the way the doctor assistance will be also helpful to relief morning sickness effect. A doctor will prescribe some medicines or diet therapy allowed during the pregnancy.

Breasts Sensitivity and Swelling
Women breasts react to any hormonal changes in the organism very quickly, and pregnancy will also make an effect on them. In one – two weeks of pregnancy you may feel that your breasts became bigger in size and more sensitive to various irritants. You also may feel pain discomfort like during the PMS. Sometimes the color and size of nipple areolas also change. Remember that breasts swelling and tenderness can be also a side effect of other hormonal disbalance or taking some hormonal pills like birth control medicines. Even the intake of much coffee can cause the same symptoms.

Tiredness and Exhaustion
You can feel it soon after conception, but don’t take it as a definite pregnancy symptom. It can be caused by stresses, depression or heavy physical activity.

Changes in Attitude to Specific Tastes and Aromas
The nature of this symptom is still unknown for science, but it really happens in the vast majority of cases. Most likely it is also the effect of increased estrogen production. So don’t wonder if some fragrances or dishes that never made any discomfort to you may suddenly make you mad.

Frequent Micturition
This symptom takes place within the six weeks after the child was conceived. It is natural process when the amount of various liquids in the organism increases during the pregnancy period, so don’t worry about frequent visits to the toilet. Also the baby grows inside you and less and less place is left for your bladder, so it can hold less liquid and needs more often liberation.

Enlargement of Abdomen
The feelings during the first pregnancy period is almost the same like when the periods start: you feel bloated. As the child growth your abdomen will grow respectively.

Appetite Raising
You need to eat more as there is someone else inside who also need to get all necessary nutrients. The organism should be strong and full of vitamins, that’s why you are eating more during the pregnancy..

Raised Basal Temperature
If you measure your basal temperature regularly, and there is a constant raise during 18 days or more, it seems that you are pregnant.

Testing
You can surely find out if you are pregnant or by using special pregnancy test or consulting a doctor. Most of home tests give no guarantees for definitely trustworthy results. If it has shown that you are not pregnant, but you experience various pregnancy symptoms, you should see a doctor to diagnose the reasons.