Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)

PMS PMDD symptoms

Actually, both premenstrual syndrome, also known as PMS, and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) reveal the same symptoms, and therefore may seem similar. However, they are distinct syndromes and should be told apart. In fact, PMDD is just a very severe form of PMS and should be determined as soon as possible. The explanations below will help you understand the differences between two syndromes.

First of all, you need to understand the typical symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. It normally involves the symptoms related to mood (mood swings, anxiety, and irritability) and physical condition – like headaches, cramps, fatigue, bloating, sleep disturbances, nausea, and breast tenderness.

Then, remember the symptoms of PMDD. Unlike PMS, it causes a depressed mood, difficulty concentrating, feelings of hopelessness, anxiety, and overwhelmed. In addition those women who suffer PMDD are usually also subjected to such feelings as irritability, sadness, or anger to a more severe degree than those experiencing PMS.

Finally, identify the differences between the two syndromes more precisely. Despite the fact that there’re a number of symptoms overlapping between them two, women suffering from PMDD experience more intense mood symptoms, and it considerably impairs their everyday life and relationships. Unfortunately, almost every aspect of life of such sufferers is affected by the syndrome.

The two disorders may be easily confused because PMDD sufferers usually experience the same physical symptoms as those with PMS. However, the recognition of the similarity in the timing of the syndrome’s symptoms may be helpful. Although both syndromes’ symptoms occur only during the premenstrual phase, the PMDD symptoms are required to be present for at least 2 consecutive menstrual cycles to be diagnosed.

If you suspect any of these disorders, start tracking your symptoms and schedule an appointment with your doctor. Remember that only a physician can accurately interpret your personal symptoms and figure out what you are suffering from.

There is no definite statistics proving how many women suffer from premenstrual syndrome (PMS). The average numbers vary from 20% to 75% of all women that suffer some syndrome symptoms or difficulties. Major part of women experiencing PMS says that symptoms usually start anytime after ovulation, which occurs around 2 weeks before the start of the period. Within this time women affected by PMS may feel some physical and emotional changes disappearing right after the onset of menstruation.

Symptoms
A variety of symptoms may appear during the time of PMS, varying in intensity for each woman individually. Some of the affected women feel only mild symptoms, while the rest may find that PMS interfere with their daily life. Below are some of the most popular physical and emotional symptoms caused by PMS:

- Unmanageable crying
- Forgetfulness
- Mood swings
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Food cravings
- Fatigue
- Bloating
- Weight gain caused by water retention
- Muscle pain
- Breasts tenderness
- Acne
- Nausea
- Headaches
- Diarrhea

Apart from the symptoms listed above, these are over a hundred more of them, associated with premenstrual syndrome. In fact, due to the number of various symptoms and different degree they affect individual women, it is quite difficult to call such condition a disease. Most women are affected by PMS symptoms at a certain time in their life, but a tiny part of them has been suffering severe symptoms for a few days each month. Such women are recommended to discuss their disabling symptoms with their doctor in order to find out other underlying problems that may be intensified because of the changes happening in their body before the start of menstruation.

Treatments and Lifestyle Changes
Women suffering from severe symptoms may relieve their condition through a variety of treatments. A number of them can be are prescribed by their doctor. They include such medications as oral contraceptives and antidepressants. In addition, there are some over-the-counter drugs that are able to relieve pain from cramping or breasts tenderness – for example, ibuprofen and naproxen sodium. Changing the lifestyle is also able to reduce or eliminate lots of PMS symptoms. Women are recommended to modify their diet, do exercises every day and reduce stress. This will not just relieve pain and discomfort connected with premenstrual syndrome, but can also help feel better during all month.

Lots of women experience premenstrual syndrome (PMS) before or during menstruation. However it is always difficult to define whether woman needs professional medical assistance for relieving PMS symptoms that become more and more severe.

Here are a few cases that definitely require doctor consultation:

- PMS regularly impacts your everyday life and make you unable to do your usual jobs and activities

- You feel like losing control under the situation with PMS symptoms.

- You already used some drugs or therapy to relief the symptoms, but it didn’t help

- Severe PMS symptoms like depression, head and muscle aches, irritability, etc. still present after menstruation started a couple of days ago.

When Is It Time?
Sometimes it is enough to use simple measures at home to relief PMS display. If you constantly experience PMS every month before periods, it is time to change your lifestyle a little to help your body to manage with unwanted symptoms.

If diet, healthy lifestyle doesn’t help or the symptoms become even worse, it is certainly the tile to visit a doctor. Most of physicians will ask you to keep a diary for at least two menstruation cycles before visit to clinic. So the earlier you start, the earlier he will be able to help you with correct treatment.

It is reasonable to keep a menstrual diary if you feel problems with PMS. As a rule, such diary includes the following information:

- The symptoms you experience and their display

- Dates when the symptoms start and finish

- The date of ovulation (if you can define this)

- The menstruation start and finish dates

Whom to Ask for Help
Your attending medical doctor can define the reason of symptoms you experience and make a diagnosis of PMS. Anyway you can consult your doctor, and if he or she is qualified in other area of medicine, you will be referred to one of other specialists.

The list of specialists you can go for help include:

- Nurses

- Physicians

- Therapeutists

- Family doctors

- Interns specialized at women’s health care

- Gynaecologists

If the situation with PMS is too difficult, it is better to consult direct specialist, gynecologist, who will prescribe you correct treatment therapy schedule. In case if symptoms have more emotional character or in case of PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder), you will need additional help of psychologist or psychiater, who will help to manage with stresses.

Women all over the world have one common problem connected with our special nature. It is almost impossible to find one that doesn’t feel discomfort, abdominal pains, emotional tension and other unwanted symptoms before and during periods. Most of us do not pay attention to premenstrual syndrome thinking that it is natural process that inevitably precedes menstruation. Spending years on studying the problem of PMS, I can definitely say that it is more natural not to bear pains, not to struggle because of bad feeling and depression during premenstrual phase. It is more natural to find the source of a problem and try to solve it by medical therapy, changes in life style, nourishment and your attitude to your health.

Not all women struggling from PMS find it reasonable to see a doctor, and even those who do know almost nothing about female organism and PMS nature. If you really want to overcome PMS and remove it from your life, first of all you need to start from studying information about this disorder to understand its action mechanism, find out about ways to relieve its symptoms. This knowledge will help you to control medical treatment and enrich it by non-medical therapies that in complex will be maximally helpful.

Relying upon my own experience, I can ensure you that it is fully possible to get rid of harmful PMS influence on your life, to make it controllable and less stern. Here are some books that led on my way to the life without PMS. Hope you will find here something helpful for yourself.

The first book I read was “PMS: Solving the Puzzle – Sixteen Causes of Premenstrual Syndrome and What to Do About It” by Linaya Hahn. My mother gave it to me when found that I experience problems with the cycle. Linaya Hahn is definitely person who came through long years of PMS by herself, and everything described in her book is very close to life and clearly explained. She wrote about main reasons of PMS and tips of eliminating or relieving the symptoms in every single case. Here I found that even good sleep can be a treatment. Also there is a questionnaire that helps to define your own causes and required therapy.

I am an unlucky woman, as experience PMDD – an aggressive form of PMS that displays in harmful symptoms disturbing me every month. An anti-PMDD bible book – “The PMDD Phenomenon : Breakthrough Treatments for Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) and Extreme Premenstrual Syndrome” showed me dozens of tips of how to overcome this problem. Here I have found the full description of all medicines known and used today, as well as alternative therapies. The case studies of women that have overcome PMDD inspired me very much, as I truly realized that PMDD is not a lifelong sentence.

If you experience PMS disorder, get ready to revise your nourishment and diet rules. The book “Internal Cleansing : Rid Your Body of Toxins to Naturally and Effectively Fight Heart Disease, Chronic Pain, Fatigue, PMS and Menopause Symptoms, and More“ by Linda Berry is a good guide to your body system and principles of healthy dieting oriented on internal cleansing. It is focused on removing harmful toxins and other matters that cause various diseases, including PMS. This book is rather large, but it worth reading, as here you can find advices regarding PMS and lots of other problems that probably make you worry. By the way, by reading it you will find out lot of interesting facts of how the body actually works.

“From Hormone Hell to Hormone Well: Discover Human-Identical Hormones as a Safe & Effective Treatment for PMS, Perimenopause, Menopause or Hysterectomy“, written by C.W. Randolph Jr. and Genie James tells about aspects of hormonal treatment of various female disorders, including premenstrual syndrome, menopause, perimenopause, etc. The authors are an experienced gynecologist and a businessman in the sphere of health systems with 20 years experience. In this book you will find the explanation of hormonal medicine therapy in simple phrase. The author offers saliva test as a way to define hormonal misbalance and future treatment by natural hormones. Awesome work!

Another hormone-oriented book is “What You Must Know About Women’s Hormones: Your Guide to Natural Hormone Treatents for PMS, Menopause, Osteoporosis, PCOS, and More“ is a one more view on hormonal treating. After reading it, I have structured by knowledge of hormones’ role in female organism, of how they can be used in anti-PMS therapy. Some of the facts described here were entirely new for me. Much information is dedicated to menopause, but it is also very interesting and informative for those who faced with PMS problem.

As you probably heard, herbal therapy is widely used nowadays as a treatment of female disorders, as it helps to adjust metabolism and improve hormonal state in the body. It can be used separately or together with other methods. You may find detailed explanations of what herbals exactly may help you to cope with PMS or menopause syndrome in a book written by Mary Bove and Linda Costarella – “Herbs for Women’s Health: Herbal Help for the Female Cycle from PMS to Menopause (Good Herb Guide Series)”. It personally helped me to find out more about natural treatment, as it is the safest type of therapy. It is one of “must read” book list for women, because herbs is a cheap but effective natural medicines for curing infertility, PMS, various tumors, cysts, etc. We just need to know what species and in what way to use. Here are all the answers to such questions. It is written by professional naturopathic physicians, so it is not the amateur point of view.

“You can beat PMS” by Colette Harris and Theresa Cheung contains 12 week PMS plan that promises excellent results – major PMS symptoms will not disturb you after you follow this program. I have used it in conjunction with medicines my doctor prescribed and the result was really awesome. Medicines can help with pains, but not with insomnia, mood swings and depression. The book contains lots of nutrition information that will be very helpful even for those who has no problems like PMS.

Hope this short guide through PMS-killing books will help you to become more experienced and educated patients. Everything is in your hands, and if you really want to overcome PMS or some other disorder, start from your own today – find out more about your organism, medical therapies and diagnostic methods. Together with medical assistance you will gain impressive results in beating any health problem. Read books and become healthy!

Premenstrual syndrome – eternal topic with lots of myths connected with it.

Myth 1. PMS was made up by women so that they could manipulate men.
Wishing it was true! Each month, some time (from 1 to 14 days) before the periods start many women suffer from swelling and supersensitiveness of breasts, drum belly, costiveness, pain in heart and joints, blind headache, fever, irritancy, grizzle, etc.

Myth 2. All women have PMS.
According to the statistics, PMS gets to about half of women. These are in most cases women engaged in excessive intellectual work, those for whom it is difficult to overcome stress, who use improper methods of contraception, who had an abortion, and women with pre-existing conditions.

Myth 3. Nothing can be done about PMS, one has to simply wait till it’s gone.
One can fight the illness by means of medication, physiotherapy, massage, and acupuncture. There are also exercises relieving pain. For example, you can lay down on your back, fold your knees and place your feet as close to the hips as possible. Place your hands to the sides of your body. Breathe out. When breathing in level the hips up placing your chin closer to the chest and leaving your shoulders on the floor. Hold your breath for 3 seconds. When breathing out get down. Repeat the exercise three times.

Myth 4. One should avoid exercise before the periods.
Do not plan anything important for particularly difficult days – no important negotiations, moving or spring-cleaning. But as for the rest, act as you usually do. Moderate exercises strengthen your body and make you feel better. Hydrotherapeutic procedures, such as swimming in the pool or taking a bath with sea salt, are also useful. However, keep away from sauna during these days.

Myth 5. At this time one has to eat high-calorie food to preserve energy.
Food with high content of animal fat increases the level of estrogens, oversupply of which facilitates retention of fluid in the body, and provokes pain and psychoemotional abnormalities. Keep away from gingery and spicy food, for it leads to afflux of blood to the bottom of belly and intensifies pain syndrome. Dig in vegetables, green-stuff, fruits, cereal, beans, and hard wheat spaghetti. Food made of soybeans is simply necessary: they compensate for the deficit of progesterone required to create balance with estrogens.

Myth 6. At this time one has to keep diet and take diuretic agents.
The weight acquired at the time of PMS gradually disappears with the beginning of the periods, so no extra measures should be taken in this respect, and in some cases they can be even dangerous. At this time any diet might lead to depression. While the diuretic agents should be prescribed by the doctor only.

Myth 7. The best thing to do is ignoring PMS.
One should not get stuck on PMS, but some actions are still required. Refuse from cigarettes, coffee, and alcohol: these intensify mood swings and breast pain. Wear clothes from natural fabric, which do not squeeze breast and the bottom of the belly. At this time organs of urogenital system become more sensitive, they can easily inflame, so you have to wear warmer clothes and keep from wearing jeans denuding the back and the belly. Try to get good sleep, make it 8 to 10 hours a day, over this time your body will be able to restore itself.

When the women is in the period of pms there could be many symptoms for her to feel misbalanced. Surely, pms symptoms are individual. One body is easier to solve this problem, another feels depressed. Actually, women can easily identify these symptoms, because in many cases they are quite similar. As the pms period is connected with the women’s period. By the way, premenstrual syndrome symptoms is a good indicator for women to identify the course of the period.

So, the most well-known symptom to be mentioned is … irritability comparing with the mood swings. A Woman become more irritable. She can easily shout with no reason for that. The mood can change several times a day unexpectedly. The irritable condition can be aroused with some daily routine problems or with business activity. Even well- balanced person can easily become short-tempered. As the result of the rise of sensitiveness the women becomes more tearful. So, the most positive person can be upset with some miserable mess. The smile switches to the tears. Women cry because of some TV news about homeless animals, broken nails, dirty auto … Whatever can cause the tears and mood can be spoiled for the whole day.

What is more, a woman can spoil not only her mood, but the mood of the loved one, because of angry outbursts. Growing angry easily influences daily activity. In many cases it’ connected with the pms depression.

There are also some physical changes in the body. In many cases it’s breast swelling and pain. It’s caused by hormonal changes in the body. What is more, these changes can cause insomnia, weight gain, weight gain and headaches. Insomnia causes terrible headaches, headaches causes bad body conditions and insomnia. Actually it’s a vicious cycle. One symptom causes another one.
In some cases women suffer from chronic diseases as this period worsens chronic conditions. Like ulcers for example. Surely, it’s unpleasant. The worst thing is that these diseases exacerbation happen monthly.

During pms period women can suffer from nausea and problems with coordination. But these cases are not as frequent as for example bad mood or brest swelling and pain. A Woman shouldn’t concentrate on her bad condition and try do sport and lead normal way of life.
Some symptoms should be carried of as it can influence body activity. Among them heart pounding (palpitation), terrible insomnia, edema, asthma. They should be treated according to the symptoms, but one should understand that these problems were caused because of pms period. These symptoms are likely to be individual and not typical for all women. Surely, they should be treated individually and in consultation with the doctor.

Other symptoms like weight gain, mood swings, fuzzy thinking, breast swelling and pain, nausea tearfulness are absolutely normal symptoms. They are more typical for all women and actually they don’t require special treatment.

One should remember that each woman has her own ‘pms symptoms’ . To find out these symptoms she should observe pms condition for several months to point them out. If there are too many pms symptoms which really involve daily life, the woman should consult the doctor for further possible treatment to ease the pain and so on. By the way, one should remember that there is no universal panacea for every woman to escape from pms symptoms.

PMS (pre menstrual syndrome) is a well known syndrome connected with women menstrual cycle. It usually starts from 2 days to 2 weeks to the menses. Actually it’s characterized with several symptoms among which the most well-known are anxiety, headaches, pains in breast, mood changes, appetite changes and overweighting.

Doctors have no single idea whether this syndrome is connected with hormonal changes in the body or not, but it’s a well-known fact that in this period the level of serotonin in the body lowers. Serotonin is the very hormone to correspond for the appetite, sleep habits, mood swings and so on. So, during pms period this level becomes lower. As a result, mood changes, insomnia, appetite changes like overeating, aches and spasms. In this period a woman can feel depressed and a bit under the weather. What is more, in some cases there are feelings of loneness, anxiety and tearfulness.

One should remember that at this period many chronicle disease can exacerbate (most common is asthms). In this case, a woman should consult the doctor to get the treatment as some symptoms like headaches, muscle spasms can be quite painful and they need relief. Without some medicines a woman can really suffer from pms symptoms.

At this period there is sometimes so-called pms depression, which is not a really terrible disease, but, nevertheless makes some troubles and discomfort for daily activity. One shouldn’t mix up neurosis and typical depression with pms depression. At first sight one can think that they are very alike as the symptoms are quite similar, but it’s not true! Really, at initial examination a woman can enumerate all the symptoms similar to neurosis, but their nature is in essence different.

As pms depression is connected with the menstrual cycle, as ordinary depression is connected with stress, bad body condition and other causes and reasons. To indicate exactly pms depression a woman should report all the changes in the body for two a three menstrual cycles. First of all it’s made for a woman to find the very pms period as the similar changes in the body and mood indicates the starting and the finishing point of pms. Secondly, it’s made for a doctor to understand whether these symptoms are connected with the pms depression or with neurosis or exacerbation. Surely, pms depression doesn’t last for a month or two. In this case a woman should consult a doctor.

There are some medicines, herbal tablets and physical exercises to relive the pain or to ease the spasms. But, surely, they should be prescribed by the doctor. Some easy exercises are possible to find in the internet as they just ease the pain. But in case of worsening, there should be prescribed medicines. PMS depression are treated clinically quite rare as the basic treatment are some antidepressants. Pms depression and catastrophic symptoms are treated individually.

So, pms is special period of menstrual symptoms which is characterized with wood swings, increasing of tearfulness level, anxiety, some physical symptoms but mostly connected with the level of serotonin in the blood. Many of pms symptoms as the whole condition of the body during this period is quite individual. If there are some changes in the pms symptoms or pms period, a woman should consult a doctor. Another thing is these symptoms and condition shouldn’t be mixed up with pregnancy symptoms.