Many women dread their monthly cycles due to sometimes intense and debilitating symptoms that rob them of energy, emotional balance, and serenity. The temptation is there, and the pharmaceutical companies play the devil’s advocate, to use artificial means to alter the hormonal balances of the body to avoid such unpleasantries. Maybe if we learn more about this condition called Premenstrual Syndrome we can find a more natural way to manage it. Let’s take a look.
What is Premenstrual Syndrome?
Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) is a conglomeration of over 150 symptoms experienced by many women between the time they ovulate and the onset of menstruation. PMS includes a variety of physical, behavioral, and psychological symptoms. A rare but more severe form of the syndrome is called premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), officially labeled as a disease in 1987. It is estimated that up to 75% of all menstruating women have some symptoms of PMS before or during the menses. Approximately 3-7% of these women experience the more intense symptoms associated with PMDD. These may last from 4-10 days and be very disruptive to a woman’s normal daily activities. Some women report that symptoms begin as early as puberty, but the onset of PMS is most often found between the ages of 20-30. Symptoms usually continue until menopause. They often vary in intensity from month to month.
What Are the Symptoms of PMS?
As with many illnesses, symptoms and intensities vary from person to person, but the major ones include:
PMDD symptoms are generally more emotionally severe than those of PMS. These may include severe depression, anger, anxiety, low self-esteem, inability to concentrate, tension, panic attacks, and suicidal thoughts. PMDD is officially a psychiatric designation.
What Causes PMS?
The exact cause of PMS is not fully understood, but there are several known factors that play a role. PMS is thought to be related to the cyclic changes in hormones that all women normally experience during each menstrual cycle. The fact that symptoms tend to disappear during pregnancy and at menopause are clues that point to hormonal involvement. PMS is generally only found during the second half of a woman’s cycle, after ovulation until menstruation begins. The normal monthly menstrual cycle lasts 24-35 days. During this time, hormone levels fluctuate. Estrogen levels gradually rise during the first half of a woman’s cycle (the pre-ovulatory phase), and fall sharply at ovulation. After ovulation, (the post-ovulation phase) progesterone increases gradually until menstruation. Both of these hormones are a function of the ovaries, which also produce the eggs. One of their main jobs is to stimulate the lining of the uterus (the endometrium) to thicken. However, estrogen and progesterone also affect the amount of serotonin (a neurotransmitter) in the brain. Serotonin is known to affect the emotions and the appetite. Researchers are not clear on the details, but are quite sure that PMS is somehow related to chemical reactions in the brain and nervous system. Increasing the serotonin levels of women with PMS has been shown to be helpful to some who experience emotionally difficult symptoms. Low serotonin levels are also thought to be partially responsible for the depression some mothers experience following childbirth (post partem depression) and some women suffer from during menopause.
Other possible causes are suspected as well. Insufficient amounts of certain nutritional substances such as zinc, essential fatty acids, magnesium, calcium, and vitamin B6 may be factors. Food allergies have also been suggested as a cause for PMS.
Excessive amounts of sodium and low levels of dietary potassium also may contribute to causing PMS. This combination leads to fluid retention, one of the major symptoms of PMS.
One very interesting line of research has implicated caffeine as a major culprit in the cause of PMS. Drinking coffee, tea, or other caffeinated drinks can bring on PMS and/or worsen the symptoms of existing cases. Caffeine seems to affect symptoms such as mood swings, depression, insomnia, irritability, and anxiety the most. However, it has also been linked to breast tenderness as well. Suffice it to say that if you suffer from PMS at all, you’d best stay away from caffeine.
What Treatments Are Available for PMS?
Mainstream medicine has some treatments, mostly involving pharmaceutical drugs to no surprise, which I would not normally recommend. However, I would like to briefly cover them so that you can be aware and make your own decisions.
The best way to treat PMS is to make sensible adjustments in your lifestyle that will keep your body healthier so that you can better manage the symptoms. As usual, diet is one of the critical factors in dealing with PMS. Here are some specific dietary recommendations:
Other practical steps that can help are:
Let me briefly mention a few herbal remedies that are showing great success at relieving PMS symptoms:
I believe it is important we remember that PMS is not an illness in the traditional sense of the word. It is caused by natural forces that are at work within our bodies. It is not a disease, any more than pregnancy is a disease. It is critical that we learn to work with our bodies and help them to naturally maintain or regain a state of balance with as little synthetic intervention as possible. That is why I feel so strongly about unnatural interventions such as hormone replacement therapy or unnecessary and dangerous medications. Let’s not look for shortcuts that will give us instant gratification while subjecting us to long-term consequences we may regret forever.
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