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Information on popular complementary and alternative medical topics
Welcome to our look into the world health.
WOMEN’S BODIES: PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME (PMS)
The premenstrual syndrome describes a wide range of symptoms that trouble some women from one to ten days before menstruation. The symptoms vary from woman to woman and also in the same woman from one cycle to the next.
The most common symptoms are abdominal bloating, breast enlargement and tenderness, and mood changes. Other physical symptoms include fluid retention leading to weight gain and swelling of the feet, ankles and hands; skin disorders; hot flushes; headache; pelvic discomfort; backache; changes in bowel habit (often constipation); bladder irritability.
Nervous symptoms are often called premenstrual tension (PMT) and include irritability, aggression, anxiety, depression tearfulness, lethargy, insomnia, change in appetite, food cravings, thirst, change in libido, loss of concentration, and co-ordination leading to clumsiness and increased risk of accidents.
Even a single symptom can be distressing. Sore breasts can disturb walking running and can affect your game at sp they can hurt when you play the piano o| violin and when you brush your hair; can make you flinch when your toddler jumps onto your lap and when your partner embraces you. Mood changes make you respond to people and situations in a way that’s just not ‘you’ and that you’ll feel regretful or ashamed about, and it’s no comfort to blame PMS when you’ve offended someone. What is responsible for these unwanted changes in your body and mind?
Many questions about PMS remain unanswered. What causes it? Why do some women suffer regularly while others notice symptoms only sometimes or never? How can it be treated? Since PMS first described in 1931, researchers have been trying to answer these questions.
After 60 years we’re not much wiser. The results of research have been mixed and conflicting.
Is PMS a real disease?
All women who have ever experienced any premenstrual changes (and is there anyone among us who has never noticed a few facial spots, some different breast sensations, or a tendency to drop plates?) know that their symptoms are real. But because there is no precise definition of PMS, and because it is rarely associated with changes that can be seen or measured, doctors have often been baffled and disconcerted when women consult them about premenstrual symptoms. The disorder has often been put in the ‘too hard’ basket: doctors are inclined to dismiss and ignore things they can’t understand. Women have often felt that their very real symptoms have been discounted or belittled.
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