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Did You Know This About Premenstrual Syndrome?

Did you know that Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) has over 150 different symptoms! No wonder it is so difficult to diagnose with so many symptoms that women could be experiencing every month. Did you know that there are physical and emotional and psychological symptoms of PMS? Approximately 40% of all women currently menstruating experience some PMS symptoms. The most common symptoms of PMS are bloating, mood changes, headaches, irritability, anxiety or depression, low self-esteem, difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, changes in appetite or food cravings especially for sweets, fatigue, and breast tenderness, swelling or pain.

Symptoms for PMS can be grouped into 4 different categories. You have your anxiety type symptoms, your depression, cravings, and your heaviness or headaches. In the anxiety group women cry for no known reason and may cry for long periods or spells, they may also feel irritable, may become physically or verbally abusiveness, and have sudden mood swings. In the depression category the individual may become confused, forgetful, clumsy, paranoid, or although rare, someone may entertain thoughts of suicide (thoughts or actions). In the cravings groups we have the food cravings for sweets but a woman in PMS may also have cravings for dairy products or even for alcohol. The last group is for the heaviness and headache group of symptoms all of which have to do with fluid retention such as headaches and migraines, breast tenderness, or pain, and also abdominal bloating that may include weight gain.

Which women get PMS?

As many as 80% of menstruating women get symptoms of PMS. Women of all races and cultures all over the world can suffer from PMS. The majority of women suffering from PMS are in their late twenties or early thirties. Women who are more susceptible to PMS are those who have had multiple pregnancies, women who are in high stress situations, or those who have suffered some kind of trauma, tubal ligation, or those who use birth control pills, have gained excessive amounts of weight, or who have lost large amounts of weight and those women who lack exercise, have had previous major surgeries, and those women who skip meals or who make poor food choices.

What causes certain women to get PMS and other not to suffer from it?

The exact cause of PMS has not been determined yet but it is thought to have something to do with hormone fluctuations in the body. Other factors that may contribute to the occurrence of PMS symptoms are physiological, nutritional, genetic and even behavioral. There is no test to pre-determine who will be more likely to get PMS; there isn't even a test to diagnose women with PMS. It does appear that your heredity may be a factor in whether or not you suffer from PMS. One theory is that PMS stems from a neurochemical change from within the brain and that hormonal variations of estrogen and progesterone levels contribute to PMS symptoms.