Medical Keywords - Everything you need to know about health.

When to Seek Medical Help and What Can Be Done About PMS?

You have noticed symptoms that you believe to be PMS. If you notice that the physical, and emotional symptoms you have every month just before your period are making you so uncomfortable that you are having difficulty functioning at work, or at school that is the time to talk to your doctor about finding out if what you are experiencing is PMS or something else. Some of the symptoms that can be PMS can also be chronic depression, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, hormone imbalances, thyroid disorders, electrolyte problems or because you have low levels of red blood cells. All of these psychiatric and medical conditions must be ruled out before making the diagnosis of PMS.

Many women prefer to self-treat their symptoms at home with tea, a heating pad, and a couple of pain relievers. Others use the monthly symptoms as a reason to take a few days off from work. There are women though, for whom PMS presents a week or two of intense discomfort. It is these women who should seek medical help in order to find out what is causing the symptoms, to receive a diagnosis and to have the doctor present a treatment plan to her. Women may not always be able to tell the difference between PMS symptoms and the same symptoms that relate to a different diagnosis. Just because the symptoms are the same with other disease or conditions and PMS does not mean that the same treatments used to relieve the symptoms of PMS will work to relieve the symptoms of other diseases and conditions.

You should seek the medical guidance of a doctor or other medical professional whenever you have concerns or questions about a symptoms you are experiencing.

What can be done about your PMS symptoms?

The first thing that your doctor will do about your PMS symptoms is to ask you to fill out a symptoms journal and to keep it every day for 2 months. By recording every symptoms, and the intensity of the symptoms and whether or not the symptoms prevented you from performing your normal activities you will be helping your doctor to give you a diagnosis. PMS is largely diagnosed based on symptoms. There are no tests that can confirm a diagnosis of PMS. The doctor may order tests that will help to make the PMS diagnosis by ruling out other diseases and conditions and thus eliminating other reasons for your symptoms and then by process of elimination coming up with the diagnosis of PMS.

While eliminating other diseases and disorders your doctor may ask you to see a mental health professional to confirm the diagnosis of the severe form of PMS, PMDD.

Once your doctor is satisfied that you have an accurate diagnosis a treatment plan will be designed around relieving your symptoms. There will be follow-up appointments that will determine how well the treatment plan is working for you and to make any adjustments or changes necessary in order to give you relief from your symptoms.