Medical Keywords - Everything you need to know about health.

Your Options for Treating Severe PMS Problems

Cramps, mood swings, depression, bloating, body aches and pains in the muscles and joints, headaches … these are just a few of many symptoms of PMS that can plague you each month after ovulation. For a large majority of women, these symptoms are self-treatable without medical intervention. Using over the counter pain relievers like ibuprofen and naproxen sodium reduces body aches and pains as well as headaches and cramping. Changes in diet and exercise help with mood swings, bloating and more.

What happens with that small percentage of women who do not show significant improvement of PMS symptoms? Chances are PMDD or premenstrual dysphoric disorder is the culprit, a more severe and intense form of PMS. Prescription medications and even surgery are options in this case.

Before turning to more drastic measures such as drugs that can cause side effects and irreversible surgery, make sure all options have been exhausted as far as diet and exercise are concerned. Also, try an herbal regiment for a few months to see if it can help. Only once you have tried everything else should you turn to medical science.

Medications that May Be Prescribed

There are drugs that work by temporarily shutting off the ovaries to avoid ovulation, the release of mature eggs. It may take a month or two, but this can help women find relief pretty quickly. The only drawback is that the medications that do this can only be used in the short term. Long term use has not been adequately tested to determine health safety. The drugs that can shut the ovaries off for a while are called GnRH or LHRH analogues. GnRh analogues work to reduce the output of estrogen and have also been prescribed for shrinking fibroid tumors. The LHRH analogues also suppress estrogen as well as ovulation itself.

These analogue drugs help doctors with firming up the diagnosis of PMDD. Because of the side effects of them, they are only prescribed in serious conditions which are hard to treat otherwise. You can expect possible side effects like sweating and skin flushing which are caused by estrogen drops and retaliation from the body due to the ovaries shutting down for a while. These symptoms are similar to that of menopause. Another side effect that is definitely not beneficial is the higher risk of osteoporosis.

Surgical Options

The most drastic of PMDD cases may require surgery to remove the ovaries, the primary gland in the endocrine system in charge of the reproductive system and responsible for these intense PMS symptoms. Surgery is for those women who have no where else to turn to resume a normal lifestyle unless the ovaries are removed.

Hormone replacement therapy is likely once the ovaries are removes, at least until menopause hits. Because surgery is quite drastic, those analogue drugs that suppress ovary function are used first to find relief. Many surgeons hesitate to remove the ovaries at all and often want to wait for other conditions to come up that may warrant such an extreme measure, especially if the woman is still in child-bearing age.