A human is a slave of his moods, and the woman is in particular. Who of us does not know the state when we care bare anything, we strive to achieve our goal, sweeping all the obstacles off our way.
But then … things start going wrong, the trustiest relationships do not work, there is not enough patience to see what is going on, to hear what they say.
You are just not in the mood and life is all wrong. Why is it? And why does it happen regularly? The mood of a woman is not just a whim, an ability to get up “on the right side of the bed”, or control yourself. This condition is also physiological.
And the most sensitive, fragile period of the state is the time before the onset of menstruation, the so-called premenstrual syndrome (PMS).
If the first mentions of it were found in the Greek manuscripts, the study focused on PMS began in the 30s of the last century. However, despite the extensive research and the collected materials unequivocal answer to the question of the nature of this phenomenon and the possibility of avoiding hasn’t yet been given.
The most obvious cause of the syndrome is associated with cyclic hormonal changes. Once a month, from 2 to 12 days prior to menstruation female hormones begin to accumulate in women, regulating the menstrual cycle and affecting the central nervous system – estrogen and progesterone.
If in this phase of the cycle their number has increased uniformly, no adverse events will be felt. But usually, the production of estrogen is increased along with the lack of progesterone secretion, so one hormone is suppressing the other one, and so the woman has discomfort called premenstrual syndrome.
There is also an opinion about the hereditary nature of the disease: according to statistics from the woman’s parents in 57% of cases suffered from high blood pressure and migraines.
There is also a hypothesis of psycho-social nature of the disease: for girls the cause may be the fears experienced in relation to the first menstruation, for women – dissatisfaction with sex lives.
There are also many supporters of the allergic theory: PMS develops in women with high sensitivity to their own hormones.
The totality of the many manifestations and symptoms of PMS with the most diverse nature occur 2-12 days before menstruation and disappear in its first days or immediately after. At the age of 19-29 years, PMS occurs in about 20% of women after 30 years – at 55-60%.
Most often it affects women of intellectual occupations, living in cities. Different triggers play a big role: pathologically occurring childbirth and abortion, stress, infectious diseases.
Manifestations of PMS
Let’s try to streamline its symptoms and understand the nature of their origin. This will allow us to deal with the possible methods of prevention of the problem and of ameliorating the disease.
Neuropsychiatric manifestations of PMS are the most noticeable both for the woman and for the people around her. We have already noted the phenomenon of uneven release of hormones during this period. So, it is a sharp increase in the level of estrogen which makes a woman restless and excited.
She easily loses her temper with or without an excuse, is excessively hot-tempered, irritable, mood swings are possible.
Conflicts at work and at home with her husband, children, parents and passers-by become more frequent. By the way, the decision to divorce is often taken by women during these days. If on the hormonal background progesterone is dominating, the opposite effect occurs: women feel depression and fatigue. There is self-pity, tearfulness, feelings of resentment, deprivation and hopelessness. Women feel drowsiness, mental and physical fatigue, even the usual load is carried with difficulty. There is possible internal tension, withdrawal.
Neuropsychiatric symptoms may also include “a manifestation of weaknesses” – increased appetite, until defoliation, or cravings for “forbidden” food – sweets, cakes, flour.
Have you finished your lunch today with a giant chocolate bar or ice cream bar? Do not scold yourself – your body makes you do it, namely the effect of progesterone on the brain: high levels of progesterone released by the ovaries in women at about the middle of the menstrual cycle affect the brain areas responsible for carbohydrate needs.
Somatic symptoms are less severe, especially for the woman. These are real physical ailments, sometimes very unpleasant. They can be divided into vegetative-vascular and exchange-endocrine.
Vegetative-vascular disorders are headache, muscle aches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, pain in the heart, tachycardia, and cyclic changes in blood pressure. Headaches are migraine type and often simply unbearable, when it seems that your eyeballs just bulge.
Frequent are back pain, low back pain, increased sensitivity to sounds and smells.
Symptoms specific to the exchange-endocrine disorders are pain and increased sensitivity of mammary glands, bloating, constipation, vomiting, memory loss, thirst, shortness of breath, fever, acne, insomnia or excessive sleepiness.
Often you may notice swelling of hands, feet or face, bloating caused by water retention in the body. Some women have an increase in weight up to 4-6 kg. With the onset of menstruation improvement comes, there is a lightness throughout the body, “enlightenment” in the head, swelling and the added weight go away.
There are also cyclic allergic reactions and cyclic eye diseases: conjunctivitis, increased intraocular pressure, a sharp decline in vision, exacerbation of chronic diseases.
Studies show interesting results on the effect of PMS on female behavior: it was found that 27% of women, for the first time condemned for the crimes, had committed them during the premenstrual period; the frequency of hospitalizations of women for emergency indications is 29%. In the period between the 25th and 28th days of the cycle, 26% of traffic accidents committed by women happen.
