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Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) affects women in the weeks before their monthly menstruation flow.

The symptoms of PMS can be both physical and emotional and occur between the time of ovulation and the first day of menstruation. There are many symptoms of PMS but the more common ones are crying episodes, depression, irritability, over sensitivity, and also mood swings. There are many things that women can do to control the symptoms of PMS including dietary changes, exercise, and lifestyle changes. It helps to have a support system from family and friends that you can turn to for understanding.

It helps in the identifying or diagnosing stage if you keep a journal of all of your suspected PMS symptoms. Write down the date, what symptom(s) you experience, the intensity of the symptom, and whether or not the symptom prevented you from functioning at work, school or home. Record in your journal when your period started and stopped for that month. Take this journal to your gynecologist or medical doctor so that the journal can help determine if your symptoms are indicative of PMS or not.

PMS symptoms differ from woman to woman and can be severe one month and mild the next. The symptoms may vary in duration from cycle to cycle. There are many symptoms that have been attributed to PMS including mood-related symptoms such as anger, anxiety, crying, depression, exaggerated mood swings, over sensitivity, and tension. The physical symptoms of PMS include acne, appetite changes or food cravings, bloating as a result of fluid retention, breast tenderness, fatigue, and sleep disturbances that include either sleeping too much or experiencing insomnia.

Once a woman understands that it is not normal to experience all of these symptoms to the point that she is miserable in the week or two before her period is due, she can take note of the symptoms she experiences and share this information with her doctor. The first step in identifying PMS is understanding that there is a problem. Some women may have been feeling that way for so long that it becomes “normal” to feel this way and it takes a caring spouse or friend to bring up the subject that these symptoms occur each month and perhaps should be investigated.

Other conditions can have the same symptoms as some of the symptoms of PMS like the conditions – depression, chronic fatigue, hypothyroidism, and irritable bowel syndrome. This is why it is so important to see your doctor if you are experiencing symptoms so that a diagnosis can be made and treatment prescribed and begun in order to bring about relief.

There are many treatments that can be designed by your doctor. Not all treatments will have an impact on reducing your symptoms so you may have to try some to see what works best for you. Some of the more common treatment approaches are to make dietary changes, to make a point to exercise at least 3 times a week for a minimum of 20 minuets each time, to quit smoking, and to reduce alcohol intake. The dietary changes include reducing salt intake, reduce the intake of caffeine, and to reduce the use of refined sugars in cooking, baking and on or in foods. Some doctors recommend taking a vitamin B6, vitamin E, calcium, and magnesium supplements in order to reduce symptoms.

Is What I Have Premenstrual Syndrome?

If you are a woman and menstruating, you may wonder if what you experience each month is just period discomfort or if you actually have premenstrual syndrome (PMS)? How can you know if what you are experiencing is PMS? There are over 100 recognizable symptoms of PMS. Most women will only experience a few of these symptoms each month due to PMS.

The most common PMS symptoms are listed below and they can be both emotional and physical.

Emotional symptoms of PMS might include aggression, anxiety, crying spells, fatigue, irritability, mood swings, poor concentration, and also sadness, which may turn into depression.

Physical symptoms of PMS might include abdominal swelling or bloating, breast tenderness, headaches, water retention that may result in bloating and swollen ankles even weight gain.

In order to know for sure if your symptoms are from PMS and not another condition you should see your doctor for blood tests and urine tests that can rule out other conditions and diseases. The diagnosis of PMS is based on the symptoms you have, the severity of the symptoms and when the symptoms occur in your cycle. Typically women with PMS notice that the symptoms slowly worsen during the week approaching their period and rapidly disappear after the period starts.

One way a woman can help her doctor to decide if she has PMS is for her to keep a PMS symptoms journal. She should record the symptoms that she has, what date(s) she experienced the symptoms and how intense they are. She should also record if the symptoms were bad enough to prevent her from participating in the activities that she would normally be doing at work, school or home. She should also record the start date and end date of her period. This journal should be discussed with a doctor when a diagnosis of PMS is being evaluated.

Measuring hormone levels cannot help to determine PMS because there are no differences between a woman with PMS and a woman without PMS.

There is no known cause for PMS at this time but researchers have been conducting studies to help determine what causes PMS. We know that normal fluctuations in hormones causes the bloating, breast tenderness and headaches that are commonly associated with menstruation and women who have intensified symptoms may possibly have a greater fluctuation in hormones that usual. It is known that PMS is not caused by underlying abnormalities with the pelvic organs.

In order to answer the question, “Do I have premenstrual syndrome?” the woman would have to be evaluated by a medical doctor or gynecologist.

When a woman is curious as to her symptoms and wonders if she has premenstrual syndrome it is important that she be in tune to her body so that she can observe symptoms, and record them into a journal that can be shared with her doctor. A woman should not have to suffer in uncertainty. If you are concerned about the monthly symptoms that you are experiencing, it is important that you record your symptoms and then make an appointment to be evaluated by a medical professional so that you can finally have your answer regarding PMS.