# Pms!



## Dolce (Jan 26, 2012)

Hey all. Just wondering how you all experience and deal with PMS. I have a 28 - 30 day cycle. During the follicular phase (the first 2 weeks) I have unlimited energy; I feel cheerful, sweet, and get plenty of unsolicited attention from men. 

As soon as I ovulate and enter the luteal phase my mood drops. I get anxious and can sleep 12 hours a day if able. As that 'time' gets closer I feel myself becoming aggressive and HUNGRY (and horny!). I just want to be left alone so I don't expose anyone else to my bad attitude. As soon as my period starts all these symptoms go away.

It just sucks because I feel like my cycles cause me to be bi-polar! I am a flex nurse (which means I can pick up shifts whenever I want) so I often work 60 hours a week during my follicular phase and then work very little after I ovulate. 

So what's it like for you all? How long is your cycle, what sort of 'symptoms' do you have, and how do you deal?


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## Diana_Prince245 (Jan 26, 2012)

Have you talked to your doctor or NP about the possibility of you having PMDD? What you describe sounds a lot like my mood flucuations, and I have almost a textbook case of it (Yea?). Not sure how you feel about the various treatments for it, but it can be controlled with the pill and some antidepressants (IIRC).


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## penguin (Jan 26, 2012)

In the week leading up to my period I tend to either be emotional or bitchy, sometimes both. I try very hard to not let those hormones control me (the ones I get when I'm ovulating are different ), and when things are getting to be too much I try to figure out how much of it is real emotion and how much is hormonally driven. I also try to remind myself that no matter what I'm feeling, I have the right to feel it - but I don't have the right to take it out on other people. I don't always get it right, but I don't let my hormones control me like I did when I was younger.

I think they really need to include classes on hormones and how they affect your moods in sex ed. So many women have no idea about it and are controlled by them.


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## *Goofy*Girl* (Jan 27, 2012)

Sounds like mine. And yes, it does make you feel Bi-Polar. In fact, I once got that diagnosis years back partially due to it.

Yeah, antidepressants & sometimes mood stabilizers help, but not 100%. At least not for me. I'd say I'm about 75% improved. Prozac, Abilify, Zonegran, & Klonopin all eased my symptoms, with Prozac the most.

I've got PMS right now and have a hankering for some donuts or other sweets. But I don't have any in the house and I could have some fruit and/or sugar-free popsicles instead and be cool with that.

Years ago (before meds) I would have left the house at 4:30 in the morning to go to Dunkin Donuts, come back, & eat at least half a dozen in one sitting while prank-calling my exes, lol.


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## EMH1701 (Jan 27, 2012)

I believe I have PMDD.

I get terrible cramps to the point where I just curl up in a ball, and mood swings which include depression, but only at that time of the month. It ends when my period is over for a week or two and then starts up again. I have reason to think it's hormone related.

I've tried herbs and was on YAZ for a while, then found out YAZ was related to sudden deaths and quit taking it. Then birth control got too expensive, so I am on the herbs again.

I can't wait til I'm old and no longer have to deal with it.


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## bonified (Jan 31, 2012)

I found once I started working out regularly again coupling that with the usual pot smoking & orgasming most days that I rarely suffer any symptoms other than inconvenience.


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## lovelocs (Mar 29, 2012)

I have found that milk thistle works, as does evening primrose oil. Both support the liver, which cleans up excess hormones. I do better when I avoid sugar, as well. Also, you may want to cut out some stressful aspects of your life. I did, and my PMS is much better now.


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## Tau (Apr 2, 2012)

lovelocs said:


> I have found that milk thistle works, as does evening primrose oil. Both support the liver, which cleans up excess hormones. I do better when I avoid sugar, as well. Also, you may want to cut out some stressful aspects of your life. I did, and my PMS is much better now.



Brilliant advice. Stress is a bitch and fucks everything up. I literally lose my damn mind a week to my period and then the first 5 days. I am mad. I'm enraged and I pour tears and I start fights and then next moment life is ecstasy and I want to shag everything that moves. Stress is the big trigger for me and if I don't manage it along with the insanity comes intense back and muscle pain, migraines and nausea. Its not fun so honey you are absolutely not alone. I think focus on treating it homeopathically and avoid chemicals as much as possible because they just pile on a whole host of other ugly side effects.


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## Shan34 (Apr 2, 2012)

I can totally relate. I'm not great at knowing where I'm at in my cycle as I don't track it at all. But I will have a few extreme emo days where I'm very weepy for no reason and can also rage at the drop of a hat. About the time I think I'm losing my mind and say WTF is wrong with me, I realize that I'm probably real close to starting my period. And I've been right every time.

I will have to give that milk thistle a try.


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## Kamily (Apr 2, 2012)

Dolce said:


> As that 'time' gets closer I feel myself becoming aggressive. I just want to be left alone so I don't expose anyone else to my bad attitude.



Hell Im like that 99% of the time anyway due to anxiety, depression and insomnia. :doh:


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## LaylaBlue2012 (May 4, 2012)

I am pure evil...so i told my spouse..and he knows..to "yes dear" me to death. I am bad for 2 weeks with hormones...up and down i feel like im on a freaking roller coaster


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## OppositesAttract(fa) (Jul 4, 2012)

Magnesium has been shown clinically to help with premenstrual symptoms related to mood change.

Magnesium can moreover alleviate muscle cramps, as muscles need magnesium to relaxand the middle layer of the uterine wall (i.e., the myometrium) is predominantly smooth muscle.

Additionally, vitamin B6 facilitates the influx of magnesium into myometrial cells.

My favorite brand of magnesium supplement (for reasons not articulated here!) is Natural Calm.


References:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2067759

Obstet Gynecol. 1991 Aug;78(2):177-81.
'Oral magnesium successfully relieves premenstrual mood changes'

"Reduced magnesium (Mg) levels have been reported in women affected by premenstrual syndrome (PMS). To evaluate the effects of an oral Mg preparation on premenstrual symptoms, we studied, by a double-blind, randomized design, 32 women (24-39 years old) with PMS confirmed by the Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire. [...] These data indicate that Mg supplementation could represent an effective treatment of premenstrual symptoms related to mood change."


http://www.ctds.info/magnesium.html#cramps

Connective Tissue Disorder Site
'Common Conditions Linked to a Magnesium Deficiency: Part Two'

"In a 1992 study, researchers at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Parma, found found that Mg administration was a reliable therapy of primary dysmenorrhea (menstrual cramps).

"In a 1990 study, researchers in Germany found that magnesium "had a therapeutic effect on both back pain and lower abdominal pain on the second and the third day of the cycle."

"In another study from Germany, 50 women suffering from primary dysmenorrhea were treated with magnesium. After a six-month period, 21 out of 25 women showed a decline of symptoms."


http://www.townsendletter.com/Nov2004/nutinflu1104.htm

The Townsend Letter for Doctors & Patients. November 2004
'Nutrients in the Treatment of Dysmenorrhea'

"Since vitamin B6 increases the influx of ionic magnesium into the myometrial cell, it may increase magnesium's efficacy. Indeed, when the combination was given every 2 hours as needed during menses and 4 times daily during the rest of the cycle, during the next 4 to 6 months there was a progressive decrease in the intensity and duration of menstrual cramps."


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## toni (Jul 4, 2012)

I was a bipolar crazy outraged bitch that could not stop eating for ten days a month. Then I was medicated. Ahhhh, life is good. My period comes and goes and my mood is stable.


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## KittyKitten (Jul 8, 2012)

Horny, moody, hungry as hell, bloated, and sleepy. I feel like slapping the hell out of someone who tries to get on my nerve. In other words, I'm being myself just hornier and more irate. However, I become an angel when the flow comes.


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## AuntHen (Jul 10, 2012)

.........................


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## EMH1701 (Jul 10, 2012)

My cramps were causing me to take way too many painkillers (it was that or take a sick day), so I finally went to the Dr. and got a birth control prescription. Low dose. It helps.


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## penguin (Jul 10, 2012)

I tried going back on HBC last year, for the first time since I had my daughter, but the pill that I took for years pre-pregnancy suddenly made me very depressed. It was a triphasil type, so as the cycle progressed, it got worse. I had to stop after two cycles, because I'd just be lying in bed crying all day. I haven't tried going back on anything else, because I'm not sure how the hormones will affect me, and I don't want to go through that again.


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## AuntHen (Jul 11, 2012)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F14FLQi4h7U

Dolly says you're welcome!


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