Moderate PMS symptoms this month

This month my periods started 4 weeks and 4 days since my last cycle.

I think they started a little later because I had a really bad flu infection and I don't think my body could cope with being so sick from the flu and having my periods at the same time too (I had a bad fever/chills/cough/lethargy etc, to a severe degree and was very sick - I am still recovering).  So this flu was almost like a silver lining in way - it prevented my body from getting the worst of the PMS symptoms.

My periods were due to start somewhere between Friday and Sunday, but I got sick with the flu on Saturday morning and was in bed for the whole of Saturday to Thursday. My periods started on Wednesday morning.What a nice, considerate body I have! This was one time I didn't mind a longer cycle, because I didn't get the usual PMS symptoms during the time I had the flu, as I had no energy to do much but sleep!

Prior to the flu starting, I noticed that I had a little of the anger and irritation and my breasts were more full and heavier than normal, but they were not hurting much. I think they did hurt a little bit for part of one day and maybe a little of another day, but that was it!  I did get the fluid retention in my stomach, legs and thighs, but I think that was about it for my PMS symptoms this month.

Today is day five of my menstruation and because of the flu (luckily), I didn't get any period pain (except for a minor twinge one day).

But, I am feeling the sugar imbalances due to not eating much of anything the past week. Because of this flu, I have been basically drinking a lot of herbal tea (peppermint and rosehip), soup and pasta, as well as having a lot of honey - in other words, not eating much at all for about a week. This evening, I felt the sugar imbalance symptoms - I get this weird taste in my mouth, like I haven't eaten enough food, my mouth gets this dry feeling and I just need to get high sugar stuff into me to feel better. I also get agitated - the low sugar does that - and I don't feel right until I eat and eat. Ironically, I am not hungry at all, but my body seems to be craving high sugar foods to feel better.

I really have to work on this sugar imbalance issue I have, as I do not want to put pressure on my pancreas any more - it needs a rest to be able to function properly, as do my cells and the insulin too.

PMS Defined

What is PMS?

PMS is defined as a set of symptoms that can occur for anywhere up to 2 weeks before a women menstruates. Yes, two weeks of hell for some women. There are five sub-groups of PMS symptoms, as described below:

1. PMS-P (PMS Pain)
Symptoms - cramps, reduced pain threshold, aches and pains, light or noise intolerance, joint pain.

2. PMS-A (PMS Anxiety)
Symptoms - anxiety, mood swings, nervous tension, irritability, irrational thoughts, jealousy, low self-esteem, inability to cope, insecurity, agitation, crying spells

3. PMS-C (PMS Craving)
Symptoms - sweet cravings, food cravings, headache, dizziness or fainting, increased appetite, fatigue, heart pounding (exaggerated insulin response to carbohydrates), lethargy, excessive thirst, nausea, low blood sugar

4. PMS-D (PMS Depression)
Symptoms - depression, forgetfulness, crying, mental confusion, insomnia, anger, erratic behaviour, clumsiness, crying spells

5. PMS-H (PMS Hyper hydration)
Symptoms - water retention, breast tenderness and/or enlargement, weight gain (more than 1.4kg), swelling of extremities, abdominal bloating, skin problems,

In addition to all these lovely symptoms above, PMS can aggravate pre-existing health conditions, like candida, herpes, allergies and make them a lot harder to manage.

Not all women will experience all the symptoms above every month and even some women that do experience most the symptoms will not experience them exactly the same every month.

PMDD
A very small percentage of women (between 2-9% of women who experience PMS) may have PMDD, where they experience symptoms so severe, they become destructive. PMDD symptoms have some similarity to moderate-major depression and occur in the two weeks before menstruation and subside when bleeding occurs. In addition to the emotional (or mental) symptoms, there are physical symptoms which also occur in the two weeks prior to menstruation and which subside as soon as menstruation starts (or soon after).

To be diagnosed with PMDD you must experience 5 or more of the following symptoms:

Psychological Symptoms

• anxiety and tension
• mood swings
• irritability
• fatigue
• depression
• changes in appetite
• sleep difficulties
• feeling overwhelmed and out of control

Physical Symptoms

• Bloating and breast tenderness

When PMDD is being diagnosed, the focus is usually on the psychological, behavioural, and emotional symptoms than the physical ones. The thing that should be noted, is that in PMDD the symptoms experienced are much worse than in normal PMS.

Anyone that suspects they may have PMDD needs to contact a medical professional to get all the support, advice and treatment required to manage it. Women with PMDD should also realise that it can be alleviated through nutritional means in conjunction with conventional treatment.

References:
1. "The Physicians Handbook of Clinical Nutrition" - Henry Osiecki

2. Vital Health Zone - www.vitalhealthzone.com

3. "You Can Beat PMS" - Colette Harris and Theresa Cheung