PMS symptoms are fluctuating this month

I am at day 20 of my cycle, which means I have definitely been in PMS mode for about 6 days now.

I have discussed in previous posts that I can feel the PMS symptoms more keenly this month, with the fluid retention and fluctuating emotions starting right after ovulation.

At the moment, my stomach has this huge amount of fluid retention, which seems to come and go. Today it's very definitely here, my stomach has a lot of fluid retention and even when I hold my stomach in, it's still there. Lovely. At least I know it will be gone once my periods finish, but it's still annoying.

Additionally, I have felt the rise of emotion overwhelming me, having a far more intense reaction to stressful events than I normally would have, if I wasn't in PMS mode. It's almost like a physical sensation, the wave of emotion that threatens to overwhelm me and it rises so fast, that it is difficult to stem the tide.  But I try to do so, because it's not healthy to buy into it.

Whenever I feel that rise of emotion - anger, resentment, anxiety, fear - or tears, I keep telling myself, over and over again, "it's just PMS, it's not a real emotion", until the intense emotion goes away. I managed to stem the flow of angry tears even before they started just using this little strategy of mine!  So it's a big plus. Better than any medication and cheaper too, that is for sure!

While I have had the intense negative emotions, they haven't been going on that much, or that consistently, so that is a positive. On the plus side, I have been feeling more creative and more incisive and my brain feels like it's functioning better. It's always good to see the positive side of anything because it helps you cope better.

I have been exercising for about 35-45 minutes most days of the week in this last week. I am better from the flu and can manage exercising more normally now.

This past few months I have had to deal with an unrelentingly stressful situation that has been greatly upsetting, so the immense stress I have been under has made a huge impact on my PMS symptoms, making them much worse than normal, but still not as bad as they used to be, because I know how to manage them better now

Just a clarification

I was going through my blog the other day and decided to do a bit of a clean up.

I found a blog post which I thought was far too long and contained far too much information for just one blog post.

It was a post I made on 5 February 2008 about the causes of PMS and PMDD, with five different areas.

I decided to edit that post  into five separate blog posts, in order to separate the different topic areas contained within the post.  There was too much content for just one post and I separated it to make it easier to read.

The post was previously entitled: PMS and PMDD Causes and it was quite comprehensive in content.

It has now been divided into five posts, for the same day, just to make the content more readable and easier to manage as there were five different areas within the same post and lots of information in the one post.

I decided that because it was an important topic - the possible causes of PMS and PMDD - that each part should have it's own post.

You can view the five separate posts here:

• PMS and PMDD Causes - Part 1: Nutritional Deficiencies
• PMS and PMDD Causes - Part 2: Stress
• PMS and PMDD Causes - Part 3: Lack of Exercise
• PMS and PMDD Causes - Part 4: Toxic Chemicals
• PMS and PMDD Causes - Part 5: PMDD is Not a Mental Disorder

Enjoy!

And in case you hadn't noticed, I changed the format of my blog too. Hope you like the swirly pattern in the background and the new format. I wanted to make it more colourful.

PMS has started early for this month, already

PMS has started already this month, early.

I think because I have been rather inactive these past three weeks and have had to deal with a very stressful situation (which I am trying to extricate myself  from), that's most likely causing PMS to start early.

I haven't been active or doing much exercise these past three weeks, because I have been really sick with the flu from just before the start of my previous months' periods and I am only now just starting to get better! It's been a very virulent flu virus that got me and I am still coughing and have sinusitis as well as feel very lethargic and tired.

At the moment, it's just my breasts that feel rather full and heavier than normal and my stomach is bloated out, it juts out when I sit down and that's not normal for me when I don't have PMS.

I don't mind having full, heavy and even painful breasts and the fluid retention that goes on in the rest of my body, but I do not want the emotional symptoms - the anger, irrational thinking, depression, anxiety and everything else that goes with it, to a varying degree, for those days before my periods start.

Last night I did about 15 minutes of exercise - not much, but I didn't have much energy to do more. Today, I did 30 minutes of exercise, so I hope that, combined with eating more fruits and vegetables and taking all my vitamins/minerals, can help to prevent the worst of the fluid retention and other PMS symptoms.  I probably also need to do some meditation too. Maybe I will do some tonight, before I go to sleep, which will be very soon.

Results of my blood tests have just come through

I recently had a blood test to check up on my iron levels (and a few other things).

My iron and ferritin (iron store) levels are still very low and I need to continue supplementation, which I am doing. It also means I need to start eating things like liver a few times a week. I really don't like beef liver, so I'll try chicken liver, which is more mild in taste and while it has less iron/vitamin B12, it still has them in ample amounts and enough to help me replenish my iron/ferritin.

In addition to this, my TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) was quite high. It was in the normal range, but right at the top of the normal range and basically double what it was only three months ago! This is probably because my thyroid is getting hypothyroid due to the multiple nodule goitre I have on my thyroid. Apparently high stress (which I am under at present) can increase the amount of cortisol circulating in the body and this can cause the thyroid to function less effectively as well.

With the low iron/ferritin levels and high TSH (potentially hypothyroidism) results, it means I will get more tired, feel lethargic, feel cold easily and put on weight easily. The higher TSH results also mean more bleeding during menstruation.  Thyroid disorders often go hand-in-hand with PMS and PMDD!

Low iron/ferritin levels not only have the above symptoms, but they can make you feel depressed and anxious, as part of the symptoms. Once the iron/ferritin levels go back to normal, these symptoms also disappear! This means that PMS symptoms can become worse if iron levels are too low and become more like PMDD symptoms.

The blood test was taken when I was still really sick from the flu and I had my periods at the time, so that is probably why they the iron and ferritin levels were extra low.

I have just ovulated. I know because of the symptoms I get during ovulation is the same every month. This means PMS is coming!

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.

Fluid retention all over right now

Well I have some fluid retention most noticeably in my breasts and stomach. I can tell because my stomach is a bit more bloated and less flat (which is how it normally is) and my bra feels like it's too small for my breasts, whereas a few days ago, it was okay.

I haven't got much pain in my breasts from the fluid retention, which is good. Today I noticed that my bra feels quite small, like I need to get a bigger bra to accommodate my breasts, whereas yesterday, it didn't feel that way. My breasts also feel really heavy, much heavier than they did yesterday - as if the fluid has added a few grams of weight to them.

I have been doing a little exercise most day, but not very much at all.

I have been taking a liquid iron supplement (to build up my iron stores), some psyillium fibre and acidophilus probiotic powder. I think the iron is helping quite a lot. I don't feel as tired as I normally feel and it may be helping in other ways too - by topping up the iron in my body, I get more oxygen flowing around in my blood and this gets to my cells and helps to give me more energy. I no long feel like totally lethargic and sleepy every day, I have a bit more energy. That is something positive. I guess it means I need to finish this bottle of iron and maybe buy another one to take after my next cycle has ended.  I really don't eat much meat and don't eat enough other foods rich in iron and then I bleed heavily during my monthly flow, so it means my iron stores get a bit low.  I have to review the foods I eat and start eating an egg and some spinach every day, both of which have high levels of iron.

I have also been eating organic chocolate every day - some days more than others. If I get upset, I tend to eat more chocolate.