A regular menstrual cycle means different things to different women. The average menstrual cycle is 28 days, but it can range anywhere from 21 to 45 days. Periods can be light, moderate, or heavy, and the length of periods also varies. While most periods last from three to five days, anywhere from two to seven days is normal. It’s important to know what’s normal and which symptoms should not be ignored.
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a group of symptoms linked to the menstrual cycle.
“Up to 85 percent of women experience at least one symptom of PMS,” says Joseph T. Martorano a New York psychiatrist and author of Unmasking PMS. PMS symptoms occur in the week or two weeks before your period and usually go away after your period starts. PMS can affect menstruating women of any age. It is also different for each woman. PMS may be just a monthly bother or it may be so severe that it makes it hard to even get through the day.
Symptoms
PMS often includes both physical and emotional symptoms. Common symptoms include:
- acne
- breast swelling and tenderness
- feeling tired
- having trouble sleeping
- upset stomach, bloating, constipation, or diarrhea
- headache or backache
- appetite changes or food cravings
- joint or muscle pain
- trouble concentrating or remembering
- tension, irritability, mood swings, or crying spells
- anxiety or depression
Symptoms vary from one woman to another. Between three and seven percent of PMS sufferers have symptoms that are so incapacitating that they interfere with daily life. PMS usually lasts two to five days, but may plague some women for up to 21 days out of each 28-day cycle. If you think you have PMS, keep track of which symptoms you have when and how severe they are to share with your doctor.
PMS Treatment
Many things have been tried to ease the symptoms of PMS. No treatment works for every woman, so you may need to try different ones to see what works. Sometimes lifestyle changes may be enough to help ease your symptoms. Among them:
- Eat healthy foods, including fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
- Avoid salt, sugary foods, caffeine, and alcohol, especially when you are having PMS symptoms.
- Exercise regularly. Cardio exercise will help to ease PMS.
- Get enough sleep. Try to get 8 hours of sleep each night.
- Find healthy ways to cope with stress. Talk to your friends, exercise, or write in a journal.
- Take a multivitamin every day that includes 400 micrograms of folic acid. A calcium supplement with vitamin D can help keep bones strong and may help ease some PMS symptoms.
- Don’t smoke.
Over-the-counter pain relievers such as ibuprofen, aspirin, or naproxen may help ease cramps, headaches, backaches, and breast tenderness.
In more severe cases of PMS, prescription medicines may be used to ease symptoms. One approach has been to use drugs such as birth control pills to stop ovulation from occurring. Women on the pill report fewer PMS symptoms, such as cramps and headaches, as well as lighter periods.
You should visit your doctor if:
- your period suddenly stops for more than 90 days
- your periods become very irregular after having had regular, monthly cycles
- your period occurs more often than every 21 days or less often than every 45 days
- you are bleeding for more than seven days
- you are bleeding more heavily than usual or using more than one pad or tampon every one to two hours
- you bleed between periods
- you have severe pain during your period
- you suddenly get a fever and feel sick after using tampons
I was fortunate not to suffer so badly as some ladies do. Perhaps because we hardly ever ate junk, was none where we grew up, except cokes etc, which we were hardly ever allowed to have, and now don’t like!!