ladies, im sure you know what i mean

how is it fair that there are alll these stupid medications for diseases and health issues that dont really even exist.... but nobody has yet to come up with a pms cure????? is there something we can do about that??? .... a week where all you want to eat is sugar and fat and carbs and on top of that feel tired and sick... and ragingly angry one second and totally depressed five later?????? why hasnt anyone tried to help us??????? seriously.  i bet the divorce rate in this country would go down if there was a pill you could take for this. ugh.  just needed to vent, its one of "those days"

i agree , im there as well which is the reason im even home and not at the gym where i belong...boo... and i cant seem to get full so i keep eating and its like theres no end to it...i hate it

Right there with ya.  I was just journaling about PMS week.  I want to eat everything that isn't nailed down, and then lay down and whine "ow, my uterus!".

ugh, totally feeling that right now...it sucks majorly...I want to go work out, but instead I took a 2 hour nap with my heating pack... =(

LOL!  I was nodding my head up and down...up and down...as I was reading your post!!  *Laffin*

Lord.  We can cure so many things, but something that happens to every woman once a month for 35-40 years?  Lord knows they HAVE enough people to STUDY on!!  LOL!

:oD

exactly!!!! if they can make viagra, they can make a c pms wonderdrug, im sure of it!!!!!! jerks.

argh! i totally hear what you're saying. although i'm not sure that i would take a pill if there was one (too much medication around these days anyway, it's just our bodies way of reminding us we're women... how lovely). haha, what makes it worse? if i'm ever having a particularly pms-y day, and i try to say something like "i'm really sorry for my short temper i'm super pms-ing today" my mom will counter right back that pms only exists in peoples heads and that i'm just using it as an excuse for being a bitch. <--not helping! haha. what actually helps is, instead of doing intense exercise, just get outside for a half hour and walk around, stroll even, no matter what the weather. alone, sans ipod or any distractions. i find it helps me feel a bit grounded. 

There is a pill to help this- The Pill!

Ok, so it doesn't cure this but since having my hormones controlled my pms is brief and predictable and involves only twenty four hours of wanting to eat everything in the world, one evening where I want to cry then bam, it's over.

By the way- if you crave stuff when you have pms then eat it, your body needs it! Sometimes just a little nibble of the food in question will kill the craving. However a tub of ice cream to cheer yourself up just cos yuo have the PMS miseries is not recommended!

PMS is just one of the many flaws that go to show that the female body suffers from poor engineering overall.

Yes... curse you female bodies!
*makes a picket sign out of card and glue like a rioting Martha Stuart* Down with PMS!
*Starts little chant*
What do we want?
No more PMS!
When do we want it?
NOW!

Ive heard drinking herbal teas in the morning helps subside pms. I cant say its ever worked for me but hey I will try anything once......As for my pms its not nearly as bad as before I had children after I had kids some of the really bad mood swings and headaches and tummy cramps sorta disappeared. Now I just get one bitchy day during the duration of my period and maybe one small headache.

Wow, after reading all this, I feel rather blessed.  I do get a little cranky and more whiney, but that's generally due to the low-grade low-back ache that won't go away and sensitive boobies.  I get mild cramping just before it starts, and then just keep the low-grade low-back ache. 

There are pills that relieve the symptoms, and I've seen commercials for BCPs that claim to reduce severe PMS symptoms. 

I wonder, though if some of it is all in our heads.  We're told from TV, from our mothers, from other women, that PMS is some horrible, horrible thing.  You will, bloat, you will cramp, you will not feel like doing anything, so we convince ourselves we're bloaty and crampy and headachey and miserable (unless you take the magic PMS cure). 

On the other hand, everyone knows that all patients are middle-aged white men.  Those are the only patients ever, and the people that medicines are designed for! 

My symptoms vary month to month. And pill to pill. Some months are easier than others, and vice versa.

I suffer from endometriosis and IBS and both act up every month. I swear I'm the poster child for this PMS study!

Through the years, when women would complain to their (male) doctors about their symptoms of PMS or menopause, they were patted on the head (be a good girl, now) and  told it was all in their heads.  For eons, I don't think men really believed that PMS was real - it was no more than a woman's complaining.  Then, when more women entered the medical field, a little more attention was paid to menopause and PMS symptoms and ways to treat them.  Of course, you know that if MEN had to endure what we do each month, there would have been mountains moved to find a cure long ago!  ha ha 

And you're right - if they can come up with a pill like Viagra, why can't they "fix" PMS?  Curious to me, also, that insurance companies will pay for Viagra but there are still some that won't pay for birth control!!  That's screwed up. 

I'm getting close to premenopause AND I was diagnosed with a fibroid recently.  So, my monthly symptoms seem to be worse than they used to be.  Thankfully, I have a wonderful gynecologist who is very attuned to his patients' needs in that area. 

What pisses ME off even more is that now women are supposed to just 'deal' with having a period and we're constantly told that it's no big deal. I can't wait until the development of virtual reality so that we can strap every man in to one and have them walk around bleeding for a week.

And I agree with jedberg; it's the reason I will never have a male gyno! 

I couldn't take the pill, but I had the injections. They stopped my periods completely. No more PMS AT ALL! Then I stopped taking the injections (gained weight and could not lose it, plus hubby had vasectomy). Now my periods are back (darn, I thought I would have hit menopause by now!). Still no PMS, though. Although last week I was eating potato chips and cookies uncontrollably. Uh-oh. But all the weight came off. I guess there are pros and cons to everything. I did like not having PMS though.

I had one of those days yesterday, went to the grocery store where they have a huuuge bulk section and I bough my fave jelly beans and peanut M&Ms, my intake was 15cals higher than what I burned.

But hey back on the pill as of today and it's all back to normal PMS week is over. :)

The worst part is there are STILL women who will say there is no such thing as PMS. I run into this on another forum I frequent which is a lot of men and women trying to be one of the guys.

Trust me, I wish there was no such thing as PMS. That would save me about three days of crying and fighting with my husband every month. I find diet helps me since I have ovarian cysts. If I keep the simple carbs down and avoid alcohol, I feel a lot better. Well, I feel better if I do that regardless.

Maybe it's coming from a perspective from being so overweight that I lost my period for many stretches at a time.  I do a happy dance now that I'm regular.  I feel the backache and the cramping and think "my body's doing what it's supposed to be doing!" I thank my body for being a good body when I get this monthly reminder of my fertility and womanhood. 

Then again, my symptoms also aren't terrible.  They're nothing that can't be delt with, acknowledged and moved on.  Yep, the weight goes up a little, I get the back ache, I get more cravings, a little more irritable, but then I step back and go "oh... yep, it's that time, okay."

In my opinion, PMS, like college food, has been built up to be this huge horrible terrible thing, and that if you DON'T have cramps to the point where you have to stay in bed, or severe headaches, or severe bloating where you go up two sizes, or hysterical mood swings, then you're obviously not a real woman.  I think that there's what women go through, and then the hype that then exaggerates everything, making it all seem worse, because hype tells us it must be so.  I've seen TONS of commercials for BCPs that will magically soothe not only PMS, but also PMDD.  So PMDD has now become disorder of the week. 

I do know that all women's bodies are different, and that everyone has different symptoms in varying severity, and that apparently on the scale of 1 to miserable, I'm rather low. 

It's a pain in the rear to have to deal with, don't get me wrong (when I was on the pill, I ended up with two a month, which is then twice the inconvenience, so the pill had to go), but I'd rather have periods and all the little irritations that go with it than not.   Heck, some of them are lovely.  Sure, the boobs get a little tender, but they also get a little fuller.  The boy just loves that!  :) 

hang on girls!  Menopause is coming, and it's wonderful.  Just watch out for the weight gain, which doctors pooh pooh!  I gained all my excess weight during the Peri-menopause and I'm having a fight to get it off.  But now I'm free of those mood swings and bloating, cramps, and the mess.  You will be too if you just hang on!

While it's something I don't have to deal with too frequently (every 2 or 3 months), I've found a way to deal with PMS that really works.

When I start to get the irrational cranky/weepies, I remind myself, "This isn't you.  This is hormones.  You're not really upset.  You're a logical, calm woman, and there's nothing to cry or yell about."

Believe it or not, it really works.  If you use this mindset and that whole "count to 10" thing, it seems to really mitigate the emotional aspect.

Honestly, no one besides my husband can ever tell when I'm having my girl time.