Throughout our lives, women are faced with a monthly event that can be startling and unexplained—PMS. PMS stands for premenstrual syndrome, and is a fairly common occurrence for women of childbearing age (anyone who has a menstrual cycle). There are many experiences with this condition that can affect every person differently. For some it’s just mood swings, cramps, or acne. But for others it can be debilitating depression, anger instability, migraines, or get really ugly really quick (though the latter isn’t as common as you might think)

What causes these symptoms? It’s an extreme sensitivity to changes in hormone levels during the menstrual cycle—to estrogen and progesterone.
So how does this effect me? Well i tend to sleep really poorly, have short temper, i gain a lot of water and i forget stuff. I mean…really forget. I’ve also been told that I’m generally a friendly person, but if someone has a bad day at work, I can turn on them real quick. If I’m upset with someone, it can take hours just to kind of calm down (and in the end I usually apologize).
The time of my period is also when i tend to be the most irritable and emotional. I mean…it’s hard enough to go through being middleage, even harder when you’re 45+ and still dealing with acne. But what makes this harder is if you’re dealing with it all alone. It’s like every night we go to bed angry and crying about the guy who broke your heart 25 years ago (though she didn’t break my heart…just my trust).
So why am I writing about this—you might ask? Well I tend to get so frustrated by all of this that i try to vent, and this is one those things that makes me feel better. So in an effort to help people out there struggling with PMS, i look back on some of these experiences, and thought it might help someone who is going through something similar.

What helps?
Here is my shortlist to at least feeling better during those pesky days:

  • Chocolate. Yes. Eat it and dont feel bad about it.
  • Sleep a lot. It helps to give your mind and body a fighting chance.
  • Write lists. List are vital during my PMS as i tend to forget the most mundane things. Like picking up my kids from school.
  • Exercise. I must move or my mind is going to drive me crazy. And by moving I mean walks. Gentle walks with a nice audiobook to keep me company. They dont talk back.

What makes it worse?

  • I cant use electronics. Nothing like texting someone you care about and them being so self-absorbed that they don’t even respond for 2 hours. Or spending 20 minutes on the phone with someone who is so hellbent on venting that all you want to do is run away.
  • Don’t read emails/facebook/political news sites (or any other site for that matter). That’s a sure way to get yourself in trouble.
  • Don’t go out without your husband/children if you can help it.

And the one thing it has taken me almost 50 years to understand: Be kind to yourself. Just be kind.
If you used the same langugage to someone else that you just used to yourself just now: You would get slapped a LOT. So be kind.

I have coffee to drink, a trampoline to bounce on and stuff to get through.
Until later.

/ L