pms: does it really exist and does it make you hungry?

[ellettra.livejournal.com]

hey all. i'll be joining you soon... but a couple of things i've been thinking about:

do you believe in pms? i mean, i know the physical characteristics are really there, but what do you think about the natural occurence of those symptoms being hijacked as a way for companies to make money off womyn yet again?

and... does anyone else get ravenously hungry right before their dot? anyone know what causes this? i read it has to do with metabolism, but i don't know if it's a credible explanation.

Comments

[casey1979.livejournal.com]

i wish i had proof of this, or a link
in a remote city in mexico a group of scientists did a study on PMS. the surveyed the women of menstruating age and asked them questions like "do you feel irritable befor eyour period?"..all kinds of questions youw ould answer yes or no to conserning PMS. about 15% of the women had the symptoms of PMS. then they informed all the women about PMS and what it was and what happens and everything..went back 5 years later and asked the same survey...nearly 60% or so of the women said they had PMS symptoms

personally i think companies/pop culture try to convince girls and women that 1) they should be descreet/embarassed about our periods and therfore use their handy dandy products that are hardly noticeable
2) that our periods are nasty and
3) all of our emotions are subject to our hormones
and many other things i guess
it's wicked sad :(

[ellettra.livejournal.com]

agreed. pisses me off. ;\

[http://users.livejournal.com/_last_serenade_/]

yes, i get disgustingly hungry. i'll eat everything/anything in sight. lol. i have no idea what causes it, but i'm the exact same way.

and about the PMS. it's weird...the week before my period, i'll catch myself crying at hallmark commercials or some sappy pop song on the radio. and i'm always like "wtf is wrong with me?" and then i realize it's the week before my period. the hormones are there...at least for me.

[ellettra.livejournal.com]

yeah, for me too. sometimes it;s the first sign! i got seriously weepy during "jerry maguire" on t.v. a couple of nights ago and i knew it was coming... then yesterday the hunger kicked in and i couldn't stop eating. ahhh, the wonders of the body. =)

[annabanna.livejournal.com]

I get totally hungry before my period too. I think it happens because when we get our periods, we lose a lot of nutrients, and the extra hunger thing is perhaps our bodies' way of preparing for that.

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

people get pissed off when I say I don't believe PMS exists, but I don't. I have a hell of a lot stronger chemical-emotional responses from skipped meals of sleep-deprivation than I do from anything related to bleeding. Which isn't to say I don't have hormone-related emotional-fluctuations EVER... but they're not something I should be taking drugs for. If anything I believe they're still mostly caused by sleep and food irregularities throwing my hormones off and I'd do myself a hell of a lot more good by just remembering to eat and sleep regularly. (I tend to be bad about both). I do seem to have a bad habit of having an even worse sleep and food schedule around when I bleed. Even the physical symptoms such as cramps and back pain start AT MOST 12 hours before I start bleeding, usually only more like 2-6 hours.

[ellettra.livejournal.com]

i tend to agree with you. i believe the symptoms exist and i certainly notice certain patterns around my dot, but i resent the collection of physical experiences being called a disorder or a syndrome. i think maybe some womyn have debilitating symptoms, but i personally do not. (thank god/dess) and as for me, better eating and sleeping and water consumption seem to lessen feeling crappy. but i am also busy and end up neglecting myself and suffering more for it than i probably would if i did otherwise.

[sashamae.livejournal.com]

Some women don't have PMS or have really minor PMS and then there are those of us with really bad PMS...

[possibilities.livejournal.com]

I hope you don't mind me saying this, but I think you're being a bit harsh. You don't expirence PMS, so therefore it doesn't exist. That seems awfully narrowminded to me.

[deerhoof.livejournal.com]

i found what you said really interesting. i am someone who does experience pms, both physically and emotionally, and it is definitly a distinct emotional feeling for me. but also, i used to have an eating disorder, so i know what its like to have emotion related to not eating. i experience about the same, if not stronger emotional over-activity (i guess thats what you would call it) from being pre-menstrual than i did from not eating for 5 days. so maybe that is the way that yr body works, but as someone who has experienced all that i would say that pms is something many women do experience.

[nelsolidarida.livejournal.com]

I believe in it, especially now. Last week i thought my whole world was collapsing. Then my period came on, really early. Now i feel nearly ok. The shit that happened still happened, but it isnt as insurmountable as it was a week ago. Normally i feel worse before my period's eta, but always wondered if it was in my mind. Now i know it isnt.

[achtungbaby.livejournal.com]

pms: does it really exist and does it make you hungry?

somehow...and i dont know how i read it as:
PENIS: does it really exist and does it make you hungry?

i couldnt stop laughing!

[ellettra.livejournal.com]

hahahahaha!!!!!!
that made my day. that truly made my day. =)

I guess I am alone here

[sashamae.livejournal.com]

Since I have severe mood swings and terrible cramps, exhaustion, body aches, bloating and appetite changes, I truly believe in PMS. I have had all of these symptoms since I started menstruating and got to know my cycle-and by that I mean, when I started to understand the ovulation/menstruation cycle. All of my symptoms have gotten worse and I never connected the mood swings/exhaustion, appetite changes until I really paid attention to my body...I really believe in PMS and PMDD-which I have. The drug companies don't get my money, though I get free acupuncture treatment from an Oriental Medicine school and I deal with my cramps, exhaustion and everything else on my own. I have a history of anxiety attacks and depression that have always gotten really bad before my period-our chemical balances are thrown off when our bodies are preparing for menstruation-its all about hormones. Anyways, for your question-I am absolutely ravenous before my period and when I get my period food makes me sick to look at it...nothing sounds good at all to eat! Does that help any?

[thejoysofjess.livejournal.com]

i believe in it. i can track my cycle better that way. a week after i randomly blow up over something minor, i'll get it. it's a good indicator. i don't get hungrier though. maybe a little hornier.

[moonborn.livejournal.com]

I think PMS is like the G-Spot; some women have it, some women don't. I get symptoms like I have an immune deficiency right before my period (I get sick unless I'm veryvery careful to keep my body temperature regular), and I usually have a lot of trouble sleeping several days beforehand; so I definitely get body-effects from my period/cycle. Whether they'd technically come under PMS or not I don't know.

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

huh. I thought everyone had a G-spot, just that on some people it wasn't as sensitive as on others.

[ourika.livejournal.com]

I didn't used to believe it was common. While I believed it existed, I figured that it was no big deal, and I didn't understand what the whole fuss was. I had bad cramps, but they were just cramps, and why was everybody being so whiney and saying that their period makes them moody.

Etc.

And then I started tracking my emotions. I was doing this separately from tracking my period (which I also started doing). At some point or another, I put the two together. And I discovered that I _do_ have PMS. I just never called it pms since I didn't believe that it was a problem and I didn't beleive it was a problem I had. Now that I realize it, I take more care and time to focus on myself and take care of/pamper myself. And things have calmed down evened out a lot b/c I don't have very strong PMS. But I do, now, believe in PMS and that it varies in intensity from woman to woman.

That being said, I think that the study that was posted about (in Mexico) had one other thing - perhaps women had these things, but without the language to say "I've got pms" they didn't list the two together. They didn't say it was an issue, they just suffered through it. Then, when soemone came to them and said that this is a real problem, it's not just you, they realized that they weren't alone and they did have this problem.

[voidofher.livejournal.com]

i always eat ALOT before my period. its crazy. like im always hungry, no matter how much i eat. im not like that during the rest of the month.

[peregrin8.livejournal.com]

I definitely get PMS, worse as I get older (I'm almost 35), but calcium supplements help me a lot w/ the mood fluctuations as well as cramps. So does staying hydrated and well-rested, and yes, I get hungry & want to have lots of soothing, high-fat, and calcium & iron-rich foods!

But I think that PMS bad enough to justify Prozac or whatever is MUCH more rare. I think the drug companies are definitely out for all the cash they can get.