PMS.com

What Is Premenstrual Syndrome?

The term, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), covers a group of symptoms that can affect you, emotionally and physically, during the days before your period. How many symptoms? Some experts believe there may be as many as 150. Fortunately, most women only experience a few. The most common premenstrual symptoms are headache, bloating, back pain, mood swings, fatigue, irritability, anxiety, food cravings, acne and sore breasts. While the symptoms subside when menstruation begins, the millions of women whose lives are regularly disrupted by PMS are tired of waiting it out. And waiting for a solution.

While not all women have PMS, it’s estimated that 70% to 90% of women who menstruate experience premenstrual symptoms. And another 3% to 8% have emotional symptoms severe enough to disrupt their lives, a condition known as PMDD. Women with PMDD suffer from many of the physical symptoms of PMS, often more severely. In addition, they experience debilitating emotional symptoms such as feelings of hopelessness, isolation and extreme mood swings.

Women have probably had PMS as long as they’ve had periods. In the past, more women were pregnant or breastfeeding for a greater part of their reproductive lives. That meant fewer periods – and less PMS. Today, while some women still choose to have big families, many delay childbearing, plan smaller families and wait years between pregnancies. As a result, premenstrual symptoms and their effects on a woman’s busy life have become more widely understood. As an active woman with lots to accomplish, you can’t afford to let PMS keep you from being your best, at home, at work or at school.

This website can provide you with a lot of information about PMS, and what you can do about it. It’s time to re-assess the impact PMS has had on your well-being. To rethink your treatment options. And to reclaim your life.