PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME: HOW DOES THE PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME BEGIN?

A woman knows she has premenstrual syndrome—PMS—when, just like clockwork, the symptoms appear two to fourteen days before her menstruation, and disappear shortly after she begins to bleed. It isn't likely that any one woman will experience every affliction that I mentioned earlier, but symptoms are known to combine in a variety of plaguing ways. A woman may be tired and depressed or have backache and nausea or become irritable and weepy. If she sees herself change month after month for a fairly fixed number of days, and she realizes that she can transform practically overnight, she suffers from premenstrual tension.

The feminine cycle depends upon the ebb and flow of beautifully-synchronized hormonal fluctuations. Before ovulation, estrogen, the first female hormone, is being produced by all the little egg cells in the ovaries. During ovulation, the Graafian follicle, the egg-of-the-month, bursts, ejects a mature egg cell, and leaves behind a cell formation called the corpus luteum, the producer of progesterone, the second female hormone. As a result of the increase of both female hormones, a soft spongy lining, a nest for a fertilized egg, builds within the womb. Of course, if the mature egg is not fertilized, the spongy uterine lining, which is made of glandular tissue rich in blood vessels, isn't needed. About fourteen days after ovulation, then, the unused lining will shed itself in the form of menstrual blood.

It is during those fourteen days between ovulation and menstruation that estrogen and progesterone first peak and then fall. The balance of these two surging hormones becomes the key to premenstrual syndrome. Although there are theories that PMS might be linked to the brain's hormone-releasing mechanisms, fluctuation of the ever-mystifying female hormones themselves is a much more likely cause.

However, before discussing how these hormones might make a calm woman feel like a coiled spring, there's good news. There's a positive side to the estrogen/progesterone rush after ovulation. Estrogen increases the blood supply to the endometrium, the uterine lining that progesterone is turning into a bed for fertilization. Estrogen also makes a woman's skin smooth and blemish-free. Besides being the architect of the endometrium, progesterone relaxes the uterus, alters the cervical mucus, and can, in combination with estrogen, stimulate a sex drive. Just like a pregnant woman who, living with an increase of estrogen and progesterone for nine months, often feels sexier, a woman who has a high amount of female hormones after ovulation sometimes responds more sexually too. When these hormones are in balance, women feel wonderful. When estrogen and progesterone aren't in tune, when there's too much of one or too little of the other, all sorts of symptoms connected to the premenstrual syndrome may arise.

Estrogen binds salt and salt binds water, so a high amount of estrogen can lead to water retention, an edema which can cause a swelling of the brain membrane. Then, the pulling on the nerve tissue surrounding the brain can result in headache, dizziness, and hypersensitivity to light, which are all symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. Also, a woman will feel heavy and bloated all over. She'll experience an added pressure in her abdomen and bowel area, and she might have gas pains.

Too much progesterone can make a normally energetic woman feel incredibly fatigued. There's some question about whether symptoms related to too little progesterone occur because there's an abundance of estrogen or a deficiency of progesterone. Dr. Dalton attributes certain PMS symptoms to a lack of progesterone and she has successfully treated women with natural progesterone suppositories. Treatments will be covered in depth later, but right now it's important to recognize that the symptoms are due to a hormone imbalance.

The appearance of progesterone in the second half of the menstrual cycle may create a variety of symptoms. These symptoms will be more pronounced if there isn't just enough estrogen to balance the progesterone. There will be bladder pressure and bowel irritation from which gas and constipation may result. Progesterone may give a woman ravenous food cravings. She might long for sweets due to lowered blood sugar, and at the same time she may feel hot because her body temperature has risen. Women may develop allergic reactions and have little resistance to infection. Physical symptoms can become so severe that they upset a woman's mental health. Loved ones may hint in the kindest way possible that you seem to be losing your grip.

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Women's Health