Is Premenstrual Syndrome really a curse that we have to live with or is it just a symptom of an underlying imbalance?
I remember at school having a lady visit and give us a talk on ‘periods’ and during that talk she spoke about PMS and how it affected girls/women. I remember thinking, even then, that having periods seemed like a nightmare! We were led to believe that pre-menstrual symptoms are normal and that you should expect to have them. It wasn’t until I started training in Herbal Medicine at University that I realised that this just simply wasn’t the case.
You don’t have to live with PMS
We treat lots of women with hormonally related complaints, we are aware that many women just ‘live’ with PMS believing that there is nothing out there that can help. Many of our patients complain that ‘they just don’t feel themselves’ or they experience what they call a Jekyll and Hyde situation where they don’t recognise themselves and the way that they behave and feel in the week/s leading up to their period. These changes can affect a patient’s work and home life and can put great strain on their relationships.
What is PMS?
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is the name given to the physical, psychological and behavioural symptoms that can occur in the two weeks before a woman’s monthly period.
There are many different symptoms of PMS, but typical examples are
• fluid retention
• breast tenderness
• mood swings
• feeling irritable
• energy changes etc.
These symptoms usually improve when the woman’s period starts, and they disappear a few days afterwards.
Orthodox treatment of PMS
Oftentimes, when patients visit their GP about PMS they are prescribed the contraceptive pill or anti-depressants. If there is a hormonal imbalance or a problem with how the body responds to the hormonal changes through the cycle then the contraceptive pill will not help. Why would giving a patient more ‘synthetic hormones’ be helpful when, potentially, they already have a problem with the balance and clearance of their own hormones! Anti-depressants are also a problem for most patients as they don’t feel depressed the rest of the month and don’t see why they should take a mood elevator for the rest of their life.
Unfortunately GP’s do not have drugs that assist the body in hormonal balance. On the NHS website there is a video about PMS and the GP on the video states that:
‘They (women with PMS) have a hormonal problem and the logical treatment is the suppression of these hormonal changes.’
He goes on to say that it is possible to give a pill which stops the cycles. They then have no periods, no cycles, no PMS. But is it right to stop your body from menstruating?
Find out the answer next week, or call 01303 76001 if you would like to speak to someone who can help
