PMDD: Aggressive PMS Successor
For the most of doctors and patients PMDD is something like PMS squared. For diagnosing PMDD women has to experience at least five of the symptoms described below:
· Mood swings, frequent wish to cry
· The feel of apathy, sadness or hopelessness
· Increased irritability worsening relationships with people around
· Tenseness or anxiety with no reason
· The feel of losing control
· Shortage of energy
· The loss of interest to things and people that usually were interesting
· Appetite changes like intense desire to eat, overeating
· Problems with attention and its concentration, slow mental work
· Slumber problems: not getting enough sleep or excessive sleeping
· Physical disorders like headaches, pains in muscles and joints, swelling, breast tenderness, increase of weight, etc.
It is required to experience one of the first four symptoms to give a diagnosis of PMDD. As a rule these symptoms appear the week before periods and totally disappear in a couple of days after they start.
PMDD is very hard to stand, that is why doctors often prescribe the whole complex of medications for its treatment, including antidepressants, hormonal drugs, water pills, vitamins. Nowadays many kinds of birth control pills are used to treat PMDD, but Yaz was the first one that received FDA approval.
The most popular side effects caused by Yaz are headaches and pain in breasts.
What is PMS?
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is the name for a group of symptoms that some women experience up to 14 days before your period (menstruation). The symptoms usually stop soon after your period starts.
Most women feel some mild discomfort before their periods. But if you have PMS, you may feel so anxious, depressed or uncomfortable that you can't cope at home or at work. Some of the symptoms of PMS are listed in the box below. Your symptoms may be worse some months and better others.
Symptoms of PMS
Acne
Back pain
Bloated abdomen
Changes in appetite, including cravings for certain foods
Constipation
Crying spells
Depression
Fast heartbeat
Feeling irritable, tense or anxious
Feeling tired
Headache
Hot flashes
Joint pain
Mood swings
Not feeling as interested in sex
Tender and swollen breasts
Trouble concentrating
Trouble sleeping
Swollen hands or feet
Wanting to be alone
Weight gain
What causes PMS?
No one knows for sure what causes PMS. It seems to be linked in part to changes in hormone levels during the menstrual cycle. PMS is not caused by stress or psychological problems, although these may make the symptoms of PMS worse.
How is PMS diagnosed?
Your doctor will ask you to keep track of your symptoms on a calendar. If your symptoms follow the same pattern each month, you may have PMS.
Your doctor may want to examine you and do some tests to rule out other possible problems. He or she may also want to talk about your eating habits, exercise habits, your work and your family.
How is PMS treated?
There is no cure for PMS, but eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly and taking medicine may help. Your doctor will talk to you about whether you need to change your diet and exercise habits. He or she may also prescribe medicine for you, depending on what your symptoms are and how severe they are.
You may need to try more than one medicine to find the treatment that works best for you. Many medicines are available over-the-counter, but others require a doctor's prescription. Medicines that can be prescribed include diuretics, antidepressants and birth control pills. Other medicines for PMS are currently being studied.
What are diuretics?
Diuretics help your body get rid of extra sodium and fluid. They can ease bloating, weight gain, breast pain and abdominal pain. Diuretics usually are taken just before you would normally experience these symptoms in your menstrual cycle.
Do antidepressants help?
Antidepressants can help with the severe irritability, depression and anxiety that some women experience. These medicines are usually taken every day.
What about birth control pills?
Your doctor may talk to you about taking birth control pills (often just called "the pill") to help ease some of your PMS symptoms. Birth control pills help by evening out your hormone levels throughout your cycle. Some women's PMS symptoms get a lot better when they take birth control pills.
Some evidence suggests an advantage to this type of regimen. By continuously taking the pill, you prevent hormonal fluctuations that are responsible for bleeding, cramping, headaches and other discomforts associated with getting your period. Unscheduled bleeding and spotting often occur during the first few months. It typically goes away with continued use, but some women do continue to have unscheduled bleeding with continuous use of pills. However, the pill can also cause side effects of its own, and it doesn't help all women.
Real life stories as told by numerous women.......
PMS is the eternal “curse” of women, which makes us suffer virtually each month. The nature of this phenomenon has not been completely studied yet, but the symptoms are evident: few days before the cycle begins we face problems of psychological and physical nature. The worst thing is that perfect PMS medication has not been discovered yet. The thing is that PMS somewhat resembles the very nature of women – it is extremely unstable and each time it can show itself differently. In my case PMS is mostly connected with mood swings. Sometimes my head aches, sometimes it can be stomach pain, and at times the pain can be so intolerable, that it provokes nausea, apathy, and faintness. So what is the best way to fight it, and what PMS medication really works?
I have tried great many of things to get rid of pain. The first thing I started from was strong painkillers I had taken a couple of days before the cycle began. Those were traditional pills known to everyone since childhood, such as no-spa or baralgin, as well as more recent strong PMS medication. This is how I started to take Midol. In these pills combination of aspirin and caffeine helps to kill the pain, but it does not improve my mental condition. In order to get rid of mood swings, I took two medications: Sarafem and Vitamin B6. In the instruction it said that these PMS medications both killed pain and improved overall health. They did not help me to get rid of pain, but my disposition actually became more stable. However, in combination with Midol these medications really help.
Another good PMS medication is Yaz. Actually, Yaz is an oral contraceptive, but is so good at normalizing hormonal bursts, that it also helps to normalize menstrual cycle and reduce PMS symptoms.
“I’d always had PMS symptoms — from moderate to extreme over the years. From acne to mood swings, depression, low energy, very sore breasts, bloating and night sweats, I felt like a victim when it came to my hormones. Now, I feel balanced and comfortable, and truly, my periods sneak up on me sometimes.” — Brooke, Personal Program Member
Premenstrual syndrome, or PMS, is one of the most common manifestations of hormonal imbalance, affecting over half of all women. But as recently as the 1980’s PMS was hardly recognized by the medical profession.
Today, PMS is still often misunderstood and mistreated. Unfortunately, conventional medicine tends to emphasize treatment of PMS symptoms rather than the hormonal imbalance that is the true underlying cause.
This is also the case with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), which is a relatively new diagnosis used to describe the most severe cases of PMS. Conventional doctors often treat PMDD with birth control pills or antidepressants that mask the symptoms, without ever asking why the woman feels so awful in the first place.
Is it perimenopause?
PMS can affect any woman who is having menstrual periods — from her first period onward. While it generally appears in adulthood, many teens today also suffer. If PMS or PMDD first occurs or significantly worsens in your 40’s, it could be an early signal you are entering perimenopause. Unless the underlying imbalance is addressed, women who experience PMS earlier in life may be more predisposed to have a difficult perimenopause.
Not surprisingly, the symptoms of PMS and PMDD are quite similar to those of perimenopause: bloating, irritability, mood swings, lethargy, food cravings, headaches, and much more. One of the most common symptoms associated with PMS is dysmenorrhea, or menstrual cramping.
Each woman tends to follow a pattern of symptom development and relief that is consistent from cycle to cycle. For some women, however, there is a tendency for PMS to worsen over time, sometimes reaching the point where they are symptom-free for only a few days a month or developing into PMDD. Fortunately, most women can alleviate even severe PMS with the proper steps.