Which PMS symptoms I tend to get seems to depend on what sort of hormonal birth control I’m on. (It may also be age-related, but it’s kind of hard to test that one.)
In my late teens I would get three or so days of shorttemperedness without really noticing it consciously; I got to the point that my sign of imminent bleeding was, “Hey, I just snapped someone’s head off. I think I overreacted? … oh, right.”
When I’ve been on pill formulations that killed my sex drive (which has happened to me twice), I either got no emotional effects around periods or depression for about a week and a half. (The depression effect was such that I was on that pill for way too long, because my thinking was too damn cloudy to get the scrip changed). That really sucked.
These days, sometimes I get one day of anger/frustration spike or three-four of sort of a general miasma and emotional instability. I also consistently just want to sleep through the whole bleeding process, with occasional breaks to be fed chunks of dead cow. (Mind, this impulse did get me to cook a roast beef with potatoes recently, and the potatoes came out the best they ever have, so mmm. … leftovers for lunch. Yes. This is a good idea.)
I’ll get some light cramping and stuff, but that’s about it.
(Puts on shield for the surely oncoming attack)
Just about every woman I know claims to have PMS so bad that it is uncontrollable, therefore all of their bitchy, mean, and down right assholish actions are excused. I think that’s crap. Now, I’m sure everyone will just say, “YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND! You don’t get it like me!” Sure thing. I get migraines so bad that I pass out from the pain, but I don’t scream at people during that time and excuse my behavior because I’ve got a medical condition.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m fully aware that there are plenty of women that genuinely are damn near crippled during their periods, along with mood swings that are legit. psychotic. That said, I have an inkling that that number isn’t nearly as high as most women would lead you to believe. I’ve got a ton of friends that would miss a week of school each month- a week in which they sit on the couch, eat, watch tv, talk on the phone, and are quite content. I’ll believe that one or maybe two of them are genuinely ill, but the fact that 10 or 15 girls do this EVERY month? Come on.
I honestly can’t imagine ever having to tell my husband, “Look, I’m going to say some things I don’t mean. Yes, I’m fully aware that I’m saying them, but ya know, I don’t mean it. It’s my PMS! Not me. I swear.” Instead, I’d just keep my mouth shut and not say hurtful things.
All I can add is “thank goodness for Depo!” I was a cryer - a few days before my period I would cry if a leaf fell off a tree. Almost worse than the crying was sitting there crying knowing full well there was no reason to cry, and crying anyway.
I know it’s tres tacky to quote oneself, but I thought it would be in the interest of IMHO Science to explain that over the last five minutes, I first got angry that my roommate can’t find her passport and therefore might possibly ruin my vacation (which is also my 30th birthday present from my parents and the only true vacation I’ve ever had in my life) by not being able to come with me when I’ve already paid for her ticket and her hotel and how angry I’m going to be if it turns out that the envelope of insurance stuff she thinks it might be in is the same envelope I held up after staring at it for a month on the coffee table and said “I’m putting this in the library” while she almost certainly totally ignored me.
I get pissy, weepy, impatient, horny and klutzy all at once sometimes.
I haven’t had an actual period in awhile, but every month like clockwork I still get the emotional part of it. I drop stuff, walk into things, get angry at the slightest of things (and sometimes take it out on Mom, usually because I had plans to do something in the kitchen and she took that food and made something else, or ‘ruined’ what I could do much better), want to jump the nearest man (of which there aren’t many) and cry at anything that seems the slightest bit sad (which only pisses me off more as I hate crying for no absolutely good reason).
Yeah, I see how it is difficult to figure out in the moment. I think Jayn_Newell’s point about whether or not you would normally act that way is a good one, especially if you take the time to think about it after the fact. Also, what about the other people involved? I try to rely on the fact that Mr. Del does not normally do stupid things for the sole purpose of annoying me (if he did, I’d have a bigger problem than PMS!) and I fall back on a mantra about how people make stupid mistakes from time to time, and generally not for the express purpose of getting my goat.
The klutzty thing we were talking about earlier? I didn’t put it together with PMS for a long time, but once I paid more attention, it made more sense. It might be worth it to keep track in some way of things that happen during that week, and think about them again after your period – jot them down in a journal or something, but I would suggest doing something somewhat organized because if you are like me, you might genuinely forget some of the little things that happened, and they do add up – and maybe you will see some patterns that will help you see where your own personal line is.
Yeah, PMS is real for me too. Leaving out the physical symptoms as much as possible, I am much more irritable than usual a couple of days before and for the first couple of days of the Big P. Some of the irritablility is probably due to the back and abdominal pain. Since I’m rather good at suppressing, most of it doesn’t show. Ibuprofen and acetomenophin (sp?) don’t seem to do me much good.
Never thought about the monthly klutziness being period related, but by golly that would explain a lot.
Not so much, but mostly because of the P in PMS. I do get a bit weepy or irritable sometimes during my period, usually at the beginning, but before hand being unusually horny is pretty much the only clue I have that its about to commence in the next 48 hours.
Like last month, I couldn’t figure out why something minor at work had me on the verge of tears. A few minutes later in the bathroom I discovered that my period had decided to show up - 8 days early! Having to excuse myself twice in ten minutes (I had no clue it was starting, so I had to return to retrieve supplies) sucked.
YES. God, does it ever. And not only do I get the weepy, cranky, nasty, depressed, anxious, moody crap, but I also feel like I’m drunk-I feel like I’m drugged or something. And very forgetful.
I know this should be funny, but it’s the exact type of reaction to my thread that ticks me off. You got the same response in that thread you’d get any time of the month. Doesn’t happen to be YOURS, does it?
Yes, it’s more a question of amplification. It’s not like PMS is an excuse to call your husband horrible names and blame him for all the wars in the world (unless he’s Mel Gibson). It’s more along the lines of responding with an exasperated shout of, “DAMMIT, CAN YOU PLEASE F’ING STOP THAT FOR ONE MINUTE YOU ARE DRIVING ME INSANE” instead of the more reasonable and normal, “Honey, can you stop that? It’s annoying.”
I married you in 1986. We we’re divorced before 1987. I was wondering where you’ve been.
Note to any guy reading this thread: Don’t ever suggest that PMS is the reason why your darling little snuggle bunny had been transmogrified into Monstra the Man Slayer.
I get horny, weepy, full of rage and cravings for things I really shouldn’t be eating. Sometimes separately, sometimes all at once.
My menstrual cycle is rather random, so the only way I can tell if I’m due is to look at the mood swings. But usually when I’m in the throes of PMS, I can’t tell, it can’t POSSIBLY be that, HOW DARE YOU INSINUATE I’M A HORMONAL COW!!! runs off weeping
Hubby can usually tell, though. He just ignores my more vocal outbursts during that time.
I get irritable.
And confused about why I’m irritable, which makes me irritable.
And then I figure out why I’m so irritable, which makes me irritable (that thing about feeling like you’ve been stripped of your free will by your hormones - yeah, that’s me).
And then I console myself by eating too much, which makes me even more irritable, because now my pants are uncomfortable when I sit down.
And then I console myself by buying new pants, which I know will be too big in a week or so, which makes me irritable because I really like them.
And then my husband notices the new pants, which makes me irritable because who is HE to question ME over a fifty-dollar pair of pants (and God forbid he should comment on the color)?
And then I feel guilty watching his detached head bounce down the stairs, which makes me irritable because look what he went and made me do.
And now there’s blood all over the stairs. Which is just more than I can handle.
So I just go to bed and bury myself under the covers.
By morning, things are usually looking better.
And then I feel bad about my husband’s head, so I decide maybe I should make it up to him with a little nookie.
Only now I’ve got my period, and dammit, I just changed those sheets.
But eh . . . so what? I mean, who gets all worked up over something so trivial?
