Real. My breasts hurt, I get preliminary cramps, my back hurts, I crave salt something fierce, and I will have a drink or three. Rest of the month, I can take or leave alcohol.
I get clumsy. I drop things, break things, walk into things. I have literally walked into doors and walls.
I cry. My temper is irrationally short. I flare up fast, and I weep without warning. My feelings are turned up to eleven, and raw.
The worst is the dark, free-floating anxiety that usually lasts 2-3 days. “Anxiety” sounds like such a tame word for the unspecified dread I feel.
I get horniest about mid-point in my cycle, two weeks before or after.
Well, I’m going to guess the rather lengthy list of cases where women have been acquitted of murdering their spouses, drunk driving, and violent assault based on the PMS defence would make it rather real for all of us.
Good point. I do imagine some women use it as an excuse but unless you’ve been there, it is hard to describe that anger or rage at things that normally one allows to pass.
Unfortunately, it is hard to know what it is when you are in it. As I have aged, I connect my feelings with the PMS and not the other way around. As in “Oh, I hate my husband and want a divorce.” Hmmm, maybe I should wait a day or two to see if I still feel the same.
Do you have a cite for that? I wonder if anyone was actually acquitted of a violent crime using such a defense whether they were suffering from the much more severe PMDD, premenstrual dysphoric disorder. The difference between PMS and PMDD is sort of the difference between the “baby blues” and post-partum psychosis.