Ugh I have my period. Started yesterday. Cramps weren’t too bad (thank gawd) yesterday. Today however, i had these shooting sharp pains in my stomach…gone now, pretty much. Last time i got it, I forgot to put a pad on on the fourth day or so, and the blood went through to my shorts…pretty embarrassing for me. 
I do get mild cramps on the first day, but I find that going for a fast walk gets rid of them. I just don’t get the rest of the crap, like emotional problems, or bloating, or such.
My wife takes … SUPER B complex vitamins and goes from bitchy to hyper and goofy. Gotta love her.
We’re checking. If you’re in a bad mood for a reason, we want to fix it (male thing, just accept it), but if it’s hormonal, we know to turn on the sympathy and charm and stay the hell out of the way. He’s actually trying to find out if there’s anything he can do for you–great reason to rip his face off, huh? Oh, and I doubt that’s smugness on his face–it’s probably fear 
As for me, I’m dreading the time in 6 or 7 years when my daughter hits menarche. Between her and my wife I’m going to have to spend a week every month in a fishing cabin somewhere far away.
I guess I’m the exeption to the rule. I never had PMS unitl I got on the pill 1 1/2 years ago. I had ovulation problems that prevented me from ovulating on amonthly cycle. When I became sexually active I went on the pill and my hormones went nuts. I had to change pills 3 times and now when my monthly time comes around I’m demon bitch on wheels. The worst thing is the cramps though. i never had cramps before and they are horrid. i get migranes too. ughhhh! the things I do for y husband. if i could I would drop the pills altogether.
Update-
I ran out of evening primrose oil a couple of days ago, didn’t bother to get more. Last night I couldn’t sleep, and around five this morning I got very depressed and edgy. I made a run to Walgreens and got a couple of bottles, and basically loaded my system with that and dong quai. By noon, I was doing a lot better, but still a bit off.
I got my period yesterday. My pattern is I get bitchy, anxious and depressed for a couple of days right around ovulation, then it clears up until a couple of days before my period until a couple of days into it. I also get really sore breasts, incredibly bloated and cramps that would flatten an elephant. This month, my symptoms aren’t nearly as severe as they normally are.
I was in a craptacular mood yesterday. I don’t know if it was just me, or the period…I’m guessing its the period. i’m still in not so great of a mood. I was just really pissed off, in a full blown out way…ugh. Sometimes the moods are worse than other times…
The first day of my period is pure agony. I get such bad cramps I can hardly keep my eyes open. I’m fatiuged and a general bitch to everyone, and I feel like I’m 20 pounds heavier than normal…but nothing is worse than those cramps! I can down 6 Pamprin at a time and nothing happens…plus I can’t eat for the first 3 days, cause I get paranoid that the cramps will come back…I live off of Pamprin and water the first few days…then I crave CHOCOLATE
I get reallly depressed and moody for about 3 days about 5 days befor emy period. As in, sobbing and sobbing for no apparent reason, occasional panic attacks…
Then I get awful horrible cramps the first day, i’m on prescription painkillers for it. Throwing up, writhing in agony, the whole bit. The bad part is that it’s not usually as bad when it’s only 4 weeks between periods, but I’m usally somewhere around 6-7 weeks in between.
sighs
Gonna talk to my doctor about going on the pill, maybe it’ll help.
I offer you all my sincerest sympathy. I guess I got off easy, my breasts just get sore, and I cry at the drop of a hat. Well, actually I tear up at the drop of a hat, I’ve learned that it’s rather disconcerting to my male friends when I cry so I try to avoid that. And if they ask if it’s that time of the month, they must die, they must have EVERY hair plucked from their bodies and then die a slow painful death. I’m moody to begin with and crying is not fun, so talking about PMS is VERY not fun. So all my guy friends must learn not to mention it. Other than that I guess I don’t suffer much, I see it as more of an inconvenience than anything. For all those guys that says PMS is all in your head I have ten sharp kitty cat claws to dig into your jugular veins. If you were in my shoes when it’s soccer season and I’m sick and I’m PMSing you would learn to live through hell, not only do we run a good two miles every soccer practice half of which is running laps, but those laps are up and down hills. Repeat after me: It is NOT in my head… good, you’re learning
Kitty
I really don’t have a problem with male friends and co-workers asking if it’s that time of the month. I’ve come right out and told a couple of guys that I have PMS. Men can be remarkably understanding, if you give them a chance.
Anyhoo, I’ve gotten through one month with minimal symptoms, and the problems I did have I can attribute to being to lazy to go to the drugstore and get a bottle of evening primrose oil.
Anyhoo, judging by my experience, a cream containing natural progesterone (I use ProgestaCare, the most easily available brand, with standardized dosage, you can probably get it at a health food store near you), evening primrose oil, and dong quai seem to be keeping me on a fairly even keel. I’m not nearly as bloated as I usually get, the cramping was very slight, breasts got a little tender but didn’t hurt, and I only got mildly weepy instead of alternately deeply depressed and ragingly bitchy. I recommend the combination.
I feel like I found a lot of kindred spirits on the PMS issue, although for me, it’s more like MS … no “pre” about it. On the first day of my period, I get hit with the cramps, bloating, backache, sore breasts and nausea. I also crave red meat … LOL reminds me of a scene from Rosemary’s Baby when she’s eating the raw meat …
For years, I heard not to take aspirin for cramps because it thins your blood and makes your flow heavier. However, I have found that aspirin does help me, more than Midol or other non-aspirin pain relievers. I don’t really care if the flow is thinner and thus seems like more, at least it’s removing itself from my body faster. I told my GYN this and she thinks I’m nuts, that aspirin won’t thin your blood to the point that you will notice a difference in your menstral flow, but hey, it works for me. Maybe it is all in my head, but I’ll vote for the placebo effect if it is getting the job done. My GYN did suggest eliminating sodium from one’s diet as much as possible just before and during one’s period, but I have yet to try this.
I also take lots of hot baths, and sleep with a hot water bottle or the cat.
Aside from my SO, I don’t like for anyone else, male or female, to know if it is “that time of the month.” I don’t like the idea that people might think that I’m not doing my job 100% because I am cranky, irritable, or touchy. So I try very hard to keep my cranky, irritable and touchy thoughts to myself.
I have a friend who claims that PMS is proof that God is not a woman, because NO WOMAN would have come up with this particular plan.
Alrighty, I have before me an ad for sarafem a drug to help aleviate premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder.
" The intense mood and physical symptoms right before your period. If exteme montly irritablity , mood swings and bloating are messing with your life, now there’s help. Introducing Sarafem - the first and only FDA approved prescription medication for PMDD. To learn more about it visit http://www.sarafem.com or call 800 585 7932. Why live like this another month."
Missy ( and anyone else in their 30’s) this may be of interest to you. Periomenopause starts years before menopause hits. It is a time when your ovaries are slowing down production, but not ready for the big sleep.
{From November 2000 Parents Magazine ( Page 119-121)}
** Weird periods** ( shortening by two or three a day, which ais a change that is easy to miss.), heavier periods, or longer periods. Treatment is usually birth control pills or a surgical method that remvoes some of the uterine lining. Heavy bleeding isn’t just annoying it can put some women at risk for anemia, fibroids and polyps.
Moodiness: The ovaries are working harder to ovulate and estrogen and progesterone production fluctuates, which can initiate or worsen PMS mood swings and migraines. Treatment: Low dose birth control pill or a small dose of estrogen about a week before each period. Helps keep hormone level steadier.
**Hot flashes ** As estrogen surges and drops off, it throws off the body’s thermostate causing waves of body heat, sweating and sometimes a racing heart. Treatment: eating foods such as tofu, soy beans and soy milke or taking soy supplements which contain estrogen-like compounds may releive hot flashes in some women. ( If any of you have had children, the chills and sweats you have right after you have a baby from your hormones going nutzo what I’ve been told by older women- what a hot flash is like. Wheeee!)
**Lack of Libido ** Some women in periomenopause may find they’ve lost their sex drive. ( Hell, mine is in neutral…oh, did I just type that?) Waning estrogen is the culprit which leave vaginal tissue dry. Treatment: Lubricants are recommended or a prescription cream containing estrogen can help.
**Know the Signals **
Shorter mentrual cycles ( going from 28-30 days to 21-25 days)
Skipping periods once in a while.
Hot Flashes
Moodiness or irritability.
Worsening premenstraul migraines.
Trouble falling back to sleep after waking in the middle of the night.
Vaginal Dryness
Heavy bleeding with longer periods lasting longer than seven days.
That written, don’t be afraid to talk to your doctor. They are there to help you out.* There is no reason to suffer.*
I read or heard somewhere, and it could be a myth, but that craving red meat is a sign of anemia. You may want to have a blood test done on your next visit to the doctor just to check it out.
<slight hijack>
OOC, what’s in Midol? My xgf said it was just apirin and caffeine, but she’s been known to pull “information” like this out of thin air, so I’m curious. Not curious enough to go down to the drug store and check, but still…
</slight hijack>
Shirley
I really don’t know how to thank you. I printed that out - now at least I have a starting point. I feel so much better after having read that. I know it sounds goofy to some of you, but being able to put a name to something you don’t understand sometimes can make things so much easier!!!
Thank you again Shirley! {{{{{{Shirley with the cool username}}}}}
Which may not work for everyone:
1)I’m told that regular exercise helps tremendously with PMS. A friend of mine sez when she isn’t exercising, her PMS is awful. When she is, it’s barely noticeable.
- Depo Provera: I’m telling you, a true blessing. Unless, of course, you’re trying to make babies, in which case this won’t help at all. There’s no estrogen, like the pill, so you don’t have to worry about girlie cancers as much. 4 x a year, you get a little shot… presto! No pms, no cramping, no bloating, no mood swings, no crying, no hysterics, no temper trantrums, no backaches, no headaches. Nunna the above. I’ve been on it over five years and the worst/only side effects: I’ve put on about 8-10 pounds over five years… (like I care – it’s a couple pounds! I wasn’t going to be a supermodel anyway) and I haven’t menstruated since 1995. I tell people I’m allergic to PMS and have to leave the office to get my “allergy shot.”
E-mail me if anyone is interested in knowing more about Depo injections. I’ll be happy to share.
but I just itch. Starts with my nose and eyelids, but it spreads to my entire body. I spend the two or three days before alternating between trying to rip my skin off and trying not to rip my skin off.
Mine is wildly irregular, so I don’t even get to plan for it coming. (yes, I know, and I’ve had it checked out, and we’ve decided we don’t care for right now). I will, however, have the weird hormonal mood swings anyway, at seemingly random times.
Most of my guy friends are really really wondeful about it . . . I’ve got recollections of Eric being incredibly okay with me spazing as we studied for Modern Physics, and offering chocolate often.