Where does anxiety come from during PMS?

Almost every girl and woman of childbearing age experiences a condition called premenstrual syndrome every month. This condition is truly very difficult and terrible for every representative of the fair sex. Therefore, it is very important to learn to help yourself. In this article we will look at how to get rid of PMS and regain your good health. Please read the information provided carefully in order to arm yourself and protect yourself as much as possible. So let's get started.

Symptoms of PMS in women

Premenstrual syndrome manifests itself differently in every girl. But most often the fair sex complains of bad mood, depression, lethargy and fatigue. In addition, headaches, as well as pain in the lower abdomen, nausea and diarrhea, cannot be ruled out. Also very often, representatives of the weaker half of humanity complain of swelling of the mammary glands and the presence of pain in them. For some, this condition begins a week before the onset of menstruation, and for others, a few days before it.

According to gynecologists, PMS symptoms in women can be reduced or even completely eliminated. The main thing is to monitor your health and follow the recommendations of the gynecologist.

Many people are interested in the answer to the question of what PMS is in girls. The definition of this concept is as follows: premenstrual syndrome.

How to reduce or completely eliminate PMS symptoms

With severe premenstrual syndrome, a woman is indicated for therapeutic treatment methods. The main task is to block ovulation in the ovaries with the help of medications, to normalize the interaction of female hormones with serotonin. This will reduce the clinical symptoms of PMS and significantly improve the woman’s quality of life.

In addition to taking medications, you also need to change your lifestyle. First of all you need:

• reduce the consumption of sugar and easily digestible carbohydrates;
• limit the amount of tea and salt;
• completely give up alcohol and coffee;
• eliminate stressful situations;
• reconsider the daily routine, the woman needs proper rest and sleep;
• be outdoors every day;
• do general massage and neck massage.

When treating PMS with medications, hormonal and non-hormonal drugs are considered.

Of course, first of all you need to seek help from vitamin complexes and homeopathy. And if these methods turn out to be ineffective, then they resort to hormonal drugs. However, remember that prescriptions should only be made by the attending physician, taking into account the individual characteristics of the body. Self-medication can be dangerous to health.

Main causes

More than half of the fair sex experience pain and bad mood before the onset of menstruation. At the same time, men living next to them know firsthand what PMS is in girls (an explanation of this concept is given in this article). During the entire menstrual cycle, hormonal changes occur in the female body. In the second half of the cycle, the amount of estrogen in the body increases greatly in relation to progesterone. At the same time, the amount of hormones such as serotonin and dopamine also decreases. It is for this reason that a bad mood and a depressed state arises. In addition, the second phase of the cycle is also characterized by a decrease in the production of natural painkillers - endorphins. That is why during menstruation a woman feels pain that seems simply unbearable to her.

How to get rid of PMS is a question that worries almost all representatives of the fair half of humanity. It will not be possible to completely eliminate this condition, since it depends on the activity of the hormonal system, but you can still improve your well-being, overcome nervousness and reduce the level of pain. The main thing is to know how to do it.

What causes mood swings during PMS?

Most women know the physiology of menstruation, but not everyone understands the complex hormonal and chemical changes that occur in the body before and after it.

PMS occurs once a month during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, which is the 14-day window before your period starts. Not all women suffer from PMS, but 80-90% of them experience some kind of physical and emotional changes in the lead-up to bleeding, and about 15% experience multiple severe symptoms that seriously affect their lives.

“PMS can present with a variety of symptoms,” says Dr. Jaffee, “specifically, increased irritability, short temper, trouble concentrating, and a tendency to cry over small things—these are the same symptoms that define clinical depression.”

Hormonal reasons for this are a lack or excess of estrogen or progesterone at a particular time. At the very beginning of the cycle, immediately after menstruation, estrogen enters the bloodstream, causing the lining of the uterus to grow new cells. But in the middle of the cycle, the amount of estrogen decreases and the level of progesterone increases, which helps stabilize these cells. This is key - the progesterone surge usually coincides with mood swings that last until your period starts. As soon as bleeding begins, the level of both hormones drops, and a relief of the psycho-emotional state is observed.

But hormones are only part of the puzzle. Women also experience changes in the rate and volume of release of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine and GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid). The latter substance is the most important inhibitory neurotransmitter of the central nervous system, also known as the “anti-anxiety neurotransmitter.” GABA reduces anxiety and improves mood. When these neurotransmitters are generated randomly by the body, sadness, tearfulness and unreasonable anger occur.

It would seem that since scientists know what happens to the female body, why can’t they invent a universal pill for PMS? The problem here is not only the difficulty of regulating the level of several substances at once and the occurrence of chain reactions, but also the fact that each woman’s body reacts differently to the intervention. Based on the analysis of a particular patient, a doctor can determine what is specifically wrong with her hormones and adjust their levels.

But there is no universal medicine that, by taking it, would make every girl feel like herself again.

Elizabeth Burton-Johnson, a professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Massachusetts, has been searching for such a cure for years. According to her, surges in hormones and neurotransmitters do not exhaust the range of factors that cause PMS - evidence is that women who take hormonal birth control pills are also not immune to mood swings.

The manifestation of PMS symptoms is influenced by the level of cortisol, which is released during stress, the food a woman takes, the presence or absence of support during difficult days, smoking, frequency of exercise - and even with the healthiest lifestyle, individual psychological attitudes and characteristics of chemical processes in the brain can ruin everything. Of course, this does not mean that resistance is useless.

Visit to the gynecologist

If you are interested in the question of how to get rid of PMS, first you will have to find out the cause of this condition. To do this, it is recommended to consult a gynecologist. Perhaps your production of female sex hormones is disrupted. If necessary, the doctor will also refer you to an endocrinologist to determine whether there are problems with the production of other types of hormones. According to experts, improper functioning of the thyroid gland contributes to increased PMS. How to get rid of it in this case? Take medications that improve the functioning of the thyroid gland.

Causes

The most common premenstrual symptom is breast tenderness. Often the cause of discomfort is fibrocystic mastopathy. This pathology is characterized by lumps that appear before monthly bleeding.

If there are no signs of PMS, then the breasts do not change in any way. Hormonal levels are responsible for breast engorgement. Before menstruation, the level of estrogen and progesterone increases, which is why body tissues begin to accumulate water and edema appears.

You can feel them by the tightness of your clothes or shoes, and the rings also begin to slightly squeeze your fingers. Breasts are no exception. The expansion of the tissue leads to the fact that the nerves are affected, so there is a pain symptom. For the first time, patients encounter these sensations during puberty, when menstruation is just beginning and the cycle is established.

They are so common that if there are no signs of PMS before menstruation, the woman thinks that there is a problem in her body. Of course, there are also representatives of the fair sex who have never experienced discomfort around menstrual days. Unfortunately, such people are in the minority. The chest pain gradually subsides either with the first drops of blood on the pad, or with the last, when the period ends.

In addition to changes in the mammary glands, discomfort is also observed in other parts of the body. Most often this happens if there are any chronic diseases. They simply get worse due to hormonal storms and changes occurring in the body.

The reason for the absence of PMS is precisely the equalization of hormone levels. In this case, there is no cause for concern; on the contrary, this is good news. And yet, to confirm the hypothesis, you need to see a doctor and get tested for hormones. It is possible that for some reason there are fewer of them and may require adjustment with medications.

Below are the main reasons why there are no signs of PMS.

Sex life. If we are talking about young girls, then breast tenderness and other symptoms disappear if she begins to be sexually active. And sex becomes regular. In the same way, hormonal balance is restored in adulthood. If some time ago a woman had to give up intimacy for a variety of reasons, then after prolonged abstinence, sexual life will affect the processes occurring in the body.

Pregnancy. Most women experience changes in the mammary glands if conception occurs. The breasts become fuller, the skin around the nipples darkens, which also become sensitive to touch. But it also happens that during pregnancy everything is completely the opposite - the breasts always hurt and suddenly stopped in the current cycle.

In this case, the rule works: no menstruation - no PMS, but there is already pregnancy. And this also depends on hormones. Typically, breast enlargement means that the mammary gland is preparing for future lactation. The process is important and lengthy, so it begins almost from the first days of pregnancy. In any case, if there is a delay, a test or blood test for the level of hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) will resolve the doubt.

Drugs. Some drugs may affect the production of female sex hormones. When taking oral contraceptives containing progesterone and estrogen, the body's reaction is inevitable. In this regard, the nature of the menstrual cycle will also change. If there are any alarming moments, you should visit a doctor so that he can conduct an examination and find out the reason for such changes.

Recovery. As already mentioned, the disappearance of discomfort means that the body has healed itself or has gone into remission. Therefore, there is no point in looking for ways to induce PMS ahead of schedule. In this option, your period will come as usual and there is no need to worry.

Often, the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome manifest chronic pathologies and are not signs of a separate disease. If the disease has been brought under control, then no unpleasant sensations arise on the eve of discharge.

Nutritional Features

Your condition will largely depend on what you eat. If you don't know how to get rid of PMS, pay attention to your diet. Experts recommend drinking as little tea and coffee drinks as possible a week before your period, and also generally reducing fluid intake. But keep in mind that one and a half liters of purified water per day is a prerequisite. It is not recommended to consume chocolate, salty and spicy foods, milk and fatty meats. Also, you should not abuse foods that contain large amounts of potassium. These include dried apricots, baked potatoes, bananas and raisins.

But foods with a lot of calcium, on the contrary, are welcome. Give preference to greens, cabbage and turnip greens. Gynecologists also advise taking additional vitamin complexes during PMS and menstruation.

Many women suffer from depression and bad mood. Therefore, the question quite naturally arises of how to get rid of nervousness during PMS. This can be done with the help of foods containing large amounts of magnesium. You can find this microelement in cereals, seafood, and nuts.

Some representatives are faced with the phenomenon of a distending stomach during PMS. In order to get rid of it, you can drink cranberry juice. It is a natural diuretic, rich in vitamins, so it acts very carefully on the woman’s body.

How to determine premenstrual syndrome

A woman’s observation of symptoms that appear on certain days of her cycle and are repeated regularly suggests PMS. And so, official medicine says that unpleasant painful symptoms depend on a certain phase of the menstrual cycle, they appear, as a rule, a week before menstruation and disappear after their onset, then this is a clear sign of premenstrual syndrome. In addition, this syndrome can be assumed based on clinical symptoms:

• violation of emotional stability (tearfulness, sadness, melancholy);
• instant irritability and anger;
• internal anxiety, tension;
• a feeling of hopelessness, an unreasonable decline in mood.

The indicated symptoms are necessarily combined with decreased interest in work, hobbies, increased fatigue, loss of energy, increased appetite, insomnia or drowsiness.

Special laboratory or instrumental research methods also help to diagnose premenstrual syndrome. These include ultrasound scanning of the brain, X-ray of the skull, MRI, as well as consultations with a neurologist and psychiatrist.

If a woman experiences edema, the volume of fluid secreted and consumed is monitored for four days in each phase of the cycle. Mammography and blood tests for creatinine and urea levels are also prescribed to obtain data on kidney function.

Organize the right holiday

What helps with PMS? Another remedy is sound and healthy sleep. Insufficient night rest has a negative impact on a woman's condition during the premenstrual period. Get at least seven to eight hours of sleep. Do this in a well-ventilated and cool room. Don't overload yourself with too much work these days. Get plenty of rest. However, you shouldn't spend the whole day in bed either. You can work, walk in the park and do your usual household chores. The main thing is not to burden yourself too much.

How to get through your period calmly

Critical days come every month and if a woman is absolutely healthy, then she will have to come to terms with them and try to make her life easier during this period:

1. Firstly, you need to carry as many necessary hygiene products as possible, as well as spare underwear.
2. In the morning and evening, a warm shower will help refresh you and improve your mood. A little exercise in the morning will give you energy.
3. During your period, it is better to leave the pursuit of fashion and wear comfortable clothes and shoes. This will help the woman maintain psychological comfort. If the pain is severe, it is better to take painkillers. Typically, pain and cramping are felt during the first two days of menstruation.
4. Increase sleep time. If on normal days 7-8 hours of restful sleep is enough, then during critical days you can increase your rest to 9 hours. If there is heavy bleeding, it is better to spend time in bed more often to avoid the risk of sudden dizziness.
5. Thirst and bloating are common during menstruation. Drinking plenty of fluids will help correct these problems.
6. Frequent walks in the fresh air, delicious food, a cheerful company of friends, a new book or a favorite TV series are all good ways to distract yourself from thoughts about physical monthly illness.
7. In especially severe cases, you can consult a doctor and take a course of sedative tablets or chamomile decoction. This will help you avoid getting depressed.

If you don’t have the strength to endure heavy and painful periods, you can resort to forcibly reducing them. An infusion of nettle and shepherd's purse will help reduce critical days. But it is often impossible to use hemostatic herbs; this can lead to diseases of the reproductive system.

There are quite a few videos on the Internet that explain in detail why women experience discomfort these days and how to deal with it. I recommend watching this:

Experts have long figured out why women’s mood changes during menstruation. However, the individual characteristics of each girl’s body prevent the creation of a specific medicine that will help remain calm and cheerful during critical days. Experts recommend that men stoically endure changes in the character of their better halves these days and show understanding so as not to destroy the family.

Give up bad habits

Avoid drinking alcoholic beverages. If you are trying to figure out how to get rid of PMS pain, forget about bad habits. At first glance, alcohol may seem like a great mood improver, but it will only make your situation worse, so you will feel even worse than before.

It is also recommended to quit smoking. It may sound strange, but cigarette smoke can also aggravate PMS. Instead of drinking or putting another cigarette in your mouth, it’s better to just take a short walk alone. You will notice how your condition has become much better.

Causes of pain

The main factors provoking the development of pain syndrome include:

• changes in hormonal levels as a result of improper functioning of the regulatory system;
• increase in the amount of prolactin;
• excess prostaglandin in the body;
• deficiency of opiates, which contribute to the normal course of the menstrual cycle;
• disruption of biological processes - in this case, pain occurs as a result of a neuropsychic disorder.

In addition, pain with PMS occurs as a result of hormonal fluctuations that occur in the female body during the premenstrual period.

Don't stop exercising

Many girls begin to feel sorry for themselves and simply stop doing physical exercise during PMS. However, this is definitely not worth doing. Playing sports is a must. After all, sports exercises not only have a wonderful effect on your figure, but also improve your mood. You can engage in absolutely any sport that you like, be it swimming, dancing, fitness, yoga, or any other of your favorite sports. And if you have absolutely no energy or mood, you can just walk. This will energize your body and lift your spirits.

Use of medications

There are a large number of pills for PMS pain and for the general normalization of health. Quite often, representatives of the fair sex complain of severe pain in the abdominal area a few days before the onset of menstruation. In order to eliminate this pain, you can use painkillers such as Noshpa, Tempalgin, Spazgan, Analgin, and many others. You do not need a prescription from your doctor to purchase them. However, it is still recommended to visit him in order to find out the exact cause of the pain.

If you have depression and bad mood, buy medications that contain magnesium. Magnesium-B6 tablets have an excellent effect on the body. The drug perfectly fights depression, and also fills the body with essential microelements and increases stress resistance.

Sometimes during PMS, a woman's body becomes very swollen. In order to get rid of this condition, you can take diuretic medications. However, doctors do not recommend resorting to drug treatment in this case, but advise giving preference to traditional medicine.

Breast pain before menstruation

Very often, many girls complain when during PMS their mammary glands become engorged and their breasts hurt. This occurs quite often and is a sign of diffuse mastopathy, in which the connective tissue grows in the form of small nodules. As a rule, the soreness disappears with the onset of menstruation, and most women do not attach any importance to it. But if any lumps are found in the breast, it is better to consult a doctor, since diffuse mastopathy can lead to a more serious form of the disease.

How to get rid of PMS with folk remedies

Traditional methods of treatment help to significantly improve a woman’s condition with PMS. Let's look at the most effective recipes that can be implemented at home:

• Brew tea from dandelion roots. This drink will prevent the development of edema and will also have an excellent analgesic effect;
• Prepare mint and lavender tea. This drink perfectly calms the nervous system and restores emotional balance. Take three cups of this delicious tea daily;
• you can prepare a women's drink that will consist of plants such as chamomile, calendula, rose, nettle and mantle. All of the above plants need to be poured with boiled water and left for several hours. After which the drink is drunk three cups daily;
• If you suffer from severe pain in the lower back and abdomen, prepare a drink by mixing equal parts of yarrow and jasmine. It is recommended to take it three times a day;
• Rosehip decoction will help get rid of puffiness, as well as saturate the body with essential vitamins and microelements. This drink has a very powerful diuretic effect. Therefore, before using it, it is still recommended to consult a doctor.

Folk remedies for PMS are good because they do their job perfectly, and at the same time cause minimal harm to health.

Where does anxiety come from during PMS?

Premenstrual syndrome is officially included in the International Classification of Diseases, that is, the scientific community has no doubt that it exists in principle. But there are still heated discussions about how it manifests itself, what causes it, and how many women it affects.

Who's lucky?

The range of possible symptoms associated with pre-menstruation is staggering.
The skin breaks out in acne, the mammary glands hurt and swell, the woman suffers from various digestive and appetite disorders, she feels headaches and muscle pain, cannot sleep, is unable to concentrate, feels tired, experiences depression and suffers from very severe anxiety. The risk of severe manifestations of PMS increases with age: they are much more common in women over 30 years of age.
According to the US Department of Health, 85% of women experience at least one PMS symptom every month. About 5% suffer from premenstrual dysphoric disorder - the most severe form of PMS, in which a woman is forced to take antidepressants - otherwise her poor health, combined with panic attacks and mood swings, makes it impossible for her to function normally and generally maintain social interactions.

The physiological mechanisms of the occurrence of all the various symptoms of PMS have not yet been fully studied, because a whole complex of factors is important here: in addition to the actual changes in hormonal levels before menstruation, the genetic characteristics of the woman, her diet, the level of stress in everyday life, the amount of alcohol and coffee consumed affect and much more.
Today, the mechanisms that lead to a sharp increase in anxiety have been more or less studied. Progesterone and anxiety
Immediately after the release of the egg, the corpus luteum is formed in the ovary, a temporary endocrine gland that produces progesterone. The physiological role of this hormone is to prevent uterine contractions. If fertilization does not occur, the corpus luteum stops its activity, progesterone levels drop and menstruation begins. If pregnancy has occurred, the corpus luteum remains active for several more weeks, until the placenta takes over the function of progesterone synthesis. But recent studies have shown that progesterone has another function - it has a strong anxiolytic effect.

Progesterone itself does not affect brain function. But its metabolites bind to GABA-A receptors

in the brain and increase their sensitivity to gamma-aminobutyric acid, the most important inhibitory transmitter of the nervous system. As a result, progesterone metabolites have anxiolytic, sedative, muscle relaxant and anticonvulsant effects. In terms of pharmacological action, they are similar to benzodiazepine tranquilizers, which also bind to GABA-A receptors.

PMS symptoms are associated specifically with fluctuations in progesterone levels and are not observed when the concentration of the hormone is consistently high, for example, during pregnancy.

That is, as long as the body maintains a high level of progesterone and its metabolites, the woman seems to be living on sedatives. If their concentration changed smoothly, the psyche would have time to adapt to the changes, and there would be no significant effect on mood. But when progesterone levels drop sharply, it may well seem to a woman that absolutely everything in her life is bad: her employers laugh at her, her husband doesn’t love her, her children are stupid and evil, and she herself doesn’t deserve the right to be called a human being. This is such a terrible feeling that, according to American statistics, every tenth patient with premenstrual dysphoric disorder periodically thinks about suicide.

Why is this necessary?

The anti-anxiety effect of progesterone appears to be observed in all mammals. Experiments on rats confirm that in behavioral tests that assess stress levels, pregnant animals with their elevated progesterone levels behave as calmly as rodents given a dose of synthetic progesterone or a dose of standard anti-anxiety drugs - and much more calm than those who are not pregnant and those who did not receive medications.

The psychotropic effects of hormones can be explained by simple chance, but since they have been established through natural selection, they may have an evolutionary meaning. In this case, it lies on the surface: the anxiolytic activity of progesterone metabolites helps reduce stress levels in pregnant women. This is very important because stress hormones can cross the placenta and interfere with normal fetal development. It is clear that increased anxiety before menstruation or childbirth is a very small price to pay for the opportunity to protect the psyche of pregnant women.

Anastasia Kazantseva

With relatively mild forms of PMS that do not require seeking medical help, lifestyle changes can have a beneficial effect on the woman’s condition.

- Start playing sports.
The duration of moderate physical activity should be at least 2.5 hours per week, intense - at least 1 ¼ hours. — Change your diet, eat more vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. - Avoid foods high in salt, sugar, caffeine and alcohol, especially when you are experiencing PMS. - Get a good night's sleep. Get at least 8 hours of sleep a day. - Stop smoking. — Learn to deal with stress without causing harm to your health. Chatting with friends, playing sports, and keeping a diary will help you with this. For many women, yoga, massage, and various relaxation techniques are also useful. Source:
Russian Pharmacies magazine No. 1-2 (2013)

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Benefits of massage

Acupressure has an excellent pain-relieving effect. There is a point on the inside of the knee bend that you should press on for two minutes every day. Repeat this procedure on both legs, and the effect will be immediately noticeable.

If you have severe pain in your lower back and lower abdomen, take two tennis balls and put them in a sock. Place them on the bed and lie on top of them so that they are on either side of your spine. Roll the balls with your muscles in this position for several minutes.

Main symptoms of PMS

Many women on the eve of menstruation notice a number of unpleasant symptoms, which are commonly called premenstrual symptoms. It should also be noted that their manifestation and timing are purely individual. For some, disturbances are noted within a day or two, while for others, they “get over it” within two weeks.

The main unpleasant symptoms that a woman faces are:

• breast enlargement, painful sensations in it;
• dizziness;
• nausea;
• nagging pain in the lower abdomen;
• swelling;
• thirsty;
• loss of appetite (absence or increase);
• pain in the heart area, rapid heartbeat;
• increased body temperature;
• chills.

In addition, PMS also affects the emotional sphere of women. During this period, the fair sex becomes irritable, sometimes aggressive, and whiny. For any reason, the lady’s mood deteriorates; everything around her is seen in dark colors. There may be an increase or decrease in sexual desire, memory impairment, and sleep disturbances.

All indicated symptoms disappear with the onset of menstruation or after their end.

It is best to surround a woman with love and care during this period. It is worth noting that more than half of the female population of our country suffers from painful manifestations of premenstrual syndrome.

conclusions

Enduring pain and bad mood during PMS is not an option. There are many ways to alleviate your condition. With proper nutrition, exercise, a skillful combination of rest and work, as well as the use of medications and traditional methods, you can feel great at absolutely any time. The main thing is to take care of your health every day. By following simple recommendations, you can not only improve your mood, reduce pain levels and overcome swelling, but also generally improve the quality of your life. Take care of yourself and be healthy.