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DeFining Premenstrual Syndrome
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Some PMS Facts
• Even though estrogen, which has an impact on brain
chemicals by affecting moods and energy levels, is high
during the first half of the menstrual cycle and progester-
one, which seems to overpower these same brain chemi-
cals, is high during the last half of the cycle, there is no
proof that the hormones directly affect PMS symptoms.
In fact, when women are tested they have normal hor-
mone levels.
• If women do not treat PMS symptoms, they often get
worse.
• Some women experience symptoms at the time of ovula-
tion for just a day or two and then have a week with no
symptoms at all, followed by PMS disturbances the week
or two before their menses start.
• Caffeine is a major problem in PMS symptoms. Coffee
and chocolate are the major offenders, but caffeine is also
found in soft drinks and tea.
• The largest group of women who seek treatment for the
symptoms of PMS are between the ages of 30 and 40; they
are usually mothers of two or more children.
• If your mother has PMS, you are more likely to suffer from
PMS symptoms.
• Many women report that their PMS symptoms worsen
with age.
• Depressed women and those with other mental illnesses
are more likely to suffer, and the symptoms of their illness
are more likely to be aggravated.
• Sometimes after pelvic surgery, ovarian surgery, or a hys-
terectomy, PMS symptoms worsen.
Adapted from Tracy Chutorian Semler’s All About Eve.