Complaints & connections · borters.ch
The symptoms are hormonally real, not imagined — and they follow a pattern you can work with.
Also known as: PMS · PMDD (severe form)
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
In the days before the bleed, physical and emotional symptoms appear that disappear once the bleeding starts. What is special is not the level of the hormones — that is the same as in others — but the sensitivity to their normal fall in the second half of the cycle. That is the core and at the same time the relief: it is neither imagination nor a matter of attitude, but a different reaction to the same process. What is decisive for the diagnosis is the pattern in time, not the kind of symptom. So the route runs through a record of two cycles: it only fits if the symptoms appear in the second half, end with the bleed, and are followed by a symptom-free week. If that free week is missing, it is more likely an underlying condition — depression, an anxiety disorder, a thyroid problem — that intensifies before the bleed, and that is treated differently. The severe form, in which mood above all is affected and daily life seriously suffers, affects a few per cent; it is a diagnosis in its own right and responds well to treatment. Knowing this difference is worthwhile, because it decides the right route.
Date, symptom, severity — no more. It is the only investigation that really settles anything here, and it costs nothing.
Regular endurance exercise acts on the emotional as well as the physical symptoms. In studies, three times 30 minutes a week over 8 to 12 weeks measurably reduced the complaints — unspectacular, but more than most supplements show.
If daily life seriously suffers, that is a diagnosis of its own with well-studied routes — including ones taken only in the second half of the cycle. Worth asking about.
Both increase water retention and disturbed sleep. It is not about giving up, but about the ten days when it matters.
Knowing which days will be hard lets you move demanding things. It sounds banal and is for many the most effective change.
Calm walking, cycling or stretching, 20 to 30 minutes, also on the heavier days.
Hot water bottle or heat patch on the lower abdomen, 20 to 30 minutes, as often as needed.
The pill suppresses ovulation and with it the cyclic part of the complaints — in some this helps a great deal, in others mood stays the same or worsens. SSRIs act differently here than in depression: they often help within the second half of the cycle rather than after weeks. Calcium (1200 mg daily) measurably reduced symptoms over three cycles; chasteberry is used traditionally and has been looked at in smaller studies.
The complaints belong to the second half of the cycle and stop when bleeding begins — that timing pattern is the diagnosis. It is confirmed with a diary over two cycles. About three in four women know mild forms; three to eight in a hundred have the severe form, in which mood is to the fore. A treatment attempt is judged over two to three cycles, not one.
Starting after ovulation, ending with the bleed, then a free week. That pattern is the diagnosis — not the individual symptom.
For many the part that weighs most — more than the physical. And the part most readily mistaken for a question of character.
Usually on both sides and diffuse. A one-sided lump you can feel and that stays belongs looked at regardless.
Water retention and a feeling of heaviness; the scales show one or two kilos more, which go again with the bleed.
The fall in oestrogen is a known migraine trigger. These attacks are often more stubborn than usual and can be planned for.
If the symptoms persist after the bleed, it is not premenstrual syndrome but something that intensifies beforehand. That changes the route completely.
No value makes the diagnosis — a calendar over two to three cycles does, because the complaints have to be tied to the second half of the cycle. These values look for the imitators.
With heavy bleeding an iron shortage develops that strengthens tiredness and irritability and is easy to correct.
Belongs alongside when the bleeding is heavy. Anaemia and premenstrual complaints are often lumped together.
In controlled trials 1000–1200 mg calcium a day over three cycles cut complaints by about half. Through food that is three to four dairy portions or equivalent sources.
Many report less tension when cutting salt and caffeine in the 10 days before the period. The studies are small; one cycle as a trial shows whether it applies personally.
Studied for the emotional side — it does not change the cycle but makes it more bearable.