Until a few years ago there was no talk of premenstrual syndrome as a diagnosable entity per se. There is no shortage of those who perceive in this forgetfulness, or investigative laziness, the influence, once again, of machismo and of some religious beliefs where menstruation is considered a kind of divine punishment with which we must purge the ancestral sin of Eve.
Statistics currently show that up to 77% of women suffer or have endured some symptom associated with the period and that approximately 10% of them have manifested, in those days, severe limitations in their socio-labor context. It is in these cases when no one hesitates to diagnose premenstrual syndrome.
Physical symptoms of Premenstrual Syndrome
- The Syndrome manifests itself with different levels of intensity and the most ruthless of all is the so-called premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) in whose treatment it is necessary to resort to hormonal supplements, birth control pills and antidepressants.
- The specific causes that trigger it are still unknown, but there is talk of certain circumstances such as traumatic births and that the genetic factor (inheritance) is responsible for between 30 and 40% of cases.
- Predisposing factors have also been described such as nutritional deficits – poorly balanced or insufficient diet- ; psychological -type of personality and ways of relating to others-; hormones -variability of the concentrations of estrogens and progesterone, natural process of the menstrual cycle -; neuroendocrine -decreased serotonin levels, typical of the period-; and nervous -recently there is talk of a decrease in the activity of the autonomic nervous system during the days after ovulation.
Psychic symptoms of Premenstrual Syndrome
- But parodying that “every doctor has his little book”; In this case, “every woman has Her Syndrome” and it has become impossible for doctors to describe with certainty a picture that facilitates diagnosis. On the contrary, the same happens to patients suffering from swelling and breast tension, changes in appetite and sexual interest, even psychological or emotional symptoms such as depression, uncontrollable desires to cry, insomnia, feelings of guilt…
- Among the most physical manifestations frequent are also abdominal pain, headaches and migraines, changes in appetite, the need to eat sweets, constipation or diarrhea, the appearance of palpitations, sleep disturbances and general malaise.
- The psychic symptoms are depression, sadness, the feeling of tiredness and fatigue, insomnia, excessive susceptibility, irritable mood, anxiety, clumsiness and difficulty concentrating.
