Menses and Mood Changes

About 70-80% of women experience physical and/or mood changes before and during menstruation.  These changes includes but is not limited to increased depressed mood, anxiety, irritability, fatigue, food cravings, tender breasts. All these mood changes are considered normal if the person can still function well in her everyday life in which case we call it Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS).

However, when these changes start to interfere with the woman’s daily functions and their home, work and social life, such mood changes become pathological and are symptoms of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). 

These PMDD symptoms occur one week before menstruation, decreases as menstruation starts, and ceases after menstruation. It is estimated that 3-8% of women in reproductive age have PMDD. 

When someone has a pre-existing disorder that gets worse in the premenstrual phase, we are talking about PME, premenstrual exacerbation or the mood or anxiety disorder. The worse-than-usual symptoms usually subside a few days after the period, but it does leave behind the original disorder.

In my experience these conditions are pretty easy to treat which is great relief for women who experienced severe impairment beforehand.

Things you can do in an attempt to prevent the symptoms

• get enough sleep

• avoid excess alcohol

• take a good quality multivitamin to avoid vitamin deficiencies (especially B6 and B12) that can worsen the condition - make sure you take the activated form of these B vitamins

• consider taking Vitex 

• avoid foods that worsen bloating