personal experience with pms post
have you guys ever read the thing about that (feminist) woman who realizes PMS is in a large part a socially constructed disease, and then her cramps ~magically go away~? i’m not going to find that, but this post is pretty much the opposite of that.
so i never really took concerns about emotional aspects of PMS seriously because i was dong an asshole thing of “not listening to women” and figuring like, “this is not a thing that noticeably happens to me, it must not be common”—um, so, yeah, all of that is pretty ridiculous. i think a lot of the other reason i didn’t take it very seriously was because my parents used to tell me when i got upset around my period i was “just being moody because of PMS”, so i put more stock into PMS being like “a way of dismissing lady feelings” than like, a real thing necessarily in most cases.
but in the past like, at least six months i’ve been having like a tiny DEPRESSIVE EPISODE in the week before my period, every month, without fail. the extent of this varies from like, freaking out in a manner that seems very similar to major depression, from what i understand of it from reading articles/talking to friends with depression (ie: lying in bed crying with no real reason/being completely unable to get up and do something i know i have to do) to feeling generally inadequate at things i do (and also crying a lot) to just being in a really bad mood (in a “i am really unsure why these things are making me upset” way)
i don’t really know if i should talk to a doctor about this or not? i’m not entirely sure about how it’s treated—i’ve heard that low doses anti-depressants are sometimes prescribed, but really i’m not interested in that for something that affects me for like, roughly 2-4 hours once a month.
Well damn, GOOD FOR THAT FEMINIST LADY. I’ve never read that but I guess I wouldn’t be surprised.
The effects of your cycle can change over time based on things like age, diet, stress levels, and whether or not you ever get pregnant, or terminate a pregnancy, or miscarry, or have a baby. When I was younger I used to get The Worst Cramps and week-long periods and doctors kept prescribing me stronger and stronger pain pills, which I would of course eventually develop a tolerance to and then they wouldn’t work. I decided to stop that and after a few months either my natural remedies were working or my cycle had just changed on its own.
Now my cycle is like: 2 weeks of feeling neutral, 1 week of feeling, um, “excitable”, a few days of crying at the drop of a hat, a few more days of neutral, and then period, which is one very painful day when I ought to be allowed to stay in bed and eat chocolate, and a few slightly irritable days.
I have a lot of lady health zines with different ways of reducing menstrual pain or managing PMS-y emotions. Some things that have worked for me are: raspberry leaf tea, chamomile tea, peppermint tea, less caffeine, no smoking cigarettes, yes smoking other kinds of cigarettes, no red meat, lots of fresh fruits and veggies, no dairy (except chocolate helps me a lot?), and drinking lots of water and peeing a lot. Also hot showers/baths (soap/bubbles not recommended personally), heating pads (or you can put a flat rock in the oven for a bit and wrap it in a towel!), back and shoulder and thigh massages or even light petting (affectionate comforting touches), and getting off. Physical exercise also seems to be helpful even when I feel like my insides are falling out; sometimes a walk around the block feels great when I overcome the initial discomfort.
As far as medicine-medicine, sometimes different kinds of hormonal birth control can help regulate emotions and reduce pain, if you’re into that sort of thing. (I don’t use bc because I have LADY ISSUES about it, but it works for many others!) And there are anti-anxiety type drugs that can be used as-needed for the moments you’re feeling poopy (I use Ativan/Lorazepam in very small doses).
But as for my personal not-necessarily-solicited opinion regarding managing or regulating emotions, especially as related to periods/PMS, unless it’s, like, severely, intensely, dangerously affecting your ability to enjoy life… why not try to accept/embrace? Personally I relish the opportunity to be able to exist in an emotionally-heightened state of being for those few days, even if it means I’m going to be crying over an advertisement on YouTube or something. I think it’s pretty interesting that chemical changes occurring in my body can make me feel differently about everyday stuff, and also because I track my cycle I am usually aware of some hormonal reasons why I might be in a certain mood, so I can accept it and appreciate it and be all analytical and shit. It sort of gives me a chance to look at things in a way that I might not easily be able to during a neutral time. I don’t look at it as like, “EXCUSE ME, I’M JUST PMSING, PLEASE DISREGARD MY LACK OF RATIONAL THOUGHT,” ‘cause if I maintain awareness then I know it’s just another facet of myself anyway. (Also personal disclaimer: I’m so stressed and burnt-out these days that I am EXCITED that I can still cry about things or get angry or moody, so that’s where I’m coming from.)
And PC blog disclaimer: Not saying my way is better, just saying it’s better for me…and a potentially helpful opinion to consider in re: Katy’s question.
