PMS

[laurelgardner]

Oy. I know feminism says I'm supposed to believe that there's no such thing as PMS, that it's all a grand patriarchal conspiracy to discredit women, but damnit, I get it. Maybe other women don't, but I do. And I become a psychotic hose beast for several days

Comments

[tzi]

Wow. I don't, either. *grins* But in this case, seriously. Feminism is wrong. *nods* Everybody has hormonal surges. Even men, although they'd refuse to call it that. My father takes testosterone, because his testosterone levels have gotten a lot older as he's aged, and his body doesn't produce enough to keep him healthy. You can see the reaction/surges more clearly when it's being administered than when it's being made naturally, and it's definitely there... Just like the whole PMS thing is, IMO. Hormone levels are freaky and they do illicit emotional responses. Anyone who says otherwise needs to go back to the drawing board. *HUGS*

feeling your pain

[candymike]

I've never had PMS but never discounted its power - my mother was a ravening evil for two weeks out of every month and disbelieving would have been stupid. But if I ever doubted the effects of hormonal swings then, I don't now, as the onset of perimenopause has made me crazy.

No, really.

Every day, between 11 AM and 2 PM, I get sad. It's not a response to anything situational but that doesn't change the reality of the emotion. I try to hide, but if I get dragged out of my basement before the feeling passes, the sad transforms to irritation (much more socially explainable, thank god) and can sometimes morph to rage. Once the emotion passes, though, I get euphoric, so it appears to the observer as if I have gone from tears to claws to rainbows - it's mindboggling. My hormone levels are not low enough to supplement and the docs are loathe to do so at any level, given the family history of breast cancer. Their advice to me is to grin and bear it, so I am completely sympathetic to your situation.