How to Feel Like Yourself During Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS).

Happy Women’s Day!!! 💐 This is the perfect day to talk about periods and figure out how to live with the impact of our crazy yet beautiful hormones.

Photo by Polina Zimmerman: Pexel

Being a menstruating woman is like being on a never-ending roller coaster of emotions in which one can hardly anticipate the dips and the peaks yet you have to pretend that it’s just another regular day.

Imagine Sponge Bob turning into Squidward with Patrick’s appetite overnight. It’s wild!

The reason why I chose to write about this is because I shared my frustration about PMS on Instagram and have gotten a couple of responses from other women who also struggle with it.

One of the women I interacted with ended our conversation with “We have to suck it up because life goes on.”

I go from being one of the most optimistic people you’ll ever know to wanting to quit everything, telling people they suck and crying in bed all day.

If you are going through the same thing, I can relate. I mean this sh*t is hard! How can you live in a world where you are expected to be your best at all times yet you feel your worst?

That being said, I decided to take this matter into my own hands and gather some research so we can better understand pre-menstrual syndrome and learn how to cope with it.

I truly think the world would be a better place if we could plan our lives around our menstrual cycle. I’ll definitely write about this topic but for now, let’s try to understand PMS and how it affects our self-esteem so hopefully we can put together some coping strategies to feel better.

The internet says that PMS is a combination of symptoms that arrive before your period. What I find interesting is that one of the women who shared her thoughts on PMS told me that she gets hers before ovulating. I thought that was interesting and uncommon. I’d be curious to know if it happens to someone reading this, let us know in the comment.

PMS symptoms can be based on emotions like irritability, sadness, or even depression and physical like acne, bloating, and fatigue.

These are pretty disruptive if you ask my opinion.

So what causes these symptoms exactly?

Some research says that it is unknown since it’s not happening to all menstruating women. Others say that it could be due to hormone changes throughout the menstrual cycle.

Assuming it is true that PMS always affects a woman after ovulation, it correlates with a dip in levels of estrogen and progesterone. Symptoms often go away after the start of a period.

So does PMS impact your self-confidence?

Some studies have found that women with premenstrual syndrome (PMS) have lower self-esteem during the premenstrual phase than other phases of the menstrual cycle.

I can relate to that. When I PMS, I feel fat and ugly because of the bloating and the acne. I also feel worthless because I am unable to focus with all the emotions going on in my head.

Why is that, though?

Well, it turns out that reduced levels of estrogen can lead to a dip in serotonin which is one of the natural body chemicals that controls your mood.

Low serotonin is linked to increased emotional sensitivity, which can present as low self-confidence.

Medicines that increase serotonin levels can help with depression and anxiety.

So how can I increase serotonin levels without taking any medicine every month?

• getting more exposure to outdoor sunlight
• doing plenty of aerobic exercises
• drinking lots of water and lowering your intake of salty foods
• eating foods that contain a substance known as tryptophan (such as nuts, eggs, cheese, red meat, turkey, salmon, tofu and pineapple)

Ideally, we should all do these things regularly to maintain a healthy body and mind. However, it might not be realistic for everybody.

Some of us already exercise and others don’t so I think it’s important to be self-aware of our own bodies so we can find the right combination of the solutions above.

To anticipate the dip in the level of serotonin, someone who doesn’t exercise already might want to start a little before they anticipate their PMS. And someone who already exercises might want to do even more activities before PMS starts.

Either way, I wish I was taught this simple mechanism as a teenager girl because the older I get the more I understand the importance of being self-aware and understanding the strong connection between my body and my mind.

If you got through the end of this article, I am deeply grateful to you. I plan on writing more about how women can be more in tune with their menstrual cycle, their bodies, and mind.

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