A myth? No PMT makes our lives a monthly misery
TO LINA NOOR, the idea that PMT, or PMS as it is now known, is little more than an excuse to try and put her feet up is unthinkable.
Lina says she has been suffering from PMS for more than 13 years. Every month without fail, about seven days before her period is due, she says she turns into a dragon and becomes overly emotional and snappy towards her three children, aged 15 to 21.
More recently, she’s started suffering from migraines which sometimes require days off work and are, she says, linked to her menstrual cycle. ‘ When my daughter hadn’t done her homework last week, I banned her from watching television for the entire week when normally I might ban it for a day,’ says Lina, 43, an assistant business manager from Birmingham.
‘I know in my head I’m overreacting but I just can’t seem to help myself.
‘They’ve now learnt to see the signs and will know my period is coming and stay out of my way.’ Separated and a single mother, it might be easy to suggest Lina is simply overwhelmed, but she insists her mood swings are inextricably connected to her menstrual cycle.
‘They started about three years ago. Doctors had no idea why they were happening and did lots of tests,’ says Lina.
‘I decided to keep a diary and they always started at the same time, a couple of days before my period, then went away as soon as my period came. They were definitely hormonal and premenstrual.’
She takes anti-migraine medication daily to ease the symptoms. But there are still days when she will go to work in the run-up to her time of month and have to sit in her office with the lights off.
She has even taken annual leave when the headaches are so bad she can’t face going in.
‘I’m very conscientious and hate taking time off, so for me this is a big deal,’ says Lina. ‘For anyone to
tell me that PMS is a myth has no idea what they’re talking about. As soon as my period comes, the headaches go, my patience returns and I turn into the normal, calm version of myself and my kids are happier. Hormones are to blame.’
Rebekah Casey says she nearly lost her job because of PMS when she blew up at her boss after he asked her to file paperwork for a deadline.
‘Normally I would have shrugged and got on with the work but I screamed at him, telling him it was ridiculous,’ she recalls. ‘Everyone in the office was looking at me and I knew I’d crossed a line.’
Thankfully for Rebekah, 41, an administration officer from Ipswich, her boss gave her another chance. She came off the contraceptive pill two years ago to try for a baby and says she has had severe PMS ever since.
‘I’ve never had PMS before and had been on the Pill for almost 13 years. Then when I came off it, four or five days before my period, I started to get very tender breasts, lower backache and felt tearful,’ she says. ‘I’d cry easily watching television and would snap at my other half if he so much as dropped a teaspoon or forgot to pick his pants up off the floor. ‘It feels like I have a bubble inside me with lots of emotions — sadness, anger, paranoia — and I can’t hold them all inside. Eventually one of them pops.’ Her partner Simon is sympathetic. ‘He teases me gently about it which tends to diffuse my anger and he’s sweet and runs me a bath when he knows I feel bad,’ she says.
She has been to see her GP but was told there was little she could do while she tries for a baby.
‘I suppose I have to put up with it for the time being,’ she sighs.
A visit to the GP for her PMS also wasn’t particularly helpful for Rose Rogers.
Her PMS means she has vicious mood swings and often feels angry, smashing her computer keyboard once in frustration.
‘I went to see my GP and he gave me painkillers and suggested anger management classes, even though I did explain I thought it was all to do with my menstrual cycle,’ says Rose, 43, a care assistant from Birmingham.
As well as anger, she also feels overwhelmed with sad thoughts. ‘I just feel so depressed and it brings back all the sad times I’ve been through,’ explains Rose.
‘It’s like the world stops for those ten days before and during my period and it’s hard to lift myself out of it.
‘I take painkillers every four hours but it only takes the edge off. Then as soon as my period is over, it’s like a light switches on and I’m back to normal.’