According to the Harvard Medical School, MGH Center for Women's Mental Health, premenstrual syndrome or PMS comprises a group of symptoms that are commonly associated with the 7 to 14 days leading up to menstruation. It affects roughly 75 percent of menstruating women to some degree, and symptoms vary from person to person. Dagmara Scalise, in her book "The Everything Guide to PMS", credits Guy Abraham, M.D., a former professor of obstetrics, gynecology and endocrinology at UCLA, for pioneering the classification of PMS by cause.
PMS-A
According to Scalise, many alternative medical and nutrition practitioners classify PMS as type-A PMS, because of the belief that there is similarity among the underlying causes. Its symptoms are anxiety, mood swings, irritability, and crying spells and they are related through the common cause of hormonal imbalance. Women suffering from type-A PMS are believed to experience higher levels of estrogen than progesterone. Jim Phelps, M.D., of PsychEducation.org, discusses the correlation between excessive estrogen levels and anxiety and agitation symptoms.
PMS-C
Scalise also elaborates on the symptoms classified under PMS-C. In PMS-C, sufferers experience increased cravings for sweets, chocolate, simple carbohydrates and other comfort foods. Other associated symptoms include headaches, fatigue, fainting spells and heart palpitations. Conventional medical practitioners believe that PMS-C does not exist on its own, but is instead a coping mechanism used by women who experience PMS-A to balance out their erratic emotions. Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center recommends the consumption of carbohydrates, like cereals and pasta, to raise serotonin levels. As PMS-A is believed to be caused by higher levels of estrogen and lower levels of serotonin in the body, the carbohydrate cravings are a means of self-medication, explains Scalise. Headaches, fatigue, fainting spells and heart palpitations are consistent with the symptoms of hypoglycemia, or the effect of plummeting blood sugar levels after the consumption of simple carbohydrates.
PMS-D
Type-D PMS is the least common of the types and is not the same as premenstrual dysmorphic disorder, which is a mental health disorder. Type-D PMS is linked to depression and other somatic and cognitive symptoms, such as withdrawal, lethargy or fatigue, forgetfulness, confusion and insomnia. The Harvard Medical School, MGH Center for Women's Mental Health reports that some women are sensitive to the fluctuations that the changing levels of estrogen and progesterone have on the brain chemicals or neurotransmitters in the body. According to a 2001 article in "Medical Herbalism", low levels of vitamin B6 and magnesium can aggravate PMS-D.
PMS-H
Finally, PMS-H is associated with weight gain of more than three pounds, abdominal bloating, breast tenderness and occasional swelling of the face, hands and ankles. This type of PMS is believed to result from an excessive secretion of the hormone aldosterone during the last, or luteal, phase of the menstrual cycle. Aldosterone regulates salt and water balance in the body. Excessive secretion arises from stress, unopposed estrogen due to low levels of progesterone, magnesium deficiency and excessive salt intake, explains the article in "Medical Herbalism.
References
- Harvard Medical School: MGH Center for Women's Mental Health: Premenstrual Mood Changes
- "The Everything Health Guide to PMS"; Dagmara Scalise; 2007
- PyschEducation: Basic Information About Estrogen in Psychiatry
- Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center: Health: Premenstrual Syndrome
- "Medical Herbalism": Female -- Premenstrual Syndrome
