My Mom told me she never suffered from this. Nor did any of her girlfriends of her era. And it did just take us by storm in the early eighties, but where did it come from if the older generations didn't suffer from it? Is it our food? Our daily stresses? What? Where the FUCK did this come from? Or did we just by into some societal ordained condition so women have a free pass to eat mounds of chocolate and go nuts!

DexMSR said:

yep now where is my damn chocolate

HollowellSA said:

I knew it!!!!

Whap!

hurray and up she raises, early in the morning...to make breakfast for her family.
[Edited 11/13/05 22:07pm]

DexMSR said:

hey you Men have pms too usually right after their woman does

I don't get PMS - never experienced it. Lucky me

I never had it till I was almost 30. It started occuring after I got engaged....hmmmmm

luv4u said:

YOU'RE A MAN!!!!!

althom said:

It could be that it was all just made up. I don't think I know anyone who gets PMS. I know I don't, at least. Then again, it's true that hormones fluctuate like crazy during that special time when the Red Friend comes knocking, and hormone levels affect a person's mood.




Cramps, on the other hand. Those are real.

meow85 said:

And mine are getting worse as I get older

Can I get my "whap" now?

meow85 said:

From my understanding, PMS is a blanket name for all sorts of things the body goes through once a month, just before you get your period. Some women experinece it, some women don't. I definitely get it, and sometimes it's BAD. I usually don't get cranky, but I get incredibly emotional and often very depressed. I'm sure it has been around since there were women to experience it.

I've got it right now. I have it bad sometimes. The cramps DO get worse the older you get, it seems.

I can be a real nasty bitch about four days out of the month. Hormone shift.

gemini13 said:

Not always true. I had horrible cramps when I was a teenager, so awful I'd stay home from school, laying in bed all day in the fetal position, ibuprofen and hot water bottles didn't seem to do enough. I don't get them often now, and when I do, they are quite bearable, comparatively.

DexMSR said:

Well, no disrespect to your mom and her friends but its not something that's just made up or is new. My mother and a couple of her sisters did experience pms. I also remember my grandmother always teasing some of us when we were acting very emotional and by saying..."you have a visitor coming huh?"

its always been around...we just have a name for it now.

so men have been lied to al these years!??!?!!? we should sue!

chico

check your notes

CarrieMpls said:

You're so lucky! My lower abdomen feels like someone is stirring my organs around with a fork.

DexMSR said:

no its real dude! i've never had an extreme case of pms but i can get emotional before its time for my period, eat chocolate (but i then i like chocolate all the time ) start a few arguments or stay to myself. i must say things do bother me more during that time.
[Edited 11/14/05 12:40pm]

CarrieMpls said:

oh yes god, and this didn't start until about a year ago. I had never been one to say I have PMS, until the past year when all of a sudden I started to get very down and feel very lonely like no one cared about me at all. Either that or I become extremely angry at the world, at everybody and at myself and couldn't figure out why. There are times when I just cry 3 or 4 days straight in a row just because i'm depressed and don't know how else to express it. But soon after my actual period comes, it goes away like nothing ever happened. But now this happens to me every month, about a week or two before my period.

CarrieMpls said:

yeah i use to have severe cramps in middle and high school. I'd get them so bad that i'd either have to skip school, or leave from school and come home. The only thing that relieves my cramps are ALEVE. Two pills of those right when i feel them coming on, knocks them right out. But back then i didn't have PMS, now i have PMS and the cramps aren't as bad anymore.

take the pills before the pain starts.

A) it was probably not something women widely spoke about before in the olden-days

B) women have a higher body fat ratio these days - I'm no scientist, but if a girl starts to menstruate earlier if she is heavier, and anorectics don't menstruate at all - I reckon there is something about weight and hormones. And our crappy diet does nothing to keep our hormones stable

C) chocolate wasn't something people used to eat every day like it is now.

People in some developing countries do not suffer morning sickness either. Also a hormonal thing.

shausler said:

check yours

Now that I have read all of this; I can honestly say I believe it was here as a condition or precursor to a woman's period all along. We just have never studied it before the eighties, just like when my stomach would hurt as a child when I drank milk, which they now call lactose intolerant when it really is....milk is for fucking calves and not humans! Focus Dex....focus.

ok...so I am with you ladies on this one....I believe it has always been a condition, just never put under the microscope.

So are you all telling me there is absolutely nothing you can take or do about it?

DexMSR said:

no. you just gotta ride it out

brownsugar said:

Damn...

DexMSR said:

just be more sensitive during that time. itll go away soon...until the next time!

I don't need any excuses to be a bitch...if I'm crampy and bloated...I tend to be a lil cranky...so what. but that's like...during...not Pre...I dunno
I do feel PMS has been expolioted....BIG TIME.

Shorty said:

Period products are a multi-billion dollar industry. Pre-period symptoms are real, but the companies need women to be convinced that it's the worst possible natural thing that can happen to your body, so you can continu buying heating packs and Mydol and chocolate.

PMS is also exploited by individuals -everyone from women who use that time of the month as an excuse for some seriously heinous behaviour (I've heard of it brought up as defense in criminal trials!) to men who brush off women's bad moods as "just" PMS.