Guest Author - Sharon Bejin

So here we go again. We turn the calendar to another month, giving us one more chance to ride the waves of PMS. For those of us who are experiencing a blend of PMS with a variety of menopausal moods – may the force be with us!

If you haven’t a clue what this is like, let me help you out. During PMS, we find ourselves dealing with a mix of emotions about anything and everything that has been bothering us during the last few weeks; our emotions are running high and are waiting to be released. This bag of emotions will undoubtedly explode, taking out anyone in its path; not literally of course, but figuratively speaking. Unfortunately, it is usually our loved ones who are in the line of fire when this happens.

Our family members are left in disbelief, wondering what happened to their wife, girlfriend, or mother to bring out such bitchiness and ugliness. When the PMS and/or mood swings have passed, we are left to save face and hope that we can explain our moods and behaviors that we have dumped on our husbands, boyfriend, or children. During this time, we experience anger about things that ordinarily don’t bother us, but for some reason they do at this time of the month. This may also be due to the fact that we push things aside during the month and then it all comes out in an exaggerated form at some time during our monthly cycle. We also become easily irritated at others for not doing things they way we want.

A feeling of depression doesn’t help us at all and there are times we find ourselves crying for no reason. Any little thing can bring on a flood of tears since we are especially oversensitive during this time. We experience moods in addition to feeling tired and bloated with sore breasts. Our food cravings are many and nothing short of time can diminish them. For those who are conscious about their weight, any gain may be difficult to accept.

During the time that all of these mood swings are happening, we may or may not realize it is connected with our menstrual cycle. It does help a little when we realize that it is all connected and that we are not going crazy. After all has been said and done during our bout of PMS, we are lucky if those close to us accept our apology for taking it out on them. Hopefully, we may get another chance to build up our credibility after saying some of the things we did during this difficult time. We are lucky if we don’t permanently burn some bridges.

The challenging part for pre-menopausal women is when we suffer from PMS in addition to hot flashes and mood swings. Now we have a double whammy. While it is not easy, it is a challenge to say the least. On the upside, once through PMS we can breathe a sigh of relief that we only have our menopausal moods and symptoms to deal with. How lucky for us and those who live around us!