For women only: have your pms symptoms gotten worse over 40?

[mamato3 all-boy boys]

I'm nearing 43 in a couple months. and just over the past four months I've gone from a sad/ weepy PMS to a pi**ed off PMS! Ii yell at everybody, nothing anybody does is good enough, or completed fast enough. My dh and I don't even recognize myself for the four or so days before my period starts.

 

Is this normal? Or am I really dealing with something else (depression) on top of PMS? DH and I had a nice talk a few days ago, and he offered me days off (from homeschooling) a vacation, a get away....pretty much anything I could want! I admitted that we haven't taken a whole lot of time off of school since Christmas -- but that I'd go crazy with a week during the school year of doing "nothing."

 

I've thought of going to my PCP (a man) to talk to him about depression vs. PMS changes, but have not taken the time to make an appointment.

[BikeBookBread]

yessiree... this is me.

[Jennifer in MI]

Yup. But I'm 39.

 

I totally think you should take a vacation - with me. Where do you want to go!? Consider it therapy. Maybe our health insurance would pay for it!!!

[Colleen in NS]

YES!!!!!!!!!! I've only recently figured out that there was a pattern there!!! I have to talk to myself whenever I start getting fired up about something.

 

I turned 42 a few days ago.

[Peela]

I am 43 in a couple of months too. My symptoms vary, though.

I wouldnt presume depression just because your symptoms change from weepy to angry.

I think PMS is often a time of the month when what is under the surface, that we can normally manage and control to just get on with things, comes up and we cant necessarily control it any more. It rises to the surface. But I dont think its anything but what is going on under the surface anyway. So if you are stressed and need a holiday, PMS time is going to express those symptoms. It doesnt actually CAUSE the symptoms- so we are not really victims to our hormones. I thik its wort taking note of teh symptoms that come u at that time and gently wrk wth the underying issues the rest of the month.

At the same time...there are herbs and things you can do....progesterone cream helped smooth things out for me for a couple of years, and now I dont seem to need it. Changing my diet is helping.

[PollyOR]

Yes. Plus, my cycles are closer together and more painful. The last one nearly sent me over the edge. I'm looking forward to menopause...I think.

 

Oh, I have learned to never make any major decisions when I'm having PMS. I wait until my sane self returns after a few days. I have a totally different outlook by then.

[usetoschool]

Absolutely. I never even noticed any kind of pms before my late 30's. I would completely lose track of cycles actually. Now, holy maxi-pads batman, I know every minute exactly where I am and have all kinds of physical and emotional days. I cannot wait for my period to start because I know the hormones will GO AWAY. I am 48.

[newlifemom]

Yup. But I'm 39.

 

I totally think you should take a vacation - with me. Where do you want to go!? Consider it therapy. Maybe our health insurance would pay for it!!!

 

Totally. I vote for going to the place with the Lindt outlet! :D

 

I think I am beginning to understand my mother better. Maybe I only remember the yelling b/c I was the last one born later [for them in 1968] in life. I feel like I have become her. I've taken to giving myself timeouts.:tongue_smilie:

[Jennifer in MI]

[quote name=PollyOR;1582401} I'm looking forward to menopause...I think.

 

Oh' date=' I have learned to never make any major decisions when I'm having PMS. I wait until my sane self returns after a few days. I have a totally different outlook by then.

 

I told my mom that I was looking forward to menopause and then she reminded me of facial hair . . .

 

Still lookingforward to it. . .

 

Totally. I vote for going to the place with the Lindt outlet! :D

e:

 

I'm with you!!!

[Sophia]

Yes!

I'm 45 and like many others, can't wait for menopause.

[sparrow]

I just turned 40, but my PMS symptoms have been WAAAAAYYYYYY worse for the past 2 years. I'm angry and feel like I could just crawl out of my skin with anxiety the 4-5 days before I start. Dh has always been completely understanding of any PMS symptoms in the past, but he's even pulled me aside and told me to "back off" on the kids (believe me, I needed to hear that at the time) and has gently inquired if I "could use a cup of tea?" :blush:.

 

So, I'm all for a WDW therapy vacation :D. In the meantime, does anybody have natural suggestions to alleviate some of these symptoms?

 

:grouphug: to you all!

[sparrow]

Yes. Plus, my cycles are closer together and more painful. The last one nearly sent me over the edge.

 

Now that really stinks! The one thing that has improved for me in these later years is that my cycles are more regular, less painful, and OH, THANK YOU, shorter!!! I don't know if it is due to age or moving to exclusive Diva Cup usage in the past 3 years.

[Jennifer in MI]

I just turned 40, but my PMS symptoms have been WAAAAAYYYYYY worse for the past 2 years. I'm angry and feel like I could just crawl out of my skin with anxiety the 4-5 days before I start. Dh has always been completely understanding of any PMS symptoms in the past, but he's even pulled me aside and told me to "back off" on the kids (believe me, I needed to hear that at the time) and has gently inquired if I "could use a cup of tea?" :blush:.

 

So, I'm all for a WDW therapy vacation :D. In the meantime, does anybody have natural suggestions to alleviate some of these symptoms?

 

:grouphug: to you all!

 

WDW???!!! I'm there.

 

Anxiety. Mine's worse the first 10 days of my cycle. It's terrible. I get the angry stuff the few days before my period starts. My dh encourages me to drink heavily during those times. (:loll: Really. Just kidding.)

[Suzanne in ABQ]

I've gone from a sad/ weepy PMS to a pi**ed off PMS! Ii yell at everybody, nothing anybody does is good enough, or completed fast enough. .

 

 

This sounded just like me at around age 38. I would go from sweet and patient, to literally snarling at my little kids and dumbfounded dh, within a matter of minutes. I could actually sense a *pop*, and then feel the whatever-it-was course through my veins. It was the worst on the months I didn't ovulate (I can always feel it, so I know). I used natural progesterone cream for a few years, and it helped tremendously!

 

Then, I got pregnant and had a baby at 42. It cured me! I'm almost 47, and seem to be sliding almost seamlessly into menopause with little more than occasional hot flashes when I first wake up and a bit of irritability right before my period.

 

I actually don't know if it was the pregnancy and nursing that cured me, or if it would have gotten better on its own. I only need the progesterone cream once in awhile now, for premenstrual spotting. Other than that, I'm fine.

 

I feel for you, though. Read about pre-menopause and peri-menopause (two names for the same thing). Dr. John Lee's books are excellent, tried-and-true standards, but there are many others out nowadays. Just browse Borders or B&N, in the Alternative Medicine or Women's Health sections.

[mamato3 all-boy boys]

Thank you. You all have made me feel so much more normal. Well, as normal as possible.

 

Unfortunately my period hasn't gotten any lighter (it really lightened up after ds#3 was born 4 years ago) nor shorter, but this whole losing my mind thing just stinks. I really, really just hate myself during the 3 or so days before my period starts, but it is something that I don't realize at all. My dh just on Sunday said, "do you think you're getting your period soon?" This was just not anything I had thought (duh) -- It's like I cannot see the forest through the trees when I'm at that point in my cycle.

 

Vacation? Yea, I should've grabbed my coast and car keys and taken off when he suggested it :lol: Hmm, guess I'll have to wait until next month to make a mad dash out the door!

 

OK, so what natural supplements can I investigate? I don't want to be Mrs. Jeckyl and Mama Hyde.

[mamato3 all-boy boys]

lol, you're on! Anywhere warm!

[sparrow]

WDW???!!! I'm there.

 

Anxiety. Mine's worse the first 10 days of my cycle. It's terrible. I get the angry stuff the few days before my period starts. My dh encourages me to drink heavily during those times. (:loll: Really. Just kidding.)

 

 

It has become my Happy Place!

 

I'm not kidding, my dh has a glass of wine sitting by my chair as soon as the kids are in bed during these times :lol:.

[EKS]

Yes.

 

The intensity is much worse, the duration much longer, and the frequency higher. Not a good combination.

[gaillardia]

Perimenopause they call it. Hated that, same as everybody else who has posted. Horrible person about 7-10 days pms, and when I would have menses, ugh. Incapacitate for at least 24 hours, that's over now. I hope and think. :glare:

Cutting back on chocolate, sugar and anything with caffeine (sodas in my case), exercising, even just walking, helped pms not be so bad.

I used bayberry capsules and cayenne (!!!) tincture for heavy, unbelievably heavy periods and when that stopped working (after a few years) I used herb pharm's women's health tonic (which contains helonias rhizomes, cramp bark, blue cohosh rhizomes and roots, partridge berry herb, ginger rhizome).

Do any of you use herbs when faced with issues like this? I didn't want to have a hysterectomy, didn't want to take prescriptions.