Premenstrual Syndrome can have physical or emotional symptoms. They’ll normally start a week or two before your period, and continue up to the time you actually receive ‘your visitor’. This is normally the climax of your little troubles. Anyway, the symptoms should then get easy on you as the menses start and progress to the finish.

Physical PMS symptoms vary from mild to severe. The most common of these include cramps or pain in the lower abdomen, unrelenting headaches and sometimes bloating. Your breasts may also become a bit sensitive and sore while your face is capable of developing acne or pimples. Sometimes joint aches and swelling of the limbs could also be experienced.

Some of the most infamous emotional PMS include uncontrolled anger and irritability which can make you to pick up fights and arguments with your loved ones and friends. Mood swings: sometimes you are really happy, others you want to cry. Imagine times when you completely loss interest or lack concentration on something important like your class work or a conversation. Sometimes you can be very anxious too, or maybe unnecessarily worried about something, making you to have sleepless nights. This is associated with tension, stress and fatigue. You could also be overly sensitive or have low esteem.

The good thing with PMS is that it tends to remain the same for each woman. The only thing that will vary is the degree of severity but the symptoms remain more or less the same; so once you have mastered your menstrual cycle’s physical and emotional systems it becomes easier to predict them. In addition, PMS symptoms are different for every woman. For instance, if you have stomach cramps the first time, chances are you will always have such variations of abdominal pain and discomfort every month. Somebody else will have headaches, another becomes irritable or a nervous wreck and so on.

The combination of physical, emotional, mental or psychological tension or symptoms that you experience prior to or after your period starts is what is referred to as Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS). This is the time your mood swings, irritability and anxiety are in top gear. Indeed, that regular visitor has come again! And he could be received with mixed feelings; talk of that little girl who is eager to show off to her friends that she is now a full grown woman or a busy teenager who can’t believe she is not going out tonight.

Premenstrual Syndrome is worse at the onset of your menses (say one week or so before your period starts), although it should get better as your period begins. It can take a few days or weeks to completely go away. Hormonal changes and fluctuations are almost entirely responsible for most of these syndromes and these physical, emotional and mental symptoms are perfectly normal for any normal woman. They include tiredness, nervousness, confusion, lack of concentration, sleeplessness, breast tenderness, cramps, headaches, bloating, skin problems and so on. The good thing is once you have gotten to know your menstrual cycle, it becomes easier to control and manage your periods.

These symptoms affect different women in different ways, and could vary from mild to wild. Some women just sail through it all with ease while others have complications, discomforts and irregularities. Be sure to call your doctor if symptoms threaten to get out of hand. You will know that these symptoms need special attention if normal flow breaks into unsettling heavy flow or you develop severe depression or swelling of feet and/or hands. Remember any of these symptoms must be severe enough to the extent of interrupting your normal activities for your physician to qualify them as PMS.