the monster that takes over ( its a girl thing )

I don't take it out on strangers, though, for whatever reason. I'm always targeting the rage at someone close to me. My live-in says that he thinks that I feel so miserable that I want someone else to be equally unhappy. He may well be right.

Luckily for me I usually have only one 24-hour period where I am really off-kilter and don't want to be around myself. The rest of the 'pre' time I may be not necessarily rational but I am aware of what the problem is and can make changes accordingly. That one night, though, well, I basically could blow-up the house (ever see that Animaniacs skit about 'Katie Ka-boom'? The teenager who blows-up and destroys everything and then calms back down again? That's me, to a 'T') and give it another thought. Anyway, I'm learning that when I start feeling that angry at the world to go and put myself in bed and force myself to stay there until I fall asleep ... that usually helps the worse to pass.

I almost slapped my best friend last week for telling me that me pissed off at some code b/c I had PMS was "cute"-> he was saved by promising to cook me dinner that night and swearing that he'd think before trying to get a rise out of me again.

Any non-chemical aids that people could recommend? Must admit I agree with teeny that smoking a little weed helped, but only because it took the edge of the hideous anger/anxiety I had. Ughhh.

My mum had this same conundrum with HRT, after the scares about it being carcinogenic, but her hormones went out of control and no natural therapies really helped.

One wonders if our hormones are naturally meant to be haywire during menses or if perhaps modern diet and lifestyles have upset some delicate natural balance, and if so, can one do something with diet or lifestyle to make a significant difference?

I have had several people recommend different herbal/natural remedies and the only things that I have found that really help are baths, pampering myself, yoga, and drinking lots of water. Also, turning down the A/c a few notches (I tend to be warmer during my PMS times) seem to help. The biggest thing for me, though, is just being away from people. Not always possible with work and other commitments, but at least at home and I can come and hide in my comfy chair in my bedroom with a heating pad on my stomach and a glass of water by my side.

Nutritionally I've learned to avoid caffeine and greasy foods and salty foods and so forth ... I want pure flavors, like fresh fruit. But I also want bittersweet chocolate, too.

I know that there's been a lot of questions about whether human females are even supposed to have regular periods or if the periods are just a sign that we're fertile again so the males need to get into line for procreation. It'd be grand if there were some switch that we could hit that would turn things on and off.

On another note, this website can usually make me chuckle (or recoil in horror, depending on my mood) and I am somwhat curious about the ideas of menustral huts and communal/female support groups. http://www.mum.org/

Err anyway on a serious note, I'm of an age now where I can seriously consider being sterilised. I'm not sure if that'll solve the problem or just create a whole raft of other problems, hormonally speaking. But I'm 32 and I know I will never have kids, so it's certainly on the agenda. I should start doing some research.

It's that old female bitch about how if men had to have periods they'd have developed a cure for the problem back in the Middle Ages or something. I mean, I can and do bitch about this, but I'd really be much happier to know that there was serious research going on in the field ... it seems logical to me that there is a solution to such horrid 'female' problems that doesn't involve major surgery or pills that cause (sometimes much worse than the cure) side-effects.

I'll keep y'all posted if I find out anything interesting. Should maybe go talk to a gyno some time.

i have no idea how they did this research but it seems to ring true with me. i am a much more agressive driver and also more inclined to break things out of sheer frustration during my PMT stretch, than at any other time of the month.
one suggestion i recall from this research was that workplaces allowed women 'time out' just prior to their period. presumably giving the rest of the traffic some degree of safety and the workplace a better assurance that things wouldnt get destroyed in a frustrated fit!

(Actually having a spliff can help with cramping. I always get terrible cramps on the first day of my period, about every one in eight they're so bad I can't get out of bed.)

I have been considering coming off the pill as my libido has diminished while my weight has rocketed :( but then, my periods were much heavier and more painful and the PMS was worse. Sigh.

Christ allmighty, you're Emma!

There's totally something to this...vitamin C is good certainly, and chocolate (the purer the better because it is more potent) has stuff in it that mimics estrogen. Even though the caffeine in chocolate is not great for you (generally makes cramps worse) I think the chemicals in chocolate make up for it.

I recently started eating more soy products and my PMS was light to non-existent this month! (I also usually only have one day-long really bad time.)

As bad as it can be sometimes, there is something comforting about the routine of 'oh here it comes' and then getting into bed with a water bottle, a good book (takes your mind off things), a big bar of chocolate, a cup of tea and a J!