Premenstrual Syndrome: Symptoms, Causes, and Management

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a common condition that affects women during certain days of the menstrual cycle. This article discusses the symptoms, causes, and management techniques of PMS. It also highlights the differences between PMS and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

1) Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is conditions that influence the behaviour and emotions of a
woman during certain days of the menstrual cycle. PMS usually occurs during the luteal phase of
the menstrual cycle. During the luteal phase, the hormones from the ovary cause lining of the
uterus to be thick and spongy (Ryu & Kim, 2015). During this time frame, progesterone hormone
increase in the body while the level of estrogen exponentially decreases in the body. The
hormonal shift from the estrogen to progesterone may cause some of the Pre-menstrual
syndrome (Naheed et al., 2017). A significant number of women experience symptoms such as
diarrhea, nausea, anger irritation, excessive hunger, excessive hunger issues anxiety and
discomfort.
This case study represents a premenstrual syndrome of a 38-year-old married woman
who was admitted to the Belmont private hospital. She complained that she was exhibiting few
symptoms such as anger issues, tenderness of breast, tiredness, nausea, acne problem and
abnormal blotting. These all syndromes are related to the premenstrual syndrome since these
symptoms are a hormone influenced syndrome. Abnormal blotting observed due to the
progesterone hormone which decreases the bile production and food moves slowly through the
intestine (Khayat et al., 2015). The hormonal cycle also controls the level of serotonin and
individuals to exhibit the anger issues and other mood changes. The patient stated that she had a
urinary tract infection and it is related to the premenstrual cycle since estrogen is an anti-
inflammatory hormone which decreased during the PMS (Naheed et al., 2017). Moreover, she
had an ovarian cyst removed which is related to the premenstrual syndrome since progesterone
and estrogen misbalance.

2) Premenstrual syndrome is a group of behavioral disturbance experienced by every woman.
Approximately 85% of the women suffer the premenstrual syndrome around the globe
(Dimmock et al., 2017). The most of the common cause of premenstrual syndrome is a hormonal
imbalance. In premenstrual syndrome, the progesterone level increases and estrogen level
decreases. The hormonal imbalance causes the PMS. Moreover, Hormones also influences the
neurotransmitter of the brain which gives rise to the premenstrual syndrome (Craft, Gordon &
Tiziani 2014).Fluctuation of serotonin or insufficient serotonin give rise to the premenstrual
syndrome. Heavy smoking of cigarette and drinking of alcohol can give rise to the premenstrual
syndrome. Heavy intake of caffeine frequently is considered as the common cause of
premenstrual syndrome (Bryant & Knights, 2014). Women who do not involve themselves in
any physical activity give rise to the premenstrual syndrome. Moreover, those women who are
obese and live a stressful life can give rise to premenstrual syndrome (Safari et al., 2015).
Subsequently, stressful life gives rise to the premenstrual syndrome (Heydari et al., 2018).
Depression can be one of the causes of premenstrual syndrome since depression and emotional
distress causes the change of chemicals in brain and leads to the premenstrual syndrome.
Besides, those people consume the diet that contains less amount of vitamin and mineral can give
rise to the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (VanMeter, VanMeter & Hubert 2016).
Consequently, they experienced specific symptoms such as back pain, abnormal blotting, anxiety
and other health issues (Heydari et al., 2018)..
3) Polycystic ovary syndrome is considered as the common heterogeneous endocrine disorder
that majority of the women around the globe experience in their existence. However, there are
few significant differences between polycystic ovary syndrome and premenstrual syndrome. The

typical clinical manifestation of the polycystic ovary syndrome women seeks care for are the
irregular menstrual cycle, excessive hair growth and fertility problem (Sorouri et al., 2015).
Menstrual disturbance mainly observed due to irregular ovulation or failure of ovulation in
women. Related issues are including difficulty in getting pregnant, excessive hair growth, chest
and buttocks, unusual weight gain. Women with premenstrual ovary syndrome also give rise to
the other health risks such as diabetes, depression and high blood pressure.
On the other hand, premenstrual syndrome is a familiar condition in many women. The
clinical manifestation of premenstrual syndrome include backaches, blotting due to excessive
fluid retention, change of appetitive, craving for salty food and pain, constipation and diarrhea
Many women experience psychological changes such as agitation, anger, depression, feeling
lonely and hopeless. Skin problem also observed due to the hormonal fluctuation in body before
menstrual cycle. Women usual feel the abnormal blotting and nausea and acne. According to
Australian bureau of statistics, approximately 85 % of women in Australia experience the
symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (Sorouri et al., 2015). Although, premenstrual syndrome
and polycystic ovary syndrome are clinically different but women with polycystic ovary
syndrome often experience few of the symptoms of premenstrual syndromes (Safari et al., 2015).
4) There are many therapies and principles which should be used to manage the symptoms of
premenstrual syndrome in women. Systemic reviews and empirical reviews along with
randomized trail control reported that cognitive behavioral therapy is the first line therapy to
manage the symptom of premenstrual syndrome. In one trial, women were randomized to a
group for instructing cognitive behavioral therapy and non-specific behavioral techniques (Safari

et al., 2015). That study suggested that approximately 85% of the women responded to
behavioral therapy and significant reduction of the symptoms observed. Cumulative studies
indicated that cognitive therapy such as educating patients about the signs with the effective
verbal communication could effectively reduce the symptoms of premenstrual symptoms.
Acquiring the knowledge about the premenstrual syndrome and behavioral changes related to the
syndrome help individual (Safari et al., 2015).. One study suggested that second line therapy
such information focused therapy leads to a substantial reduction of the symptoms’. Moreover,
other psychological approaches such as relaxation technique proved to be an effective way to
relieving symptoms’ of premenstrual syndrome.
A large number of effective treatments and change of lifestyle has specific benefits to
manage the symptoms of the premenstrual syndrome. Dietary restrictions are often
recommended to eliminate the physical and psychological symptoms of premenstrual syndrome.
The most common nutritional recommendation is the increase in consumption of carbohydrate
has been proved to be adequately studied in one randomized control trial (Naheed et al., 2017)..
Women with the syndrome of premenstrual syndrome often encourage increasing the physical
activity. The drugs are used to treat the syndromes are ibuprofen, antidepressant such as Zoloft ,
Paxil and Effexo (Safari et al., 2015)..

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