The Mayo Clinic estimates
that three out of four women between puberty and menopause will have some form of PMS. Pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) refers to the (many potential) physical and mental effects of hormone changes in females of childbearing years.
As seen in media and in real life, those effects can include:
- abdominal crampsnote
- mood changes like irritability, chronic sadness and/or crying spells, or emotional instability,
- tender breasts,
- Wacky Cravings (especially, but not always, for greasy, fatty, sweet, or salty food or chocolate),
- bloating and/or water retention (which is part of why salty foods can actually make it worse),
- fatigue,
- acne flareups,
- facial hair,
- nausea and/or vomiting,
- headache,
- backache,
- frequent urination,
- constipation or diarrhea,
- loss of concentration,
- and insomnia.
