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[nelliedee]

Hi girls

Have suffered PMT all my life. Periods started becoming irregular a year ago but am still getting them albeit every 3 weeks. My Pmt has always involved anger and bad temper  but the last 3 periods I have noticed a change in that I dont seem so angry or quick tempered and its been very noticeable to me and to hubby !. I now tend to get a little tearful instead. Has anyone else ever notice the decrease in PMT going into Menopause. Wondering to myself which hormone is responsible for PMT, is it progesterone, could it be I hardly have any left !! Which hormone is responsible for awful heavy periods as have had those for 10 years.
 

[fiorinda]

Hi,
I can't asnwer the questions about which hormone does what - if they had less similar names I might find them easier to pin down!!! - but I know my PMS symptoms have changed as I've moved through the peri. I took EPO every day for years to deal with PMS (after I threw a kettle full of thankfully cold water at my husband in a rage - though he probably deserved it and is now my ex-husband!). I do think PMS symptoms change anyway over our reproductive lives - my rage gradually segued into other things which included breast pain. I hadn't had a period for 6 months up to April but still (randomly?) seemed to get some PMS symptoms, then April and May I've had extremely light and short periods. I was feeling really low and miserable and hopeless, and then the one this month started and I immediately felt much better. I suspect it is various cocktails of hormones combined with other factors which cause PMS, not anything as clearcut as one causing it. Tearfulness is a peri/menopause symptom, for some but not for everyone, but is also often a PMS symptom. I guess it's preferable to rage. I think the only real difference is the regularity - when you get PMS you get it before your period, when the period comes you know the symptoms will abate. With menopause and peri, it's all rather random and you have no idea when it's going to get better!  x

[Rowan]

The lessening of progesterone cause heavy periods, because it is the first hormone to start to dwindle during the peri penopause, leaving estrogen to be the dominant hormone before that too begins to lower.

Our own chemical makeup governs how we react to the hormone turmoil.

[nelliedee]

Thanks ladies. I find this all very interesting. My PMT was always like clockwork since forever. Last month hubby suggested a day out swimming and I declined after telling him I had my period, he was confused and said you cant be !! you wernt shouting at me last week !! and then when i thought about it I realised I had been ok the period before that aswell. Being that my periods had started coming closer together I must admit I was dreading PMT every 3 weeks but it seems, hopefully, I was wrong to assume that. Tears now seemed to replace my tensions !!! wonderfully weird in my opinion and crying for me is a  great release.
I think I have been in Peri for 4-5 years now and last year was just about as bad as it could be for me. The emotional side was insane, literally ! but this year I can honestly say doesnt feel 1/2 as bad and yet I have had lots of bad news regarding my health and a serious family matter and yet I've plodded along quite evenly. I havent taken HRT but I have taken life slower. I aslo take phamacetical grade fish oil, vit d3 and I eat regular. I have also recently quit smoking xx

[Hurdity]

Hi there

Re pmt or pms - it depends when you get it.

Mine was just like yours everyone's mum - each month without fail for a few days.

What happens during the second half of their menstrual cycle, is that progesterone begins to increase after ovulation,  rises to a peak and then falls as quickly as it increased and as it falls this signals for the bleed to start. In addition oestrogen also falls at this time and starts to rise again approx at menstruation when progesterone has declined.

Most women suffer the classic pmt symptoms of tension, irritability - including rage - and sometimes headaches too, for the few days just before the period - most likely largely due to the sudden drop in progesterone. Many women also suffer from pms symptoms for the whole of the two weeks and maybe progesterone intolerant to a certain extent. Progesterone causes physical symtpoms of fluid retention - which can lead to bloating and discomfort, fuzzy head, fatigue and sometimes depression. Declining oestrogen can also cause depression and low mood. Most women feel at their best once their bleed is over and when oestrogen is at very high levels, just before ovulation and progesterone is at its lowest.

During peri-menopause the levels of hormones fluctuate up and down more - sometimes causing more extreme symptoms ( anxiety, weepiness etc), or less so especially during cycles where ovulation does not occur as happens at this time.

The anovulatory cycles as they are known, allow the womb lining to build up for longer than one month, and because there is no progesterone (because no egg is released), there is no bleed that month,  and then when ovulation does occur eg three months later - the bleed might be 3 x as heavy - as silverlady says - you need the right amount of progesterone on a regular basis to shed the lining built up by the oestrogen.

There are other causes of heavy periods and if they are troublesome it may be worth being checked for fibroids etc?

There is an interesting article on the peri-menopause as one of the back magazine articles here:

http://www.menopausematters.co.uk/article-perils-of-the-perimenopause.php

Hurdity x

[nelliedee]

Thank you Hurdity, so interesting x