What is pms

PMS is a complex of painful symptoms starting at the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. In this phase the follicle that have released the egg, is transformed into a gland capable of producing hormones needed during gravity. Often symptoms tend to taper off with menstruation and women remain symptom-free until the two weeks or so prior to the next menstrual period. It is believed that neurological changes in the brain causes the PMS symptoms.

PhysicalsSymptoms of PMS are: Headaches, Lower Back Pain, Breast Tenderness ,Bloating, Cramping, Water Retention, Cravings, Fatigue and Skin Issues.

Also these mantal or psychological symptoms may occure: Depression, Irritability, Irrational Outbursts, Feelings of Loneliness, Anxiety, Moodiness, Apathy, Dejection, Sadness.


The causes of premenstrual syndrome

There has been a tendency to cathegorize PMS as a psychiatric disorder, that is a mental reaction towards what is going on in in the body of a woman during the menstrual cycle. New findings suggest that mental reactions are not the immediate ethiology behind PMS, but things going on by PMS can in turn cause mental reactions secondarily.

New findings also suggest that by PMS the nerve system reacts abnormally when the concentrations of progesterone and estrogen exceed certain levels. The abnormal reaction can occure even by normal levels of these hormons, but still abnormal levels may make the reaction even worse.

Also one often sees water retension, or edema in the body, and this factor also produces many of the functions.

The basic causes behind these mechanisms are not totally known, but the diet plays an important role. Some key causal diet factors seem to be:

- Eating too much salty food contribute to water retension and many of the symptoms.

- Low levels of vitamins and minerals seem to cause basic distrubances that lead to PMS.

- Coffee and alcohol can give disturbances leding to problems around menstruation. The right amount of coffee may however be good against water retension, so perhaps only exagerated consume of coffee is someting to avoid.

The symptoms mainly occur the days before menstrual bleedings, when the egg has been released and the follicle the egg came from has become a corpus luteum that produces much of these hormones.

Other scientific findings suggest that women with PMS have a depressed activity in the autonomic nerve system, especially in the days before menstrual bleedings. This is not the same as a depression, which is caused by physiological changes in higher brain areas.

Perhaps the presens of the increased levels of progesterone and estogen depress the function of the autonomic nerve system in these women.

Still the exact causes are not known for sure yet.


The exact causes of PMS are unknown. The following factors , however, are associated with increased risk of PMS:

- Too litttle vitamins and minerals in the diet

- Consuming too much salt.

- Drinking too much coffee or alcohol

- A stressfull life seems to increase the risk of getting PMS or aggraviating manifested PMS.

- Smoking, excessive drinking and bad eating habbits also seem to increase the risk of PMS.

- Foods that often causes allergic reactions seem to increase the chance of PMS, for example wheat, soya oil or corn oil.

- Postnatal illness increases the change of getting PMS.

- If a prior generation have had PMS, the following generation more often will get the syndrome.

- Periods of hormonal turbulence often causes aggraviation of the PMS symptoms, for example puberty, having been pregnant, having had miscarriage, or having changed contraception methods.

- Women of 30-45 years often have worse PMS symptoms than other age groups.


These clinical conditions seem to occure by PMS and cause many of the symptoms of PMS:

- Excessive oestrogen and demmished progesterone levels during the pre-menstrual phase.

- Increased levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline in the brain.

- Decreased levels of dopamine and serotonin in the brain.


Findings by physical examinations

The symptoms of PMS are foremost pain and mental discomfort. However the following clinical findings may occure:

Pre-menstrual Hyperhydration (H) - or elevated water amount in the body: This is caused by a salt retention and possible elevated aldosterone levels. Aldosterone is an adrenal hormone that gives fluid retention. 65–75% of those suffering from PMS fall into this group.

Weight gain above 1.4 kg, breast congestion, abdominal bloating, swelling of face and extremities. These symptoms are again a part of this hyperhydration


Traditional treatment

Hormonal suplements, especially progesterone, are traditionally used as medicine against PMS.

Psychoactive drugs, for example antidepressants or tranquilizers are used to treat the mental discomforts of PMS

Low doses of the drug danazol is further used to treat the worst cases of PMS.


Some recommendations about diet and lifestyle

To change lifestyle in some ways, has proven to reduce or take away symptoms of PMS. What lifestyle changes that will work for an individual women, will however vary, so it is necessary to try out some time different changes before one finds what lifestyle changes are most useful against one's individual pms. Many of these lifestyle changes are however good for the health also generally, so that they might be worth sticking to also if the PMS does not respond. Here are some recommendations that might be useful according to women's experience:

- Exercise at least every 2. day - Physical exercise has been found to help relieve symptoms in many PMS sufferers.

- Relax or meditate every day! 20 minutes a of relaxation or meditation, for example transcendental meditation, T'ai Chi, authogenic training. Regular meditation can remove or reduce mental or psychosomatic symtoms as muscular tention, stress, anxietey or depression.

- Balance your blood sugar levels: This is done by having regular meals, by avoiding sugar, fine bread, fine flour and great amount of potatoes.

- Eat at least 3 portions of wild oily fish per week. These contain essestial oils needed for a good hormone balance.

- Use organic vegetable oils- preferably olive oil.

- Fry as little as possible - since frying changes the oils chemically. However, olive oil is more robust to frying than most other oil types.

- Increase the fibre content of your diet by eating 5–6 servings of fresh fruit, vegetables, as well as lentils, beans and whole grains.

- Drink at least 1.5 litres of pure water daily. Water is vital to your whole body and helps eliminate unwanted toxins and waste products.

- Reduce the amount of salt in your diet. This helps against water retention.

- Limit your intake of dairy products. These often contain hormones from the treatment of the cattle.

- Restrict your intake of wheat products, soya oil, corn oil and the like. Wheat often produce allergic reactions, so also these types of oil.

- Do not smoke and have a moderated alchohol consumption.

- You may try an extra supply of vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids.

About wild yam or Discorea villosa

Wild yam is a twinning and wine growing natively in North America. It has a dry twisting root-stock from where the creeping branches shoots out up to 30 feet. The flowers are small and greenish-wite or greenish-yellow gathered into clusters. It is perennial and creeps low in the terrain. It has heart-formed and hand-nerved leaves sitting on highs stalks. It likes poor and avarage soil and sun.

Botannical classification: Angiosperms, Monocots, Order: Dioscoreales, Family: Dioscoreaceae, Genus: Dioscorea, Species: D. villosa.

From the root one makes extracts and powders and these products can be further manufactured to tablets, capsules or creams.


Medical uses

Generally it seems to be helpful for liver functions and for the endocrine system.

Wild yam is helpful against menstual distress. It is also good against distress by menopause. It is furthermore used to increase fertility.

It is often used together with chaste barries and dandelion to treat morning sickness.

Wild yam may help to lower cholesterole levesl by impairing cholesterole absorbtion from the stomach.

Wild yam contains saponins that can be chemically converted to female sexual hormons like progesterone and to the adrenal hormone corrisone. These saponins are the likely effective substances in the body, But they are probably not converted to hormons in the body. Therefore the working principles of the substances must be some other.

There are few reported side effects of wild Yam, but safety levels are not well investigated for pregnant woman, lactating woman and children.


Recommended use of wild yam for adult are like this:

Tea from dried herb: 1 - 2 tablespoons dried root is placed in a cup and the one poors boiling water over the root, steep 3 - 5 minutes. Drink three times a day

Use of extracts prepared as tincture: 40 - 120 drops, three times each day'

Fluid extract: 10 - 40 drops, three to four times each day


Wild yam (A free picture from wikipedia)