WOMEN: WHAT TREATMENTS CAN HELP DURING PMS. POLITICS OF PMS
What treatments can help?
Psychotherapy
Many women who suffer mainly psychological symptoms premenstrually are generally depressed and may benefit from psychotherapy and in some cases antidepressant medication.
Exercise
I have mentioned that disturbance of hypothalamic endorphins has been suggested as a factor in the cause of PMS. Endorphins are believed to be important in maintaining harmony of the mind and body. We produce extra endorphins during aerobic exercise – the kind that brings you out in a good sweat – and they’re thought to be responsible for the feeling of elation after a session at the gym and with jogger’s high’. It’s been suggested that regular aerobic exercise might reduce or even eliminate some of the symptoms of PMS. It’s worth a try. While more research is being carried out, why not conduct your own personal study.
Sedatives and tranquillizers
These are believed to be of no value in the treatment of PMS, and shouldn’t be used unless there are other reasons to do so.
Vitamins
Many of the vitamins have been used to treat PMS. Their use is largely empirical (meaning that we can’t explain why they should work). Some women find that mood changes are relieved by vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) used in dosage of 25 mg four times a day. However, studies of large numbers of women have found that only about 50 per cent improve -about the same rate as placebo. Remember that you can overdose on B6 – don’t take more than 100 mg per day.
Vitamin Bl (thiamine, 50 mg morning and night) relieves breast symptoms in about half the women who try it. Other vitamins that have been enthusiastically recommended are large doses of vitamin С (1000 mg or more per day, which in the long term can cause toxic side-effects), vitamin E and vitamin B12. None of these has produced better results than placebo.
Large doses of various minerals have been recommended. Magnesium, zinc, potassium, calcium and manganese all have their supporters, though there’s no known reason or evidence to support their use. A balanced diet provides all the minerals we need, and supplements are unnecessary unless a specific deficiency is proved.
Diet
Many special diets have been recommended for relief of PMS. They’re usually heavy on the ‘don’ts’. Among the foods that have been suggested as culprits are red meat, dairy products, sugar, salt and those that contain caffeine. None of these diets have been properly evaluated,
but some women report improvement breast symptoms after cutting down on caffeine and less fluid retention after reducing salt intake.
Miscellaneous therapies
And those that have been tried are acupuncture, yoga, meditation, massage, various herbal and homeopathic remedies, therapy and colour therapy. None of these have been properly evaluated for effectiveness, but most have the benefit of enhancing health awareness, reducing and promoting physical and emotional well-being so they should help to relieve PMS.
The politics of PMS
In recent years PMS has become a controversial feminist issue. Many women applaud the fact that PMS has at last been recognised and accepted as having genuine adverse effects on women’s health and behaviour. Others feel that this recognition represents a backward step for equal opportunity for women: that it adds to arguments used to exclude women from positions of responsibility.
Whichever of these views you hold and
whatever has been your own experience, I’m sure that you’ll agree that women suffer from PMS need sympathy and help. Though it’s no longer regarded as ‘all in the head’, the syndrome’s cause remains a mystery and until that’s solved there’ll be no reliable, effective prevention or treatment. Research must continue.
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