PMS Getting Worse

Dear Doctors:  I'm 39 and I think my PMS has gotten worse with age. I often feel super fatigued and I get this "brain fog" where I can't concentrate and sometimes can't even put a sentence together. Is there anything I can do to get my energy (and my brain) back?

Dr. Shannon Klingman:  I field this one every day. There's no one reason for why women feel this way. But honestly, it's really the beginning of the perimenopausal stage, which is about 15 years before menopause.

Dr. Wes Grootwassink:  The average age of menopause being 51 ½.

SK:  Right. So at 39, women often start feeling fluctuations in their menstrual cycle and worsening of their PMS symptoms. Things like breast tenderness, moodiness, sleeplessness and having a tough time concentrating

WG:  I blame a lot of it on the hormone progesterone. It's an evil hormone. Men couldn't handle progesterone. If we got it, we'd just melt. As a woman gets closer to menopause and her estrogen level slowly declines, the hormone balance does start to skew more in the progesterone's favor. Progesterone is responsible for appetite stimulation during your period, irritability and the mood swings 

SK:  For some women, to stabilize their hormone levels, we'll prescribe a low dose birth control. For others, it's diet and exercise:  cutting down on caffeine, getting more protein, taking fish oil and flax seed and getting regular, moderate exercise.

WG:  Shannon's right. Exercise can really help. Estrogen works a lot like a Prozac or one of those drugs. It actually raises your serotonin level, while the progesterone knocks it down. So regular exercise will actually help with those neurotransmitters. As you do it more, you should start to feel better.

PMS Getting Worse

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