Your body on… PMS Period
What’s going on during that hellish period prelude
Two weeks before your PMS period Your brain’s pituitary gland unloads two fast-acting agents, follicle-stimulating hormone and
luteinising hormone, into your bloodstream. Both direct message your ovaries: Drop the
package!
Message received. Your ovaries jettison their most mature egg into a fallopian tube. This
isn’t NASCAR, though; that egg’s journey to the uterus will take a few days.
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In the meantime, your ovaries ramp up oestrogen production. The hormone signals the lining of your
uterus to start building a suitable home for an embryo.
In the next two weeks As the uterus builds up tissue and blood supply, your ovaries unleash the key pregnancy-
supporting hormone progesterone. Your body temperature may rise a few degrees, though
you might not even notice. Other side effects, however, aren’t so benign…
Progesterone also fuels the expansion of the milk ducts in your breasts. Chances are, your
boobs are now swollen and achy. (Women on the Pill may be spared this effect.)
Progesterone may also interfere with certain brain chemicals, including the mood-
regulating hormone serotonin. And it can stimulate the amygdala, a brain structure tied to
emotion. The result is two charming PMS calling cards: irritability and anxiety.
Meanwhile, oestrogen and progesterone are also hard at work preparing the womb. Your intestines
may relax a bit to make room for a soon-to-be- occupied uterus. As they expand, so do you (yup,
we’re talking bloating and gas). Changes in your insulin sensitivity could also trigger food
cravings.
As your PMS period starts That unfertilised egg has waited around long enough, and your uterus senses all the fuss was
for nothing. Your estrogen and progesterone levels plummet, along with hurray! most PMS
symptoms.
Yet the fun’s not quite over. Your uterine cells begin releasing chemicals called prostaglandins
that help slough off the extra blood and tissue. They force your uterine muscles to contract a
process otherwise known as cramps.
Inflammatory in nature, prostaglandins can also cause nausea. (Their production can often
be curbed by exercise or anti-inflammatory meds such as ibuprofen.)
Though you may feel like you’re gushing for days, the average blood loss during a period is
somewhere between a few tablespoons and a cup.
As your PMS period ends You made it! But ever the optimists, your ovaries start slowly prepping the next egg for
release—so the process can begin all over again.
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