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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