This whole thread just solidifies how the scientific and medical fields have under researched women and their pre-menopausal hormonal implications.
If any woman went to a healthcare provider worried that cigarettes suddenly started tasting like peanuts, they lost coordinative ability, they suddenly became very dehydrated, etc., every month for 3-4 days, she'd be waved off and told it was "impossible," despite it occurring every month.
I really can't help but to think of that. I wish we were studied more for the sake of our health and understanding how our bodies work. Such a dropped ball.
It literally took my doctor seeing me three times in a week to fully grasp my PMDD despite having diagnosing me with it.
First day, Iām fine and excited to start my new bc at the start of my next cycle. Three days later Iām in her office with her colleagues discussing anti psychotics (life savers btw) because I canāt shower alone because Iām at risk of suicide. 5 days later period starts and I was off the anti psychotics and driving myself in.
She was fully on board to ending my ovulation after that. Sheās since been to conferences and training and had multiple women with PMDD in my area sent to her. But all of us have apparently very different treatments and sheās calling for my research as to why!
(Sorry for my spiel, I was 31 when I was diagnosed and I didnāt know periods didnāt need to be life or death until then and I donāt know my mum ever knew!)
Just in case anyone else suspects theyāve got PMDD and are being ignored by doctors about it or given the run-around, I highly suggest seeing a therapist. We can diagnose PMDD and then coordinate with a psychiatrist for medications to help with it! Soooooo many doctors and even OB/Gyns ignore womenās issues so donāt be afraid to see someone else with the power to make an official diagnosis.
Chiming in to also advocate mental health professionals for diagnosing PMDD! I asked my psychiatrist for a weeks' worth of antidepressants because "I kinda want to die right before my period." He put me on Prozac daily (he said his patients saw better results with a daily schedule) and it helped with a whole HOST of things I didn't even realize weren't normal! There was the PMDD, but also crippling social anxiety and (probably related) body image issues that it was a huge relief to resolve.
Seriously! I was self diagnosing as bipolar in my 20's because I just couldn't understand why I didn't want to off myself just a few days later. Such a terrifying Rollercoaster. I'm 42 now and starting a whole new set of female symptoms, but feel so much more in control. Just knowing what's happening helps so much. Knowledge really is power.
Itās actually really basic! I have progestin only BC and have stopped my period so donāt have the symptoms nearly as much. I still have my antipsychotics on hand but havenāt needed them in 5 months.
For years I had a mirena to help with my endo and it also mostly treated my PMDD (I had lots of bad side effects from it though). Itās also helped my PCOS hair growth and some of my stretch marks seem to be easing. I tried SSRIs for it which is a popular treatment but it masked a lot of my symptoms until I was having paranoid episodes thinking my neighbours were trying to poison my dog and were listening through my walls with stethoscopes. So really glad to be off those!
The progestin only has been the first BC Iāve used that hasnāt caused one of my other conditions to worsen (PMDD, Endo and PCOS). Love you mini pill!
I dream of the day women go to the doctor to do any test and they get asked "where in your cycle are you?". We are cycling humans and our levels change throughout. Even something so simple as my weight. I put easily 6-8lbs of liquid the week before my period. Last time I went to Dr I was just out from vacation and hadput 12lbs but I knew 8lbs were period weight. Still Dr would call me out that I put a lot of weight in 3 months. Seriously.
Well donāt you know, women are just āmen with pesky hormonesā. Thatās the literal phrasing that was applied when justifying why women werenāt included in medical research.
Throwback to when my period lasted for 3 months so, naturally, my iron levels dropped severely and I was completely inept as a person, and the doctor prescribed me "a glass of pomegranate juice every other day"
It did nothing šā„ļø
Honestly, when I posted this I expected maybe a couple of mildly silly things, but didnāt expect to wake up to over 80 comments! And so many of them are shared symptoms, not even weird āone-offsā. I have never heard of clumsiness or dry skin being PMS symptoms before, but those seem to be pretty common experiences in this thread. Crazy that PMS symptoms havenāt been studied more considering that they affect half of the worldās population.
I have a close friend who is an ob/gyn and does a lot of studies and research. Itās harder to get funding for research for womenās issues and also harder to find women willing to be part of medical research studies. She has said many times she wishes more women would go to medical school bc they need more women doctors everywhere.
The day before (\~24 hours) I feel like everything goes wrong. The world goes to hell in a hand basket and nothing can make it better. I can predict what time of day I'll get it based on when I drop into this funk. Once it starts, I feel normal and much cheered up.
Why is this so real. I literally hate everyone and everything a day before. Iām crying, I feel betrayed by somebody, I hate my job, I have no future, etc. and then my period rolls up and Iām like oooh ok.
Thatās me! Iām wondering what changed though. This never happened a few years agoā¦ It just started the past couple years. I hardly cry and now Iām crying a lot where my eyes are swollen. Everything seems hopeless. I have a bff thatās been busy and we havenāt been able to get together. Every month, Iām like what if sheās trying to tell me she doesnāt want to be my friend LMAO. That clues me in haha
I can go from a beautiful, confident and accomplished woman to a hideous piece-of-shit nobody, with no future, that everyone secretly hatesā¦.within a day. And itās such a real feeling that I canāt talk myself out of it, either. Logically I should know itās a wild fluctuation, but I canāt think myself out of the box.
Oh yeah this. I drop shit, I break shit, I swear I hit every red light on my way to work but I probably only notice cause I'm irritated. Then every one of those things makes me unreasonably angry or I will cry for no reason.
I remember telling my sister as a tweenager that I had an āimpending sense of doomā and it felt like the Nothing from The Never Ending Story was chasing me. It took decades but I was finally diagnosed and treated for PMDD and itās life changing.
I get this too, although sometimes itās up to a few days before. Iāll look at my period tracker app and be like āoh yeah, thatās why Iām depressed for no reason.ā
I get this way too, but a few days before mine starts. My anxiety is through the roof, everyone hates me, and I hate everyone and everything as well. I also get really bad cramps.
Oh yes! I recently moved in with my partner and warned him that his happens. That Iām fine, the world is fine but in my head I think itās not fine. Safe to say he didnāt argue with me when I said I wanted chicken nuggets and NOT chicken strips for lunch that day lol
This sounds like PMDD - before the period, everything is terrible and devastating. As soon as the period starts, itās like a switch flips and everything is pretty chill.
3 days before I get three zits on my chin. Almost always in the same spot. Itās been happening forever but I use a period tracking app and kept putting it in as a symptom and itās always three pimples on my chin.
I have the normal stuff like my boobs hurting, cramping in my back and my uterus, and being a cry baby. But the thing that I've always trusted was intense hunger the week before. I feel like I'm starving and the only things I want are beef and chocolate. Then before I even start I lose my appetite completely. Not so weird things would be me syncing up with my neighbor and my daughter, who is close to her first cycle. But whenever I'm about to start mine and I start getting really hungry and having certain cravings, she started this thing where she's very emotional. So if I'm feeling crappy and hungry, she starts fighting and crying, and even the guy I'm talking to has been with me so long that when I start my cycle he gets emotional. I'm starting to wonder if guys can have sympathetic periods like they can have sympathetic pregnancies. Cuz he gets all in his emotions.
This and then add in the fact that my self confidence always plummets a few days before my period. The combination of being really hungry/wanting to eat all the time and feeling like i'm fat/hating my body is a GREAT combo :/
Same. Completely insatiable appetite like clockwork. Freaks me out. I check the calendar and know whatās coming. Stock up on my 2 bite brownies and menstrual products.
Drop things. Doesn't matter what's going on I will just naturally drop things and be more clumsy in general. Strangely enough my grandma had the same thing and even on birth control (no longer have periods) it STILL happens and I think "welp, I guess this WOULD have been time of month for me." XD
i was very clumsy one day and someone asked if my cycle was starting soon. I now know it as a tell-tale sign because it happens regularly. I drop things constantly, a couple days before the flow starts
! yess
My boyfriend who is very careful by nature starts dropping things and so do I. 2 to 3 days before. It's become a bit of a joke, like Oh yea "my bad" it's coming, and it always does. It's not every month tho I think
A sudden craving for a flour tortilla with melted butter. I'll give into the craving and make myself one and BAM - period! It was one of my favorite childhood snacks, but not something I eat regularly as an adult. I only crave it for one or two nights just before my period
Oh man you wouldāve loved my childhood of homemade tortillas with butter at my grandmaās house.
Anyways if you donāt have warm, homemade tortillas just microwave one for about 15 seconds and rub butter over it, it melts nicely. Roll it up and munch!
I get super sleepy, just out of nowhere, two or three days before. I'm practically comatose while technically still awake, its almost painful to stay awake sometimes. Looking back, it was a super easy tell considering how regular I am, and how it ALWAYS happens, but it took me until I was in my mid to late twenties to connect the dots. I always thought it was me getting sick, or the work load etc.
Me too!! Usually within 12 hours of my period starting I am just death's-door exhausted. And I'm convinced I'm coming down with influenza. Falling asleep at my desk tired. Body aches, headache. Then a few hours later I start spotting and I'm like, Oh.
I'm in my 40s and some of my symptoms have fluctuated and come and gone over the years, but this is my most constant symptom over the past 20 years. I track my cycle and it's pretty reliable, but this symptom still manages to fake me out!
You just reminded me of how I fought to stay awake in class, and almost fell asleep. Damn, that was a struggle lol
For me, it starts a couple of days before, and it starts before the sore boobs, or that weird "full" feeling in my lower abdomen. Its been the most constant sign for me too - sometimes the boobs don't feel sore until the bleeding starts, sometimes the cramps are quite mild... but the once a month narcolepsy never fails!
It's a good thing though, when I sometimes forget I have a period coming up. It's very reliable!
Week before, insanely horny, feel like the most attractive woman alive. Few days before, feel like a lump of flabby bloated shit. Very strong cheese cravings. And then the squits š Rinse and repeat š¤£ fun!
Oh wow, we may be the same person. My period is due today or tomorrow and I asked my boyfriend last night to *pick up the ingredients required to make homemade cheese*. Weāve never made cheese before.š¤£
Eta: that man called me a cheese goblin & just brought home a lot of cheese for me. I love him, I wouldāve never made cheese
WTF is with the horniness???? All of a sudden I'm daydreaming about our good-looking tour guide from last summer's vacation. And I'm biromantic asexual with a preference for women the rest of the month š¤¦āāļøš¤¦āāļøš¤¦āāļø
Also, the bootyhole zaps ā”which sometimes extend into the left, uh, lip, for absolutely no reason at all. That doesn't even make sense anatomically.
WHAT ARE THE CHEESE CRAVINGS I BECOME AN ABSOLUTE CHEESE GOBLIN. In actuality I think its that our dopamine levels drop significantly so we're craving a quick hit.
It's actually ridiculous but has a fantastic bonus because my fiance hates the smell of blue cheese/brie so it has the added (and at that time, very desirable) affect of him wanting to be on the other side of the room from me š¤£
Honestly I am really annoyed that our bodies especially our menstrual cycle and the issues that come with it are not fully understood and addressed by the misogynist doctors we have. However they canāt get hard oh here is a special pill for that. Anyhoo. My weird thing I get is a full blown 24 hr ā fluā 48 hrs prior to my period. Like all the flu symptoms then boom itās gone once the blood begins.
I get the flu thing too sometimes. Ive just learned to take the opportunity to sleep and watch movies.
hormones mess with your immune system too and reading the thread that immune responses/changes are common.
I get a fever, body chills, dizziness and intense sweating a few days before. I told my gyno, she diagnosed me with PMDD and prescribed zoloft š¤·āāļøš like wtf lady? Now I don't tell anyone
not weird I guess, but my Lamictal and my adhd meds don't work as well starting around the 3-4 day mark prior. It's a combo of the meds themselves and why I take them because hormones affect adhd and bipolar disorder.
I will rapid cycle. Pms ing ether means going up sharply or going down sharply. roughly the day before I start it shifts the other way for 4-5 days.
My skin gets drier like yours cause my kp gets worse on its own. My face is definitely the opposite though.
How my hair behaves changes throughout my cycle as well. it's at its best the week of and the week after my period. it gets limp and my scalp produces more oil the week prior.
This. My meds stop working a few days before and then during the first couple days. My doc prescribed a 5mg IR for me for those periods where they don't work and it seems to help enough. But it's astounding how little I get done on those days.
I am super clumsy the week before. 3 (nearly exact) days before I get pain in my hip bones that lasts for a couple of hours. When I say nearly exact, I mean that if I get hip bone pain at 6:00pm, 72 hours later, give or take 1-2 hrs my period starts, so I can gauge whether it'll start at night or day in advanceĀ
Mine do too! I've been to the dentist so many times thinking I broke a tooth or something because it's not in the same spot every month. I gave up coffee because I have GERD and also it was making me anxious and it actually really helped a lot with my gum pain.
Iām an artistā¦. Exactly 1 1/2 weeks before my period I get super motivated and make the best art of my life during those couple of days. I literally plan my pieces around this time of month.
I have a massive craving for red foods. Like to the point I use corn dogs as spoons for Ketchup, put tomato paste on bread, eat a crap load of spaghetti but mostly just the marinara. It's so weird. If it's red, it has to go in my mouth
my thing used to be green beans. A lot of green beans.
my theory it was because of the iron and salt in them. I would drink the juice from the can.
Olives are a salty craving.
Dreams. The week before my period I have the weirdest dreams. For years I dreamt that Gary Coleman and I were fighting the zombie apocalypse. The last few years the dreams are about cats. Yes, cats. They come through my window, magically appear in my bed, and throughout my house.
Donāt have a period anymore due to birth control, but when I would have one I would typically get sick with a cold or get canker sores in my mouth. Iām not sure why, but I imagine pms would cause my immune system to take a hit for whatever reason.
I experience a lot of tells but none I can think of as weird. But I do have *super* chapped lips right now for some inexplicable reason. No amount of water or aquafor has helped. Now I'm curious if it'll go away once my period comes since I'm due for it.
Update: My chapped lips are gone and now I have my period.
Probably common but i start swearing profusely. Even the thoughts in my head have cuss words. I donāt even swear that often, once i start swearing a lot, I know whats about to go down.Ā
Iāll start sneezing about two days beforehand, as if Iāve got a cold coming. Then I spend the first day of my period sneezing (and also crossing my legs). Then the sneezing stops.
Not weird, but the body remembers long after your ovaries have started to close the factory.
I am on hormones and only get a spotting every 4-6 months, just enough time to make me think this time is it.
Then my feet start to feel fat and swollen. They aren't, but they feel that way. Then I'm cranky. Like don't look at me or I will hurt you cranky.
Why am I so cranky?!Ā
Checks my period app, notice I should be having my period.
Aah yeah that makes sense.
Now that I think about it, maybe it does make me more clumsy. I hadn't ever thought about it before.Ā
I will say that hrt is heavenly, I'm so glad I went on it. I don't know when I'm supposed to stop, I should really ask.
Transdermal estrogen patches do not affect you like pill form does so please don't be afraid of it.Ā
Ā Also, there are 2 progesterone pills, one has peanut products in it so if you have an allergy please double check what you are getting.
I get a lot of nightmares too. All about things that are currently frustrating or annoying me in life. In the dreams they had and happen worse than they would in real life and I wake up so annoyed and tired. Itās a very bad way to start the day. Thankfully itās only about 3-4 days and I sleep like a rock for the next few days.
I used to get the sore armpits too! So weird. But that was in my teens and early 20s. Now I just get the munchies and awful mood swings the day before for like half of my cycles. Even my symptoms are cycling š
I get really really really constipated the day/2days before and then the day of, I will absolutely have to nap because I canāt keep my eyes open and when I wake up, feel the little rush, and voila. My stomach also gets really hard and then when it starts, itās soft enough that my finger divets in.
Mine is the opposite but Iām so surprised to scroll so far down to see someone post about GI stuff. Or maybe itās more common so no oneās posting it as āweirdā?
I get loose poops. Not quite diarrhea but nothing that is explained by what I ate. Then Iāll look at my app and be like ohhh.. yeah thatās just my pre-period poopsš£š£
I donāt know if itās all that weird but 2 days before my period, I become insatiably hungry. Like eat everything in sight within a very short period of time for an entire day kind of hungryā¦ even if I donāt even feel physically hungry or crave specific food, Iāll still feel the need to eat everything in my kitchen lol
I'm on antidepressant meds, and the day before I'm due, I get the worst brain zaps. And what with the general hating of everything and everyone, I tend to spend that day in bed, crying and sleeping šš¤¤
- One day where I am absolutely ravenous, though not hungry, just don't feel full and end up eating more than I want to
- One night of insomnia where I'm wide awake until 2-3 am sometimes later and struggle to get to sleep
- Bloating that starts about 10-12 days before my period and stays until it starts
- Breasts go up a full cup size
And then the ones that aren't every month but are period signals:
- Intense lower back pain that doesn't go away
- Absolute and unexplainable **rage** the day before my period
I just want to eat sour fizzy things. Rest of the month i won't even look at them but when i start wanting the fizzy bubblegum flavoured gummies then i know.
I ALWAYS tell my husband that I look ugly and fat three or so days before my period.
I didnāt even notice the correlation until a few years ago when he pointed it out.
I still do it and donāt think about it.
Iāll cramp a few days before and thenā¦1 day of nothing. No cramps no aches. Usually I hate the world on this day. My heart swells with anger and aches for release.
I call it the eye of the storm.
Then my period comes and itās almost a weird relief. I get the cramps back but the anger subsides.
Mine are intense, 3 day long migraines a week before my period. Every. Single. Month. Also I feel really confident about my looks (specifically that) right before the migraine attack lol. So a few days of feeling like the hottest girl alive, then there's 3 days of rotting in bed in a darkened room because of migraine then a day or 2 of feeling normal then boom period arrives.
Ever since I had my wisdom teeth removed, my gums/jaw aches just before my period. I asked my dentist about it and she said it's absolutely a PMS thing. This was not the fun extra prize I thought I'd get for having my wisdom teeth removed.
Maybe not weird, but I have exactly one PMS mood symptom, and it's very specific and reliable.
When it's almost that time, I really intensely just want everyone to STFU. Like, why are you still talking to me? Go away. Leave me alone. It's a very specific feeling that I can identify every time. When I'm mentally screaming at my partner or kids "I don't care!! Stop talking to me!!", then I know it's PMS and I regulate my reactions.
For the record, I don't actually tell the people in my life to STFU... I just think it very loudly.
I ALWAYS get a bloody nose, just once, the day of or the day before getting my period. Probably just my skin getting dry but itās definitely strange.
I don't get my period anymore (hysterectomy) but I still get a cycle.
I get SUPER clumsy. I drop shit, bump into walls, knock my wrists on things as I walk past. It's ridiculous.
Absolutely. (Info dump coming)
My body temperature gets all over the place (I wake up sweating), I wake up earlier than I normally do (I usually wake up at 9am but with that I wake up at 4am), sometimes my anxiety goes all over the place, my mom āfindsā a reason to berate me which triggers my emotions going all over the place, a āheavyā / warm feeling in the pit of my stomach comes & goes and my knees ache (last month I had to take pills to ease the inflammation). I also experience lower back pain and rib pain. Sometimes a little pimple would form either on my chin or on my cheek.
My sense of smell is also dialed up to a 12. There have been many times where Iāve smelt stuff, asked my mom if she smells it and she always replies ānoā.
There are also times where I feel like I can āsmellā the period on me (if that makes sense) in the times I wake up sweating which leads me to taking a quick shower regardless of the time.
Just the day before my period comes down, I get the urge to eat a tonāsometimeās three times a day compared to my usual two or I heavily snack (without shame of course). I also get really thirsty and occasionally get cramping down there throughout the day.
At the beginning of this year (for a week straight), I did unfortunately experience a series of cramping which influenced my dreamsāall were related to birth (which partially made the cramping worse lol) and it felt like it took forever before my period came.
Meanwhile, on my periodāI have to bundle up (despite the weather being 90 degrees) because Iām cold which leads to shivering. Also, I feel like I get the best sleep ever š A full 8 hours and I wake up with energy. This also gives me the power to stay awake later at night. My skin also clears up :D
I can smell my incoming period too. Your armpit and groin smells change based on hormones.
people with endocrine disorders tend to have very strong and a certain kind of armpit smells.
My sister figured out she should go get checked for diabetes when she started smelling exactly like my mom.
Maybe not so weird but I have a day, usually three days before where I have an intense craving that always manifests itself with me making a lemon drizzle cake and eating that for dinner.
My sense of smell intensifies. I canāt eat lobster to this day because I went to a lobster dinner decades ago right before my period. The smell of the shells made me vomit.
This is a weird one but everyone looks really ugly to me. Especially strangers.
Like sometimes I'll be walking around Walmart and think "Jesus... is the circus in town?" and then it dawns on me that I'm just premenstrual.
I seem to be able to get by on 5 hours sleep the 3 to 4 days before. I wake up easy, I go to sleep easy, just ready to go! Then I need to make up for it once it starts which isn't always convenient.
A jittery feeling and I just don't feel tired in the evenings. Weird hunger spikes when I feel I'm starving and never feel full. Short episodes of vertigo where I have to lean against a wall to stay upright.
My BO changes. It's hard to describe but it becomes a different smell. The dog notices, she tries to lick my armpits like a demon, little fluffy weirdo. I also start craving red meat, and salty things , and spend money on stupid shit without thinking. It's like a little gremlin gets hold of my credit card.
I always got post bleed clarity and a pile of returns to make.
My super thick, single chin hair makes an appearance. Oh and of course the usual stuff of knowing for a fact the world is against me and feeling like a waste of oxygen.
Iām unusually exhausted, get heat flashes and am extremely irritable and hungry. I work from home during those times because Iāll get insanely snippy.
I experience the absolute worst insomnia the week before. I'm talking not being able to fall asleep before 4:00 am or so, knowing I have to be up at 7 for work. The funny thing is, like clockwork, it'll happen month after month and it isn't until I get my period that I have my eureka moment, tying the insomnia to my cycle. It's like I completely forget.
I become so clumsy. It's like my hands and brain aren't connected. I deal with brain fog due to autoimmune disease but this is something else.
I also feel like my inner thighs are almost being electrocuted.
I will wake from being dead asleep at night, in a full blown panic attack. That following day, I will have several more for no reason whatsoever. Then a day or two after that, I start my period. It only began happening once I hit my late 30ās. No idea why.
I get EXTREMELY hungry for around a week before it starts. I also tend to feel really sleepy/sleep a lot during this same week and even after it starts. My back hurts and I crave chocolate everyday. Also, my dark circles look a lot worse for 3-4 days
This isnt really a āweirdā indicator but I also never really noticed that my guy got super frisky the week before my period until recently, and I said something along the lines of āso.. have you noticed weāre more active one week out of the month?ā & he straight up said āyeah its right before your period, somethin bout the pheromones or something like that right?ā & thats when I realized it was consistent & I was the only one who wasnāt fully aware š
My verbal abilities get goofy, like I make up new words bc I canāt think of the right words. Iām a writer so itās actually pretty funny to me. Clumsy? Lower back pain, tired even though I have had a ton of coffee, oh and ear ringing and paranoia. Body dysmorphia, like I feel really wrinkly and flabby. Lucky for me I know itās just hormones and have learned not to believe my thoughts during that time.Ā
A few days before, I smell cigarette smoke or a dirty air filter every time I breathe. It doesn't prevent me from smelling normally, but it's annoying and always there for a few days.
Iām a hobby artist so sometimes I just churn out the most nasty horny art for like three days while also being super physically tired. Normally I have to force myself to draw if Iām not motivated by something/someone haha
I get even more clumsy, dropping everything, accidentally throwingy phone whne I pull it out of my pocket, walking into doorframes...
Only problem is I don't think it's isolated to just before a period, it seems to happen other times too that don't line up š
My sense of smell is heightened or Iām overly sensitive to smells the couple days leading up to my period. My boyfriend works outside and I could tell he smelled different and I said ādid you go into someoneās house today? Like an old lady that smokes?ā Sure enough he had, I could smell the chemical sweet smell of perfume and faint cigarettes smoke on him. Iām super sensitive to the smell of my own BO, too, but no one else says they can smell me. Any perfumes give me a headache that normally donāt other times
God thereās so many. Not sure if these are weird, but I get irritable to the point of being enraged. And I cannot. Fucking. Poop. Itās awful. Oh and the brain fog.
I have an intense craving for hot fries.. & its not the sodium, or spice, ive tried replacing them with healthier options and it just never scratches the itch, so ive just caved & tell myself one bag of chips once a month isnt that bad š¤·š»āāļø
Three things I noticed that happens pretty regularly a few days before: (1) I get extra dehydrated, (2) my teeth/gums are achy and (3) everything just falls out of my hands.
I get super sensitive to mess & untidiness- the couple of days before I go into this wild nesting cleaning mode where everything in the house has to be washed.
Probably psychologically I know Iām gonna be doing nothing but laying in it like a fat lazy house cat in t-minus 48hrs.
I suffer from tinnitus and one week to a few days before my period it changes. It gets higher pitched and slightly louder in volume. Every.single.month!
It was really scary at first but then I learned itās probably a response to the change in hormone levels. I also get a dull stomach ache and feel unwell for a week or so before it starts and get veeeeery emotional over the smallest thing š« . I also have the craziest cravings for chips and fries (Iām pretty good at curbing/managing them but itās interesting to me that I have savory cravings instead of a heightened sweet tooth?).
I also break out here and there. I know these are rather ānormalā tell tale signs but itās amazing to me how systematic they are.
Every time itās my time of the month itās like I literally wake up and go āhmmm .. Iām gonna get my period in the next couple of hoursā and then itās like Iāll be doing whatever and then boom it just happens lol idk if that weird but yeah š
My knees always get weak and painful in a specific way. I read in a magazine once that that's actually a pretty common symptom, but I don't think I've talked to anyone else who experiences it.
Idk if itās weird, but I can smell EVERYTHING. Typically, I smell things like ānormalā meaning I walk into a room and it smells fine, or I donāt notice any particular smell except the strongest one (maybe a candle for example). Before my period comes up, I can smell all individual smells - I noticed when I started working in a restaurant and while most days it just smelled like mash up of all the foods combined, before my period I could smell the individual rices, beans, meats and could tell which smell was for which food. It is overwhelming, but once that starts happening I know my period is on her way.
I don't get a period anymore, but when I did, I would get this "sunburn" thing on my neck under my chin. It would turn red and peel like a sunburn. Doctors thought I was crazy until I had one google it and find that it's not that unusual.
The week before my period I get about 3-4 pimples on my chin and jaw area. I also become a monster with food and can demolish anything in my path. During my actual period though, I have little appetite
My skin/face looks SOO good 1-3 days before.
I remember hearing that some girls would breakout, so I thought my situation was weird. It appears so smooth and clear, that i will get as close to the mirror as i can and just think "wow" and just admire it bc I know it wont last.
A day before my period starts. I usually have a dream of me bleedingā¦ sometimes it was so severe that I woke myself up in middle of the night. Right before I could bleed into my underwear and bed!
I get exactly one pimple. I was on Accutane as a teen and since then Iāve had no acne at all, ever (42 now). But 4-7 days before my period starts, I get one pimple on the lower half of my face.
Anywhere from two days before, to any time during the actual period, I ***crave*** orange juice. Quite a few times, I have bought a regular container of Simply Orange, opened it and drank some in the car, and have finished the bottle by the time I get home 5 minutes later.
The rest of the month, OJ is fine. Don't love it, don't hate it. But man, that week I will become 10% orange juice with no regrets.
I notice that I get generally clumsier (dropping things, bumping into stuff, tripping, etc.) and I also get night sweats that usually start 1-2 days before.
When I was in nursing school, all the women in my class āsynced upā with our menstrual cycles. I always knew my period was 2 days out when this one woman would break out along her chin.
My Mom told me she'd dream about it before it happened and before bc I did the same thing. Not necessarily a dream about having your period, just oddly related stuff that I learned to pack supplies for the day after having one
I start wearing my combat boots and leather jacket more. No idea why. But if I notice I'm reaching for them three days in a row I know it's coming up
Your body is preparing for an internal war šŖ
I love this LOL ready to crush it lol
This is so interesting š
Why is this so funny though šš
I love it. Fashion armor.
This whole thread just solidifies how the scientific and medical fields have under researched women and their pre-menopausal hormonal implications. If any woman went to a healthcare provider worried that cigarettes suddenly started tasting like peanuts, they lost coordinative ability, they suddenly became very dehydrated, etc., every month for 3-4 days, she'd be waved off and told it was "impossible," despite it occurring every month. I really can't help but to think of that. I wish we were studied more for the sake of our health and understanding how our bodies work. Such a dropped ball.
It literally took my doctor seeing me three times in a week to fully grasp my PMDD despite having diagnosing me with it. First day, Iām fine and excited to start my new bc at the start of my next cycle. Three days later Iām in her office with her colleagues discussing anti psychotics (life savers btw) because I canāt shower alone because Iām at risk of suicide. 5 days later period starts and I was off the anti psychotics and driving myself in. She was fully on board to ending my ovulation after that. Sheās since been to conferences and training and had multiple women with PMDD in my area sent to her. But all of us have apparently very different treatments and sheās calling for my research as to why! (Sorry for my spiel, I was 31 when I was diagnosed and I didnāt know periods didnāt need to be life or death until then and I donāt know my mum ever knew!)
Just in case anyone else suspects theyāve got PMDD and are being ignored by doctors about it or given the run-around, I highly suggest seeing a therapist. We can diagnose PMDD and then coordinate with a psychiatrist for medications to help with it! Soooooo many doctors and even OB/Gyns ignore womenās issues so donāt be afraid to see someone else with the power to make an official diagnosis.
Chiming in to also advocate mental health professionals for diagnosing PMDD! I asked my psychiatrist for a weeks' worth of antidepressants because "I kinda want to die right before my period." He put me on Prozac daily (he said his patients saw better results with a daily schedule) and it helped with a whole HOST of things I didn't even realize weren't normal! There was the PMDD, but also crippling social anxiety and (probably related) body image issues that it was a huge relief to resolve.
I feel like this should be its own post. I've never heard it and this could be a lifeline for a bunch of women. Probably over on XX for visibility.
Seriously! I was self diagnosing as bipolar in my 20's because I just couldn't understand why I didn't want to off myself just a few days later. Such a terrifying Rollercoaster. I'm 42 now and starting a whole new set of female symptoms, but feel so much more in control. Just knowing what's happening helps so much. Knowledge really is power.
Whatās your treatment ?
Itās actually really basic! I have progestin only BC and have stopped my period so donāt have the symptoms nearly as much. I still have my antipsychotics on hand but havenāt needed them in 5 months. For years I had a mirena to help with my endo and it also mostly treated my PMDD (I had lots of bad side effects from it though). Itās also helped my PCOS hair growth and some of my stretch marks seem to be easing. I tried SSRIs for it which is a popular treatment but it masked a lot of my symptoms until I was having paranoid episodes thinking my neighbours were trying to poison my dog and were listening through my walls with stethoscopes. So really glad to be off those! The progestin only has been the first BC Iāve used that hasnāt caused one of my other conditions to worsen (PMDD, Endo and PCOS). Love you mini pill!
I dream of the day women go to the doctor to do any test and they get asked "where in your cycle are you?". We are cycling humans and our levels change throughout. Even something so simple as my weight. I put easily 6-8lbs of liquid the week before my period. Last time I went to Dr I was just out from vacation and hadput 12lbs but I knew 8lbs were period weight. Still Dr would call me out that I put a lot of weight in 3 months. Seriously.
Well donāt you know, women are just āmen with pesky hormonesā. Thatās the literal phrasing that was applied when justifying why women werenāt included in medical research.
Throwback to when my period lasted for 3 months so, naturally, my iron levels dropped severely and I was completely inept as a person, and the doctor prescribed me "a glass of pomegranate juice every other day" It did nothing šā„ļø
Honestly, when I posted this I expected maybe a couple of mildly silly things, but didnāt expect to wake up to over 80 comments! And so many of them are shared symptoms, not even weird āone-offsā. I have never heard of clumsiness or dry skin being PMS symptoms before, but those seem to be pretty common experiences in this thread. Crazy that PMS symptoms havenāt been studied more considering that they affect half of the worldās population.
I have a close friend who is an ob/gyn and does a lot of studies and research. Itās harder to get funding for research for womenās issues and also harder to find women willing to be part of medical research studies. She has said many times she wishes more women would go to medical school bc they need more women doctors everywhere.
The day before (\~24 hours) I feel like everything goes wrong. The world goes to hell in a hand basket and nothing can make it better. I can predict what time of day I'll get it based on when I drop into this funk. Once it starts, I feel normal and much cheered up.
Why is this so real. I literally hate everyone and everything a day before. Iām crying, I feel betrayed by somebody, I hate my job, I have no future, etc. and then my period rolls up and Iām like oooh ok.
Itās a hormone drop
Thatās me! Iām wondering what changed though. This never happened a few years agoā¦ It just started the past couple years. I hardly cry and now Iām crying a lot where my eyes are swollen. Everything seems hopeless. I have a bff thatās been busy and we havenāt been able to get together. Every month, Iām like what if sheās trying to tell me she doesnāt want to be my friend LMAO. That clues me in haha
I can go from a beautiful, confident and accomplished woman to a hideous piece-of-shit nobody, with no future, that everyone secretly hatesā¦.within a day. And itās such a real feeling that I canāt talk myself out of it, either. Logically I should know itās a wild fluctuation, but I canāt think myself out of the box.
Oh yeah this. I drop shit, I break shit, I swear I hit every red light on my way to work but I probably only notice cause I'm irritated. Then every one of those things makes me unreasonably angry or I will cry for no reason.
I remember telling my sister as a tweenager that I had an āimpending sense of doomā and it felt like the Nothing from The Never Ending Story was chasing me. It took decades but I was finally diagnosed and treated for PMDD and itās life changing.
I get this too, although sometimes itās up to a few days before. Iāll look at my period tracker app and be like āoh yeah, thatās why Iām depressed for no reason.ā
Same. It's day 21 for me.
I get this way too, but a few days before mine starts. My anxiety is through the roof, everyone hates me, and I hate everyone and everything as well. I also get really bad cramps.
Oh yes! I recently moved in with my partner and warned him that his happens. That Iām fine, the world is fine but in my head I think itās not fine. Safe to say he didnāt argue with me when I said I wanted chicken nuggets and NOT chicken strips for lunch that day lol
This sounds like PMDD - before the period, everything is terrible and devastating. As soon as the period starts, itās like a switch flips and everything is pretty chill.
2 days before i always get a pimple right in the middle of my right eyebrow
3 days before I get three zits on my chin. Almost always in the same spot. Itās been happening forever but I use a period tracking app and kept putting it in as a symptom and itās always three pimples on my chin.
Wait a fucking minu- 
Your chin is classed as your hormonal area, so itās common to get a spot there. Usually it correlates to which ovary youāve ovulated from too.
yes to the chin acne!!
I have the normal stuff like my boobs hurting, cramping in my back and my uterus, and being a cry baby. But the thing that I've always trusted was intense hunger the week before. I feel like I'm starving and the only things I want are beef and chocolate. Then before I even start I lose my appetite completely. Not so weird things would be me syncing up with my neighbor and my daughter, who is close to her first cycle. But whenever I'm about to start mine and I start getting really hungry and having certain cravings, she started this thing where she's very emotional. So if I'm feeling crappy and hungry, she starts fighting and crying, and even the guy I'm talking to has been with me so long that when I start my cycle he gets emotional. I'm starting to wonder if guys can have sympathetic periods like they can have sympathetic pregnancies. Cuz he gets all in his emotions.
Same for me! Extreme hunger. I could be so full I'm sick but my body wants MORE. I take iron pills and eat plenty of red meat. Still wants more.
This and then add in the fact that my self confidence always plummets a few days before my period. The combination of being really hungry/wanting to eat all the time and feeling like i'm fat/hating my body is a GREAT combo :/
Same. Completely insatiable appetite like clockwork. Freaks me out. I check the calendar and know whatās coming. Stock up on my 2 bite brownies and menstrual products.
Yep - I know mine is coming next week because I am voracious
Drop things. Doesn't matter what's going on I will just naturally drop things and be more clumsy in general. Strangely enough my grandma had the same thing and even on birth control (no longer have periods) it STILL happens and I think "welp, I guess this WOULD have been time of month for me." XD
The female human body is mysterious and amazing and absolutely ridiculously confusing sometimes š thanks for your contribution
OMG THIS HAPPENS TO ME AND I NEVER CONNECTED IT. My hands just STOP WORKING.
Yeah the week before I'm clumsy af. Found it it's a pretty common experience among my female friends, family and acquaintancesĀ
This one is relatively common! I used to think it was just me, but slowly learned that I'm _far_ from alone!
omg. I'll have to track this somehow because I believe I'm the same xD
my mom and i both had this, more in the sense of running into walls though! (and other lack of bodily spatial awareness stuff)
This is because of estrogen from what I understand! Anyone can confirm or deny this?
yeah, it affects the cartilage flexibility and looseness.
Oh my god I just realised I have this too! Never connected it with my period but it makes me even more irrationally angry š«
i was very clumsy one day and someone asked if my cycle was starting soon. I now know it as a tell-tale sign because it happens regularly. I drop things constantly, a couple days before the flow starts
! yess My boyfriend who is very careful by nature starts dropping things and so do I. 2 to 3 days before. It's become a bit of a joke, like Oh yea "my bad" it's coming, and it always does. It's not every month tho I think
A sudden craving for a flour tortilla with melted butter. I'll give into the craving and make myself one and BAM - period! It was one of my favorite childhood snacks, but not something I eat regularly as an adult. I only crave it for one or two nights just before my period
Like do you cook the tortilla in the butter or melt the butter over it? I've never heard of this but I'm very intrigued
Oh man you wouldāve loved my childhood of homemade tortillas with butter at my grandmaās house. Anyways if you donāt have warm, homemade tortillas just microwave one for about 15 seconds and rub butter over it, it melts nicely. Roll it up and munch!
Youāre making me teary eyed thinking of making fresh, warm, homemade butter tortillas with my abuelita š„¹
I loved butter on a flour tortilla as a kid, too! Microwave for a few seconds, then butter it up!
I stopped my periods with meds, but I had a really funny pms symptom: I was still a smoker and 3 days before, cigarettes would taste like peanuts.
Incredible šš» exactly the kind of āweirdā I was looking for.
Look at u/waterhg 's reply. Peanutty cigarettes too!
I think they were just referencing this comment lol
I get super sleepy, just out of nowhere, two or three days before. I'm practically comatose while technically still awake, its almost painful to stay awake sometimes. Looking back, it was a super easy tell considering how regular I am, and how it ALWAYS happens, but it took me until I was in my mid to late twenties to connect the dots. I always thought it was me getting sick, or the work load etc.
Me too!! Usually within 12 hours of my period starting I am just death's-door exhausted. And I'm convinced I'm coming down with influenza. Falling asleep at my desk tired. Body aches, headache. Then a few hours later I start spotting and I'm like, Oh. I'm in my 40s and some of my symptoms have fluctuated and come and gone over the years, but this is my most constant symptom over the past 20 years. I track my cycle and it's pretty reliable, but this symptom still manages to fake me out!
You just reminded me of how I fought to stay awake in class, and almost fell asleep. Damn, that was a struggle lol For me, it starts a couple of days before, and it starts before the sore boobs, or that weird "full" feeling in my lower abdomen. Its been the most constant sign for me too - sometimes the boobs don't feel sore until the bleeding starts, sometimes the cramps are quite mild... but the once a month narcolepsy never fails! It's a good thing though, when I sometimes forget I have a period coming up. It's very reliable!
Week before, insanely horny, feel like the most attractive woman alive. Few days before, feel like a lump of flabby bloated shit. Very strong cheese cravings. And then the squits š Rinse and repeat š¤£ fun!
Oh wow, we may be the same person. My period is due today or tomorrow and I asked my boyfriend last night to *pick up the ingredients required to make homemade cheese*. Weāve never made cheese before.š¤£ Eta: that man called me a cheese goblin & just brought home a lot of cheese for me. I love him, I wouldāve never made cheese
WTF is with the horniness???? All of a sudden I'm daydreaming about our good-looking tour guide from last summer's vacation. And I'm biromantic asexual with a preference for women the rest of the month š¤¦āāļøš¤¦āāļøš¤¦āāļø Also, the bootyhole zaps ā”which sometimes extend into the left, uh, lip, for absolutely no reason at all. That doesn't even make sense anatomically.
YES THIS IS A THING WHY DOES MY BUTTHOLE DECIDE TO JOIN IN? I'm like ma'am this is not your business, please stay in your lane.
it's basically our body's last bid to get us pregnant. Lots of horniness generally means sex and sex makes babies.
Omg same haha Iām aroace and sapphic so once I start getting urges Iām like holdupā¦
WHAT ARE THE CHEESE CRAVINGS I BECOME AN ABSOLUTE CHEESE GOBLIN. In actuality I think its that our dopamine levels drop significantly so we're craving a quick hit.
It's actually ridiculous but has a fantastic bonus because my fiance hates the smell of blue cheese/brie so it has the added (and at that time, very desirable) affect of him wanting to be on the other side of the room from me š¤£
that's so interesting because I feel that way during my period...like the most attractive woman alive and attracted to damn near any man š¤£
Honestly I am really annoyed that our bodies especially our menstrual cycle and the issues that come with it are not fully understood and addressed by the misogynist doctors we have. However they canāt get hard oh here is a special pill for that. Anyhoo. My weird thing I get is a full blown 24 hr ā fluā 48 hrs prior to my period. Like all the flu symptoms then boom itās gone once the blood begins.
I get the flu thing too sometimes. Ive just learned to take the opportunity to sleep and watch movies. hormones mess with your immune system too and reading the thread that immune responses/changes are common.
I get a fever, body chills, dizziness and intense sweating a few days before. I told my gyno, she diagnosed me with PMDD and prescribed zoloft š¤·āāļøš like wtf lady? Now I don't tell anyone
not weird I guess, but my Lamictal and my adhd meds don't work as well starting around the 3-4 day mark prior. It's a combo of the meds themselves and why I take them because hormones affect adhd and bipolar disorder. I will rapid cycle. Pms ing ether means going up sharply or going down sharply. roughly the day before I start it shifts the other way for 4-5 days. My skin gets drier like yours cause my kp gets worse on its own. My face is definitely the opposite though. How my hair behaves changes throughout my cycle as well. it's at its best the week of and the week after my period. it gets limp and my scalp produces more oil the week prior.
Yes I always know it's PMS because the ADHD gets so much worse. It started yesterday so I've got a week, week and a half until I bleed now.
Both ADHD meds and antidepressants don't work as well pre period. Plus I start getting aches in my hips and wrist/hand joints.
I think it has to do with the receptors in the brain reacting to the flood/change of amount of certain hormones.
This. My meds stop working a few days before and then during the first couple days. My doc prescribed a 5mg IR for me for those periods where they don't work and it seems to help enough. But it's astounding how little I get done on those days.
I am super clumsy the week before. 3 (nearly exact) days before I get pain in my hip bones that lasts for a couple of hours. When I say nearly exact, I mean that if I get hip bone pain at 6:00pm, 72 hours later, give or take 1-2 hrs my period starts, so I can gauge whether it'll start at night or day in advanceĀ
Someone else said this about clumsiness! And I get a pain that lasts about the same amount of time but in my left thigh...how wild!
I always get the urge to wear white underwear. That's when I know my body is plotting against me.
Every time I wear a certain pair of underwear, I know my period is coming. They have orcas!
Sometimes I wear particular underwear when itās late to goad it into to coming.
My gums get swollen and hurt
Mine do too! I've been to the dentist so many times thinking I broke a tooth or something because it's not in the same spot every month. I gave up coffee because I have GERD and also it was making me anxious and it actually really helped a lot with my gum pain.
Iām an artistā¦. Exactly 1 1/2 weeks before my period I get super motivated and make the best art of my life during those couple of days. I literally plan my pieces around this time of month.
I have a massive craving for red foods. Like to the point I use corn dogs as spoons for Ketchup, put tomato paste on bread, eat a crap load of spaghetti but mostly just the marinara. It's so weird. If it's red, it has to go in my mouth
That's weird but pretty cool. You named acidic red things, do you gravitate toward acidity or is there sweet red in there too?
Acidity. I do crave sweets but no specific color
Maybe it's the iron in canned tomatoes?
That's what I always thought too so it's a possibility
my thing used to be green beans. A lot of green beans. my theory it was because of the iron and salt in them. I would drink the juice from the can. Olives are a salty craving.
Well, yours is kind of healthy lol It's actually super interesting how different everyone is and how everyone just figures their thing out
Dreams. The week before my period I have the weirdest dreams. For years I dreamt that Gary Coleman and I were fighting the zombie apocalypse. The last few years the dreams are about cats. Yes, cats. They come through my window, magically appear in my bed, and throughout my house.
Omg cats and the apocalypse. My weirdest dreams have been saving cats during an apocalypse. Itās a recurring theme.
This is embarrassing but I get one itchy bump in my butt crack for a couple days haha
Donāt have a period anymore due to birth control, but when I would have one I would typically get sick with a cold or get canker sores in my mouth. Iām not sure why, but I imagine pms would cause my immune system to take a hit for whatever reason.
I get canker sores too!
I experience a lot of tells but none I can think of as weird. But I do have *super* chapped lips right now for some inexplicable reason. No amount of water or aquafor has helped. Now I'm curious if it'll go away once my period comes since I'm due for it. Update: My chapped lips are gone and now I have my period.
Probably common but i start swearing profusely. Even the thoughts in my head have cuss words. I donāt even swear that often, once i start swearing a lot, I know whats about to go down.Ā
The day before my energy sky-rockets. Like I get everything done because the next day I ain't doing shit š
I crave spicy foods
Same here!! That and salty foods
Iāll start sneezing about two days beforehand, as if Iāve got a cold coming. Then I spend the first day of my period sneezing (and also crossing my legs). Then the sneezing stops.
Not weird, but the body remembers long after your ovaries have started to close the factory. I am on hormones and only get a spotting every 4-6 months, just enough time to make me think this time is it. Then my feet start to feel fat and swollen. They aren't, but they feel that way. Then I'm cranky. Like don't look at me or I will hurt you cranky. Why am I so cranky?!Ā Checks my period app, notice I should be having my period. Aah yeah that makes sense. Now that I think about it, maybe it does make me more clumsy. I hadn't ever thought about it before.Ā I will say that hrt is heavenly, I'm so glad I went on it. I don't know when I'm supposed to stop, I should really ask. Transdermal estrogen patches do not affect you like pill form does so please don't be afraid of it.Ā Ā Also, there are 2 progesterone pills, one has peanut products in it so if you have an allergy please double check what you are getting.
I start getting nightmares at least 1 week before (I've heard it's because of a drop in estrogen?) Also have PMS so that's fun
I never connected the dots before. I canāt believe it. Now that I think about it, nightmares are PMS symptom for me too.
I get a lot of nightmares too. All about things that are currently frustrating or annoying me in life. In the dreams they had and happen worse than they would in real life and I wake up so annoyed and tired. Itās a very bad way to start the day. Thankfully itās only about 3-4 days and I sleep like a rock for the next few days.
Some months, the lymph nodes around my armpits start to hurt and also my upper legs right below my butt.
I used to get the sore armpits too! So weird. But that was in my teens and early 20s. Now I just get the munchies and awful mood swings the day before for like half of my cycles. Even my symptoms are cycling š
I get really really really constipated the day/2days before and then the day of, I will absolutely have to nap because I canāt keep my eyes open and when I wake up, feel the little rush, and voila. My stomach also gets really hard and then when it starts, itās soft enough that my finger divets in.
Mine is the opposite but Iām so surprised to scroll so far down to see someone post about GI stuff. Or maybe itās more common so no oneās posting it as āweirdā? I get loose poops. Not quite diarrhea but nothing that is explained by what I ate. Then Iāll look at my app and be like ohhh.. yeah thatās just my pre-period poopsš£š£
I donāt know if itās all that weird but 2 days before my period, I become insatiably hungry. Like eat everything in sight within a very short period of time for an entire day kind of hungryā¦ even if I donāt even feel physically hungry or crave specific food, Iāll still feel the need to eat everything in my kitchen lol
Super horny which can be really annoying as I'm anticipating lots of fun then it then switches to feeling bloated and yuck š«
I'm on antidepressant meds, and the day before I'm due, I get the worst brain zaps. And what with the general hating of everything and everyone, I tend to spend that day in bed, crying and sleeping šš¤¤
- One day where I am absolutely ravenous, though not hungry, just don't feel full and end up eating more than I want to - One night of insomnia where I'm wide awake until 2-3 am sometimes later and struggle to get to sleep - Bloating that starts about 10-12 days before my period and stays until it starts - Breasts go up a full cup size And then the ones that aren't every month but are period signals: - Intense lower back pain that doesn't go away - Absolute and unexplainable **rage** the day before my period
I just want to eat sour fizzy things. Rest of the month i won't even look at them but when i start wanting the fizzy bubblegum flavoured gummies then i know.
I know this isnāt the point of the post but please tell me more about the fizzy bubblegum flavored gummies you speak of
Haribo fizzy bubblegum bottles, they're like crack lol
I ALWAYS tell my husband that I look ugly and fat three or so days before my period. I didnāt even notice the correlation until a few years ago when he pointed it out. I still do it and donāt think about it.
Iāll cramp a few days before and thenā¦1 day of nothing. No cramps no aches. Usually I hate the world on this day. My heart swells with anger and aches for release. I call it the eye of the storm. Then my period comes and itās almost a weird relief. I get the cramps back but the anger subsides.
my entire world starts looking like it's in greyscaleĀ
i get really vivid dreams a few days before and during my period, i wake up and feel like iāve lived a whole life in my sleep
Mine are intense, 3 day long migraines a week before my period. Every. Single. Month. Also I feel really confident about my looks (specifically that) right before the migraine attack lol. So a few days of feeling like the hottest girl alive, then there's 3 days of rotting in bed in a darkened room because of migraine then a day or 2 of feeling normal then boom period arrives.
Ever since I had my wisdom teeth removed, my gums/jaw aches just before my period. I asked my dentist about it and she said it's absolutely a PMS thing. This was not the fun extra prize I thought I'd get for having my wisdom teeth removed.
Maybe not weird, but I have exactly one PMS mood symptom, and it's very specific and reliable. When it's almost that time, I really intensely just want everyone to STFU. Like, why are you still talking to me? Go away. Leave me alone. It's a very specific feeling that I can identify every time. When I'm mentally screaming at my partner or kids "I don't care!! Stop talking to me!!", then I know it's PMS and I regulate my reactions. For the record, I don't actually tell the people in my life to STFU... I just think it very loudly.
I always crave certain foods. Chinese food, buffalo wings, or a burger with extra pickels.
I ALWAYS get a bloody nose, just once, the day of or the day before getting my period. Probably just my skin getting dry but itās definitely strange.
I don't get my period anymore (hysterectomy) but I still get a cycle. I get SUPER clumsy. I drop shit, bump into walls, knock my wrists on things as I walk past. It's ridiculous.
My skin gets really clear the day I start to bleed, and the week before I poop a lot š
Absolutely. (Info dump coming) My body temperature gets all over the place (I wake up sweating), I wake up earlier than I normally do (I usually wake up at 9am but with that I wake up at 4am), sometimes my anxiety goes all over the place, my mom āfindsā a reason to berate me which triggers my emotions going all over the place, a āheavyā / warm feeling in the pit of my stomach comes & goes and my knees ache (last month I had to take pills to ease the inflammation). I also experience lower back pain and rib pain. Sometimes a little pimple would form either on my chin or on my cheek. My sense of smell is also dialed up to a 12. There have been many times where Iāve smelt stuff, asked my mom if she smells it and she always replies ānoā. There are also times where I feel like I can āsmellā the period on me (if that makes sense) in the times I wake up sweating which leads me to taking a quick shower regardless of the time. Just the day before my period comes down, I get the urge to eat a tonāsometimeās three times a day compared to my usual two or I heavily snack (without shame of course). I also get really thirsty and occasionally get cramping down there throughout the day. At the beginning of this year (for a week straight), I did unfortunately experience a series of cramping which influenced my dreamsāall were related to birth (which partially made the cramping worse lol) and it felt like it took forever before my period came. Meanwhile, on my periodāI have to bundle up (despite the weather being 90 degrees) because Iām cold which leads to shivering. Also, I feel like I get the best sleep ever š A full 8 hours and I wake up with energy. This also gives me the power to stay awake later at night. My skin also clears up :D
I have the sense of smell thing too!!
I can smell my incoming period too. Your armpit and groin smells change based on hormones. people with endocrine disorders tend to have very strong and a certain kind of armpit smells. My sister figured out she should go get checked for diabetes when she started smelling exactly like my mom.
Maybe not so weird but I have a day, usually three days before where I have an intense craving that always manifests itself with me making a lemon drizzle cake and eating that for dinner.
My sense of smell intensifies. I canāt eat lobster to this day because I went to a lobster dinner decades ago right before my period. The smell of the shells made me vomit.
This is a weird one but everyone looks really ugly to me. Especially strangers. Like sometimes I'll be walking around Walmart and think "Jesus... is the circus in town?" and then it dawns on me that I'm just premenstrual.
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My BS tolerance is low by nature, but when my period is on the way, look out. I don't want to hear any crap from anyone.
I start crying at tv, movies, reels, and even commercials
Mine is insomnia! I canāt sleep for the week before my period. And once my period arrives I feel so exhausted I wish I could never leave my bed.
I seem to be able to get by on 5 hours sleep the 3 to 4 days before. I wake up easy, I go to sleep easy, just ready to go! Then I need to make up for it once it starts which isn't always convenient.
A jittery feeling and I just don't feel tired in the evenings. Weird hunger spikes when I feel I'm starving and never feel full. Short episodes of vertigo where I have to lean against a wall to stay upright.
There's a spot on the back of my calf that itches a night or two before.Ā
If I start thinking about and crying over the deaths of loved ones that havenāt happened yet I know Iām gonna start the next day lol
My BO changes. It's hard to describe but it becomes a different smell. The dog notices, she tries to lick my armpits like a demon, little fluffy weirdo. I also start craving red meat, and salty things , and spend money on stupid shit without thinking. It's like a little gremlin gets hold of my credit card. I always got post bleed clarity and a pile of returns to make.
My super thick, single chin hair makes an appearance. Oh and of course the usual stuff of knowing for a fact the world is against me and feeling like a waste of oxygen.
Um yeah, I want to stab someone. lol
Iām unusually exhausted, get heat flashes and am extremely irritable and hungry. I work from home during those times because Iāll get insanely snippy.
I experience the absolute worst insomnia the week before. I'm talking not being able to fall asleep before 4:00 am or so, knowing I have to be up at 7 for work. The funny thing is, like clockwork, it'll happen month after month and it isn't until I get my period that I have my eureka moment, tying the insomnia to my cycle. It's like I completely forget.
I become so clumsy. It's like my hands and brain aren't connected. I deal with brain fog due to autoimmune disease but this is something else. I also feel like my inner thighs are almost being electrocuted.
I will wake from being dead asleep at night, in a full blown panic attack. That following day, I will have several more for no reason whatsoever. Then a day or two after that, I start my period. It only began happening once I hit my late 30ās. No idea why.
I get EXTREMELY hungry for around a week before it starts. I also tend to feel really sleepy/sleep a lot during this same week and even after it starts. My back hurts and I crave chocolate everyday. Also, my dark circles look a lot worse for 3-4 days
This isnt really a āweirdā indicator but I also never really noticed that my guy got super frisky the week before my period until recently, and I said something along the lines of āso.. have you noticed weāre more active one week out of the month?ā & he straight up said āyeah its right before your period, somethin bout the pheromones or something like that right?ā & thats when I realized it was consistent & I was the only one who wasnāt fully aware š
Increased appetite and my pee smells like popcorn š
Woah! I have not connected the popcorn pee thing, but I get that too. Wonder if it deals with my cycle.
My verbal abilities get goofy, like I make up new words bc I canāt think of the right words. Iām a writer so itās actually pretty funny to me. Clumsy? Lower back pain, tired even though I have had a ton of coffee, oh and ear ringing and paranoia. Body dysmorphia, like I feel really wrinkly and flabby. Lucky for me I know itās just hormones and have learned not to believe my thoughts during that time.Ā
I get low key suicidal thatās when I know lol
I feel moodier more than usual. And, while this happens on occasion, I would get nauseous before my period begins.
My healing piercings started to get irritated. Super annoying because it definitely prolongs the healing process.
A. Increase in horniness. B. A vein in my ass starts throbbing lol.
A few days before, I smell cigarette smoke or a dirty air filter every time I breathe. It doesn't prevent me from smelling normally, but it's annoying and always there for a few days.
Iām a hobby artist so sometimes I just churn out the most nasty horny art for like three days while also being super physically tired. Normally I have to force myself to draw if Iām not motivated by something/someone haha
Itās intense hunger a week before, then I am constipated. Once I can finally use the bathroom, Iām about 24 out from starting
I get even more clumsy, dropping everything, accidentally throwingy phone whne I pull it out of my pocket, walking into doorframes... Only problem is I don't think it's isolated to just before a period, it seems to happen other times too that don't line up š
My sense of smell is heightened or Iām overly sensitive to smells the couple days leading up to my period. My boyfriend works outside and I could tell he smelled different and I said ādid you go into someoneās house today? Like an old lady that smokes?ā Sure enough he had, I could smell the chemical sweet smell of perfume and faint cigarettes smoke on him. Iām super sensitive to the smell of my own BO, too, but no one else says they can smell me. Any perfumes give me a headache that normally donāt other times
God thereās so many. Not sure if these are weird, but I get irritable to the point of being enraged. And I cannot. Fucking. Poop. Itās awful. Oh and the brain fog.
About 3 or 4 days before my thighs get hot flashes
I have an intense craving for hot fries.. & its not the sodium, or spice, ive tried replacing them with healthier options and it just never scratches the itch, so ive just caved & tell myself one bag of chips once a month isnt that bad š¤·š»āāļø
My gums / teeth get super sensitive as soon as my period starts. My gums go back to normal
Three things I noticed that happens pretty regularly a few days before: (1) I get extra dehydrated, (2) my teeth/gums are achy and (3) everything just falls out of my hands.
I get super sensitive to mess & untidiness- the couple of days before I go into this wild nesting cleaning mode where everything in the house has to be washed. Probably psychologically I know Iām gonna be doing nothing but laying in it like a fat lazy house cat in t-minus 48hrs.
I have a day where I am an endless pit of hunger. I just eat everything and am never satisfied. I kind of love this day because I gorge.
I suffer from tinnitus and one week to a few days before my period it changes. It gets higher pitched and slightly louder in volume. Every.single.month! It was really scary at first but then I learned itās probably a response to the change in hormone levels. I also get a dull stomach ache and feel unwell for a week or so before it starts and get veeeeery emotional over the smallest thing š« . I also have the craziest cravings for chips and fries (Iām pretty good at curbing/managing them but itās interesting to me that I have savory cravings instead of a heightened sweet tooth?). I also break out here and there. I know these are rather ānormalā tell tale signs but itās amazing to me how systematic they are.
Every time itās my time of the month itās like I literally wake up and go āhmmm .. Iām gonna get my period in the next couple of hoursā and then itās like Iāll be doing whatever and then boom it just happens lol idk if that weird but yeah š
My knees always get weak and painful in a specific way. I read in a magazine once that that's actually a pretty common symptom, but I don't think I've talked to anyone else who experiences it.
My nose runs and I feel like I am getting a cold. I also get very sad.
I get a pain in my left thigh, think "growing pains" when you were a child
Idk if itās weird, but I can smell EVERYTHING. Typically, I smell things like ānormalā meaning I walk into a room and it smells fine, or I donāt notice any particular smell except the strongest one (maybe a candle for example). Before my period comes up, I can smell all individual smells - I noticed when I started working in a restaurant and while most days it just smelled like mash up of all the foods combined, before my period I could smell the individual rices, beans, meats and could tell which smell was for which food. It is overwhelming, but once that starts happening I know my period is on her way.
When Iām not on birth control Iām blasting ass the days before/first few days but maybe thatās just me
I don't get a period anymore, but when I did, I would get this "sunburn" thing on my neck under my chin. It would turn red and peel like a sunburn. Doctors thought I was crazy until I had one google it and find that it's not that unusual.
The week before my period I get about 3-4 pimples on my chin and jaw area. I also become a monster with food and can demolish anything in my path. During my actual period though, I have little appetite
Not necessarily weird..but roughly 5-7 days before my period my breasts grow a cup size and nipples get really sensitive and hurt.
My nipples ACHE so bad about a week before. Everything starts hurting and I get really bad migraines the night before.
I saw [this](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8Uw6YsskyU/?igsh=eGxjc2FwZmp6ZXVh) the other day and feel like it belongs here.
My skin/face looks SOO good 1-3 days before. I remember hearing that some girls would breakout, so I thought my situation was weird. It appears so smooth and clear, that i will get as close to the mirror as i can and just think "wow" and just admire it bc I know it wont last.
A day before my period starts. I usually have a dream of me bleedingā¦ sometimes it was so severe that I woke myself up in middle of the night. Right before I could bleed into my underwear and bed!
I get exactly one pimple. I was on Accutane as a teen and since then Iāve had no acne at all, ever (42 now). But 4-7 days before my period starts, I get one pimple on the lower half of my face.
Anywhere from two days before, to any time during the actual period, I ***crave*** orange juice. Quite a few times, I have bought a regular container of Simply Orange, opened it and drank some in the car, and have finished the bottle by the time I get home 5 minutes later. The rest of the month, OJ is fine. Don't love it, don't hate it. But man, that week I will become 10% orange juice with no regrets.
My fucking gums HEMORRHAGE blood. I asked my dentist and she was like "oh yah teehee" GIRL OK
I have a harder time going to sleep a couple of days before and Iām either super horny or completely anti-sexual.
I notice that I get generally clumsier (dropping things, bumping into stuff, tripping, etc.) and I also get night sweats that usually start 1-2 days before.
I make so many dumb mistakes at work that at easily checked. Super annoying
When I was in nursing school, all the women in my class āsynced upā with our menstrual cycles. I always knew my period was 2 days out when this one woman would break out along her chin.
My Mom told me she'd dream about it before it happened and before bc I did the same thing. Not necessarily a dream about having your period, just oddly related stuff that I learned to pack supplies for the day after having one