The symptoms of menstruation are also known as premenstrual symptoms and these might be experienced 1-2 weeks before the period begins. These symptoms are common among the women of ages 30-40 and about 80% of women experience some kinds of menstruation symptoms before every period.
These symptoms may vary from one woman to the other. While in some cases these symptoms can be quite painful, others could experience only mild discomfort. Even more, some of these symptoms look just like the pregnancy symptoms.
Common symptoms of menstruation
Remember that you don’t have to experience all of these symptoms, even more, it is possible that you won’t experience any of them.
The most common symptoms of menstruation include abdominal pain, aggression, backache, breast tenderness, depression, difficulty in concentration, food cravings, menstrual headaches, irritability, mood swings, stomach cramps, weight gain, acne, anxiety, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, dizziness, fluid retention, indigestion, loss of sex drive, nausea, and tiredness.
It is known that every month an egg is released into the uterus. In the same time the lining of the uterus also thickens in order to create circumstances that are suitable for the development of the fetus.
If the egg doesn’t get fertilized the lining sheds and the egg gets disposed of in the form of menstrual flow. In this period there is a hormone released known as prostaglandin that makes the muscles contract for a longer time causing muscle cramps, showing one of the menstruation symptoms.
Water retention is another one of the symptoms of menstruation and it is caused by a hormone called estrogen that holds water and fluids in the body. Before the menstruation starts the level of estrogen drops, and this is why fluid retention and bloating occurs.
In some cases because of this it could be one of the menstruation symptoms to retain salt. Another hormone called serotonin, in case its level drops, can cause some other symptoms of menstruation such as anxiety, irritability and restlessness.
While up to now only the negative effects have been presented, you should know that there are some women that experience positive effects of the menstruation symptoms including an increased level of energy, increased sex drive, relief and sometimes even euphoria. These symptoms usually decrease or even disappear in the moment when the bleeding starts.
Causes of the symptoms
As you might have seen, the majority of the symptoms are caused by the hormonal changes that occur prior to menstruation. Around the time of ovulation estrogen usually increases, but it decreases radically prior to menstruation. Progesterone and estrogen also decrease before menstruation and this represents some of the causes of the appearance of the symptoms.
Other culprits of the symptoms include prostaglandins and some other neurochemicals that have an important role in the menstruation cycle. In some cases a poor diet could also have a word to say when it comes to the symptoms.
Knowing more about the symptoms of menstruation and knowing why they occur allows the women to understand their body better in this delicate period of the month.
