How to cope with PMT (PMS) and find a natural remedy

I am declaring war against PMT, your stories and remedies are requested! Please do comment freely. Men, this post isn't for you. What is contained herein is far too real' for your delicate eyes. Leave now while you still have the chance!

What is PMT, PMS (premenstrual tension or premenstrual syndrome)?

PMT is that time of the month when women become warewolves and turn their lives and those around them upside down for a few days. It usally falls in the week prior to menstruation but can occur two weeks before, during, or even after.

Hormone changes are held responsible for this change' in character and affects some women more than others. Also there remains a skeptical few who refuse to accept that the condition' pmt exists at all. If you met me however, you'd be left in no doubt that PMT (PMS) is very real.

I suffer from PMT for two - five days in every month and it really is like a destructive force wreaking havoc on my life. My thought processes become significantly altered and what was once so right seems so wrong and I set about making changes, saying things I shouldn't say and doing things I should not do. The lighter side of this might include buying shoes and clothes I will never wear. The darker is side might be alienating partners, ending relationships, over-reacting to the small things in life and making a fuss about things that ordinarily would not phase me.

I am generally (for three weeks a month) a water-off-a-ducks-back kinds gal but for the fourth, I can be emotional, hyper-sensitive, dramatic and destructive. I become (in my own mind) a fearless force to be reckoned with and am far too bold for my own good.Two - five days later I revert to my happy go lucky, rational self who loves everyone and is supremely tolerant of all things, including telesalesmarketersok that was a lieNOT telesalesmarketers! But you get the drift!

I feel deep regret about my behaviour during that week and wish I could undo things. That is usually possible when it comes to family and friends and obtaining refunds for bad buys, but some things can't be undone.

If people don't know you well enough to make 'montly allowances' for your behaviour they just think you're nuts and not very pleasant. The regret is not that they feel this way about me but that I behaved in a way that encouraged this opinion.

If you are similarly afflicted then like me you might want to do something about it. I have been backwards and forwards to the GP for years to no avail. Vitb6, a change in contraceptive pill and anti-depressants (I am not depressed) were all that they could offer. All remedies equally ineffective.

My present course of action is a herbal solution. Agnus Castus and high strength Evening Primrose oil. Two-months in, I seem to be less irritable, less intolerant but have remained slightly irrational for a period of 3 days. I am thus hopeful that if I keep up the herbal supplements that things will improve.

If you have any of these problems and would like to share remedies, herbal or otherwise please do!

Join me in the war against pmt and post your stories, your cures and menas a recipient of pmt (PMS) shockwaves, you too can post here.