r/PMS

▲ 2 r/PMS+1 crossposts

Does your bad cramps start days before your period begins and are bad first few days of period. Also have you had a painful attack when not on or near your period? Please describe your pain and when in cycle?

My 21 yr old daughter might have Endo. Bad cramps just started about 2 years ago. Weirdly her period pain is not every month but sometimes she can have normal period cramps, just painful but not as severe as some months. When her cramps are severe they can start 2-3 days before her period begins and can last first 3-4 days during the start of her period. Her cramps are so bad she takes ibuprofen or Aleve every few hours. Her pain is so bad she cries and can’t move. She also gets depressed a week before period starts PMDD.
About 6 mos ago She had her first major episode or attack. It happened 5 days before her period started. Around 5pm after dinner sharp pain under left breast and lower belly around belly button and below all of stomach around belly button and lower stomach and some low back. It was so severe with severe nausea and nonstop vomiting started. She was in pain crying and vomited about every 20-30min next to toilet. EpIsolde lasted about 3hrs until I could finally convince her to go to ER. She hates Hospitals. Finally I took her. We waited for hours until they called her. It was awful running to bathroom from waiting room every 20min to vomit. This lasted until next morning to around 7am. Pain came in waves on & off and ER gave her 3 different nausea medicines and would not stop vomiting in ER. Nothing worked no pain pills or anything. She almost past out and said mom I’m passing out. Sadly ER said she has to go back to waiting room until they could run Catscan. It was awful. I had to request wheel chair for her she couldn’t walk. And they wheeled her in waiting room for 2 more hours. I was so sad for her. ER was so traumatizing for her because she was there for so long in pain and vomiting. Labs came back normal and found Scan found a golfball cyst. And ER dr thought could be Endo or torque (something like that) since Gallbladder was fine. A few days later we went for follow up ultra sound. And a few days later she happen to start her period same day as Ultra sound. And results later showed No cyst. Cyst was gone. They think it could have burst it disappeared with period. Follow ObGyn visit had no real answers to what her episode was.

Fast forward 3 months later. Now 2 weeks after her period ended, around 7pm another painful attack happened. Again not during period. she feels like painful sharp period cramps around belly buttons and below or under left breast/rib. Pain attack is mostly always belly button to lower stomach with nonstop vomiting. This time pain attack started around 7pm- 7am. I could not convince her to go back to ER since she didn’t want to keep vomiting and running to bathroom in pain for hours. Weird cramping comes in waves every few minutes. I notice she feels ok for a few minutes and then sharp pain starts again.

I would describe her pain similar to worst labor pains or gallbladder attack. But today we went for 2nd ultra sound and results show Gallbladder is fine, no cyst. Ultra Sound Results Normal.

Sone periods are worse then others where she can’t get out of bed. And period cramps sometimes starts 3-5 days before period even starts and sometimes she can have menstrual cramps 3-4 days after her period ends.

Has anyone else had any episode like. Her period cramps are painful but nothing like the 2 episodes or attacks she had. She gets nauseated during period but nothing like the nonstop vomiting that happened during those painful attacks. Please anyone with a similar story please help.

My daughter is tiny and petite size xs to small and birth control caused major weight gain and breast size to double within first few weeks. Also bad cystic acne all over her face. We stopped birth control after one month. And not sure where to go

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u/TemperatureLife947 — 2 days ago
▲ 2 r/PMS

Anyone else get drained on their period?

Hit with fatigue where I just wanna close my eyes and do nothing else and slight dizziness while lying down randomly, feeling like walking a chore and I’m too chilly

It’s either anxiety or fatigue sleepy

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u/Glittering-Sun-7248 — 2 days ago
▲ 1 r/PMS

What does Day 4 of your period usually feel like for you?

Even if cramps fade by Day 4, do you still feel deeply exhausted, low-energy, and just want to rest without talking?

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u/Ok_Prune_1255 — 2 days ago
▲ 2 r/PMS

Anyone else get acid reflux two weeks before their period?

Would love to know if anyone else suffers from this and what you’ve found that helps. I currently take Allegra 24h and Pepcid (40mg) for the two weeks leading up to my period but nothing seems to help the acid is relentless!

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u/Last-Strawberry475 — 3 days ago
▲ 6 r/PMS+2 crossposts

PMS struggles - recs?

After having a kid a few years ago, I feel like my PMS symptoms have gone crazy! In comparison pre pregnancy, I don’t recognize myself ~10 days b4 my projected period supposed to be. In on no birth control and don’t want to try because they screwed with my health and body before. Any other recommendations of how to manage it?

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u/mentally_strong2026 — 4 days ago
▲ 7 r/PMS

Physically feeling my period “brewing”

So, I track my periods and it’s usually pretty accurate very month. I’m due on today and I can physically FEEL it coming on. I joke that I can feel it “brewing”. I don’t know how to describe it but it feels like a weird, deep rumbling, gnawing feeling in my uterus and I get SO extremely tired. I have chronic fatigue anyway but it’s a different feeling. I’m almost certain I have PMS because of how crazy irritable and emotional I get a week beforehand.

Idk, it’s bizarre!! Unless it’s completely normal and common haha

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u/Spookyremy420 — 4 days ago
▲ 9 r/PMS+3 crossposts

Researching how period/PMS symptoms vary between people

As someone who has struggled with debilitating PMDD for most of my life, I am really interested in how everyone has different PMS/PMDD symptoms and variability. I ultimately want to try to steer my career towards helping women mitigate their symptoms to the best of my ability.

A lot of existing advice treats everyone's cycle the same way (same phase = same symptoms for everyone), and that hasn't matched what I've heard from people I've talked to. I put together a short survey (about 5 minutes, anonymous, no email required unless you want a follow-up chat) asking about symptom timing, severity, and what you've tried in the past. This is for my own personal research and does not have any company or product tied behind it; I just want to gather valuable insight to see where I should direct my efforts in the future :)

Google Forms Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfjT4Xm5BrBzrJ8O26yyGMtcGB1FYItlogdC1f5qYZhzMbJiA/viewform?usp=dialog

u/i-am-a-raptor — 6 days ago
▲ 2 r/PMS+1 crossposts

I need help I don’t know what’s wrong and I’m in pain

For context I’m currently 17 and I got my period when I was 10. It’s always been pretty heavy and irregular. About 3 years ago I started going months with out a normal period and instead having a much longer 2-3 week period that was painful and extremely heavy.

In 2024 it’s took an entire year of GP appointments for them to just say that because of my age my hormones were extremely imbalanced and they put me on contraceptives (Rigevidon, 9 weeks on, one week off)

Once I went off them I got my period as normal on December- February (2026) then I didn’t get a period until May which lasted 2 weeks. Then I was off for two weeks and I got my period again on June 7th and it didn’t stop until August 5th when they put me on a 10 day course of progesterone (started the 4th)

Yesterday morning, I woke up in the most pain I’ve ever been and going through a pad an hour. The flow and pain reduced throughout the day but not too significantly.

This morning, I stood up and blood came pouring down my legs. I’m stood in my bathroom because I’ve ran out of pads, I’m in pain and I don’t know what to do and no one will take me seriously because of my age.

They asked me questions about abnormal hair growth and such which I’m assuming was because of pcos but I’ve noticed nothing.

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u/ConsciousJeweler5068 — 5 days ago
▲ 5 r/PMS+1 crossposts

PMS craving ideas - show me your most unholy food combos!

Hi girls!

I don’t need any advice on how to prevent or stop PMS cravings. I fully intend to indulge the feeling and enjoy the good food!

Please feel free to post the most unholy, chaotic food combinations you've craved over the years. No judgment, just pure goblin mode energy. Let's hear them!

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u/the_noobcat — 7 days ago
▲ 9 r/PMS+1 crossposts

What's the funniest way you knew that time of the month has come?

We feel things quite differently but sometimes it just boggles me how funny our bodies choose behave at times. Unpredictable too. I'd love to know curious or weird ways that yall felt the "feeling" iykwim just in time

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u/AresinMars — 9 days ago
▲ 121 r/PMS+4 crossposts

Being a night owl may show up in your blood...

Researchers found higher fasting pyruvate in evening chronotypes than morning chronotypes, despite no obvious differences in many routine metabolic measures.

Pyruvate is one of the main junctions between glucose breakdown and mitochondrial energy production, so this could be an early signal of chronotype-related metabolic differences.

But it is not proof that night owls have dysfunctional mitochondria. This was a small, cross-sectional study with only 20 evening types.

An interesting finding. Definitely not a verdict on night owls.

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2026.1839777/full

The association with pyruvate was the most consistent result; findings involving lactate and citrate were weaker, and the authors explicitly caution that pyruvate alone cannot establish altered mitochondrial function

u/DrJ_Lume — 10 days ago
▲ 6 r/PMS+1 crossposts

The luteal phase is exhausting!

Hi guys, I need some help because I’ve noticed that every month when I’m in my luteal/late luteal phase, I become extremely exhausted.

I’ll sleep for 7-8 hours and then wake up feeling absolutely knackered, almost like I’ve got a hangover or like I’ve been on some huge hike the day before. I find it so difficult to wake up. My alarm will go off and, if I know I’ve got time, I’ll just fall straight back asleep. If I know I have somewhere I need to be, I can force myself up, but I still feel completely exhausted.

Throughout the day I’m just really tired and I also get a really bad backache. Then by around 7–8pm, I’m absolutely done. I can’t do anything, I don’t want to do anything and I just feel like I’ve completely run out of energy.

What’s really noticeable is how different I feel outside of my luteal phase. Normally, I can be up at 8pm, go to the gym and do a hard weight training session without a problem. During this phase, I feel like I’m physically incapable of doing anything.

It honestly feels like one week of every month is basically a write-off for me, and it’s starting to really affect my day-to-day life and work.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of extreme exhaustion during their luteal/late luteal phase?
If you do, did you ever find out what was causing it? Did you see your GP, have any blood tests done, or get diagnosed with PMS/PMDD? And is there anything that actually helped you tackle it, including medication?

I’m in the UK, so I’d especially love to hear from anyone who has gone through the NHS/GP process and what they were offered.

Thanks so much!!!

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u/ricewifexx — 8 days ago
▲ 4 r/PMS

Period dizziness

Hiii everyone, 28 year old here.
I’ve always had pain during my periods but lately I feel really dizzy, lightheaded, feeling like I’ll pass out but then I check my blood pressure and it’s actually fine.
Is it anxiety that during the period strikes harder?
Last night I felt so weak and my legs were mumbling so much, and I felt really lightheaded, even when I was laying down.
Can someone tell me if you experienced this before?

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u/Green_scorp — 8 days ago
▲ 2 r/PMS

It's our just me or others also have these symptoms?

I've been getting periods now for 7 years now. It's always been bad but now I think they just became progressively worse. My pms starts as early as 10 days before the period sometimes. Loss of breath in PMS and during the period like I'll be sitting and I wouldn't be able to breathe. I'll take all the air in and it would just feel like I couldn't get enough oxygen or whatever. and yes I don't have asthma at all. I get diarrhea with it now sometimes. Heartbeat fluctuations. Sore and swollen breasts. And pain yeah anytime anywhere. Feeling like very hot and having chills at the same time. 1-2 days before it, it's sometimes even painful to go to the bathroom. I'd literally feel the whole uterus inside me, I could even trace it from the outside

When I have diarrhea with it I have the worst cramps of my life. The first time I had those cramps was 3 years ago I think but it was like for 15 mins and then settled. But since 3 cycles ago it's as if it's a frkn trigger like I'm good one day and then suddenly hours before my period I have diarrhea and then with the period in i can't go to bathroom because it's painful and the cramps make me felt like darkness coming in front my eyes, me becoming dizzy and as if I'd faint. That cycle was painful and even with painkillers, the pain never truly went away. The cycle after that was calm like no pain which is unusual because I have great pain but not something I can't manage. Then now this 3rd one feels the same again ughhh.

Also for the past 1-2 yrs my pms symptoms+period pain changes every 4-5 cycles somehow. The degree of pain remained same but I never used to have backpain, it started happening, then went away then came back after so much time in this cycle. My breasts never used to swell or get swollen but started to 6 months ago or something and now this cycle suddenly it wasn't there. Never used to have breathing problems but for the past 3yrs or so I have it like wth....I have to always carry a frkn menthol now inhaler for it. Never used to have diarrhea with it but now it's also added in the list.

I have a heavy flow and I don't feel that much energy deprived during the cycle as I feel after these 7 days finish. Like 2-3 days after it ends, I have this energy drop like I just don't have energy to do anything literally.

It's regular infact it's never been this regular before, max 2-3 days late. Idk but I am in frkn pain

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u/cine_phile07 — 10 days ago
▲ 5 r/PMS+2 crossposts

Women who experience menstrual bloating, cramps, or both, I'd love to hear about your experience

I'm researching different experiences women have around menstruation and trying to understand whether bloating, cramps, or both create the biggest challenges.

If you're comfortable sharing:

  1. Do you mainly experience:
    • Bloating only
    • Cramps only
    • Both
  2. Which symptom affects you most and why?
  3. How does it impact your daily life? (work, exercise, confidence, clothing, social plans, etc.)
  4. What do you currently do to manage it?
  5. What do you wish existed that would make these symptoms easier to deal with?

I'd love to hear any experiences, even if they don't fit neatly into these categories.

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u/Objective-Project131 — 9 days ago
▲ 2 r/PMS

PMS is hell

For the last few days I’ve been wanting to do nothing but lay in bed and scroll to my doom. And that’s what I’ve been doing. I’m out of city and came to my hometown with my family to do sightseeing bullshit but I have absolutely no motivation to do anything. It’s eating me alive that I can’t enjoy my vacation especially since my family wants to go out but keeps postponing it because of me. I just want my period to come and end this shit UGHHHHHHHH please tell me im not alone in this

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u/akiwashinitai — 9 days ago
▲ 1 r/PMS

Sudden breakup after a perfect 6 months in a polyamorous dynamic. Could this be a severe PMDD/PMS episode?

Hello everyone, yo really need some outside perspective and experiences on a situation that has completely blindsided me.

I’ve been in a deeply loving, completely harmonious polyamorous relationship for the past 6 months. She is married with two teenage kids (16 and 18). Her husband and I get along great—he’s incredibly supportive, and I’m fully integrated into the family (even her parents love me). Two weeks ago she told me she was deeply in love with me, and we were even planning a big family vacation together for next year, including integrating my own daughter.

We just came back from a 5-day vacation together. During the trip, her mood shifted around Wednesday. She became distant and irritable, and even tried to "suggest" other women to me, which felt like her trying to deflect pressure. However, on our drive back home on Friday, she actively booked two shopping dates with me in her calendar for the coming weeks.

Two hours later, as I dropped her off at her house, she broke up with me in a chaotic, 1-minute conversation at the car. She said "this isn't working anymore" and suggested we should think about being just platonic. She then immediately ran inside and hugged/kissed her husband, while she hadn't given me a single kiss in two days. Her parents, who were also on the trip, are deeply disappointed in her behavior and told me she will bitterly regret this.

Here is the kicker: Her period was due around Thursday/Friday but was delayed, likely starting on Saturday. She has told me before that she suffers from bad PMS.

Looking at the extreme contradictions (planning a future with me 2 hours prior vs. a brutal 1-minute breakup right before her period arrived), my gut feeling tells me this was a severe PMDD/PMS emotional overload and a fight-or-flight panic reaction to returning to her family nest while hormonally crashing.

Has anyone in a polyamorous or open dynamic experienced a partner suddenly sabotaging a great relationship due to PMDD/PMS?

Does this sound like a hormonal short-circuit or a calculated, rational decision?

I am currently in strict No-Contact since Friday to give her space.

Any advice on how to navigate this?

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u/DocSeph — 11 days ago
▲ 9 r/PMS

Raspberry Leaf.

Raspberry leaf has brought me so much luteal phase relief when it comes to anxiety and depression. I’m not really sure the science behind it but… just trust me.

Brew it into tea. Chew on it. Smoke it. Your ancestors did it, it worked for centuries.

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u/the_bappy — 13 days ago