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PMS: wat is het en wat kun je eraan doen 

PMS: what is it and what can you do about it

by Joelle in Blog

This is an information page. Viv Support has no products intended for this indication/application.

Many women suffer from all kinds of ailments just before their period starts: painful, swollen breasts, lower back pain, joint pain, headaches , bloating, weight gain, mood swings, outbursts of anger, gloominess, irritability, anxiety, fatigue, and withdrawal… And when the 'month' finally arrives, you hear them say: 'Ah, that’s why I felt so…'. These women, and perhaps you too, suffer from premenstrual syndrome (PMS).

What is PMS?

PMS is a recognized condition affecting as many as five to twelve percent of Dutch women. Unfortunately, PMS often becomes even more severe as menopause approaches. Most women think that these symptoms preceding menstruation are completely normal and just part of the process, but that is actually not the case. At the end of this blog, you will read a number of tips to reduce PMS, but first, let's delve a bit deeper into the causes of PMS, so you will understand why you actually don't have to experience these symptoms…

To explain this, it is helpful to briefly describe our monthly cycle, with an emphasis on the hormones that play a role in PMS.

The days…

  • 1-5 The menstrual phase: the built-up uterine lining sheds.
  • 6-10 The follicular phase: your estrogen levels rise in preparation for ovulation.
  • 11-14 The ovulation phase: your actual ovulation takes place now, while your estrogen production is at its peak.
  • 15-28 The luteal phase: the phase in which an egg is or is not fertilized. In this phase, the production of progesterone begins (intended to allow an egg to implant). Progesterone levels increase rapidly, while estrogen production decreases during this second half of your cycle. Progesterone therefore predominates in this phase (at least, that is the intention).
  • If fertilization of the egg does not occur, progesterone and estrogen will both start to drop rapidly from day 21 of your cycle: that is the signal to your brain that the built-up uterine lining can be shed and the cycle can start again, at day 1…

The hormones

As you can see, normally estrogen is supposed to dominate in the first half of the cycle and progesterone in the second. This creates a nice balance between these two hormones. This is precisely where things often go wrong… PMS can occur because estrogen acts too strongly relative to progesterone during the luteal phase. There may be (too much) estrogen and/or a deficiency of its counterpart: progesterone. In any case, whatever exactly is at play, the result is called estrogen dominance. An excess of estrogen causes those typical PMS symptoms at the end of your monthly cycle, just before your period starts again.

How can PMS symptoms arise? We list the 5 most important reasons:

1. Too much stress
With too much stress, you produce a lot of the stress hormone cortisol… from the hormone progesterone. So, with a lot of (chronic) stress, the availability of progesterone is suppressed. As a result, the progesterone level becomes too low relative to the amount of estrogen.

2. Eating a lot of sugar leads to a lot of fat tissue
Eating carbohydrates and sugars frequently and in large quantities leads to high production of the hormone insulin. Insulin attempts to keep your blood sugar levels under control. This hormone facilitates the uptake of glucose from your blood into your cells. If your cells have enough and there is glucose left over, insulin ensures that this is stored as reserve energy in your fat. Eating a lot of sugars and excess glucose therefore leads to significant fat storage. Estrogens are produced in your fat tissue, among other places. If you have a lot of fat tissue, the result is that a lot of estrogens are produced there.

3. Xenoestrogens
Pesticides, packaging materials, plastics, cleaning products, cosmetics... the list of chemical, estrogen-like substances that have a disruptive effect on our bodies has unfortunately become very long. We also call these substances xenoestrogens. The problem is that they interfere with the action of our own estrogens. Because they are so ubiquitous, we quickly end up with too much estrogen in our bodies, whether fake or not.

4. Poor liver processing
Our liver is our chemical factory and has various functions, including initiating the breakdown of our excess estrogens. You can imagine that this breakdown does not run smoothly if your liver is busy with other tasks. This can be the case, for example, with chronic stress. Your liver then supports the stress response. This causes too much estrogen to continue circulating.

5. Perimenopause
Your progesterone production already begins to decline about fifteen years before the actual menopause. As a result, progesterone levels often drop faster than estrogen levels during perimenopause. This may also explain why your PMS symptoms become more severe as you approach menopause.

Do you want to read more about the functioning of your hormones in general? Then be sure to read *Restore Your Hormones in 10 Steps *. In this book, you will read much more about, for example, the influence of (chronic) stress, the functioning of insulin and your liver, as well as which diet and lifestyle can help you.

7 tips to tackle PMS symptoms immediately

  1. Avoid (chronic) stress as much as possible. Identify what causes you stress and try to do something about it as much as possible.
  2. Also, be sure to look at what relaxes you and incorporate this into your daily life.
  3. Cut sugars from your diet.
  4. Eat more complex and fewer simple carbohydrates.
  5. Lose weight if necessary (you will soon receive extra help with this in Viv's latest book 'Help, I Can't Lose Weight', which focuses specifically on the relationship between hormones and weight loss. You can already reserve a copy at Bol.com!).
  6. Avoid hormone-disrupting substances where possible.
  7. Support your liver: do not drink too much alcohol and eat plenty of vegetables, leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables/cabbage (guideline: 350-500 grams of vegetables per day!).

Would you like to know more about support for PMS symptoms? Then click here.

This is an information page. Viv Support has no products intended for this application.

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