Sep 2, 2015

PMS woes

I am one of those women who undergo some really crazy mood swings starting 10-12 days before my period. That is almost half a month. My body goes through such drastic ups and downs that it becomes very difficult for me to handle. I suffer from PCOS, for which I take birth control pills to regularize my period. The first side effect of these pills is mood swing. I am not making this up, I cried at a YouTube video this evening where people were prepping for the Boston Marathon and I saw a man running with a wheelchair on which his loved one was enjoying the fresh breath of air.

I am blessed with a brother who has seen me go through the painful and irritable process and always made sure that he gave me the space or attention as needed. It turned out quite well when he started dating a girl and would do the same for her. But not everyone can be that understanding, even if they want to. Some of the common questions asked to me are:

“What can I do to help?” “How can I make this better?” “Am I doing anything wrong?”

The answer to all of these is - I don’t know. I cannot tell you how you can make this better for me. I cannot possibly give you any suggestion when I am not able to handle myself in these times. One moment I am euphoric, the other moment I am crying, and later I am stuffing my face with food that is totally not good for me. I know I should try and get in a light workout, but getting out of bed becomes such a task, that it all just seems far fetched. Sometimes even a person next to me breathing loudly makes me flip.

I am not using this as an excuse to do whatever I want. I don’t even know why I feel the need to put this out there, but it would be nice to have someone at least trying to understand that it is not in my hands, how I react to situations. Sometimes one just needs that someone to hug them and hold them and tell them that everything is going to be okay. Seems like this is a lot to ask for.

Sometimes we feel the need to remind people to be a little more considerate towards us, but repeating it every month only leads to making the opposite person frustrated. Where does that leave us? Nowhere. Possibly wanting to punch another person for breathing too loudly next to us.
The amusing part is that they used to do it all for you before. They used to keep track of your dates. They used to be OKAY with your mood swings. I guess its just a chore now. When it becomes a chore, we just have to let go.

Where’s my bar of chocolate?