Yes, I typed that title in correctly. Most people talk about Premenstrual syndrome as being a mild to hell-on-earth affliction. Not many people talk about Postmenstrual syndrome though.
It does exist. I refuse to believe that I am the only one to experience it.
What postmenstrual syndrome is
Simple...it is a collection of symptoms that occur after your period instead of before. The same symptoms can occur which include nausea, lightheadedness, fatigue, headaches, cravings, cramps, bloating, irritability, acne breakouts, sadness etc.
One can get premenstrual syndrome as well as postmenstrual syndrome (that really sucks to have both). Or one might have no premenstrual syndrome symptoms at all and then only postmenstrual syndrome symptoms for a week after the period ends.
What causes it
From what I have read, it is all down to wonky hormones. It is said to be something that can happen if you have a cycle where you did not ovulate and/or you have PCOS (hey, that sounds familiar!).
I also read that insulin resistance may cause postmenstrual syndrome.
My experiences with it
I am dealing with it as I type this. There have been other cycles where I dealt with it as well. I hate that it happens.
For this cycle, I did not have my usual premenstrual syndrome symptoms that happen around five days before I start bleeding. Since my husband and I did have sex during what was supposed to be my fertile window, I was thinking that maybe I had fallen pregnant ( pipe dream!).
It definitely wasn't pregnancy. I got my period like clockwork and it was pretty heavy too. There were no cravings,bloating, nausea, shakiness, lightheadedness, sadness, irritability, sore breasts and bleeding gums beforehand as usual.
Like the other times this has happened, I felt lucky. Unfortunately I wasn't lucky because all of the aforementioned symptoms started happening right after I stopped bleeding.
It sucks because these are supposed to be the days during the cycle where I feel great physically, mentally, emotionally and cognitively. Now I am sitting here feeling sick and snapping at people.
What I am going to do about it
I have been saying this for a while now but I need to start watching my carbs. It is time to do this especially because I do think I have an issue with insulin resistance. I have been feeling tired after meals that were heavy on carbs.
If doing this can help me with my pre and post menstrual syndrome symptoms than it is something I must keep working on. I don't know how to stop falling off of the bandwagon though.
Have you dealt with postmenstrual syndrome before? What were your experiences with it?
Thanks for reading!
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