PMS: Probably Mental Syndrome
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1997 Jul / Aug VOL 5 NO 4.
Dr. Manu Kothari
Dr. Lopa Mehta
In the inscrutably complex reproductive female, when there is blood-shed in thighland you christen it PMS= PMT, and when there is blood in thighland, you call it menstruation. If periodic bloodshed is integral to womanhood, what precedes it is equally indispensable to a woman's very being. But the fact that the NJH and the allopathic likes of it periodically feature PMS as a full-cover and fully-covered story, it would seem that PMS is an insoluble issue in medicine.
Maugham summed up the essence of sexual phase of a woman in a characteristic fashion: "Gentleman, woman is an animal that micutrates once a day, defecates once a week, [premenstruates and] menstruates once a month, parturates once a year and copulates whenever she has the opportunity." The parenthesis has been added to complete the pen-portrait of the female-of -the-species as visualized by the male-of-the-species.
Let us first be done with the medical gist on PMS: In one go, the latest Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment sums up PMS: "The premenstrual syndrome is a recurrent, variable cluster of troublesome physical and emotional symptoms that develop during the 7-14 days before the onset of menses and subside when menstruation occurs. The syndrome intermittently affects about one-third of all premenopausal women, primarily those 25-40 years of age. In about 10% of affected women, the syndrome may be recurrent and severe. Although not every woman experiences all the symptoms or signs at one time, many describe bloating, breast pain, ankle swelling, a sense of increased weight, skin disorders, irritability, aggressiveness, depression, inability to concentrate, libido change, lethargy, and food cravings. The pathogenesis of PMS is still uncertain. Psychosocial factors may play a role. Suppression of ovarian function with a GnRH agonist has been shown to diminish all symptoms during therapy. Suppression of ovulation with an oral contraceptive is sometimes helpful, but the patient often complains that she still has PMS. It is obvious that further investigation and well-controlled therapeutic studies of these heterogeneous syndrome will be necessary for the rational treatment. Current treatment methods are mainly empirical. MORAL: No one really knows what, why, how of PMS so anything can go as treatment.
Let us take two examples, one (a) non-specific, and therefore harmless, and the other (b) scientific-at-specific and therefore uncertain about its goodness as also its drawbacks.
(a) " A diet emphasizing complex carbohydrates [whole grains, vegetables, and fruits.] can be recommended. Foods high in sugar content and alcohol should be avoided to minimize reactive hypoglycemia. Salt intake should be restricted to reduce fluid retention. Use of caffeine should be minimized whenever tension and irritability predominate."
(b) "Natural progesterone taken daily or by vaginal suppositories in doses of 50-400 mg daily during the luteal phase is widely used for PMS. Double-blind studies have not confirmed its efficacy, nor has the safety of this treatment been evaluated." from (a) and (b) we can right away generalize that as both naturopathy and allopathy are totally empirical shots-in-the-dark, Homoeopathy has enough room for treating PMS as would be evident from the rest of the issue. What miasma does Homoeopathy invoke to explain PMS?
Having quickly acquitted ourselves of our allopathic and Homoeopathic duties vis this article, we can now turn towards biology. Although Modern Medicine is steeped in experimental approach to its problems, there is neither an animal model of PMS, nor an animal phenomenon that can be so called. So PMS looks like the making of a woman, or women-and-men handling that woman. Hence the propriety of the titles -PMS is either a psychological problem or/and an outcome of fluid-and- electrolyte overload that creates the milieu turbulence, and all its side effects. It cannot be denied that the turbulence is necessary -and-universal human physiology that excites dis-ease in only some, thus making PMS more a psychological issue than a pathological one. Womankind heed thyself, so that you can heal thyself of PMS/PMT.
When no definite regime is really available against a problem, the best solution is to have a robust approach to the so-called problem. A thoughtful book on gynaec endocrinology opined that one of the best ways of overcoming PMS/dysmenorrhoea is for the sufferer to have orgasm either on one's own or through good company. Orgasm-> Decongestion -> Relief. But this is unlikely to be promoted for want of candour and courage.
Man is a moral animal. This majestic, superciliary declaration makes the Indian man multiply from a whopping 30 crores in the forties to an astronomical 92 crores in an India truncated to half the original size. How come? Anyone wanting to have sex must be married; once married, there must be children to stabilize marriage; ergo, whosoever has sex in India adds to its number, problems and degradation. Moralism, religious piosities, and the likes have always been unbiological. What a price to pay - individually, nationally, fiscally and ecologically!
