PMS = Poor Me Syndrome?
I once had a doctor who referred to PMS as “poor me syndrome”.
At first, I was a little taken aback, annoyed even. A bit, “that seems a little bit unfair!”.
However, after many menstrual cycles, here are my thoughts:
In the months where I have basically looked after myself (enough sleep, food, movement, nature time, and time with people I love), it’s like my body gives me a little wave just to say, “hey Queen, your period is on its way” 🫶🏼
In the months where I have been working like a maniac, not sleeping enough, eating enough, moving enough or essentially just not taking care of my basic needs, PMS is more like, “RED ALERT! RED ALERT! THE PERIOD IS COMING”. 🚨
It’s an unmistakeable shift from glowing and feeling like a goddess, to being overwhelmed, stressed, irritated, super teary, bloated, tired and exasperated by everyone who seems to need something from me 🙄🤬🫠
To get back to the “poor me” contemplation, what I think this means in the context of PMS is, “when I don’t meet my basic needs and then it comes time to rest and take a moment to go inward (pre- and during period time), it’s extremely hard to do this without feeling the debt I’ve put myself in. And gosh, after all the giving I’ve been doing, it would be so nice for someone to take care of me for a change! Poor me!”
It’s infinitely important to pay attention to your menstrual cycle.
It’s there to remind us that we have this amazing capacity as women to traverse a stunningly complex, beautiful and sophisticated journey through all the different parts of us every single month.
It’s an invitation from our bodies to get to know ourselves intimately, practice how we want and need to be in the world at each different stage of the cycle, and it TELLS us when we need to fill up our own cup more.
In my opinion, a barometer that gives us clear information about how we are tracking each and every month is a gift.
However, learning how to read what PMS is telling us takes some practice and generally at least a few lifestyle tweaks.
Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine can be helpful if you need some extra support to soothe the nervous system, boost resources and turn your PMS into a loving wave rather than an alarm.
Need some help to turn the volume down on PMS? Get in touch or book here!