PMS—All in Your Head?

For many years, premenstrual syndrome (PMS) was considered by some in the medical profession to be an emotional weakness, or even an imaginary illness. In 1987, PMS was officially classified as a psychiatric disorder. Now, research by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) suggests that PMS not an emotional problem at all, but a physical disorder of the brain.

Over a decade ago, researchers found that PMS symptoms could be eliminated by suppressing ovarian hormone production with drugs, so it was assumed that the disorder might be due to an imbalance in ovarian hormones near the end of each menstrual cycle. But, the recent NIMH study disproves that theory.

In its study, NIMH researchers gave both PMS sufferers and non-PMS sufferers a drug to suppress their natural ovarian hormones. Then, both groups were given estrogen and progesterone for four weeks. The PMS sufferers experienced their usual symptoms, while the normal women did not develop symptoms. This indicates that women with PMS somehow handle hormones differently than women without the disorder.

Drawing on these findings, researchers now believe that PMS is probably due to genetic abnormalities in the brain receptors for estrogen and progesterone. PMS treatments such as Prozac and other drugs that raise serotonin levels in the brain also suggest that PMS may involve aberrations in brain chemistry.

[Editor: It could be that dietary imbalances, which are known to affect brain chemistry, may cause those women genetically predisposed to PMS to experience symptoms.]   Based on information in: The New York Times, 1-22-98