I Thought My PMS Was Getting Worse With Age—Turns Out, It’s Perimenopa – Cora

My story of worsening PMS woes.

It didn’t take many months of bleeding to figure out my period was a bit more of a nuisance than I had originally thought it would be. For three days each month, I needed to remember to pack pads in my backpack and attentively monitor my underwear so that the blood didn’t soak through my pleated school skirt. Luckily, my periods never took over my life. I would be a bit tearful the day before I came on, had mild cramping on the day I started, and then three days of light bleeding. Not too bad a sacrifice for my womanhood. 

Now at 32-years-old, with three children in tow, my PMS symptoms seem to be taking over the majority of each month. Two weeks before I bleed, I can’t figure out why I am incredibly tired, falling asleep while I read nighttime stories to my kids at 7:30. During the night, I wake up with sweat lining my sheets and pajamas, even with a fan blowing directly on me all night. 

One week out, I feel incredibly irritable with the world, especially with my husband and kids. Crying comes like second nature and a torrent of tears follows even the simplest difficulty. Pimples come out to play, wreaking havoc on my otherwise fairly spotless skin. 

Three days prior to bleeding, my stomach swells with gas, so much so that it fools me into thinking I must be pregnant. Finally, my sex drive plummets and it’s then I take my body’s hint–my period is coming. 

Sure enough, the bleeding begins. Still quite light and short-lived, no different than when I was young. Since I use a menstrual cup, my bleeding doesn’t inhibit me from going about my normal day-to-day schedule. Once all the blood has emptied out of my body, I’m left ravenous for food and intimacy for the better part of a week. A few days in neutral land, and then the process starts all over again. 

This increasing severity of PMS symptoms got me thinking. Does PMS get worse with age?