Premenstrual Symptoms Getting On Your Nerves?
December 20, 2007
For some women premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a minor monthly annoyance, but for
others, more severe symptoms seriously disrupt their lives. However despite the
number of women affected, science has yet to offer a full explanation or
universal treatment. Now intriguing new findings published in the online open
access journal BioPsychoSocial Medicine suggest not only that PMS is tied
to decreased nerve activity each month, but also that those with extreme
symptoms may have a permanently depressed nervous system.
A team of Japanese researchers led by Tamaki Matsumoto from the International
Buddhist University in Osaka investigated whether the activity of the autonomic
nervous system, which plays a vital role in equilibrium within the human body,
changed during the menstrual cycle. The team measured heart rate variability and
hormone levels and used questionnaires to evaluate physical, emotional and
behavioural symptoms accompanying 62 women's menstrual cycles.
For the parameters Matsumoto's team was testing, the control group with little
or no menstrual symptoms did not vary during the month. However women suffering
from PMS saw results reflecting autonomic and parasympathetic nerve activity
decrease significantly in the late luteal phase, which precedes menstruation.
Those with the most marked symptoms (known as premenstrual dysphoric disorder)
had lower rates of nerve activity than the other groups during the entire
menstrual cycle.
"Our findings indicate that the occurrence of premenstrual symptomatology
could be attributable to an altered functioning of the autonomic nervous system
in the symptomatic late luteal phase," says Matsumoto. For women with PMDD,
findings indicate that sympathovagal activity was altered even in the follicular
phase. Matsumoto asks: "Does this imply that women with lower autonomic
function regardless of the menstrual cycle are vulnerable to more severe
premenstrual disorders? At the moment, the underlying biomechanisms of PMS
remain enigmatic."
PMS comprises myriad non-specific physical, emotional, behavioural, and
cognitive symptoms that occur in the days prior to menstruation and is nearly
omnipresent in women of reproductive age from all cultures and socio-economic
levels. The most prevalent symptoms include: irritability, mood lability,
depression, anxiety, impulsivity, feelings of "loss of control,"
fatigue, decreased concentration, abdominal bloating, fluid retention, breast
swelling, and general aches.
Notes
1. Altered autonomic nervous system activity as a potential etiological factor
of premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder
Tamaki Matsumoto, Takahisa Ushiroyama, Tetsuya Kimura, Tatsuya Hayashi, Toshio
Moritani BioPsychoSocial Medicine http://www.bpsmedicine.com/
2. BioPsychoSocial Medicine is an open access, peer-reviewed online
journal that encompasses all aspects of the interrelationships between the
biological, psychological, social, and behavioral factors of health and illness.
BioPsychoSocial Medicine is the official journal of the Japanese
Society of Psychosomatic Medicine.
3. BioMed Central is an independent online publishing house committed to
providing immediate access without charge to the peer-reviewed biological and
medical research it publishes. This commitment is based on the view that open
access to research is essential to the rapid and efficient communication of
science.
http://www.biomedcentral
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