PMS - Pre Menstrual Syndrome
Does it exist, do any Betan ladies suffer from this, and if you do, do you admit to it? Or do any Betan men suffer the fall out from it? The wiki page on it is quite interesting and tries to put an evolutionary spin on it, which I think is pretty believable.

"A variety of evolutionary rationales for the syndrome have been offered, including that it is an epiphenomenon due to the selective advantage accruing to other phases of the hormonal cycle, that it leads to "intensification of male ardour during the next onset of fertility", and that it prompts females to reject infertile males (who cause PMS due to not impregnating the female). "… an infertile male/potentially fertile female partnership would tend to break down, thus allowing a new pair-bond to be formed. The greater the degree of premenstrual hostility of the female, the sooner a fertile mating could ensue." Any theory would have to account for the persistence of PMS over substantial evolutionary time, as it appears to afflict baboons as well."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premenstrual_syndrome
(Cancer Joy was short lived, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 10:56, 42 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

Is this about mental women?
Give me all your questions - I wrote the fucking book on 'em.

EDIT that's an interesting and plausible explanation there.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:01, Reply)

Fall out, yes
It was messy.
(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:03, Reply)

You're supposed to fully insert the tampon.

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:05, Reply)

Ha!

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:05, Reply)

"Sit on my face, and tell me that you love me..."

(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:13, Reply)

Never suffered with it.
I get dysmenorrhoea so instead of everyone around me suffering, I have to instead.
( girlinthehole, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:06, Reply)

Things ending in -rrhoea
Are never good.
( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:13, Reply)

I get grumpy around my beeriod
does that count?
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:11, Reply)

Covers head to await the inevitable flaming that will ensue . . .
I don't believe in it.
I admit there will probably be times during the month when pain/hormones will make you feel less than 100%, but I don't accept a few of my (female) colleagues using it as an excuse to rip someone a new bumhole - because "it's that time of the month." Perhaps I'm lucky - I don't seem too affected by it, however if I KNEW that every 28 days I'd be grumpy, sad, homicidal, whatever, shouldn't I make a conscious decision to avoid making it worse, or possibly (if it's possible - remember, I don't get it) to exert some conscious control over it?
I compare it to being on-call for a week straight, with little sleep, and poor mealtimes. No excuse for being nasty then either (doesn't stop some people).

I like the evolutionary explanation, by the way - it may explain why the rush of hormone withdrawal (which is what it is at the commencement of a period) makes you feel like shit - negative reinforcement. If you don't want that feeling again, have a baby. Nature knows how to keep itself going . . .
( Mrs Legless . . . belongs to, well, you know . . . :), Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:11, Reply)

I believe in it.
With three sisters and a best friend who do suffer with it, I'm fully aware of how much it changes someone.

You can no more exert any conscious control with it than you can when you're drunk.

My best friend used to get really nasty and was mortified with herself afterwards for some of the things she said.
( girlinthehole, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:15, Reply)

This may be somethig different . . .
if your friend can't remember what she's done, it may not be garden-variety PMS. I have vague recollections of a disorder we were taught in Psychiatry - a form of hormone-induced psychosis. If that's the case, it's a very different beast . . . and real.
( Mrs Legless . . . belongs to, well, you know . . . :), Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:25, Reply)

She remembers everything.
She just can't understand why she would say those things.
( girlinthehole, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:31, Reply)

Quick check of the symptoms . . .
there are a slew of names for this . . . and it's not common.
It's actually a spectrum of disorders - bugger, I'm not at home to look up my old textbooks.
Have a link:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PMDD
The list of symptoms is interesting. Maybe seeing someone who knows more about it than I do (undergraduate Psychiatry) could be useful.
( Mrs Legless . . . belongs to, well, you know . . . :), Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:36, Reply)

As a man, there was no fucking way I was going to say it first
But I have definitely had it trotted out by exes as an excuse for being moody, aggressive, mental cows. However when this condition is pretty much permanent the Roger Moore eyebrow of suspicion is raised...
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:16, Reply)

My 'problem' is that the missus,
refuses to accept that she has a problem, and that it is just ME. Despite the fact that she usually just sets up a situation that will inevitably annoy me enough that i will then be annoyed and defend myself/retaliate, thereby giving her all the ammunition she needs to launch her WMD, Words of Mass Destruction. Other times she bypasses this and just settles into a bile fest, focusing on past misdemeanours and failings and amplifying them beyond belief.

All this despite the fact that it happens with alarming regularity, in the past i have even plotted her cycle months in advance and highlighted the 'flash points' and then try to organise various things to avoid these times. Seriously.
(Cancer Joy was short lived, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:28, Reply)

Shit mate you've a bit of a problem there, eh?
At least in my experiences the sufferer has acknowledged the issue. In one case she spent loads of money on Evening Primrose tablets - they only helped a little bit.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:33, Reply)

All I can say
is you are extremely lucky. I've posted what happens to me further down so I won't repeat it here, but don't dismiss what you don't have, just be thankful for it. PMS is a medically recognised condition, so this is like saying you don't believe in AIDS or cancer.
Apeface x
(The Apeface Cherub is not a cunty-uber-cunt, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 12:23, Reply)

PMS
a.k.a mad cow disease
(b3tamax Mate, you're fat and I'll throw you in the river, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:11, Reply)

My mad aunty (Sweety/Darling)
calls it "not well".
She used to prowl into Nana's living room looking for her next victim, hiss "I'm notttt welllll..." and then smirk as she watched the family perform the domestic equivalent of the anxious townsfolk of Dodge City hurriedly pulling down the shutters. They 'd try to appear as busy as possible, but then one poor lone elk would have eye contact, and a scene from the exorcist would ensue.

I personally just think she's a mad twat.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:19, Reply)

Bitches be trouble.
This is a fact.
(The Boy Monders I have ginger bits in my beard., Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:22, Reply)

Schoolly D said it best
www.youtube.com/watch?v=u73booz-lHo

*ahem*
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:24, Reply)

Fuck PMS!
We have breasts!
( girlinthehole, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:26, Reply)

HOLY SHIT!!

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:27, Reply)

Hooray for boobies!

( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:27, Reply)

Fuck boobies - fuck Compton!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iddj5XK1OuA
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:35, Reply)

I don’t tend to be mean to people
but I do feel like crap for two whole day. I also feel really hot as well and people will irritate me a lot more easily but I won’t usually act on it… ask DiT… he’ll probably tell you I’m an evil bitch! Hehe
(Flim-Flam the Magnificent "You is talking loco and I like it!", Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:43, Reply)

my missus gets a bit irrational sometimes
it's better now she's stopped with the hormonal contraception stuff.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:49, Reply)

Does the pill make us bonkers?

( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:51, Reply)

some of you
she had the implant for a while too. made her irrational, gain weight, and lose sex drive. Using condoms is a small price to pay for not having to deal with those things.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:53, Reply)

yeah.
messed with my head something shocking.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:57, Reply)

Marvelon?

( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:58, Reply)

yes, I'd say it exists.
I've had it. Even if I hadn't, I'd still believe it exists given the hormonal changes that take place in women's bodies every month. Some people will be more susceptible to those changes than others.

Saying you don't think it exists because you don't have personal experience of it is like saying you don't think depression can be that bad since you've never felt that low yourself. And, like depression, it can be over- or mis-diagnosed, and some people deal with it as silently as possible while others may milk it for all it's worth. And saying we should choose not to be like that is rather akin to telling someone with depression that they should think positively.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 11:56, Reply)

Hear hear
I suffer very badly with my periods. I am sick (actual puking), I have night sweats and severe fatigue. My pains are so bad I double over and sometimes throw up. Mood-wise, I can be laughing until I cry one minute and then, well, crying the next. Actual proper weeping. I also don't want to see or talk to anyone for the first day and some days I just can't see the bright side for anything.
I can no more control these things than I can breathing or doing a poo. I'm hoping now I'm going to have my first-born child of satan then these symptoms might go away in the future. I've been given anti-depressants in the past to deal with my period symptoms. Girls who don't have these things have no idea how fecking lucky they are.
(The Apeface Cherub is not a cunty-uber-cunt, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 12:17, Reply)

The pill has meant the pain/heaviness/nausea /irregularity has gone
But I fear it's making me bonkers now!
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 12:40, Reply)

^ This
For me it's akin to someone saying "Smile it might never happen". What if it already has though chuckles?
( fuck shit up the best you never had, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 12:34, Reply)

The missus doesn't seem to get stroppy or moody very often.
However, she does lose all capacity to function like a normal human being for four days, and does stupid things like put the washing in the fridge.

That, and an overwhelming desire to buy pink lipstick and nail varnish. Our house is like Boots, with thousands of unopened bottles of bloody make up products lying around. It's not the moods I'm frightened of, it's going bankrupt!
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Thu 26 Nov 2009, 12:13, Reply)

I do several of those things
But I thought I just took after my Nana.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 12:16, Reply)

As a Doctor I would like to point out...
...that menstruation is not beautiful, natural or a celebration of femininity - it is weird, scary and all sorts of wrong.

Blood is supposed to remain inside the body and I learnt that way before my stint at St Barts.

Women for centuries have been able to brush this ailment under the carpet and keep the men in blissful ignorance - now with all this sharing of 'feelings' and 'open communication' between the sexes the magic is being lost.

To conclude - if you see a woman buying Tampons she is probably a witch.
(Tugnut Ex of this parish, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 13:34, Reply)

Don't
have it myself though during the period itself I'll be pretty irritable mostly due to the pain, and have a lower tolerance of stupidity. But I definitely think it exists- especially with women who get really bad periods.

Also the next person who says 'I don't trust something that bleeds for four days and doesn't die,' and actually thinks it is funny will get the shit kicked out of them. It might have been funny the first time, but it really isn't now
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 14:52, Reply)

I know enough
to avoid the house as much as possible when my sister is "Walking Through a Field of Wildflowers in Soft Focus"

Whether it's "real" or if she just enjoys being even more of a demon spawn hellbitch than usual I don't really care.
(bill, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 15:56, Reply)

Oh yes.
It exists.
(Melody was not PMSing on, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 16:38, Reply)

Don't fucking argue with her!

(Tugnut Ex of this parish, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 16:58, Reply)