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, 4 replies, latest was 17 years ago)

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)