A lot of women experience a variety of physically and emotionally trying signs every month shortly before menstrual period. Name it, she can feel it - migraine, felling of puffiness, short temper, strong longing for some type of food, even depression. Everybody tries to stay out of her way during these days.

Women displaying this erratic mood have always been teased as being "in that period". Thus PMS has been labeled as such and sometimes women have used it as a justification for being irritable and for generously stuffing themselves with food.

These days though, it has been medically confirmed that premenstrual syndrome or PMS as it is commonly called, truly causes these uncomfortable symptoms physically and mentally because of changes in hormone distribution. This happens within a week or two before the menstruation sets off then the symptoms go away as soon as menstruation starts. This will be a regular occurrence until the woman is still menstruating but sometimes even past menopause.

Generally, women experience these discomforts such as irritability, sensitiveness of the breast, muscle contractions, bloated feeling, from among many others. As much as 150 symptoms linked to PMS have been recorded. Although some women are barely affected by the symptoms, others can hardly function properly during these times. The degree of discomfort may vary from time to time.

The general symptoms of PMS that affect the mental state are all related to mood such as feeling of distress, worry, crying spells, bad temper. Other mental functions are also affected such as becoming absentmindedness and short attention span and lesser want for sex.

The PMS symptoms that affect women physically are exhaustion, restlessness, migraine, pimples, feeling bloated, tenderness of breast, bad stomach, muscle spam, changed bowel activity, strong craving for some types of food, generally sweets and carbohydrate.

There have been no specific studies done to particularly diagnose PMS. Doctors do other tests to discount the possibility of other diseases that may present parallel signs. If they do not point to other diseases and the indications only occur in conjunction with the menstrual period, then it is established that the PMS is the culprit.

Other conditions that may present similar symptoms are anemia, diabetes, hypothyroidism, perimenopause, endometriosis, dysmenorrhea and autoimmune disorders.

For psychological symptoms, the following should be ruled out: eating problems, excessive alcohol intake, physical and mental fatigue, behavioral disorders and adverse effects from birth control pills. Women should keep a monthly journal of the indications to assist the doctor in the diagnosis.

There are still a lot of things to be known about PMS and more studies are initiated to know more about this medical condition. Other factors attributable to this condition are genetic makeup, living conditions, type of food habitually ingested and pressure.