PMS Makes You Crazy — Literally — Research Has Proven

We knew this was coming.

Period pains cause abnormal changes in brain structure, scientists have been able to show.

Which makes most of us ladies, well, abnormal too.

Professor Jen-Chuen Hsieh, from the Institute of Brain Science at National Yang-Ming University in Taipei, observed the changes in the gray matter, but has not yet determined how they occur.

She said:

Our results demonstrated that abnormal GM [gray matter] changes were present in PDM patients even in absence of pain. This shows that not only sustained pain but also cyclic occurring menstrual pain can result in longer-lasting central changes. Although the functional consequences remain to be established, these results indicate that the adolescent brain is vulnerable to menstrual pain. Longitudinal studies are needed to probe hormonal interaction, fast-changing adaptation (intra-menstrual cycle) and whether such changes are reversible or not.

The study was small, comprising only 32 women with cramps and 32 without.

As much as I love being a woman, the constant pain I feel at that time of the month can be pretty distracting. However, I worry that studies like this medicalize normal human processes. Most women I know get cramps, so they must be a pretty normal thing as opposed to an abnormality.

She mentions that “the adolescent brain is vulnerable” which to me says that next she will be looking at producing a high priced drug to give teenage girls over the next couple of years to prevent this “problem” from developing.

Science is great, and I would love some help in the pain department, but I am sick of doctors telling me that women’s bodies aren’t normal.