WHAT IS PMS?
PMS stands for premenstrual syndrome in which you experience some emotional and physical symptoms like anxiety, mood swings, food cravings, fatigue, headache, breast tenderness, sadness, acne, and many more. In general, PMS symptoms occur around one to two weeks before your periods and disappear within 2 days when your period starts. These symptoms may vary from women to women, as many women feel little signs while very few women feel severe signs of it. These severe PMS symptoms are called as PMDD (Premenstrual dysphoric disorder) that affect your health and daily activities. In this case, you need to consult your doctor and take proper treatment.
The actual CAUSE of PMS is unknown but some of the suggested causes are:
- imbalance in estrogen-progesterone hormones
- higher level of prolactin hormone in the blood
- low blood sugar
- psychogenic factors
Some of the tips which may help you ease little symptoms of PMS are as follows:
- Eat a well-balanced diet with lots of fruits and veggies
- Drink plenty of water or other fluids to ease cramps or bloating
- Exercise regularly, which helps in physical and mental fitness
- Take proper supplements like vitamin B-6, vitamin-D, folic acid, calcium, and magnesium, which helps to reduce these symptoms
- Stress is the main root cause of hormonal imbalance, so try to reduce stress and make yourself happy.
WHAT ARE THE EARLY SYMPTOMS OF PREGNANCY?
When the fertilized egg successfully implants in the lining of the uterus, then pregnancy happens. No doubt that pregnancy test is the full proof of your pregnancy, but before you conduct any test there are some symptoms that give you hope or hint that you are pregnant. Some of the early signs of pregnancy are morning sickness, breast tenderness, spotting, cramps, food cravings, missed periods, frequent urination, fatigue, bloating, constipation, and many more.
Actually the symptoms of PMS and early pregnancy symptoms are quite similar, especially when you have irregular periods. Then it gets difficult to diagnose if you are pregnant or just have PMS symptoms. As many women get confused between the two, so to understand the difference between the two, read till the end.
WHAT ARE THE COMMON SYMPTOMS OF PMS AND EARLY PREGNANCY?
Let’s look at the list of signs/symptoms which are similar in PMS and early pregnancy:
- Mood Swings: Mood changes like anxiety, mood swings, irritability, feeling hopeless and depression are common to both either your period is approaching i.e. PMS or you are pregnant.
- Breast Tenderness: In both the cases, either before periods or pregnancy, your breasts feel heavy, swollen, sore, and sensitive. It is because of the changing hormones.
- Back Pain: Again this symptom is common in both the cases. You’ll experience back pain either you are pregnant or your period is approaching.
- Constipation: As the hormones change during early pregnancy that affects your digestive system and cause cramps and constipation. On the other side, progesterone level gets high on the second half of the menstrual cycle, which is the main reason of constipation before periods.
- Headache: Headaches and muscle aches are also experienced before periods or when you are pregnant.
- Fatigue: You’ll feel low, tired, and trouble sleeping when progesterone level is high in your body. These hormonal changes happen in both the cases, before your period is going to start or if you are pregnant.
- Food Cravings: Food cravings are also common in both the cases. In PMS, many women crave for some sweet or fatty foods due to changes in hormones. While during pregnancy, many women crave for some specific foods and craving is very intense.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SYMPTOMS OF TWO?
Following are some of the symptoms which will help you understand the two in the better way i.e. you’ll experience these symptoms in early pregnancy while these symptoms are missing in case of PMS:
- Missed Periods: In general, missed period is a sure sign of pregnancy until you have some other medical issue. You can have your pregnancy test if your period is 1 week late than your onset time. But in case of PMS, you will have your normal periods.
- Morning Sickness: If your periods are delayed and you feel nauseous/vomit at any time of the day, then there is a high chance that you are pregnant. Most of the women feel morning sickness during early pregnancy. While on the other hands, nausea and vomiting are not the symptoms of PMS.
- Spotting: During pregnancy, some women experience little spotting which is called as implantation bleeding which is very light and indicates pregnancy. But PMS does not cause spotting, only menstrual bleeding happens that lasts for around 4-5 days.
- Darkening Of The Areola: Hormonal changes during early pregnancy i.e. high level of the estrogen level in the body makes the nipple and areola darker and larger. While on PMS, no such areola changes are seen.
- Smell Sensitivity: It is also one of the early sign of pregnancy which are experienced by some women but not by all. Some women get very sensitive to some particular smells which makes them feel nauseous or vomit. In PMS, no such sensitivity is experienced.
Only healthy lifestyle i.e. regular exercise and a well-balanced diet will help your body to cope up with these hormonal changes in body i.e. either before your periods or during pregnancy. It doesn’t mean that you’ll not experience those symptoms, it’s just your body can easily handle those changes. Just make your periods or pregnancy happy by adopting a good lifestyle. To differentiate the two becomes confusing due to lack of knowledge. But with proper knowledge and understanding, you can easily differentiate between the symptoms of both. Hope this article will help you understand the two in a better way.