While most people already know about premenstrual syndrome or commonly called PMS, more than 90% of women share more symptoms that start to appear right before their period. These symptoms are stomachache, bloating, headache, stress, fatigue, and cramping. But there are some women who experience having a flu-like symptom called ‘period flu’. After long being disregarded from a regular condition, most health experts now accept it as a genuine period-related health problem.
Once the ovulation takes place which is the time when your ovaries release the egg, the hormones inside a woman’s body change. The levels of estrogen as well as progesterone decline and as soon as she gets her period, prostaglandins releases in her blood.
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All of these hormones are responsible for shedding the uterus lining and cramps are a sign of it. But that’s uterus lining is not everything that prostaglandins do, it also causes flu-like symptoms that show up in addition to headache, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. This condition is termed as ‘periods flu’.
Some of the women also experience a high body temperature which feels like a fever. But many of them consider it a sign of stress. The medical experts suggest not to ignore the period flu signs because it is not something that is normal or that affects everyone.
The menstrual cycle of a woman represents a well being of her body and it is not supposed to make her feel trash. If a woman experiences unimaginably worse symptoms during her periods, and it feels a lot more than just PMS symptoms, she should get medical help.
Only a physical checkup by a certified doctor can explain what’s going inside the body and if it is just the PMS symptoms or anything else.
Many women question why do they experience these flu-like symptoms during periods. When periods are near, the body undergoes an inflammatory response which is somehow expected as the prostaglandins are responsible for causing inflammation. When they are released, the body has to experience inflammation. But when there is an overproduction of these inflammatory hormones, the situation becomes different and the body shows PMS symptoms.
Some women feel that they are having a fever, nausea, or body pain. All these signs show that the body is undergoing something and mostly, the body shows these signs when there is a pathogenic attack. That’s why many women are unable to differentiate between signs of an infection and pre-period sickness.
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Many factors can change this inflammation for example sleep regulation, diet, stress and physical activity can change the hormonal function and increase or reduce the PMS signs.
There are also chances for taking the period flu symptoms to be early pregnancy signs. But these two are not connected in any way unless when you miss a period or are late on your period.
The only thing that can save from this pre-period sickness is tracking the menstrual cycle and marking the sick days in advance. It will give every woman an idea of what to expect inflammation to affect her body and change her plans, work schedule, and commitments accordingly.
