Hormones are shit.

[Itscrappy]

To think being a woman is just a bit crap?

Painful hard tits up to 2 weeks before my period. PMS, feeling a bit disconnected and generally insane, headaches, and food cravings 5 days before. Also feeling like I’m going to spontaneously combust!

Then when I’m on, it’s total exhaustion, crampy and oddly, Diarrhoea, cue Pepto Bismal jingle.

I feel ok for maybe a week after then around ovulation my nips start to kill and the cycle repeats.

Does generally feeling like complete shit for 3 weeks out of 4 resonate with anyone else. I’m so over it but still have menopause to look forward to.

Same here. Add in my thyroid freaking out a few year ago (oh what a fun hormone rollercoaster that is!) perhaps causing early menopause, my 30's have been a glorious decade.

In the normal week do you get that false sense of security as you feel energised to do all the stuff you couldn't do the previous week's? You get into the swing of having some energy and then bang!
Frustrating doesn't even come close.

total exhaustion, crampy and oddly, Diarrhoea

I recall reading something about this - likely on Mumsnet! - and thinking Oh, thank god, this IS normal and it's NOT just me 😬

One of the many, many things Nobody Tells You about being female. I used to think these information voids were due to the generations before mine being squeamish about discussing personal matters. Now I know it's because the medical establishment completely failed to realise that being female isn't the same as being male, childbirth being a vexing aberration from 'normality' (read: 'maleness'). Bloody idiots. They're catching up, but they'll never really get it until they actually listen to what we're saying in our strangely high-pitched voices.

Yep same. I also have a condition that causes pain in my joints and the week before my period the pain goes from mild to absolute agony and i have to knock myself out with tramadol. My relationship, my work, everything suffers.

Spot on @GarlicSomething !

It’s a side effect that doesn’t get talked about enough. It must be lovely to go about your month without the fluctuations, it’s something men are blissfully unaware of.

I looked it up and weren’t not alone in period poos.

Prostaglandins: Your body releases these chemicals to help your womb shed its lining, but they also trigger muscle contractions and extra fluid in your intestines.
Hormone shifts: A sudden drop in progesterone right as your period starts can further speed up your gut activity.

Like it isn’t messy enough 😂