Conquering PMS Nightmares: 22-Year-Old College Student Finds Relief from Severe Symptoms, Discovers Empowering Tools for Monthly Harmony

Marguerite was 22 years old when she came to see me. She was a college student who suffered from severe PMS each month. She felt irritable and hopeless for about a week before every period. She had tried several medications, including birth control and various depression medications. She was frustrated by taking these medications, which did not change the feelings that she had when she was premenstrual and had side effects that she had to deal with throughout the entire month. She had used acupuncture for headaches in the past and wondered if it would help with her PMS. Marguerite and I talked about her lifestyle, stress level, and the impact of hormones on her sense of well-being. I completed an acupuncture assessment and discovered that Marguerite fit into the category of excess tension and hormonal dysregulation. I explained that acupuncture can help with the hormonal changes that were causing her to feel so unwell around her period. I suggested a plan for her that included acupuncture as well as getting some support from a counselor at her school. She came to each visit and followed the plan that we had laid out. Within the first two cycles of treatment, the length of time that she experienced PMS symptoms decreased from one week to 3 days. In the cycles that followed, it decreased even further, and the intensity also diminished. She felt more and more confident about managing her mood changes around her period. When she left to go home at the end of the semester, she told me that she felt like she had a very solid set of tools for PMS and no longer dreaded the week before her period.