I NEVER had PMS when I was younger. My friend I used to dance with would come go to the dressing room and lay down between shows or sections she was so out of it. I used to think about her and any other friends who had similar symptoms, "It must suck to be U!" This is Karma's way of getting back at me. I didn't used to feel weak or lethargic either and I certainly didn't get moody. Lately it's just been once right B4 it begins, now I need to add DURING. Wow, sucks to be me this time. Physically I don't have any pain so I suppose that's good. Just the moodiness is awful and my flow feels like a river. Getting excited over nothing is stupid. Drama out of nothing. Do men suffer anything similar? My friend is a huge drama king. Time to research this.
YES men do suffer from Irritable Male Syndrome!!!
DIAMOND:
Again, there is the assumption that women are hormonal but men are moved more by logic. But the truth is men are as hormonally driven as women. In fact, men have a number of hormonal cycles:
1) Men's testosterone, for instance, varies and goes up and down four or five times an hour.
2) There are daily cycles with testosterone being higher in the morning and lower at night.
3) Men have a monthly hormonal cycle that is unique to each man, but men can actually track their moods and recognize they are related to hormonal changes through the month.
4) We know that there are seasonal cycles with testosterone higher in November and lower in April.
5) We know about hormonal cycles with males during adolescence, but also the years between 40 and 55 have what we call male menopause or andropause.
6) Finally, we know there are hormonal changes in men going through IMS, related to stress in a man's life.
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| "What we've found is that one of the primary symptoms is denial. That is, men think the problem is anywhere other than in themselves." |
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MEMBER QUESTION: What causes hormones to go out of whack in a man? DIAMOND: There are a lot of things that can make hormones go out of whack. Let's start with something we all do, and that is eating food. If we gain weight, we run the potential of increasing IMS. Here is how it works: In the body, a certain amount of testosterone gets converted to estrogen. Males and females have estrogen and testosterone in our bodies. When we put on weight, our fat cells are more active in converting testosterone into estrogen. The more estrogen we have and the less testosterone we have, the more irritable we become and the less sense of our own manly strength that we have. That's one way they get out of whack.
What we've found is that one of the primary symptoms is denial. That is, men think the problem is anywhere other than in themselves. They think it's their wives, their boss, people on the highway, the people in the White House, anybody but what's going on with themselves. So one of the primary things we help couples do is help men break through the denial. What we know is that depression obviously can be present in people, male or female, who are not experiencing IMS. But we do think depression is a very significant aspect of IMS, and it is often unrecognized in males, because we tend to see irritability and anger and aggression as something that is acted-out behavior or negative behavior. We rarely see how sad and unhappy the men are.
Weepy, Grouchy, Depressed: Irritable Male Syndrome Is Just Like PMS
Pass the ice cream -- guys have their own hormonal problems to deal with
By Jill Provost - May 13, 2013
My husband always knows when I’m getting my period -- even before I do. I complain about being hot, I rage when there’s no chocolate in the cupboards, and sometimes (fine, all the time) I cry over something dumb, like a toilet paper commercial.
Usually, it annoys me that my
PMS-y behavior contributes to the stereotypes of women and our crazy hormones. But in the Best News Ever Department, scientists say it’s not just a wacky female thing. Dudes get grumpy and nutty, too, when their testosterone goes awry. For them it's called IMS -- Irritable Male Syndrome. (Is that like Irritable Bowel Syndrome?)
When do guys go through this cantankerous time? Any time after 30, when their testosterone levels start to slide. Call it
male menopause (maybe a mid-life crisis?). Though they don’t get hot flashes, IMS-addled bros may suffer from crying jags, exhaustion, a flagging sex drive, and a strong urge to buy a red sports car. The psychological toll makes them overcompensate: They rebel, pick fights and pick up 22-year-old strippers as they desperately cling to feelings of masculinity.
The scientist who coined this marvelous term, Dr. Gerard Lincoln, initially observed this change in male sheep. Come wintertime, when testosterone levels fell, the animals’ mood tanked along with it. They became irritable, depressed, disinterested in sex and easily annoyed. Like
humans experiencing sidewalk rage, male rams would get all up in arms (or hooves, if you prefer) if another animal dared walk too slowly in front of him. Brawls ensued. Injuries occurred. The pastoral fields were filled with strife. Lincoln soon realized this irrational lashing out and general churlishness was not limited to sheep. Other male species went through this during the mating off-season. (Maybe guys just need to get laid more!)
Though males of the human sort usually experience IMS in mid-life, they can also go through less perceptible mood swings any time in their life if it’s an especially stressful time. It can make them both cry and laugh more easily. Aww...
So the next time you’re weeping into your Ben & Jerry’s over the unjustness of the world -- read, Sean Lowe being booted from Dancing With the Stars -- pull out an extra spoon and invite your beau to scoot in beside you. He could probably use a good cry and a batch of Chocolate Therapy, too.
So there is justice in the world and it's not just a sucky thing women must suffer. That would be labor!!! I was glad to find this much evidence. Funny that the solutions to all these things include proper diet, exercise, rest and relaxation. Makes too much sense.
