Thread: PMS - An Excuse?

Yea, better be careful if you do that with your actual girlfriend...

Picking fights during that time can turn bloody, no pun intended

and there is just no "winning an argument"

If someone told me I'm cute when I'm mad, the only response I could muster would be "Yeah? Well I'm about to get F**KING ADORABLE!!!!"

But that's just because I'm on my period! D'X

I agree with most other posts. I think the reason it works as an excuse is because males haven't experienced it. A woman can exaggerate as much as she wants because the guy won't know the difference. I think there's also self-deception going on, and agree with the analogy to drunkenness.

I personally hate getting angry, so when I do, it's because I really am. I would never use pms as an excuse. Yes, I feel more emotion than usual during those days, but it isn't some special type of emotion that's uncontrollable. And I don't think I have it as bad as most women. Some months I experience no physical nor emotional symptoms. Advil works for the pain for me. I don't like taking pills, generally, not because I think it's 'unnatural' but because I've realized, from experience, that many pills have unexpected side effects.

Pms doesn't make women feel things they wouldn't have otherwise; it heightens the emotions they would have had anyway. But some guys seem to assume that if a woman is pmsing, all of her expressed emotions are temporary nonsense and should be ignored. It also seems that some males will assume that a woman pmsing is irrational. But any irrationality only results from emotion, and not everyone becomes irrational while emotional.

I also find that males sometimes underrate it. During our class discussion about it, one of the boys turned to me and said "It's only like, three days or something. Pffft..." and just discarded the idea that it can have an effect on females for a decent enough period of time. Mine usually lasts about a week.

Wow a week? I didn't know it was that long. That sucks. However, suppose you have broken your leg, you will have pain for a month, still no excuse to start to making smart-ass comments, just because you have pain in your leg. Ok, a pussy is different than a leg, but I think make a good point here.

Everyone can experience pain and emotions, so I think it is very possible for a man to relate to how a woman might feel. You will never be able to feel it exactly, but then even two woman don't have exactly the same experience.

Originally Posted by ChaybaChayba

Wow a week? I didn't know it was that long. That sucks. However, suppose you have broken your leg, you will have pain for a month, still no excuse to start to making smart-ass comments, just because you have pain in your leg. Ok, a pussy is different than a leg, but I think make a good point here.

That is not where the pain is.

Where is it then? I've never had any periods.

Originally Posted by ChaybaChayba

Where is it then? I've never had any periods.

Hey, an honest mistake to make considering you're male A lot of women mostly get cramps and lower back pain. It's just like a constant ache.

Yeah. My period usually lasts about 6 days. My pain is usually a constant, lower-back burning sensation. At first, I thought "Oh, this is no problem."
But then when I have it for 2-3 days straight with maybe an occasional 15-break, it got unbearable and I couldn't concentrate. Aleve tends to dull it somewhat though.

I agree, though. Any exaggerated emotions I feel are just that; exaggerated emotions. I'd have had them anyway, just perhaps not as severely displayed XD The irritability I experience is triggered by the stupidity that surrounds me at school -_-

I have emotions that I normally would NOT have. Or rather, I wouldn't have them as consistently. I have problems with anxiety and sometimes I go into "shut down" mode. I can't stand anyone touching or hovering over me or even talking to me. Those moods come every once in a while, but when I'm on my period, I have the moods almost all week. I just hide in my room. Thankfully, I'm able to do that lol.
Most of my physical pain, WAS in my crotch. It literally felt like I had been kneed a few hundred times. I thought I had endometriosis or something. It was unbearable. But growing up, my pain was always located at my lower back. And it was a constant ache for me too. I have an incredibly high pain threshold, but that ache was like some weird form of water torture. Drip, drip, drip. Even a drip can drive a person insane.

When I was younger, I always had my period for a week. For the last 6 years or so, I have my period for 3 days, then I'm off it for 1 or 2 days, then I have it again for 3 days. It drives me crazy, but I've gotten pretty much used to it lol Now that the unbearable pain has past, I'm thankful for what's left me!!

The pain (for me) isn't actually that bad, it's just the consistancy that drives me crazy. It's just always there. I'd rather have one big, painful back ache for a few minutes rather than it lasting for what seems like forever.

Emotion wise- I'm more of the cry type than the "attack" people type. This one time i went outside and felt like bawling because it was raining a little bit... Meh...

I get some crotch pain too. Sort of like a tearing, aching sensation in the skin. (Too much information, perhaps, but it's a gruesome subject anyway XD)

I can't stand people hovering over me anyway XD I'm just a person who hates annoying contact and behavior.

I have 4 kids, so hovering sorta comes with the territory lol

The only time I've ever had a tearing sensation was when I was pregnant and towards the end. It felt like the little devils were trying to claw their way out :O

My family has a weird thing: we're not criers unless we're extremely angry. I don't think it's environmental because I'm pretty good at keeping my emotions in check (publicly). I was humored to see my kids displaying the same habit. But my mom and [half] brother do the same thing.
During my period, I get slightly weepy, but mostly I'm just super-sensitive to touch, sound, people, and I'm more grumpy.

I'm also an odd one in that I LOVE rain and snow. My mood peeks during those conditions- period or not

Chayba, the emotional spike or 'smart ass comments' don't all stem from being in pain, it's the charge in our hormones. For a teenager, growing up and going through puberty is no excuse for being an angsty crybaby, but it's not the idea of puberty itself or the transition from pre-teen to teen that makes some of them all crazy, it's the charge in hormones that affects behavior. A woman with more estrogen is going to be more girly, a man with more testosterone is going to be more manly. Hormones play a big part in our everyday lives. I'm not saying that makes it any more acceptable, I just want to clear up the source of the heightened emotion.

Cramps can be anywhere from no pain, to back pain, to pain in the abdominal area, to the sensation of a chain and ball attached to your uterus, weighing you down and slowly ripping your insides out as you walk around. Luckily, pain of that degree is rare and pain that makes a woman pass out is even more rare. It would be interesting to find out if cramps are similar to a guy getting super-sacked.

I have endometriosis. It was explained to me to be cysts that form on my uterus and screw me up in all sorts of fun ways.

For the first week or two before my period I'm completely crippled by my emotions. I'll get so sad or depressed that I actually start to turn to thoughts of suicide regardless of how I feel about it on a regular day. Eventually the depression slowly fades into this boiling uncontrolled rage. What makes these emotions even worse and more frustrating is that I know they're caused by my period, I know they're senseless and there's no reason for them, but all the logic and understanding in the world doesn't seem to make them stop and there is literally no outlet great enough that I can vent them. Even medication does very little to help ease it. I've gotten so violently angry before that I've punched a wall until my fist bled (though I've only ever gotten violent with inanimate objects like the wall and my iPod. It's a wonder my electronics survive as long as they do). Most of the time I have to stop talking to people and completely isolate myself for fear of upsetting anyone. The slightest little thing can set me off. It's hard to make someone understand just how little control you can have over yourself. It's like you're in a machine stuck on autopilot and no matter what you do you can't seem to regain control.

Of course then the actual period starts and my emotions give way to a whole bunch of other fun things like debilitating cramps, the inability to eat without getting horribly sick, the skin aches, the headaches, the insomnia followed by the desire to do nothing but sleep....

I agree that I'm sure there are women that take their periods as an easy excuse to get away with stuff that they normally couldn't, but I like to give them the benefit of the doubt anyway just in case they're someone like me who really does have no control. And believe me I hate it. If I could I would get myself spayed.