Prementrual Syndromes

Extract

[...] The anesthetic/anxiolytic steroids act to increase GABA action. To explain the role of progesterone in the development of PMS, the suggestion was made that the extent of extrahepatic metabolism of progesterone to selected bioactive metabolites may be dissimilar among women, and there may be a close correlation between the metabolic fate of progesterone in a given woman and the recurrence of luteal phase disabilities (MacDonald and associates, 1991). This theory evolved from the findings that the fractional conversion of progesterone to deoxycorticosterone varies by 30-fold among women (but is constant in the same woman from time to time), and selected 5a-reduced metabolites of progesterone are bioactive as anxiolytic/anesthetic agents. [...]

[...] Moreover, the sex hormone- induced biochemical and morphological antecedents of menstruation, eventuating in intense vasospasm of the endometrial spiral arteries, and culminating in the near-complete shedding of the endometrium, provide a unique physiological finale to this cycle. Nonetheless, and even though ovulation is the penultimate in ovarian physiological achievement, the repetition of this process at approximately monthly intervals (followed by menstruation) may not be considered the evolutionary norm, however universal these phenomena may be among young women. PROGESTERONE AND PMS. [...]

[...] PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROMES A variety of maladies, sometimes disabling, beset many ovulatory women in a recurrent manner during the luteal phase of each ovarian cycle. Although the biological basis for this association is not defined, evidence points to a causal relationship between progesterone secretion and withdrawal and the development of these premenstrual syndromes (PMS). As reviewed by MacDonald and associates (1991), symptoms include disorders in mood, behavior, and physical well-being. Commonly, there is a characteristic cluster of the same symptoms in a given woman month after month. [...]