No, no, Aunt Flo

I’ve noticed that when you tell men you work at a women’s website, they get this vaguely glazed-over expression and start acting a little shifty, as if they’re afraid you’re about to sit them down and start telling them all about vibrators and breastfeeding and – worst of all – menstruation.

And I gotta say…they are right to be scared. Around here we talk a lot about, well, vibrators. And breastfeeding. And worst of all, menstruation. Hey, we’re girls, we can’t help it. And why should we pretend that there’s not a week (at least) out of every month where we act, completely against our wills, like total raving maniacs? That’s why I am LOVING this new monthly online magazine I just came across. It’s customizable, people. There is a section for every week of your cycle -- from the “must curl up on couch” stage to the “would kill my own granny for a buffalo wing” stage.

Which is a good thing because really, PMS (or PMT or PMDD) is no laughing matter.

As momto2cuties2006 well knows. “About six months after the baby was born, I woke in the night ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS with my husband…Sorry for TMI (too much information) but 2 days later my period came back for the first time since the baby was conceived. So what I was going through was pre menstrual tension… It only took me a month or two to realize that all those emotions were now coming on me like clockwork every month. It didn't mean I could stop them. Just that I knew to wait them out, like a bad flight or a miserable visit from the in-laws. Just to shut up and put up. Of course I didn't always manage it to stay quiet, but I learned to try.”

Exactly -- I think this is what's so hard for the menfolk to understand, right? That even when you know it's just hormonal, you can help the evil moods. You can eat chocolate till the cows come home, but it's not going away.

This very interesting thread is mostly about perimenopause, and how poor coachduke is supposed to survive his wife’s menopausal mood swings AND his teenage daughters’ PMS! (Get this poor man a beer, at least. Yikes!) But I think we can all relate to the weird, totally involuntary mood swings our hormones unleash into our lives. What do you do when the Fury strikes you? How should coachduke deal with his raging women?

And why are you being such a JERK to me?! (Dissolves into weeping fit.)

Oh wait, sorry.

Edited to add: Or maybe PMS is a laughing matter after all! lissap4552 writes, "In my city, the local radio station has something call PMS confessional where women who have done outrageous things because of PMS can call and tell what they did...Was there anything you did that you wouldn't have done if you hadn't been PMS-ing?" And what follows are confessions that you'll have to read to believe. Thanks, Zanna, for the link!