The Ayurveda Experience Blog
The biggest factor driving PMS is the same as what causes irregular cycle, stress, ‘ama’ and liver dysfunction. The irregular cycle is often linked with premenstrual syndrome.
Every woman may experience premenstrual syndromes differently. Some may feel anxious, others may experience anger while some would be left dealing with depression. Some women may have mood shifts, and others may go into stagnation.
When we look at PMS in the body, we have to look at our stress levels. Are you able to prepare for your activity, engage in it and then recover from it while maintaining your stability?
Other symptom we have is cramping during menses. Vata nature women are the ones that are most likely to experience cramping. This indicates that they have deficiencies in rasa dhatu.
If ‘ama’ is not building enough quality rasa in order to have a high level of fluidity in the endometrial, it’s not sloughing off as easily. Scanty menses is a vata dosha imbalance that creates deficiency in rasa dhatu.
Women don’t typically complain about having scanty menses. But in the context of fertility, scanty menses may indicate that you are not making enough nest for fertilized egg to implant itself.
If you desire a healthy reproductive system, scanty menses indicate that you are under producing rasa dhatu. You might see symptoms of under production of rasa dhatu elsewhere in relation to your body also. You may have dryness of the skin, your lips may crack, you may just have this feeling of dissatisfaction that a person might have if rasa dhatu is deficient.
Heavy or intense menstrual flow is most commonly found alongside pitta imbalance. Pitta is responsible for bringing in excess heat into the tissue. When there is too much heat in the rasa dhatu the body tries to find ways to move that heat out.
As the body is building endometrium, it’s holding heat in the uterus. It’s being held there to get ready to be a nest for the fertilized egg. When the hormone level shifts and it’s time for menstruation to occur, the body is grateful to get the opportunity to dump as much as heat out as it possibly can. This can be uncomfortable for the woman as she begins her cycle with heavy or intense flow for the first two days. It may come along with digestive disturbances and, she may have fast lose elimination. She may just feel more overheated throughout the body.
A long duration menses means kapha imbalance. Kapha nature produces excess tissue, a lot of rasa dhatu is produced. But unlike pitta there is lack of excess heat and thus, there is no urgency in terms of moving of the menses out. This can make the menses last a long duration.
You may feel cooler during menses, and with excess of rasa dhatu in the body there may be some amount of swelling and abdominal bloating. Extra fluid can make you feel kind of complacent and lethargic.
