h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

since having chemotherapy when I was 33 I don't have PMS or any other kind of M for that matter. When I found out that my hormones were defunct, I was quite upset "Oh no! I'm old, I'm withered, I'm wrinkly", but I've done the hot flush thing and now I'm fine! OK, so I'm a bit more wrinkly than I used to be but ain't we all? So I'm glad to be out of that two or three days of bursting into tears, dropping stuff and tripping over matchstalks, I take my calcium tablets and do plenty of exercise. I think exercise is actually one of the best ways of beating PMS too, or so I've read.

Red wine and chocolate...both contain iron (the darker the chocolate the better though the milk sort FEELS more comforting!). This shouldn't work until you are actually bleeding but somehow it does.

Loving yourself. Oh I know, Yuk, yuk, yuk, but the misery angle is all about resentment and not feeling understood or appreciated so if I feel like s*** I go out and do something wonderful even if it's just picking flowers by a railwayline. Actually, I BUY myself flowers.
And, being a mean b****** I wait until Fridays when you can get huge bunches of lilies at T***o's half price.

Retail therapy: When I was broke, I started going round charity shops in Golders Green and Hampstead. Wow! There are some amazing things there. Actually some of them just make you laugh but that's a good thing too. I still go...you should see the second hand Minks!

Apparently Cirencester's the very best place for Charity shops as Princess Anne sends all her used stuff there!

Also, aromatherapy oils in the bath. If you want to know which ones work best you could ask Bernadette on 360 A742745. She's an aromatherapist and she knows all about hellish periods!

Chocolate, caffine and a good book. Oh and everyone leaving me alone.
Not overly sociable way of coping with it, but it works.

I never noticably got PMS until the last couple of years....I used to wonder what my big sister used to moan about...but now there are days when there is noting more you want to do than curl up in bed and have a good cry.....

The Pill also helps, at least with the pain.

However, even though I don't actually want the whole kids thing, it must be terrible to have it taken away from you....OK, so it's a pain int he neck, and other places, but it's something that does signify the whole 'woman' thing. And there ain't nothing overly bad about being a woman.

There are a couple of great songs by a band called Saffire - the uppity blues women, that sums up the above attitiudes...must go find and quote....

*wanders off to the CD collection*

If you can't get your head round actually reading somehting, watching a really stupid video helps, preferably one that is either:
a) soppy
b) meant for children
c) one you've seen a billion times before

plus the chocolate.

I heard pineapple juice is good for cramps, although that's not very *P*MT.

OK gals..this seems an opportune moment...can anyone suggest anything for headaches and paranoia.....??

These are the two things that I can never control.... Nothing like going through three days with your fur up..

Okay, headaches and paranoia...

Are you a Scorpio, or do you know any other astrological placings in your chart? Because Scorpio suns and Moons are particularly prone to paranoia. I jest not...

If you want to find out, I can find out for you. If not, not!

Magnesium is actually good for paranoia and all sorts of fears - it may be that your adrenal gland is slightly stressed - all sorts of reasons might cause that. Making sure you have a mouthful of protein each morning at breakfast will go a long way to sorting that out.

Vitamin C can also help. Take 1000m a day instead of the recommended 500m. It can't hurt you - excess Vit C is flushed out of the system automatically.

Headaches can be allergies - or they can be simple dehydration. If your pee is any darker than light straw, you could use more water.

Headaches also can be caused by chocolate and cheese but as both those are delicious, all other alternatives should be addressed first

Capricorn.....17th Jan 1977...go ahead...I'm interested....

I know I don't look after myself properly..and more liquid and vit's and minerals would probably go a long way to helping...but I'm the sort of person who can't actually take pills without gagging...

I'v found that a lack of choccie, cheese, alcohol etc can actually cause migraines...rather than the having of them...

Thans Maggy...I'll give it all a go...

there is more vit C in a strawberry than in an orange

Instead of pills just eat a pack of strawberries a day

The tablets would be cheaper...But I'd rather the strawbs.....

I quite agree about the lack being worse...!

Try more water though. It's cheap and fairly easy to get down without tablets.

Natural magnesium occurs in all the foods you 'should' eat - veggies, fruit, wholewheat stuff. You can see a list on http://www.cc.nih.gov/ccc/supplements/magn.html#table - if you really want to!

Nothing obvious about paranoia in your chart - but you were born in Falkirk and I don't have the lat and long at work. Do you have time of birth? That would help. Within a couple of hours will do.

I'll run it past AstroLion who is 360's astrologer and a seriously good bloke and get back to you on your own space.

Incidentally, do you put your foot in your mouth a lot - or do you get tongue tied? - you've got a couple of configurations which could either cancel themselves out and make you (fairly!) normal or could make talking to you a seriously exciting experience!

Actually, there's a fair amount of magnesium in chocolate AND peanut butter. Way-to-go!

Only take that foot out to insert the other. My friends get used to me.....

Most of the time, in new company, I end up not saying anything...or actually being unable to remember/pronounce words.....A very interesting experience I promise you...

Oh, and 16:48.

Well, it sounds olde style new worldy but yoga really helps the mental and physical crap that is PMS, at least - it works for me....

Hmmm. I found Falkirk (was that wise?). Can't be very accurate without time - but you have Pluto in Libra square to Mars in Capricorn which is enough to make anyone paranoid. Also some quincunxes (isn't that a great word. In real-speak it means aspect-that-feels-like-a-stone-in-your-shoe.)

So paranoia is fairly normal. However, you're very brave - or have the capability to be so - and once you love, you'll love forever. And there are no limits to your capability to experience or give pleasure.

So there!

I'm only a baby astrology-wise - but I talked to AstroLion who's a bit of a star (pun) in that area and a professional to boot and he said he'd be happy to talk to you. Just go to his personal space - U188047 if you want to.

Very cool Maggy.... Now I have an excuse for the paranoia...

And I was born 16:48


I shall go chat to AstroLion

My PMS was never very bad till my last year of high school (two years ago), and it tends to fluctuate with stress-- to the point where I don't notice it and also the exact opposite-- where I sit bawling my eyes out for no reason whatsoever (very rare). Stuff I find helps...

~I have no idea why, but really does do something. Maybe it's that it releases endorphins and stimulates the pleasure center of your brain.
~If I know I'm PMSing, especially when I'm undergoing lots of stress, I try to set aside some time for me to just goof around and do nothing-- or at least do something I *want* to be doing-- writing, reading, listening to music, watching a movie, etc. I also try to get a bit more sleep cause that tends to have an effect-- plus I've yet to have ever slept through the first night of my period without having to get up-- so I'm banking up for nights I know I will lose.
~I'm parinoid to a certain degree to begin with, but to battle the onslaught of irrationality, I try as hard as I can to simply think things through logically-- it takes a lot of control, but it does work for me.

Also, cause it helps later on, eating things rich in iron is always good. Since such things can be hard to come by at my uni, I pray every month they'll have sprouts at the right time-- cause they do me a world of good.

Embaressing story:
Couple of months ago, I was at school and was just having a rather stressful week and also, unbeknownst to me, PMSing (unbeknownst cause I'd miscounted weeks and thought I had at least one more to go)-- and some random calculus assignment just ticked me off and threw me into an emotional warzone for the next 72 hours. I actually stayed online for 4 hours talking to and crying at my mom and one of my friends at a uni down the road. I felt better the next morning, but still decided to leave a note for my boyfriend (who lives on the other side of the Pond) to get in touch with me when he could-- who, I swear, was scared out of his wits that night when he finally got ahold of me. After all that-- and involving several other people as well cause I couldn't figure out what in the world was wrong with me-- a few days later I eventually had to go around telling every single one of them "you know the other night I was a basket case? Well... " Rather embaressing.

I've done similar myself....Wansdeing round all in a tizz, knickers in a knot etc and not noticing...

And blokes think we always do it on purpose (not always guys...just most of the time......

I turn into a complete and utter control freak; telling everyone how to do things and wanting everything to be done perfectly and exactly how I want it, I must be a nightmare to put up with!
Bananas are meant to be good, they contain lots of potassium and are meant to help with the depression. Chocolate,of course, and if I feel like I'm craving anything I eat it/drink it as I'm sure my body must be telling me it needs a certain chemical (probably all in the mind but denying yourself something you want doesn't help for those few days).
I also find my concentration shrinks to nothing so I fidget around trying to find something interesting to do, whilst working and studying well become an impossibility.

I've also found that simply eating a half-way decent diet helps some, too. At uni, that's near to impossible just because of the nature of the food we're served, so my PMS is worse there than it is at home. I try to have something greenish at least once a day at school (more vitamins and minerals the better-- means poking at the things on the vegitarian bar to see if they're safe to eat), plus a piece of fruit (hopefully not too dangerous), and then something not too terribly bad as a main course type thing.

This is, of course, complicated by the fact that only certain things at my uni's cafeteria should be trusted... and the fact that I worked there for a semester so it's hard for me to separate the way I *know* things are prepared from the actual eating of them.

I mentioned it in another list ... both my mum and I get incredibly stroppy if we haven't eaten because we have a fast metabolism and this can cause mild hypoglycaemia (one of whose symptoms is heightened anger). (I'm male btw) Anyway, it completely makes sense that replacing glucose and sugar supplies (e.g. with chocolate ... mmmm ... chawwklitt) will alleviate the strop, while replacing other lost nutrients would help other things.

A couple of possibilities:

- Can someone compile a list of proteins and stuff required during pregnancy? I'm prepared to bet that eating extra of these will help ... (I'm also prepared to bet that eggs will help, because they're so groovy)
- Since you are losing blood, why not drink replacement plasma? 5 tsps sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1 litre water. Although it does taste grim. But they recommend it for other fluid loss.

Either way, good luck.

Oh, wait! Bananas. Because they're so cool.

So banana and chocolate crepes