by Lorelai George

Created on: May 16, 2008

One thing that I have never fully understood about PMS is how women have it at a certain time of the month, whilst men seem to have it all month long. I have many female friends who are on edge around that time of the month, but males are often a lot jumpier than their female counterparts. When I spoke to one of my male friends about this, he pointed out that women have an excuse, whereas males don't, so maybe it's not that they're any more or less on edge, it's just that it's more noticed in males because they don't have a valid excuse. Which is a valid point.

If men did have PMS however, it would be interesting to see how they coped. Science suggests that women have a higher threshold of pain because they have to go through childbirth and periods, so would men find it more painful than women? Would they "take it like a man", or would they be curled up into a little ball, crying out for a hot water bottle and a teddy bear?

On the other hand, what would life be like if females didn't have PMS? I think almost every woman would rejoice. Sure, there'd be no more reason to be on edge once a month, but there'd be no more sanitary towels or tampons, no more stomach cramps or hot water bottles. It'd save a fortune! All the more money to spend on clothes, I say.

Think about it though. How much money do you spend on periods a year? It's not just the purchasing of sanitary towels and tampons, it's painkillers, the water to fill the hot water bottle and bath, all the chocolate you eat, the list piles up, but because it's that time again, you don't care.

Have you ever noticed how male shop assistants always seem to cringe if they serve you when you buy feminine hygiene products? Have they ever thought how WE feel buying them from them? We don't want to buy them in the first place! There's really no need to pick it up as though it's diseased or a dead animal, it won't bite!

What about animals with PMS? Animals obviously get period (although luckily for them not as often as us humans), but do they get PMS too? Are they more agitated when they're in their period? Do they experience insane pains that feel as though your insides want to relocate themselves outside of their body? Maybe they do - but they can't speak, so we'd never know. They might be just like us - complaining to their friends about how much they hate PMS and how periods are everyone's worst nightmare, or they might revel in it. Who knows? Except the animals, of course.

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