Don’t get bogged down trying to understand your type of PMS. popular practice of dividing PMS into distinct types can be confusing because there are differences in how these types are defined labeled. For example, many resources will list four traditional (anxiety, cravings, depression, and hyperhydration), while others label them differently and add a fifth, headache.

The confusion arises chiefly when Type H refers not to hyperhydration, but to headache, and when the fifth category, Type B, is introduced. In this second Type H PMS, sufferers have a headache that is caused by increased swelling and water retention. Similarly, women with Type B PMS also retain water (here called bloating), but they also suffer from aggression, which is not included in any of the other categories.

Some resources also define two subgroups of PMS types: dysmenorrhea (painful periods), with back pain, nausea, and vomiting as the main symptoms; and acne, with pimples, oily skin, and oily hair as the main symptoms. However, the symptoms characterizing these subgroups may not have any relation to PMS at all.

Mixed Type

What if you suffer from Type A PMS during some months and from Type B in other months? Or what if you have symptoms from Type Type A and Type H? Are you the only one? How can you fit yourself into one of these categories? Perhaps you think you don’t clearly understand all of the symptoms that define the different PMS types.

Relax! It’s not you or what you understand or don’t understand. The fault lies in the classification system. The truth is it’s not perfect or even terribly accurate.

Many women experience symptoms that fit neatly into these predefined categories, but many other women do not. That’s the nature of PMS: symptoms can shift over time, or from month to month—and you can easily feel symptoms from all the categories at once. In reality, many women have Type M (Mixed symptoms) PMS.

Using the Idea of Types

If you do plan to research and treat your PMS according to type, be careful and skeptical. Remember, these are popular, not medical, definitions. Categories shift, symptoms are grouped in multiple ways, and theories abound about the causes of the PMS symptoms. Even more important, treatments are everywhere, from milkweed and St. John’s wort to antidepressants, and from an all-vegan diet vitamin B6 supplementation. In many cases, women who use alternative therapies experience relief from PMS symptoms not because the treatments were shown to be objectively effective but because the women believed they worked. This experience, known as the placebo effect, is a well-known phenomenon. What works for you may not work for your friend or neighbor, and some of these treatments have little scientific evidence to support them.