Gentlemen, you've been warned - it's girly talk about gross things that you probably don't want to know about. Hit your BACK button now! Thank you!

*shifty eyes to make sure the menfolk are gone* Ok, so I've never been truly "regular" with my cycles and when I get them they are the most excruciating things I can imagine. I've been tested for endometriosis and PCOS and all that lovely stuff with no diagnosis. Basically, the answer has been: you're overweight, it's affecting your cycles, deal with it.

I went on birth control, but after a month of using Yasmin, I developed 2 large blood clots that passed through my heart and lodged in my lungs, nearly killing me (seriously), and because of them, I am no longer ever allowed on birth control again.

Now, I can live with the painful cycles and not knowing WHEN they're really going to show up, but lately (the past few months or so) I've noticed that when they do swing around, a week or so before hand I am so bloody hungry I could eat an elephant.

Right now, the one jumping on the trampoline in my avatar is looking pretty juicy.

I have eaten most of the food I'm allowed to today and have dutifully stuck to the plan, but if I have the money on me I would be at Subway, or the sushi place, or even Tim Hortons inside the hospital here and gorging on everything.

I am not usually a big over-eater, I don't binge normally, but it's just been around this TOM that I'm beginning to realize I could literally eat my weight and still feel hungry.

Does anyone else have the same thing and if so, how do you manage to deal with it?

Right now, I'm sucking back bottles of water and munching on chewing gum, but it doesn't seem to help.

Have you had a second opinion on the PCOS? Even really overweight people can have regular periods. I really get frustrated when docs blame it on weight. I was very small in my teens and my periods were irregular. I would 4 and 5 months without a period. I'm in my 30s and very overweight now and I'm finally being taken serious as having PCOS. I think it's a matter of finding the right doc sometimes. As far as the hormones and eating more around that time, I'm the same way! I could eat SO much chocolate! Just this week, I started taking cinnamon and chromium pills for PCOS symptoms and wow! They have helped with my cravings tremendously! You should jump over to the PCOS thread and read about it. Several of us there are taking it.

Violet,
Yea, I've had several doctors and a gynecologist examine and test. Have done the ultrasounds, blood tests, hormone checks, etc., with no abnormalities on any of them. No cysts, no weird thyroid levels, no nuffin. I's normal as far as they can tell even though I *can* go 3 months without having a true period. Sometimes, I just get spotting.

I always say it's a good thing I'm not in a relationship, if I ever got pregnant, I doubt I'd know it until I started to show LOL

What is it that you're craving? Maybe if it's really rough you can make the few ravenous before your period a couple of maintenance calories, or instead of aiming for a 500 calorie daily deficit, aim for a 250 one, KWIM? I believe in listening to your body, and if it's saying FEED ME then feeding it with healthy calories might be good for your mental health (I know it is for me on my period).

I'm craving ANYTHING and everything. There isn't one thing I could think of that I would want to eat in excess right now. All the good healthy stuff, and all the bad crappy stuff.

I would kill for a huge bowl of udon soup from my favorite Japanese restaurant, or a massive cheeseburger, with fries and a coke, or a big salad with some cheese and eggs.

Really, anything and everything.

I seem to be ok now - I inhaled the huge garden salad I made and I'm about to heat up my edemame but I'm thankful I'm broke and that Tims is closed so I don't go buy 2 chocolate chip muffins.

As for the extra calories; I think I'll do that tonight. Some extra popchips and that 100-calorie can of Coke I was going to have anyway. Might quell this beast in me.

I get really bad periods where I'm in so much pain I want to scream and cry and the hot flashes are unbareable! I figured it out though and yes right before my period about a week I will eat everything in sight! and if I crave it, I will crave it until I've eaten it the craving for certain things just do not go away! I also get the urge to go for a run the day before I'm suppose to start and when I go running I get the really awful cramps but I just put my warm hand on the lower part of my stomach and I walk it out and think about other things so I don't freak out. Also when I'm at home and this happen, I quickly get out of bed, pop some pills and walking around in circles until it stops. It seems to work for me lately.

I don't take BC because I'm psychotic on it, even though it helps with the pain. I could have also been taking the wrong type of pills maybe there are others that are more calming for me...except I don't feel like going through the process to figure this sort of thing out haha, so I just don't take them. One time I gained 8 pounds from my period lol I never had that happen before, but luckily after a week I was back down to my regular weight before.

Rainbow, I am the same way--wanting to eat anything and everything in sight. I was on ortho-tri-cyclin lo and that regulated my periods but did absolutly nothing for my pain.

My period pain is the worst, and the clinic I go to (military clinic) thinks that Motrin is the cure-all drug, so they pretty much give you that for everything, they gave me 800mg tabs and told me to take them right before my period was supposed to start, but it doesnt really help me at all.

Ugh, Im going to the womens clinic Tuesday so maybe they can give me something different to help with the pain, and to help with the fact that I cant ever remember to take pills :x

I dont know what to say about the cravings except to have lots of things that are safe to eat around.

As far the unpredictable periods, keeping track of your basal body temperature can help you predict when your periods are. The amount of time between when you ovulate and your period is always the same, so if you are taking your temp every morning before you get out of bed, you'll know when you are ovulating and then when your period will start.

Yeah, the whole "it's because you're overweight" thing can't be entirely true--I mean, maybe it is for you, I'm not a doctor and have no idea hahaha. I just know I've been overweight since I got my first period when I was 12, and no matter what size I am/have been (210, 243, 267, 323...) my periods are very regular and ALWAYS on time. I do get cramps/some pain, but I doubt they're anywhere near as bad as some of the other ladies have described. I also have a higher risk of binging when I'm PMSing, but perhaps that's semi-normal. XD