Purpose: to analyze the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), its duration, time of presentation and pathogenesis. Methods: a questionnaire was applied to 254 women aged 20 to 44 years, without gynecological or clinical conditions affecting their general state or physical well-being, excluding those with amenorreha for more than six months, hysterectomized or pregnant. Results: one hundred and ten women (43.3%) describing at least one intense symptom causing harm to their life, were considered as having PMS. Irritability was presented by 86.4%, tiredness by 70.9%, depression by 61.8%, headache by 61.8%, breast tenderness by 59.1% and abdominal pain by 54.5%. Almost all (94.5%) had more that one symptom, 89.1% presented psychological complaints, and 76.4% associated physical and psychological complaints. Most declared that duration of the symptoms was three to four days (32.4%) or five to seven days (31.4%). Conclusions: the clinical picture of PMS is generally composed of irritability and/or depression, associated with tiredness and headache or breast pain, there being association of physical and psychological symptoms, for 3 to 7 days, and it is difficult to attribute a single etiology to it at this stage of knowledge.
Premenstrual syndrome; Premenstrual tension; Menstrual cycle; Depression
