Clarke came to the conclusion that female operatives suffer less than schoolgirls because they "work their brain less". This suggested that they have stronger bodies and a reproductive "apparatus more normally constructed". Feminists later took opposition to Clarkes argument that women should not leave the private sphere by showing that women could function in the world outside the home in spite of natural body functions.The formal medical description of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and the more severe, related diagnosis of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) goes back at least 70 years to a paper presented at the New York Academy of Medicine by Robert T. Frank titled "Hormonal Causes of Premenstrual Tension". The specific term premenstrual syndrome appears to date from an article published in 1953 by Dalton and Greene in the British Medical Journal. Since then, PMS has been a continuous presence in popular culture, occupying a place that is larger than the research attention accorded it as a medical diagnosis. Some have argued that women are partially responsible for the medicalization of PMS. They claim that women are partially responsible for legitimizing this disorder and have thus contributed to the social construction of PMS as an illness. It has also been suggested that the public debate over PMS and PMDD was impacted by organizations who had a stake in the outcome including feminists, the American Psychiatric Association, physicians and scientists. Until the 1950s, there was little research done surrounding PMS and it was not seen as a social problem.
Evening primrose oil may be useful.There is tentative evidence that acupressure and acupuncture may help to reduce PMS symptoms and improve women quality of life. Prognosis
PMS is generally a stable diagnosis, with susceptible individuals experiencing the same symptoms at the same intensity near the end of each cycle for years. Treatment for specific symptoms is usually effective. Even without treatment, symptoms tend to decrease in perimenopausal women. However, those who experience PMS or PMDD are more likely to have significant symptoms associated with menopause, such as hot flashes. Epidemiology
PMS, in which mild to moderate symptoms affect some facet of the persons life, occurs in about 20 to 30% of premenopausal women; the more severe symptoms of PMDD affect 3 to 8% of premenopausal women.Among females of reproductive age living in India, the prevalence of PMS is 43%; the prevalence among adolescents is even higher. History
PMS was originally seen as an imagined disease. Women who reported its symptoms were often told it was "all in their head". Womans reproductive organs were thought to have complete control over them. Women were warned not to divert needed energy away from the uterus and ovaries. This view of limited energy very quickly ran up against a reality in 19th century America that young girls worked extremely long and hard hours in factories; newspapers in the 19th century were peppered with remedies to help in the "tyrannous processes" of the menstrual cycle. In 1873 Edward Clarke published an influential book titled Sex in Education.