Veena V. Jasuja, Jayant Makwana, Ebbie Thomas
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a condition of recurrent physical and psychological symptoms occurring in a cyclic fashion during the 1- to 2-weeks period, proceeding a woman’s menstrual period, significant enough to cause disruption in family, personal or occupational life.1 Research has proved that PMS is a stress induced disease resulting in psychological and physical symptoms. More than 160 symptoms have been associated with the premenstrual phase of ovarian cycle such as breast tenderness, bloating, weight gain, backache, leg cramps (somatic symptoms) and irritability, mood swings, crying spells, depressed mood, anxiety, sleep disturbances, lethargy, fatigue(psychological) to name a few.2,3,4 As the presentation of PMS could be subjective and the direct assessment of the severity of the symptom is not possible, the researcher uses a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). VAS helps in measurement of values across the extreme range. This is a widely used scale by clinician and researcher to study the effect of various manoeuvres, methods, interventional strategy on a parameter.
