A survey conducted by the Italian Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics (SIGO) on a sample of 743 women has shown that premenstrual syndrome, accompanied by headaches, irritability, mood instability, sleep disturbance, swelling, fatigue is a problem which suffers from many taboos and a substantial communication difficulties.

The data indicate that 25% of women are forced to stay home for a day or more per month, 43% waiver of social life and 53% that of the couple. However, only 30% talk to your doctor or gynecologist.

"Is it really true that women bear: I would have expected much higher abstention from work, compared to the amount and intensity of the disruption that tell us," said Emilio Arisi, director of obstetrics and gynecology of St. Clare Trento and adviser SIGO, "disorders often considered, for cultural reasons, an inescapable destiny inherent to being female. Only 30% of the women he talks to the gynecologist: who does it but usually get a satisfying answer. "

According to Eugenio Aguglia, director of the Psychiatric Clinic of the University of Catania, the problem has many facets and is often overlooked even by the doctors: "Even when the patient turns to the doctor, premenstrual syndrome is an issue ignored and neglected that obstetricians see only as a hormonal imbalance from 'reset' without giving due weight to factors associated with psychological and behavioral, which are rather severe. How serious are the diseases that are associated with premenstrual syndrome, such as mood disorders, anxiety, personality disorders, hypertension, endometriosis, even substance abuse. "

One of the methods suggested in the study SIGO, to improve their awareness and management of premenstrual symptoms, is to make a menstrual diary to tell where all the noise. This way you can bring, with precision, the gynecologist about their situation.
XIII World Congress of the International Academy of Human Reproduction, Venice 2009