Professional Mom Syndrome - The "New P.M.S."

by Rebecca Liston, H.D., DSHomMed

 

After 6 years in private practice as a homeopath and 12 years working in diagnostic imaging, I have come to see a new “trend” in health care which I have decided to call “Professional Mom Syndrome” or the “New P.M.S.” for short. Women who suffer with, or are at risk for, the New P.M.S. share several common traits…see if you recognize yourself or someone you know!

1. You are a professional. You work either from home or outside the home, and you likely work full-time. And “full-time” to you means more like 60 hours a week. Or you may work “part-time hours” but you somehow or another manage to work at that job more than 40 hours a week because, well, “they need you.”

2. You are a “mom.” Now, you don’t have to be a biological mother to suffer from the New P.M.S.. The term “mom” in this instance simply implies you have chosen to take care of someone else (child, parent, sibling who is ill) besides yourself. To compound matters, you may be taking care of several others at once – many children, or children and parents, or children and parents and siblings…you get the idea!

3. You manage a household. You cook, you clean, you mow the grass. And even if you don’t do those things personally, you orchestrate others doing them. If anyone asks, “what’s for dinner?” you know the answer even if the hired cook is doing the actual preparation. You know what night is hockey, whose turn it is to scrub the toilet, and when the cat needs to go in for its check up.

Now, this may sound like you, or someone you know, and you might be wondering what all the fuss is about – doesn’t every woman do all those things these days? While it may be true that there are many demands on women these days, it does not negate the fact that Professional Moms everywhere are putting their health at risk.

Here are some of the most common signs and symptoms that I watch for in my clients that indicate to me that the New P.M.S. has set in:

• feeling of being overwhelmed
• outbursts of anger or a spell of sudden tears
• racing heart rate or shortness of breath
• quick defensive responses
• insomnia
• constipation, sometimes alternating with diarrhea
• irregular periods (heavy, erratic, or non-existent)
• premenstrual syndrome
• difficulty during peri-menopause
• unexplained weight-gain, especially around the mid-section
• unexplainable abdominal pain, headaches, or other aches and pains
• diagnosed with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome,
or irritable bowel syndrome
• fatigue
• depression
• low / non-existent sex drive

Not every woman with the New P.M.S. will exhibit all of those symptoms, however many will experience several of them to varying degrees. These symptoms are all easily explained by the physiological processes behind the New P.M.S., and I shall elaborate further on that in my new book. Suffice to say at this time that the symptoms make sense when we look at the dynamics affecting women with the New P.M.S., and if changes are made, the symptoms are reversible. I have had fantastic success treating women homeopathically whom I have diagnosed with the New P.M.S.. So help is available!

Some women who fit into the category of Professional Moms will exhibit no signs and symptoms of the New P.M.S. at all. In fact, if you are one of those women, you may be reading this article and thinking that I am out to lunch. You may feel perfectly healthy.

And you may well be perfectly health. For now. But there is a form of the New P.M.S. that you must be made aware of. Latent Professional Mom Syndrome also exists. Essentially, women with Latent P.M.S. go through the years feeling happy and healthy and perfectly content. Simply put, if you ask one of them if they ever get sick, their classic response would be, “are you kidding? Who has time to get sick?”

Unfortunately, the time to get sick does come eventually. They have run so long, so hard, so fast, that their bodies simply cannot maintain that pace forever. I have found that most women experience the effects of Latent P.M.S. at significant times in their lives. For example, once their youngest child leaves the house for college, or once their ailing father passes away, or once they retire from their demanding profession. It is as if once a place on their plate has been cleared, the body says, “I have had enough. Now you will rest.”

These women typically present with conditions such as lack of energy and motivation, chronic fatigue, depression, fibromyalgia, or cancer. They may also exhibit symptoms of anxiety including racing heart rate, shortness of breath, or even obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Professional Moms have the ability to stop the cycle that perpetuates the New P.M.S. and they have the ability to prevent Latent P.M.S.. The key is in shifting the balance from others to self. When I speak to women about making this shift, I often get told that it is “impossible.” How could they possibly find time in their schedules for themselves? After all, if they don’t walk the dog/make dinner/supervise homework/run the parent committee/ etc., who will?

I speak from experience when I say to Professional Moms everywhere that you do NOT have to do it all. You don’t have to do it all to have it all. We can work together to establish balance in your body and your life, reduce your stress load, and create time for relaxation and joy in your life. Once we have addressed the cause of your symptoms and put an action plan in place, you will be perfectly healthy all your life…naturally!

 

Watch for my new book on Professional Mom Syndrome -- The New P.M.S. coming soon!