Clue To Severe PMS Discovered; Researchers Seeks Volunteers To Continue Study.

2001 MAY 24 - (NewsRx Network) -- Unlike most women, those who experience an especially debilitating form of premenstrual syndrome - a medical condition called premenstrual dysphoric disorder - show abnormal responses to stress, according to new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill research.

The study found that healthy women responded to stress during the second half of their monthly cycles by producing more allopregnanolone, a hormone metabolite of the female hormone progesterone, UNC School of Medicine researchers say. Those with the disorder, however, produced less of it during stress.

The new observation could be an important clue as to why such women face such severe symptoms every month, they add. It could also contribute to more effective treatments one day.

"We're not talking about the majority of women who experience normal premenstrual symptoms such as mood changes, bloating, irritability, etc., but the 5% to 10% who meet strict psychiatric criteria for this disorder," said Dr. Susan S. Girdler, assistant professor of psychiatry. "During the second half of their menstrual cycle, they can be clinically depressed, anxious, or irritable enough that it interferes with their ability to function and their interpersonal relationships."

A report on the findings - the first in humans to examine the stress responsiveness of allopregnanolone - appears in the May 2001 issue of Biological Psychiatry. Besides Girdler, authors include Drs. Kathleen Light and A. Leslie Morrow, professor and associate professor of psychiatry, respectively, at UNC.

The study involved measuring allopregnanolone levels in women diagnosed as having premenstrual dysphoric disorder and also in others known not to have it. Researchers subjected participants to mildly stressful situations and again measured the hormone levels and symptoms resulting from the artificially induced stress.

"Among the PMDD women, lower ...