---
title: What is premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and how should women be treated for it?
description: PMS is a well-defined cluster of mood symptoms that disrupt daily functioning. Most women with PMS can be helped, primarily with serotonin reuptake inhibitors
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/a-clinician-s-guide-to-the-premenstrual-syndrome-1995/
---

- [Niyora](https://niyora.com/)
- [Research](https://niyora.com/research/)
- [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/)
- What is premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and how should women be treated for it?

Review, 1995

# What is premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and how should women be treated for it?

PMS is a well-defined cluster of mood symptoms that disrupt daily functioning. Most women with PMS can be helped, primarily with serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which are effective and well tolerated.

 Moderate study design

Women with premenstrual syndrome

## What they did

Clinical review of PMS diagnosis and evidence-based treatment approaches.

## What they found

Serotonin reuptake inhibitors are becoming first-line therapy for PMS because they are effective, easily tolerated, and free of major side effects. Other antidepressants, anxiolytics, and GnRH agonists also have supporting evidence. Healthy diet, avoiding salt and caffeine, vitamin supplementation, and exercise have not been proved as effective treatment, but should be promoted for general health. Treatment should be tried for two or three menstrual cycles with dose adjustments before evaluating effectiveness.

## What it means for you

Women with PMS have medication options that work for many, but finding the right treatment may require trying different approaches. The main limitation is that lifestyle changes widely recommended for health have not been proven specifically for PMS. This also reflects approaches from 1995 and may not reflect current practice.

2-3

menstrual cycles to trial a medication

## About the study

Original title A clinician's guide to the premenstrual syndrome Authors Barnhart KT, Freeman EW, Sondheimer SJ Journal The Medical clinics of North America Year 1995 Study design Review What was tested Serotonin reuptake inhibitors, other antidepressants, anxiolytics, GnRH agonists, lifestyle changes Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.1016/s0025-7125(16)30011-6](https://doi.org/10.1016/s0025-7125(16)30011-6)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[SSRIs and antidepressants](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-ssri/)[GnRH agonists and ovarian suppression](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-gnrh/)[Diet and nutrition](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-diet/)

Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits.

Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor.

## Related studies

Randomised trial, 2010

What treatments work for premenstrual syndrome?

Systematic review, 2007

What treatments work for premenstrual syndrome?

Review, 2001

What are PMS and PMDD, and how are they treated?

Review, 2003

What treatments work best for PMS and PMDD?

Randomised trial, 2002

What treatments work best for cyclical breast pain?

Review, 2002

What treatments work for PMDD?

Ask AI about this page

Copy prompt

ChatGPT

↗

Claude

↗

Perplexity

↗

Google AI Mode

↗

Grok

↗