---
title: When during the menstrual cycle do mood symptoms get worse for women with cyclical mood changes?
description: Women with cyclical mood changes showed that symptoms started and peaked during the luteal (late) phase of the menstrual cycle. The specific pattern of sympto
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/perimenstrual-symptoms-time-course-of-symptom-intensity-in-relation-to-1989/
---

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- When during the menstrual cycle do mood symptoms get worse for women with cyclical mood changes?

Survey study, 1989

# When during the menstrual cycle do mood symptoms get worse for women with cyclical mood changes?

Women with cyclical mood changes showed that symptoms started and peaked during the luteal (late) phase of the menstrual cycle. The specific pattern of symptom changes across the cycle may differ depending on how severe each woman's mood cycling is.

 Moderate study design

Women with documented history of menstrual cycle-related mood changes

## What they did

Enrolled women with documented history of menstrual cycle-related mood changes. They completed daily symptom questionnaires and provided blood samples across three menstrual cycles. The researchers divided each cycle into five hormone-defined phases and tracked symptom timing and intensity.

## What they found

Results confirmed the temporal association between the luteal phase and the onset of perimenstrual symptoms. The syndromal nature of menstrual cycle-related changes may differ for women who experience different intensities of cyclical mood changes. Different symptoms may follow different time courses across the cycle.

## What it means for you

For women who experience cyclical mood changes, these changes are linked to the late phase of the cycle. Understanding the timing may help women anticipate and manage symptoms. The main limitation is that the study only included women who already had documented mood cycling, so findings may not apply to all women.

3

menstrual cycles tracked

5

hormone-defined cycle phases

## About the study

Original title Perimenstrual symptoms: time course of symptom intensity in relation to endocrinologically defined segments of the menstrual cycle Authors Schechter D, Bachmann GA, Vaitukaitis J et al. Journal Psychosomatic medicine Year 1989 Study design Survey study What was tested Symptom tracking across menstrual cycles Read the paper [doi.org/10.1097/00006842-198903000-00007](https://doi.org/10.1097/00006842-198903000-00007)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Menstrual cycle and mood](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-cycle-mood/)

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