Difference Between PMS and Pregnancy Symptoms

PMS vs Pregnancy Symptoms

Although the culture of health seeking behaviour is changing, still some men and women are oblivious to the differences of pregnancy symptoms and pre menstrual syndrome symptoms. One is that of altered physiology, whereas the other is normal physiology. The identification of the first signs of pregnancy is important because the continued care should be started as early as possible, and management of adverse consequences related to the pregnancy should be diagnosed properly and managed speedily. So we will discuss the similarities and differences between PMS and pregnancy symptoms.

What are the Pregnancy Symptoms?

Pregnancy symptoms usually start off with a period of amenorrhea or missed period, but this could be preceded by implantation bleeding, which might be mistaken for a regular period itself. There will be breast tenderness, soreness, and fatigue, as well. Most people will experience morning sickness with nausea, vomiting, etc. There will be symptoms of backache, heart burn, nocturnal urination, headache, feeling faint, etc. They also have other breast symptoms as well, which include blackening areola and the enlargement of glands around the breast. Also, there may be abdominal bloating, varicosities appearing, and oedema of the legs. The management of pregnancy is through continued antenatal care and the proper management of any complicating problems.

What are the PMS Symptoms?

PMS usually begins about 1 week prior periods and disappear at the time of bleeding. They believe that PMS is due to the sudden flux of normally dormant hormones to higher levels. As this precludes the drop in progesterone and the spike of it at the time, there will be breast tenderness, swelling, abdominal bloating and water retention. They will complain of general ill health of muscle pain, body ache, fatigue, changes in mood and sleep, etc. These can be managed with nutritional supplements and NSAIDs for the pain.

What is the difference between PMS and Pregnancy Symptoms?

In pregnancy and PMS, both have some commonalities. They include abdominal cramps, irritability, fatigue, muscle pain, breast tenderness and swelling, and backache. Pregnancy is usually associated with a missed period, whereas PMS has no such episode. PMS is rare to cause nausea, but pregnancy readily causes nausea and morning sickness. Of the breast symptoms, darkening of the areola around the breast and the enlargement of glands around the areola are present in pregnancy, but never in PMS. Pregnancy can lead to lesser infections, with ankle swelling and varicose veins. PMS can also cause oedema, but it never causes varicose veins.

So the main difference between PMS and pregnancy is the missed periods. Then it follows by the symptoms due to hormones changing the physiology of the body to prepare for 40 weeks of gestation. As the hormonal rises in both instances are relatively the same, the effects look similar, but that of pregnancy is more intense. PMS symptoms are relieved on menstruation, but that of pregnancy continues and is only returned to normal completely after 6 weeks following delivery or termination.