I too have PMS, bad enough where I just talked to my therapist and my doctor about it. Hoping for a magic pill but knowing at the same time that's not what I want. Love the chart. I found you while reading some dated Writer's Digest magazines. Congrats on winning the contest in fall 2004! That's quite an accomplishment. I will check back often, you have a fantastic blog.

I just got mine and it's even cuter in person. Thanks again :)

Keri,

I just received my charts in the mail. Thank you! I love them. I am interested to see if my cycle is in sync with the moon. I find the week before my period I can't seem to concentrate on a single thing. I am going to start to watch if even though I feel restless I also feel really creative.

I love my charts, thank you Keri.

Jenn

on the subject of women, moons, and periods - a highly recomended book, "the red tent". i loved it and have passed it along to friends who have done the same.

Hi Keri,

Your chart is SUPER! I love your illustration-style and your ingenuity. Good that we be talking about the PMS of course too - it's a very pro-woman thing to do.

Anyhow, I have been going to a naturopath for nearly a year for chronic depression. The brilliance of homeopathy, when the one right
medicine out of thousands is prescribed, is that people see relief in ALL symptoms of illness that they have... even PMS. My PMS has been much better since I've been on my prescription... I've gone from a very painful 3-4 hours before or right after menstruation begins (lower back pain, abdominal cramping) about 1 out of every 3 months to less severe symptoms only twice in the past year. I was also slowly seeing good results with my depression, BTW, but this is what really did the trick: www.reliv.com. After 10 days on this nutritional product my depression of three years lifted in December and has not been back. Seriously.

Wanted to pass the info on.

What a fabulous idea! I've had problems with my periods for years, and can be such a tiger as a result of pms (i get angry with anything!) My doctor put me on the contraceptive pill, and it works like magic! of course, i can still be a bit of a tiger, but at least i can predict when now ;)
Plus, it's magic to be able to be quite open about it with my wonderful boyfriend ^_^

I read once that the hormonal changes right before the "typical pms time" (i know - different for everyone!) cause you to not reach your REM sleep - regardless of how long your eyes are shut. So even though it is all hormonally based - the symptoms of pms are pretty much all extreme sleep deprivation for each person. Don't know if it is true or not, but I do notice similarities in me between pms and extreme tired - and also similarities in how to fix both of them. Hope thinking of it this way helps someone else.

i feel fantastic the week before my period as far as creativity goes, and even better toward the very end of the week. it can be difficult to recogize this if it's a difficult pms month, but it really does feel different to me. i actually like the way my mind works during this time. i pay better attention,i notice details, and i have more ideas. i dream more too.

as far as the cycle of the moon goes, for awhile i was paying attention and knew where i was in my cycle just by watching the moon. this may sound strange, but it made me feel better to know that something as beautiful as i find the moon was right there with me, doing her thing while i did mine. it also made the whole hushed attitude i have noticed about women and their cycles feel ridiculous and my cycle, more important to me.

The chart is soooooo cool!
Happy International Women's Day!

barb,
that was actually the product I was referring to, it is of no help to me. i need to be able to see the whole year at a glance in order to predict when the pms will occur, and to notice subtle shifts depending on where I am in the cycle.

no offense to Vinnie, I think his stuff is great, i love that he's opened up the subject to a whole new generation of women. But he's not a woman, and can't really know what it's like to have these hormone swings.

I have read that creativity in women is best the week before her period. Anyone relate to this? I've been trying to track that a bit too. My cycle has been in sync with the moon for several years now (also connected to creativity). It's interesting to see the correlations.

For friends a couple of years ago, I bought these: http://www.tamponcase.com/flow.html
and they have chart too. Yours is more fun.

fab idea, keri!
i've placed my order.
i get killer headaches around my period and have also just spent the last few days snapping and bawling, snapping and bawling, at my s/o. {my apologies!}. id definately recommend, like others here, evening primrose capsules.
and i love the idea of referring to it as 'freddie'!
a lot of people still seem to do that teen timidity thing where the word, shhh - PERIOD - shhh, is still whispered and cannot be spoken outloud {a british thing?}
so, here's to ignoring that!

wonderful idea, Keri! Although I have a period calendar, I ordered yours right now, because it´s much more fun to do the tracking in such a artistic way.

PMS hit me in my 30s and I didn't know what to call it. Finally ended up in a university clinical study not for medication but to collect research data on what happens to women in their cycle and this was the first time I learned about PMS, which was ranked as severe. They collected blood, urine, I kept a monthly cycle diary on how I felt each day and this went on for a year. Even after the study was over I kept the chart going in my journal. Between the time my period started and the time I ovulated I was always filled with energy, positive in my outlook, happy. Between the time I ovulated and the time my period started again it was as dramatic as turning off a light in a windowless room. I ended up on medication after my father died. The bonus was finding out how much better I felt through the monthly cycle. Periodically I would go off the medication and my boss, who had no clue I was taking meds, would always ask me what was wrong - which told me it was time to go back on. Even now, at the age of 60, no longer having periods still take the lowest dose of anti-depressants for sleep and another one to control night sweats from menapause (works better than taking hormones for me). It is so important to have a good physician who specializes in hormone issues. In my case the quality of my life is dramatically better. It took a long time of working with her and trying different combinations to make this work. I would highly recommend a monthly chart and record feelings, moods, sleep patterns, eating issues, exercise or not, etc.

oh keri... what a brilliant idea! absolutely smitten with this.

it's amazing what the body can tell us, and yet after month after month, year after year of going thru the same thing, it still always catches us off guard each month, and questioning or doubting in ourselves [and our sanity of course].

this is the most perfect visual way at looking at it!

i always call my period freddy. started off in juvenile days when one was too timid or too afraid to speak it. so i named mine after freddy on elm street. needless to say, all my girlfriends now refer to those red red days as freddy.

i've often wondered, if i should make it a tshirt... then we can warn the boys to watch out because freddy's about to return.

thanks for creating this. thanks for sharing this.

and above all... thanks for being you.

angela.

Wow! I use one that I made 7 years ago. I just made copies of it for my daughter to use to keep track of her cycles as well. I love that someone has updated this idea. Yeah!

lauren,
I am self taught with all things computer. The paypal site has all the information you should need.
k.

i am so all over this. i too always kvetch about pms in public. seriously, it needs more acknowledgement in a real way! here i go to shoppe:)

HI Keri,

I was wondering how you integrated the paypal ecommerce into your site. I've been silkscreening a numebr of items and would like to sell them online.

lauren.

These cards rock! Wish I had this years ago!!

I have found that taking Evening Primrose Oil has helped my PMS tremendously. Yoga helps too. I have a tape by Yoga Journal called "Beginner's Practice for Relaxation". Its got lots of gentle modified poses that are recommended during menstruation.
Also, I have found great inspiration in reading about the menstrual rituals of Aboriginal Canadian peoples as well as other cultures.
Menstruation is an amazing and powerful thing! I'm glad to see that you're taking such a positive approach!

along with leonie's comment...my girlfriend and i have been tracking our periods for the last year or so and also treat them as a special time - we surround each other in red - we wear our red undies and leave each other little notes on red paper or give each other small gifts (usually chocolate!) wrapped in red tissue paper. it certainly makes what is often an icky time a million times easier to deal with.

Just ordered it. How cool is this?!

i have a similar system. not as artsy like yours, but yes, it works. great idea!

This is a neat chart! For those suffering from PMS, I recommend you check out the book Taking Charge of your Fertility by Toni Weschler.

While the focus is technically for women trying to get pregnant, it's really one of the best books explaining the menstrual cycle in general. Its in-depth and detailed charting examples really helped me see how much variation there is in women's bodies, and how much similarity too! Toni shows complex cycle charting, including not just moods but also discharge, breast tenderness, cravings, etc. Readers might be surprised to see regular changes during other parts of the cycle -- not just pre-menstrually! It's way cool & can help you take more control of your cycle. Yay!

this is hysterically practical! i love it!

And for anyone looking for more PMS support, I have had great success with taking evening primrose oil and a calcium/magnesium supplement regularly...

I had a hysterectomy 9 years ago and even I WANT ONE of these great cards...too darn cute and functional. Maybe I can plot my bitchy cycle, or my gotta-have-chocolate cycle, or my 'I'm tired' cycle, or my ... hmm... wait a minute... this is sounding too much like pms again... I'll just plot my cat's cycle of getting stuck up on the roof.

just ordered one...this could not have come at a better time for me...i just went to my gyn today...to discuss depression...decided against meds for right now...planning on seeing a counselor...but i'm SO happy to be getting this...seriously...it's perfect! you are wonderful...thanks SO much for not being shy about such a seemingly taboo subject...

hugs~jill

Over the last year or so I have become much more conscious of my cycle...
Serendipitous indeed that I read this here today, as last night at my womens circle we shared about our relationship with our bleeding cycle.
:)
I have been using the beautiful Moon Diary: http://www.moondiary.com.au to recognise my cycle. I think it's important not just to know when we're feeling hormonal... but also to honour the time of bleeding. It is a time of creation and creativity. Possibility. It is what connects us all as women. {Read "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant}
I think it is wonderful to honour our cycles, and begin to hear the beat of our own bodies.

Blessings,
Leonie

This is ingenious! And so much more elegant than just charting it on a calendar like I've been doing.

Keri - it's good to know that someone else besides myself gets wacky from their pms hormones. Ughhh...I become stupid, sensitive, irritable, blah blah blah. Great chart too!!!

i don't know about any of you but for about two years now (or since turning 30) i now have what i call mid-cycle pms too. i love seeing the chart up on the blog...yesterday, after the craziness had passed i began to feel irked by lonliness of pms. now at least i know it will be charted in a creative fashion by women across the country :-)

You are so my hero for this.

yes...i am not insane...just look at my chart!
it's a beauty keri, i have ordered mine today!!

these cards are genius. gonna order one now. Jeez louise, I spent all weekend bawling (not crying, BAWLING) on my boyfriend's shoulder over nothing as I do every month a week before my peroid.

If anyone does email you some PMS cures you must forward them to me as well.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
You do not know what this means for me today! (right in the middle of a pms blowout!)

@mothers and daughters won't need seperate cards :-) My daughter and myself are perfectly synchronized.

This is fabulous! I just ordered two—one for myself and one for my soon-to-be-needing-one-I'm-sure daughter. Thanks, Keri.

Keri,

My partner and I had just decided to start tracking my periods so we can get ready for kids. I love this chart! It's a great way to start.

Thank you,

Jenn

Oh, I am just so glad I still get them!