If you happen to’re a daily on TikTok, you’ve most likely seen folks speaking about how excruciating the luteal part of the ol’ menstrual cycle might be. Apparently it might probably set off anger and crankiness, ridiculous fatigue, relentless complications, and dangerous cramps. Oh, and also you may suppose you look simply as horrible as you are feeling.

However what’s the luteal part, precisely? Is it actually the explanation I hate everybody and will swear I’ve by no means regarded uglier? And why am I, an individual who has been getting durations for a pair a long time, simply now listening to about it? Right here’s what to learn about this notably unfun a part of your cycle.

Right here’s what’s occurring in your physique throughout the luteal part.

The luteal part lasts for about 14 days between ovulation and the day you begin your interval, when the hormone progesterone spikes in your physique and causes every kind of chaos. “Bloating and breast tenderness are frequent,” Lauren Osborne, MD, a reproductive psychiatrist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medication, tells SELF. You may discover that you just’re hungrier than common, gassy, or having bother sleeping. All of that, plus sluggishness, cramps, and temper swings, could make you are feeling like shit.

You could be listening to “14 days earlier than your interval” and “dangerous physique picture, moodiness, bloating” and pondering, “Wait, isn’t that simply…PMS?” Seems: Sure, sure it’s. Individuals who have PMS expertise these signs within the luteal part, Dr. Osborne says.

And since everybody’s cycles are totally different, you may get hellish PMS signs for all two weeks of the luteal part, or for only a few days earlier than your interval reveals up, Dr. Osborne says.

“Some folks don’t really feel these signs as a lot, some really feel them minimally, and a few really feel them quite a bit. For many who expertise temper adjustments, these can vary wherever from delicate irritability, elevated emotional lability”—a elaborate time period for large, sweeping shifts in temper—“or marked will increase in anxiousness or melancholy,” Staci Tanouye, MD, FACOG, a board-certified ob-gyn at Ladies’s Care in Brandon, Florida, tells SELF.

So to be clear: Individuals on TikTok are, maybe with out realizing it, simply describing PMS after they say the luteal part is placing them via the ringer. Whereas they’re not incorrect—PMS is a part of this part—it’s additionally not precisely some distinctive a part of your cycle you weren’t aware of earlier than.

The way to take care of terrible PMS

In case your signs are delicate sufficient, a bit of self-care could be all you want, Dr. Osborne says. She recommends doing all of your finest to get loads of sleep, which may make you are feeling much less drained and cranky, and staying hydrated. Rest methods like yoga, listening to your favourite podcast, or spending time in nature may also enable you to relax.