Health & Wellness

Q&A: Can PMS make you pee a lot?

Oh yeah. The main hormone in the second half of your cycle is progesterone. One of progesterone’s jobs is to retain water so that if you become pregnant you’ll be ready to maintain a placenta, too. When you don’t turn out to be pregnant and the hormone levels drop, there’s a lot of extra fluid to get rid of. As a result, you pee more often.
These are my thoughts on the topic, but be sure and read Dr. Molly’s professional medical opinion. If you tend to retain a lot of water (as I do,) I think you may find yourself urinating more than usual. I find that I get really bloated during my period and spend more than my usual time in the bathroom for a couple days.
I haven’t run into the issue of peeing more than normal when I have PMS. Unfortunately, I have experienced the symptoms of a bladder infection. I’m not sure whether or not your peeing a lot is related to possibly having a bladder infection, but I wanted to throw it out there so that you’re aware and can maybe look out for the symptoms, which include the constant feeling like you’ll pee your pants, a slight burning each time you pee, and the frustrating reality that after stampeding to the bathroom, there’s only a drop of pee that needed to come out. If that doesn’t sound like what you’re experiencing, it may be that having to pee more than usual is actually related to your period. Dr. Molly can provide more insight.