I don’t menstruate but my ex-wife did have effects like you describe and took a while to find a working medication regime. I have some notes about the effects of the menstrual cycle in my Anki deck. It is not super relevant to your question but might be relevant to the menstrual cycle in general.
The menstrual cycle can cause the following potential symptoms (note that of course, I do not think that these happen always or in noticeable strength but the list helped me relate to the often unspecified effects):
Physical
Abdominal bloating
Leg cramps
Temporary hypoglycemia
Headache
Acne
Constipation
Oedema
Breast swelling
Weight gain
Emotional
Depression
Anxiety
Anger
Guilt
Mood changes
Panic
Low self-esteem
Fatigue
Aggressiveness
Psychosis
Behavioural
Intolerance
Intense Irritability
Restlessness
Social isolation
Sugar and salt craving
Insomnia
Increased use of alcohol
Hysteria
Confusion
Physical Violence
Accident-prone
Anorexia or Bulimia
Libido changes
Suicidal
Lack of self-control
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the original source but you can find these symptoms listed e.g. here.
I was also about to mention that the cramps may get better after pregnancy as I knew from anecdotal evidence but then I had a look and it can go either way (though there is a relieving effect in severe cases).
I don’t menstruate but my ex-wife did have effects like you describe and took a while to find a working medication regime. I have some notes about the effects of the menstrual cycle in my Anki deck. It is not super relevant to your question but might be relevant to the menstrual cycle in general.
The menstrual cycle can cause the following potential symptoms (note that of course, I do not think that these happen always or in noticeable strength but the list helped me relate to the often unspecified effects):
Physical
Abdominal bloating
Leg cramps
Temporary hypoglycemia
Headache
Acne
Constipation
Oedema
Breast swelling
Weight gain
Emotional
Depression
Anxiety
Anger
Guilt
Mood changes
Panic
Low self-esteem
Fatigue
Aggressiveness
Psychosis
Behavioural
Intolerance
Intense Irritability
Restlessness
Social isolation
Sugar and salt craving
Insomnia
Increased use of alcohol
Hysteria
Confusion
Physical Violence
Accident-prone
Anorexia or Bulimia
Libido changes
Suicidal
Lack of self-control
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the original source but you can find these symptoms listed e.g. here.
I was also about to mention that the cramps may get better after pregnancy as I knew from anecdotal evidence but then I had a look and it can go either way (though there is a relieving effect in severe cases).