In all seriousness and aside from jokes about chocolate, it should be known that each woman experiences menstruation and her period differently. For some, premenstrual syndrome is no big deal, but for others, it can be extremely painful and quite possibly crippling. Victoria Dariano shared a side-by-side photo on Instagram showing just how serious PMS can be for some people.
On the left side was how she felt in the morning, which was normal, and the right photo was from about five hours later, once PMS hit her.
"I am not making a sad face due to the appearance of this but INSTEAD the pain, discomfort, and exhaustion I was feeling," she wrote in the caption.
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Her PMS gave her extreme bloating and cramps, causing her stomach to feel "as hard as a rock."
Dariano opened up about struggling with painful PMS symptoms, which many others can probably relate to.
She becomes drained of all energy and begins to feel "down and numb, and not like myself." She also gets cramps and uncomfortable bloating and water retention, as well as a gassy and upset stomach. PMS also causes her to be moody and emotional.
Instead of working out like she planned to after she took the now-viral pic, she decided to do what was best for her body at the time and rest.
"Sometimes when you have symptoms like this you have to listen to your body," she wrote in her post. "I wanted to train, but I was uncomfortable and exhausted."
Most importantly, she didn't beat herself up over her decision to put her well-being first.
"Go a little easier on yourself when it's the time of the month and you are stressed out," she wrote. "Get extra rest, don't stress about workouts and eat some treats if you feel like it."
Others praised Dariano for her post, relating to her experiences with such debilitating PMS symptoms.
"This helps a lot knowing that other people struggle with having low to no energy whilst on your period, and it makes it really difficult to train, and can make me feel down in my self esteem like I'm not trying hard enough," someone commented. "But posts like these motivate me to keep going and you inspire me to carry on, and your figure is stunning!!"
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"Thank you for making me know I'm not alone," someone else added. "It really sucks and makes me feel sooo down, but when you see it's normal then it really makes you feel so much better, thank you."
Dariano's post serves as a simple, but evidently important, reminder.
