What Is Preheat Syndrome And Do I Have It?

What is Preheat Syndrome and do I have it?

What is preheat syndrome (PHS)? 

PHS is a recurring pattern of emotional, physical and behavioral changes in the days before your period that impact your daily life. These include but are not limited to headaches, exhaustion, bleeding, cramping, touch avoidance, back pain, joint or muscle aches, and sleeping or digestive issues.

PHS can also be experienced through euphoric symptoms including but not limited to increased body euphoria, higher motivation, quicker thinking, and hyperactivity.

What's the difference between PHS and regular preheat symptoms?

The most specific difference is that PHS symptoms impact your daily life. Many of us experience preheat exhaustion, but if your exhaustion means that you are unable to go to work then it would classify as a PHS symptom.

Many omegas find being touched in advance of their heat annoying, but if being touched - and we mean even casually here, a hand on your shoulder, holding hands, scenting chastely, etc - if this physically hurts you then you should see a doctor about this as it may be a symptom of PHS and in many cases can be treated with a topical cream.

It is normal to experience spotting before your heats, however if this spotting becomes heavy bleeding, lasts for more than two days, or causes pain, please see a medical professional.

Track your symptoms

Use a heat tracking app to track your preheat symptoms. Most good apps will have options for mild-moderate-severe levels of tracking for the most common symptoms and options to add your own if yours are not there. [See our linked post for our top ten heat tracking apps!]

Heat tracking apps will usually then give you an alert that your preheat is due and the better apps will include tips to mitigate your common symptoms.

This is good for you: you can see what symptoms you get with what regularity, and notice if it's a pattern or if it's a once off

This is good for your medical provider: they can see if your symptom patterns match with common PHS patterns, and if they do they can pass you on for further diagnoses. If they don't they can still recommend ways to allieviate symptoms that are causing you undue bother.

Not everybody experiences PHS.

While the media portrayal of preheat often includes dehabilitating symptoms of preheat - and indeed heat - it is not true that every one of us who experiences a heat will experience a preheat.

Some of us will have a preheat that we do not notice but our mates or packmates do notice, for example. Some of us will not have a preheat at all, merely drop immediately into heat.

Dealing with preheat symptoms does not necessarily equate to PHS. Preheat syndrome is a medical diagnosis that can severely affect a person’s life, while preheat symptoms can feel uncomfortable but mild.

It’s important to understand the difference and know your body. Tracking your symptoms will help you learn more about your own unique experience — rather than the generalized behaviors of all people who experience heats.