As a long standing previous member of NAPS, its very sad that this forum is now under utilised.

Its a great shame that the forum was down for so many months and many members transferred to other online media groups to get much needed support whilst the forum was down. Almost all of the previous members have not come back. Such a shame as we were all pretty much a very close community.

NAPS was a fantastic resource previously and although the forum was badly moderated it is greatly missed. I met lots of lovely ladies and met some very good friends and im so conscious of the amount of ladies who must find the forum, see the few posts that we have and just dismiss it and move on with their quest to become free of pmdd.

I think it is hard to give advice now unless its very general advice which sort of defeats the object of the forum. If it wasnt for this forum, I would have never have found my consultant and sorted my pmdd. If I was to go back 3 years and use the forum as it is today, I would not have found out the information I did and god knows where I would have been. That is a great shame.

Moderation has gone from non existant to over zelous in my humble opinion. I hope this isnt the end of the forum and NAPS.

Hi floralgirl,

I too was a NAPs user before it closed down and you are right, I think with it being down for so long ladies simply had to find somewhere else to vent their PMS/PMDD problems and hopefully find some clarification from other sufferers.

When I first joined back - I was moderated and it was a little frustrating, but NAPs posted something on the news section that kinds of explains why they had to do this (charity law etc.)

My frustration is that I keep posting and yet whilst I get plenty of viewings - no replies back which is slightly disheartening - Crystal has been vv helpful though as well.

I'd encourage more people to come back to NAPs and try it again - I also use Twitter to follow NAPs now which is quite helpful xx

I agree that it is a great shame. The forum has gone from one extreme to another. First it wasn't moderated at all and was invaded with constant spam and people who were nasty to others were just allowed to carry on. However, we could really help new ladies who appeared by pointing them in the right direction of a good specialist near them and also tell them of treatments and supplements that we all found have helped. Considering we are all ladies who suffer with pmdd there was very little nastiness or argument (apart from one member who we all learned quickly not to respond to).

Now it has gone to the other extreme and is moderated but it is far too strict. If you can't discuss which gynae's you found helpful and tell others of your experiences with the gynaes and treatments then none of us learn anything and there is no point to the forum at all. It may as well just be a website with links to helpful advice and recommended specialists. The list of rules that pop up EVERY time you click back to the main menu is really annoying too! No need for this to pop up like this - it just gets in the way.

NAPS reply

We thought it would be useful for the statement that appeared in the NAPS bulletin and the NAPS Home Page to be reprinted here.

Why the new Rules

There have been some concerns raised as to the new rules which now accompany the Forum and we thought it would be helpful if we explained why they are in place. When the old forum was accessed the user was never given the rules, they were difficult to find and understandably this caused confusion. That they are immediately screened as soon as access takes place ensures that there is complete clarity as to what they are.


All the rules are there to provide a safe environment for PMS sufferers to obtain mutual support. Some of the rules are common to all forums and some are specific to ours. We heeded concerns about signatures being too long and there is now a restriction. It was thought to be important that any proposed posting of a medical nature be first assessed by a qualified clinician – women suffering PMS are often desperate for a cure and it is must, therefore, be the case, that any information on our authorised site should be approved by a NAPS medical trustee. This does not mean that personal experience of treatments/ medication cannot be shared – it is obvious that these are personal to the user. Posted medical information can give the impression it is bona fide,authoritative and approved by NAPS – our request to contact NAPS first, ensures that it is and we are protecting forum users in this way.

One of the rules also does not allow the recommendation of any particular specialist.Since NAPS was set up we have had to be aware that recommending a single specialist contravenes Charity Law and even when there were very few PMS specialists, we would provide an enquirer with a list of three. Today, the NAPS UK-wide list of specialists gives a wide choice to a PMS sufferer. If the specialist only works in the private sector any recommendation can be seen to be promoting an individual’s business. Where a specialist works in the NHS and has private patients, personal recommendation can be construed as possibly benefiting the specialist as sufferers have the option to be seen privately. A number of NAPS specialists are also trustees of NAPS. No trustee is allowed to profit from their position in the charity. NAPS clearly cannot be seen to be promoting individuals through the Forum. This does not mean that Hospital clinics cannot be mentioned – users of the Forum are quite capable of researching options and supportive posts can be placed, working within these constraints which successfully help a sufferer.

This particular rule, therefore, protects NAPS and its future.

The rules have also helped us to monitor the forum more efficiently. There were suggestions in the past that the Forum should be monitored regularly and this now takes place. Spam was becoming a major problem with the old Forum. There was an issue with it when the new Forum was set up but all spammers do not manage to get through our filtering system and we have to be very thankful that our administrator takes time to eliminate them each day while only allowing deserving applicants to register.

The rules are more prescriptive than in the past but they are there for the common good and we have learnt from experience that the old forum was indeed far from perfect.

The rules quite clearly say that personal experiences of particular treatments can be shared.

We know that there are many people accessing the forum page each day - it would be a pity if they are deterred from posting by negative comments. New users need support and encouragement.

Please be assured that although the new system may not be perfect it is a vast improvement on what existed before

J Howe
CEO NAPS

I'm a new user and I must say I was disappointed when I found the forum, because there are so few discussions. In day to day life, PMS can feel like a taboo subject (I still find it difficult to tell my boss it's why I'm having a day off work), and the internet is full of contradictory advice or just plain misunderstandings (if I read one more article that thinks menstrual cramps are the same as PMS I'll explode!). So I was really looking forward to joining NAPS and getting all the advice and support I needed, particular because I'd paid for it - and to see such a paltry forum was disheartening. It made me feel that PMS is an under-discussed subject, even here!

Having said that, I have posted a few comments and received very helpful replies, so thanks very much for those. I suppose the only way for the forum to improve is if we use it more, so that's what I'll do!

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I'm 34 and have had severe PMS for 5 years. Trying to manage it with medication (currently 4mg Prozac) and lifestyle changes (exercise, diet, stress management).

Hi Alanna,

Thanks for posting - keep up the questions - the forum gets so many views but I think maybe ladies are a bit shy about posting!

I check in here every few days and I was follow NAPs twitter account naps_pms

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