Every month, for about a week, millions of women cope with debilitating menstrual cramps. Whenever they strike, most of us reach for NSAIDs, maybe some caffeine, and sometimes a heating pad -- rinse, repeat. But that routine can get old, sometimes it doesn't even help, and who knows what kind of toll it might be taking on your long-term well-being? Plus, wouldn't it be so much better to preempt the cramps before they begin?

Enter a new, small study from Italy, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, that found a single, high-dose (300,000 IU -- whoa!) of cholecalciferol -- aka vitamin D3 -- was linked to a marked reduction in menstrual cramps. (In two months, the average pain scores dropped 41 percent for women on vitamin D vs. no difference in pain for a placebo group.) Also interesting: All the women in the study had blood levels of vitamin D measuring in the lowest 25 percent of normal at the study's outset. A clue, perhaps?

Remember the Blair Witch Project? Well, star and filmmaker Heather Donahue is back with a slightly less scary stunt: A memoir about her year growing marijuana titled Grow Girl. Apparently the acting thing didn't work out -- plus that darn PMS kept turning her into a witch month after month. And that's how Heather hooked up with her medical marijuana license to treat her PMS and embarked on the grassy adventure of a lifetime.

Smoke Pot for PMS?!? At first glance that sounds like an EXCELLENT solution. Yes, we should definitely look into that. Sign me up for that medical study! But when I really think it through (while sober), I have to admit that maybe it's not for me.

A new "Got Milk?" ad campaign is promoting the fact that drinking milk can alleviate PMS. There's actually research that suggests upping your intake of calcium and vitamin D can, in fact, lessen both physical and emotional symptoms associated with PMS; so as far as I can tell, this campaign might have been successful in terms of convincing women to drink more milk ...

So then why do the ads themselves have to be so ridiculously sexist?

In the days following KCBS reporter Serene Branson's scary on-air incident after the Grammys, everyone speculated a stroke was what caused her to speak in what came out sounding like unintelligible gibberish. We now know that the garbled speech was a result of complex migraine syndrome. Branson made the rounds to some news shows yesterday and on Thursday night, explaining what happened.

In her first interview since the incident, Branson told KCBS:

At around 10 o'clock that night I was sitting in the live truck with my field producer and the photographer and I was starting to look at some of my notes. I started to think, the words on the page are blurry and I could notice that my thoughts were not forming the way they normally do...As soon as I opened my mouth I knew something was wrong. I was having trouble remembering the word for Grammy. I knew what I wanted to say but I didn't have the words to say it.

It's not me, it's you.

Finding a running partner is pretty easy. Breaking up with one isn’t.

Getting to know a new exercise buddy is kind of fun at first, like flirting at the bar was back in college. But what happens if your new BRB (Best Running Buddy) turns out to be a whiny, negative mess of emotional baggage and just the idea of sharing your precious workout time with her makes you want to call in sick, every.damn.day? How do you dump her?

As if it weren't enough that we feel crappy when we're PMSing or ovulating. (Got mittelschmerz? No, it's not a type of German lager ... it's those strange mid-cycle cramps!) Turns out that our hormones could influence behavior, immunity -- and yeah, even our bank accounts at different points in our cycle. 

For instance, you may have heard that British scientists found that we're more likely to overspend when we're premenstrual. Yep, two-thirds of PMSing respondents had "bought something on impulse." 

That explains so many clothing items that now hang in my closet unworn. Sigh.

Here, even more ways our hormones are messing with us -- for better or for worse -- throughout the month. After all, it (literally) pays to know ...

Here's a pretty common scenario when my husband and I head out for a date night that includes a cocktail: The waitress arrives at our table with a Cosmopolitan and a Manhattan. She sets the Cosmo down in front of me and the Manhattan in front of my husband. We smile resignedly ... and switch the drinks back to their rightful owners.

I can see why she'd assume the Cosmo is mine, because it's pink, fruity, and strongly identified with Sex and the City. (Not mocking you, honey! Okay, maybe just a little teensy bit.) But food is gendered in all sorts of ways. If I write, "Chris is totally jonesing for some chocolate" you're picturing a female, right? If I substituted "nice bloody rare steak" for "chocolate," you'd most likely think Chris is a guy.

Photo by Seattle Municipal Archives In the battle of the sexes, who's the better gyno?

I've had both male and female gynecologists, and I've experienced pros and cons with each.  

While no one can argue the most important thing about your gyno visit is that you actually show up, just how important is the sex of your gyno?