/g/ - girl talk

I was diagnosed with PMDD in early 2019. I would have wild depression out of nowhere the week or two prior to my period and then I’d be ok.

I started taking Paxil (SSRI) for the two weeks before my period started. I do think that the medication helped a lot. The only side effect was feeling extremely “fuzzy” in the morning. It wasn’t a bad feeling but I just felt pretty out of it some mornings so I would usually take my medication after I got to work because the first time it happened when I was driving it was worrisome.

I’m sorry you’re dealing with this - it really fucking sucks. My GYN also suggested getting my vitamin D levels checked because a deficiency in it can also cause similar issues, but I just went with the SSRI.

I started getting bad pms as I got older, never had it before. I'd start feeling so down prior to getting my period, I considered going to the gyno to get something to fix my hormone levels.
Incidentally, before I did that, I stopped eating all meat apart from fish and seafood and started cutting down diary products, and unexpectedly my pms disappeared from the diet change.

So my advice is this: before you go and put additional stuff in your body to help with PMS, check if there's something to stop putting in your body that will help.

Pay a lot of attention to your diet in general, diet is extremely important for hormonal balance, you could be needing to cut out something like me, or you could be lacking something, like vit d as anons doctor said >>174097

blogpost, feel free to skip ahead

I had exhibited PMDD symptoms in 2018. I'm not too sure if it was linked to vitamin D, but as my depression worsened, I left the house less, stopped walking my dog as much and I withdrew from society more. I failed my uni classes and would have days where I just wanted to end my life so much, because there was a lot in my life that was outside of my control. I became obsessed with death, and the image of me dying.

I also suffered the most with my body image during this time and exhibited symptoms of body dysmorphia. I would be so fixated on some flaws I'd have, taking pictures of it, crying about it, trying to diminish it with posing, etc. On top of this I would starve myself which also fucked with my hormones because I'd miss periods or have extremely late periods. And oh boy a late period would result in the worst fucking depression ever where I would get cramps, lie in my bed the whole day, ignore the world and cry. But then I'd get my period and I'd be happy and full of life again. I'd be overjoyed talking to people and I'd feel so overjoyed that I didn't feel that temporary aching loneliness I had felt for those previous weeks.

It only got better once I got put on birth control (Yasmin) even though that BC fucked me up real good. It killed my sex drive and turned my horrible depression into the worst anxiety I have ever felt in my life. I had maybe 5 panic attacks during the two weeks I took that pill, and also suffered some dissociative episodes. I got put on another birth control (Diane-35) and I seemed to be doing a lot better, I was on a new baseline of being empty but not wanting to hurt myself and withdraw from everything kind of empty. I also stopped starving myself, dropped out of uni to work full time, etc. My symptoms seemed to mostly go away from this which was wonderful.

Now I don't really experience "PMDD", I'm not as obsessive over eating (although I think I basically went 'all in' the last 2+ years) and seem to be doing a lot better. So sometimes I wonder if I truly had PMDD or I was just sad.

end of blogpost

I think what probably diminished my "PMDD symptoms" were:
* going outside more
* working, and being forced to stay in a routine
* taking Yasmin? The dissociative episode made me realize that my BF at the time was no good for me and I couldn't continue going to uni in this state.
* not starving myself and being obsessive over food. The birth control made me binge like crazy, i'm probably 10kg+ more than what my old baseline is which would probably horrify the old me, but I'm not fixated on it.
* cutting out loads of toxic people out of my life.

I don't think I had real PMDD since I haven't had to deal with that type of cyclical depression since 2018. But what I experienced was very similar to what I saw other people talking about on /r/PMDD so I suppose it sort of counts.

I really hope you and anyone else who has to deal with this horrible illness works out something that helps you. I kept a diary during that time and the things I wrote in there makes current me so sad for the girl I was in 2018. Try to remind yourself that the pain you experience is temporary, and maybe wear a piece of jewelry or a bracelet to remind you that the brain fog and the horrible thoughts will clear up soon.

Oh, I have been waiting for the day someone makes a PMDD thread on lolcow!

I have it and nothing helps. I haven't tried changing my diet and exercising so I guess that's what I'll have to do next.

I also have pmdd. Violent rage and aggression, depression, suicidal thoughts, self harm ++ I guess being on birth control "helped" as in I didn't have pmdd symptoms anymore, but I instead flatlined emotionally, lost my sex drive, bunch of other physical symptoms and wanted to kms, so I stopped that. I don't dare try ssris as I've heard they have similar side effects to bc and no way I'm going through that again.

So for now I just try to exercise and eat healthy, avoid other people and sedate myself with drug. And lots of damage control

Highly suspecting I have pmdd, too. I’ve had the symptoms for about 2-3 years at least but I only really noticed in the past few weeks that I have the crazy mood swings starting from ovulation until the first day of my period. Then I’m back to normal. I haven’t talked about it with any doctor but I’m about to get my blood work done this week and maybe that will show something.

>>174083
Wtf I always thought I had some form of manic depression until I started noticing I find relief when my period starts. So I told my therapist, hey could this be hormonal? Now I'm reading this, I'm almost sure of it. I can't believe this never came up on the countless google searches I did. It always just mentions pms.
Basically a week or two before my period I get depression, irritability, getting angry for no reason, crying every day, etc.
When my period starts, I'm so happy because it makes me feel kind of apathetic and its such a relief. Most women hate their period lol.
Thank you for posting this anon. I will definitely go to my doctor with this.
Oh and I've tried multiple birth control but they all fuck up my cycle wich has probably to do with the anti-epileptics I have to take.

I have general depression which was was diagnosed in my teens and that has generally stuck around just at a milder level. In 2019 I was about a year into dating a new guy. He had gotten a vasectomy and I was relieved to not have to take birth control as it does terrible things for my mood all month long. That year though I had the most extreme plummets in mood for a few days before every period was due. I would wake up suicidal 3 days pre-period and I'd message my partner at work saying I didn't want to be alone. I was out of work temporarily so I got into this habit of heading to coffee shops on those days and sipping coffee while holding back tears and not letting myself be alone for a moment because I wanted to end myself. It was that sudden. I felt loopy. I would tell my partner I was unwell but I'd also try to hide the full extent of it.

I have memories of going to my family planning clinic and crying in the waiting room, crying throughout the appt. Being told to go see a gp instead. Going there and crying. Getting an SSRI prescribed and the pill…and the BC sending me into a constant state of distress with breakthrough bleeding thrown in too.

I don't know why that one year was so bad. The relationship was emotionally abusive. I didn't quite see that at the time but I was biting my tongue alot, unhappy and dealing with a man who liked control and hated even my normal emotions. I think that contributed to the situation. Underlying depression, monthly mood dips, walking on eggshells with a guy who feigned empathy one second (in front of docs) and then snapped at me in the car afterwards.

Thank god it passed. After the breakup I had maybe two more rough cycles but I got off SSRIs and BC and am managing these last couple years with maybe one teary eyed moment warning me that I'm due each month. I'm grateful it stopped, it kind of makes me dread what menopause might bring though. I hate to see people belittling the depths of distress that lil ole hormones can send you into. It's no joke.

Blog post, but I have endo as well as pcos, the pain I get each month is too much to bear, and I feel legit sick during, it, I am trying to go on bc but I can't find one that doesnt kill my sex drive or aggravates my weight problem due to pcos, and the mental health issues coming from it I have to take meds that make weight gain and retention alot easier, so I'm pretty much in a fucked situation.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6422848/
I found this study according to which PMS/PMDD symptoms might be alleviated by increasing vitamin D and calcium intake. Worth trying out

oh shit I also forgot, ginseng to deal with fatique, it's better than miadol and it helps keep your energy up if you bleed heavily during your period, I recommend prince of peace American ginseng tea as a cup a day during your period can keep you from feel lethargic.

I think I'm developing this. First I noticed that I become suicidal on the day right before period and it goes away as soon as the period starts. Now I've noticed that the week before my period I have overwhelming urges to binge eat. I don't know if this happened because of getting older or because I gained a lot of weight in 2019. I'm going to try to lose some weight and go outside more now that the weather's getting better.

I've never in my life had cramping BEFORE my period.
If I wake up with cramps then I'm duck walking to the toilet because it's already here.
They're bad enough that, if ibuprofen didn't exist, I wouldn't make it to work. But thankfully they work like magic.

I’m convinced I have this the more I read people’s experiences.
I don’t necessarily feel depressed but I get awful anxiety, anger/irritability, brain fog, literally not being above to focus on anything for more than 5 minutes etc.
My doc said I have to try an ssri 2 weeks before my period and b6 supplement before I can see a gyno.
I think this is all related to my PCOS, I can’t take the pill because I get migraines and it makes them worse so my hormones must be all over the place.

Does anyone here have appetite loss before and during period?

>>199829
yeah.

My periods are now marked with lack of appetite, and diharrea. Yum.

>>199829
Yes, my stomach feels fluttery and tender and I never get properly hungry

>>199830
So is this a recent development for you? I always used to get hungry but now I completely lost my will to eat anything and it’s strange. I was paranoid I was getting sick.

>>199831
Does your upper stomach feel tender as well as lower then?

>>199837

Yeah, in the last 2 or so years. But I'm thinking it's because of my BC (which I've been bad at taking tbh). When I was a teen I'd just get the shit kicked out of my by Aunt Flow as soon as she's here. Now she's kicking my shit in 2 weeks early and doesn't let up until my 3rd or 4th period day.

Reminder

>>200950
Yes PMS is basically the modern day equivalent of saying that a woman is hysterical because her uterus is wandering.

>>200950
>>200952
No, the denying of PMS being real was the way of telling us we were just being hysteric. PMS is very real but it's just not "women being moody and craving chocolate tee hee" like men describe it to be, it's painful cramps, bloating, chronic aching and skin breakouts that doctors don't take seriously. Having PMDD which is more aligned with the severe emotional instability is an entirely different thing and it's a disorder that requires immediate treatment, not just "basic PMS". My friend turned legitimately suicidal, anxious and extremely dysphoric every month before being treated for PMDD and me myself suffered through debilitating PMS pain before being treated for endometriosis.

>>200950
Yes hormones were invented by men

>>200950
actually I've been wondering lately how common are pms-related mood swings really? I've never heard anyone talk about them irl only on TV

>>200985
I have a general feeling of hoplessness and also have suicidal thoughts before my period, so it's a thing

>>200985
I had depression for years so I didn't always notice a difference before my period but now that I've recovered from it I can clearly tell that my period is coming when I get depressive again, I tear up when watching anything with the slightest hint of emotion in it, I get easily irritated by small inconveniences or just feel really aggitated with no external cause. I don't lash out or let on to people. I live alone and pretty much have a rough couple of days in private.

I’ve had a handle on my depression and anxiety for a while now but holy shit do I have problems before my period begins.
> Constantly pissed off
> Any empathy disappears
> Become selfish, unable to comprehend that other people are human beings too
> Become withdrawn and empty
> Only urge is to hurt something or myself
>Basically become a man

Last week I got so pissed I stood in my kitchen for an hour just ripping the cardboard in the recycling into little pieces.
It makes me feel like a monster and I hate it.

>>200985
My cycle makes me so moody. Depressive before I bleed, anxious after I bleed, and then euphoric and almost hypomanic a few days before/after ovulation. I never thought to connect any of it to PMS because I thought mood swings were just a sexist myth, but once I started tracking it the pattern was so strong. It's like clockwork.

Didn't have an issue with PMS/DD until my 28th birthday.
From then I've been on a rollercoaster every month. 2 week I feel confident, assertive, social and myself. The other 2 weeks, I'm a different person. The inner voice changes from supportive and encouraging, to a person who wants me to fail every step of the way.

I live for those 2 weeks, and try not to get a record on the other 2

>>200997
I feel your pain nonnie, I have the same problems that start like 4-5 days before my period. The scariest things are the violent urges. I feel like one day I'll actually snap in public

>>201014
Thank you, now I know I am not alone nonnie you are a lovely person and I hope that any anon on here that reads this know they are not alone too

Not diagnosed but I'm pretty sure I have pmdd but there's no way to get it diagnosed.


I really need help with the brain fog. I end up doing nothing at work or making pretty big mistakes and I just CAN'T focus on anything.

Then after my period it's a 180 change. I'm super productive, can focus, get all of my tasks done etc etc etc. And then 2 weeks later the same shit happens. I'm miserable.

I tried sleeping more, meditation, magnesium, b12, iron, avoiding sugar, carbs etc. I'm also on birth control.

>>201036
The picture made me smile. I'm glad I found this thread, it helped me some. There's so many women going through this who still are told they're crazy for what they're feeling, it's sad.

Asked this in the stupid questions thread but thought this thread would be more fitting: does anyone take vitex/chasteberry for their PMS/PMDD symptoms? What was your experience with it? How does it compare to antidepressants?

>>203795
Yeah, I took it for a while and it really really helped with my cramps and nausea. Somewhat surprisingly since I wasn't sure it would do anything. I used to get nausea during my periods so bad that I'd throw up but the vitex stopped it. I took it for several months and then quit but when I did the heavy symptoms never came back, thank god. I've never taken antidepressants before so I can't compare with that but I didn't have any negative side effects. (Was still a depressed bitch but unrelated to period)

>>203800
Ah thank you for the feedback. I've just started taking it because I have unbearable depressive symptoms before my period and so far I've been taking antidepressants but they don't always work (and also it just makes more sense that if the problem is hormonal then one should use something that regulates them and according to studies chasteberry does that)

>>203818
I hope it helps with your symptoms anon! Since your depressive periods are hormonal it could definitely work to even them out, at least based on the results I had. It has some good research behind it too, so at the least it shouldn't make anything worse.

My period started and I'm so much more focused now. 2 weeks before my period my brain starts to feel like mush. Can't concentrate, being super messy, overwhelmed, easy to irritate, crying over nothing, drama queen etc. Basically all the stereotypes of being a woman. Gonna start with omega 3 oil in a few days and later then with all kind of supplements which are meant to improve my overall health but I hope it helps with my pmdd symptoms as well. Will report back.

Damn. Once I started tracking my mood changes I realized that it might be tied to the cycle, and I always thought I'm just depressed (also was diagnosed as bipolar II). But then I also noticed that even pills don't really work once I enter luteal phase - I often feel like I'm on the brink of tears without any particular reason and get much more easily irritated. Huh. And I used to think that you can get like this only a few days prior to the period.

How do I beat the urge to binge eat the day before my period? I know I shouldn't but the urge to eat everything literally hijacks my entire mind to the point that it scares me.

>>174083
I'm so glad there's a thread about this. I've had PMDD for… Well, I first noticed there was something wrong years ago when I first realised that most of the impulsive, bad things I had done happened before I got my period. As a teenager I associated it with PMS, and I couldn't do anything about it so I just decided I'd live with it.
But I accidentally ran into the word PMDD one day and decided to look into it, and it made a lot of sense that I would have it. I used to be afraid I had BPD because of how awful and suicidal I would feel a week before my period.
Of course, having a name to it didn't help a lot either, since there was no cure. But I've been following this bipolar girl on instagram who makes relatable memes. And she has PMDD too.
Anons, this woman didn't save my life, but she made it significantly better. I sound like a member of a pyramid scheme or something, but she has actually helped me. She said that famotidine, or other histamine receptors (idk all the medical slang) helped make PMDD symptoms easier. And they have. At least for me. I was worried it would be placebo, but I've tried them for a few months (3-4) already, and I can notice the difference. I still feel sad but not suicidal or like actually hurting myself.
If anyone has the chance, you should try it.

I have been to a couple of gynecologists (all women), and NONE of them have helped me. I'm pretty sure I have PMDD because I have 5 or more symptoms and most of them are the bad mental kind. I'm really afraid; when it gets bad, it gets bad. In particular, last time before my period I had this… overpowering urge to kill myself any means possible, and it scared me. Usually I try to stay strong and fight it because I know my parents would be devastated but recently, I have been living in a foreign country and it gets easy for me in that state to shrug that away. I don't want to do something awful to myself. I don't want to hurt my loved ones either.

But all the hormone tests I've done with doctors have turned out alright. Granted, they have been not on that window of time before my period, but aren't hormones unbalanced all the time if they cause this? IDK, I'm grasping at straws right now. I want to keep fighting this dreary state, but I need tools to combat it before it happens. The ones I have are sparse right now.

Any helpful suggestions, anons?

>>204624
Try changing your diet. It worked for me.

>>204625
Samefag but
> I have been living in a foreign country
Eating foreign food? Might be the culprit.

>>204626
It's not the diet. I've had it since I started my period, only when I was a teen I thought this was just regular teen crap. And the only time it stopped was when I lost my period for a year (it's super irregular regardless). My diet is pretty much the same.

>>204674
Well if you've had it since forever and you diet's been same forever, it could still be the diet's fault…
I'm just trying to help. It doesn't hurt to at least try making a change there and seeing how your body reacts?

I'm so fucking tired of this bullshit. Spent the whole day crying and feeling like absolute shit. Normally I can control my depression fairly well, but the week before my period it's way out of control - feeling suicidal, relapsing with self harm, feeling completely worthless and alone. And then the hot flashes and the cramps on top of the extreme emotions. Fuck this gay earth.

How do I know if I have PMDD or is it's just regular clinical depression?

>>248990
Track your cycle and your mood/symptoms. I figured out I had PMDD when I would spiral around my mensural cycle. Wouldn’t happen every time but every 2/3 cycles. Getting pregnant stopped it and taking birth control after also helped. I’ve been pretty good ever since. Been on Mirena for a couple years and it’s really helped. I still get very emotional two days before I have a -very- light period (it’s like a couple days of brown discharge) and snappy/impatient. But nothing like i was before.

My anxiety would build and get so bad I couldn’t even hold a conversation, and then I would crash and the depression lasted for a week or so. And then I would be fine.

how do i stop pmdd?

>>304119
a nonny in the period thread wrote a helpful writeup about pmdd >>>/g/301905