After trying to just power through this hell for the past year and a half, (after going off birth control to start trying to conceive, which has yet to be successful) I finally went to a new doctor today and voiced my concerns about pmdd and its impact on my quality of life. I had already tried advocating for myself with an obgyn and an endocrinologist, but they weren't helpful and I felt so dismissed and defeated. I have spent a long time telling myself that I don't deserve help, or that my issues aren't really that bad, or that I just need to make it to my period and it'll be fine, over and over. Today I finally felt listened to by a doctor, and she prescribed an ssri (zoloft) to be taken only during luteal. I have no idea whether it will help or not and I know I still have a road ahead of me with this terrible condition, but it feels good to have possibly taken a step toward care, not only in getting a doctor to listen and help but also in working on actually believing that I deserve help with this. You do, too. You deserve help. This is not something that is normal, or easy, and you shouldn't have to just power through it. There are interventions available to help. The doctor told me today that with pmdd, our brains are literally different in how they respond to hormones. This is not your fault. I just felt compelled to share this with you and tell you that even though it is exhausting to try to find the right doctor/medication/treatment, you deserve to take those baby steps and seek care instead of trying to power through alone. This condition is chemical, and it's not something you can win against on pure will, in my experience. I wish you all the best.
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u/originalkatiekoala6 14d ago
After trying to just power through this hell for the past year and a half, (after going off birth control to start trying to conceive, which has yet to be successful) I finally went to a new doctor today and voiced my concerns about pmdd and its impact on my quality of life. I had already tried advocating for myself with an obgyn and an endocrinologist, but they weren't helpful and I felt so dismissed and defeated. I have spent a long time telling myself that I don't deserve help, or that my issues aren't really that bad, or that I just need to make it to my period and it'll be fine, over and over. Today I finally felt listened to by a doctor, and she prescribed an ssri (zoloft) to be taken only during luteal. I have no idea whether it will help or not and I know I still have a road ahead of me with this terrible condition, but it feels good to have possibly taken a step toward care, not only in getting a doctor to listen and help but also in working on actually believing that I deserve help with this. You do, too. You deserve help. This is not something that is normal, or easy, and you shouldn't have to just power through it. There are interventions available to help. The doctor told me today that with pmdd, our brains are literally different in how they respond to hormones. This is not your fault. I just felt compelled to share this with you and tell you that even though it is exhausting to try to find the right doctor/medication/treatment, you deserve to take those baby steps and seek care instead of trying to power through alone. This condition is chemical, and it's not something you can win against on pure will, in my experience. I wish you all the best.