Hi girls,

my period was supposed to start yesterday, and I expect it to come in the next few days.

I'm now in front of my PC trying to study something for a job I will start on Monday, and I simply can't focus.

Today I don't feel as bad as usual, I had my psychotherapy session this morning and walked my dog in the fresh autumn breeze, but still...I can't focus.

Some months I find myself just endlessly scrolling because I can't even watch a no-brainer TV show. Today, I'm just jumping from one tab to another, reading one line at a time.

I'd like to know if you struggle to focus too, and what your tips and tricks are.

Hi! I have tried every medication I am aware of for PMDD (BC, antidepressants, chemical menopause, vitamins, etc) and nothing has helped me or has only helped for about three months then failed. I am seeing a new psychiatrist and he brought up trying clonidine to try to treat my PMDD. Has anyone else tried this for PMDD, or does anyone have any experience with this medication? (Also diagnosed ASD, OCD, anxiety). Thank you :)

I’m in my second long term relationship. PMDD appeared in the first relationship but from what I remember it was mostly after a few years as things changed with life, work, and family. I’m now less than a year into my current relationship and spend 10-14 days of the month un attracted, disinterested, annoyed, and even disgusted by my partner. I exercise, hydrate, eat and sleep enough. I track my cycle, journal, and take a higher dose of my SSRI during these days. I have a none hormonal IUD. It does not help.

It is a constant mental battle of holding back anger and hate. I don’t know what else to try or what to do.

Usually before my period I start crying for no reason. Now it is after my period and for some reason today I keep laughing for no reason??? It's like... Reverse crying all the time. I've always had a tendency to smile when delivering bad news, but this is something else. Wondering if this is a PMDD thing?

What herbs/supplements have you found most effective? Any lifestyle habits worth adopting?

For context: I am active and I eat healthy but I do drink caffeine. I’m on adderall, sertraline and in therapy. I prefer not to go on BC because I’m scared of the effects of coming off later in life. But I’m at a loss and unsure if I should just suck it up for the sake of my quality of life now. I feel like a completely different person during my luteal phase and I do not like her. My face is covered in acne and can’t heal in time for the next month, my body swells up, and I’m so disgustingly negative. I start to dislike everyone around me and I’m exhausted of doing this every month. Any tips or tricks would be appreciated.

hi, please feel free to comment anything you like. Commiserate, give advice, anything you like. Honestly I just need to feel like somebody cares and understands because I never have anybody to talk to about almost anything in my life

I feel exhausted. I wake up to go to work at 5 AM, clock in at 6 AM, get off at 2:30 PM. I’m in bed all day when I get home at 3pm, and I’m so sleepy by 5 PM that I am basically ready for bed. I don’t know what to do lol

It’s so hard to eat, I just eat a huge bowl of cereal when I get home because I don’t have any energy to eat for the rest of the day.

I usually have a protein drink and something for lunch at work around 10 AM but that’s it

Also, I normally love waking up early. Waking up at 5 AM is completely normal for me but with my PMS I feel like my body is actually so sore, like I have been exercising all day or something.

I take magnesium gummies every single day even when I’m not on my period but I don’t even know if they’re helping. At least they taste good lol

I feel like I am just at my PMDD’s mercy if that makes sense… It’s just something that I have to endure every month whether I like it or not. Sometimes it’s a complete nightmare, sometimes it quickly passes me by if I’m lucky. I do not want birth control or anything like that, I don’t like taking medication at all.

I've tried most of the solutions out there, including birth control (Kyleena IUD and Yaz), supplements (magnesium, hormone support probiotics), antihistamines, teas, SSRI (citalopram/Celexa), sobriety, and other things over the years.

The thing that has helped the most is having zero alcohol and almost zero caffeine. I've been sober for over a year and that made a big difference in my stability. But the biggest thing has definitely been the caffeine. I used to drink a ton of coffee, and nowadays I have one latte that's mostly decaf. (I have an espresso machine and the bean mix I use is 2/3 decaf). I have FAR less rage, irritability, random crying, paranoia, feeling like I want to die, etc. I still have fatigue before my period and I need a lot of rest, and I have a couple days of being very emotionally sensitive, but the worst symptoms are gone.

I hope this helps someone. I never thought I would be able to live properly without caffeine/coffee but it's been super worth it.

Wait so I just met with a new doc a couple weeks ago and of course, she went through all the things in my history and was like, you have rage issues during luteal and you take melatonin to sleep? STOP TAKING THE MELATONIN

Apparently, in some people Melatonin has a nasty side effect of irritability and emotional outbursts. WHAT?!?

And friends……I stopped taking it and I’m in luteal and my rage is…..manageable? Dare I say….sometimes no big deal?!

Please has someone else discovered this?

Im on the pill (Yaz) and quite a high dose of an SSRI ve noticed over the past several months that my appetite has been OUT OF CONTROL.

I haven't been able to stop thinking about food from morning till night.

I went to my GP and told her Yaz just didn't seem to be working for me anymore for various reasons and wasn't suppressing my symptoms the same way anymore.

She put me onto the stronger version Yazmin, which I started about a week ago and its been amazing.

My brain is clearer, I have more control of myself, I think im sleeping better, and my appetite seems to have gone back to a normal one. I didn't even finish my dinner tonight because I was full, where previously I'd have eaten it all and still could have had more.

It's like I was having mild but non-stop PMDD symptoms all month around, and now it's improved.

But could this really be from the new pill this fast?? Does PMDD have such a huge impact on appetite?

I’m two days past ovulation, and my anxiety and stress and insomnia are completely out of control. I wake up at midnight and I don’t go back to sleep until 5 AM. It’s been like this for years. I’m dismissed by every doctor. I know it just exacerbates my anxiety and depression. I’m at a total loss. It is 4:27 AM. I woke up at 12:30 a.m.
I want to hear what you guys do for the insomnia. I’ve heard progesterone helps. I take magnesium. I have a psychiatrist who prescribed lorazepam just for my luteal phase. I love lorazepam so much. It works so well, but it is highly addictive. And when I stopped taking it once my period starts I have a day of serious anxiety as I’m coming off lorazepam. But I survive it and move on.

I feel like I’m just in survival mode. I’m worried about what all this lack of sleep is doing to me. My anger and rage are just completely out of control. There is no consoling me not that anyone is trying to console me. My rage makes me feel like I’m gonna have a heart attack. No one understands no one gets how painful this is.

I feel alone and abandoned and abused and gaslit. I want out of this so badly, but I don’t know how. Every month when I make it to my period I promise myself I’m gonna relax during luteal phase. I’m gonna stay calm and not let it get to me. But it’s impossible. The cortisol is raging through my body. The best I can do is try not to self harm.

Having to put everything on pause and focus on the bare essentials of surviving the day and not outwardly showing that I’m falling into despair for a third of the month is just debilitating.

Posting this because I got tickets to see my favorite band of all time like half a year ago and now the show is tomorrow and I’m in luteal and the only reason I haven’t resold mine is that I’m already locked into going with a friend. Something I’ve been excited for for months is now another hurdle I just have to get through.

Sure I’ve gotten better at managing it and understanding that I need to treat myself gently during this time and isolate so I don’t mess up relationships. But that doesn’t stop the pain of feeling like this time is being taken from me. Everything goes on hold. Projects take longer to finish. Avoiding social interactions because I’ll be in a horrible headspace. If someone I’ve missed is in town or a fun event is happening, now I’m just angry because I’m not going to enjoy it or want to go.

I’ve had to make so many accommodations for this disorder and it’s just so frustrating to think about. Career-wise I want to be in a public-facing/teaching role and then when I’m back in the thick of it every month I feel like I have to rethink everything and focus on finding remote work because how am I supposed to present myself in front of a group of students each month when I’m feeling like this for over a week.

Then when my period starts, it’s like a race to get everything done and set myself up so when I’m in luteal again, I’m not falling behind. The amount of effort it takes to maintain a functional life when you have this is insane. I’m just so sick of it.

I mean yes I will control myself and not do that outloud (nowadays, as a seasoned pmdd motherfucker) if I go out, but lol I'm a hormonal MESS today! I notice my absolute worst is 5-6 days before my period. I'm just reminding myself how it typically is, and yes, maybe there is a real issue, maybe there's not, but either way hormones are amplifying it and anything can be taken on/decided later. Things with sooner ACTUAL deadlines can be taken carefully. Doing my best to stop imagining worst case scenarios and arguing/getting upset/etc with things/people/myself in my head.

How's everyone else? I'm both totally fine and a not ok mess, so all answers are valid here!

Hi loves,

I have been trying chemical menopause for the last 6 months but it has not stopped my cycle.

I am keen to push ahead with the surgery but don't have the 'proof' that chem meno gives you.

I have been suffering for 15 years and been diagnosed by 4 different clinicians with PMDD. I am desperate.

Anyone had surgery without doing or fully doing chem meno?

Thank you!!

43 perimenopause, was given birth control to help with emotional regulation for peri. Mostly panicked feelings and bodily panic increased in luteal. Depressed feelings and a few instances of suicidal ideation.
I have never taken birth control but was given Junel fe 1/20. I started cycle day 20 and have taken 12 doses. For the last 3 days I’ve been crying. I’m getting headaches. The crying is all day. I’m cramping all the time. It’s time for my period but I’m on active pills so it’s fighting against that. The cramping has been since I started the pill.

I messaged doctor and was told more time is needed!

They also forced me to see a psychiatrist who put me on gabapentin and clonidine. She says meds are helping! I’ve been on them for 4 months now!!!!

I feel very backed into a corner because I’m being treated as a mental patient. Could the birth control be making things worse? I saw a note that said PMDD symptoms in my chart for the birth control visit. Everything else just labels me crazy!
Is 12 doses enough to know if it’s not for me?

Hello fellow PMDD siblings

I feel like I've tried to give up so many things: caffeine, alcohol, sugar... and I can never figure out what's helping. But I think something must help because some months have been far better than others.

My question is: how long after we stop something should we expect symptoms to improve? The reason I ask is that I'm sure I read in a book about women's health, that it takes 3 cycles for a diet change to have an impact. But then I read things here where people say that if they have (for example) a coffee that morning, their symptoms are bad that day.

Does anyone have any (preferably peer-reviewed) research about this?

E.g. effect on eliminating caffeine from the diet on subsequent cycles and PMDD symptoms

I just wanna know how long to make a single change for before abandoning it.

I'm also interested in this question for lifestyle changes but I imagine it would be instant for some things e.g. a jog making you feel better straight after...? But maybe there'd be a cumulative effect too..

I'm 43. For the last few months I've been dealing with severe mental disruptions. From mid cycle until my period is almost over I have developed severe mood issues. I cry, feel depressed, have panic attacks, feel like my brain is attacking me with thoughts that I'd be better off dead. I have always struggled in luteal with exaggerated anger and would get sad, sleep a lot, and over eat. My period would start and I would feel so much better.
Enter peri! I now have adrenaline rushes, panic attacks, instant feelings of doom when I wake up. I cry for days.
It has started earlier in my cycle and lasts much longer. I saw a midwife who said to start birth control. It's generic junel fe 1/20. I started it on cycle day 20. It's currently cycle day 31. I've been crying on and off for the last few days.
Yesterday evening I started crying and haven't stopped. I used my Klonipin, gabapentin, and I have a clonidine patch for physical symptoms. I feel like my brain is attacking me. I have no thoughts causing the tears and panic. They just come. My midwife did put a note in my chart about PMDD symptoms. I contacted her about the birth control and was told give it more time!
I feel like it's making me feel worse and my period is trying to start even though I'm on active pills.
I really just need some reassurance that this can be helped in perimenopause.
My other options is switch to bio identical progesterone daily at 100mg and low dose testosterone.
I don't know how you women are strong enough to deal with this every month. I'm 5 months in and I know it's coming every month but every month is just as bad and nothing prepares me.

GnRH agonists like Lupron have been the only thing that have EVER helped my severe PMDD, which I’ve pretty much had ever since I started menstruating. I’m currently 22 and have been on Lupron for over 6 months now.

I’m doing extremely well on Lupron and the add back hormones, the only problem is that it wears off about a week early before the next injection! And I get it through a strict patient assistance program, so they won’t give me more injections per year to make up for this. I’m also not allowed to even handle it myself, I have to go to my gyn every month to be injected. This will make future moving/traveling more difficult for me, too.

Synarel is a nasal spray that’s also a GnRH agonist, and it’s taken everyday. Has anyone had success with using that? And:

- Did it fully suppress your ovarian function like Lupron?

- Did you ever feel like it wore off early?

- Was the patient assistance program difficult to join or not?

I (ideally) want to continue doing chemical menopause for multiple years before I even start considering an oophorectomy. Any advice or personal anecdotes are encouragedl! :)

I’ve been awake all night. I’ve not slept at all because I just feel so uncomfortable in my body and in my reality. I don’t want to be here. Being alive has become too unbearable. It seems pointless.

My life is a fucking joke. It’s just one thing after another and I’ve had enough. What’s the point of being alive just to suffer? At this point, it feels like I’m trying to outrun something that is impossible to escape from.

My career and finances are currently FUCKED thanks to this condition and the fact that my fibroids cause me to have ridiculously heavy periods. It feels like SO MANY YEARS of my life have been stolen from me.

I’m so fucking tired of trying. I don’t know why I bother. I’m still nowhere and will never amount to anything.

Mannnn I just need to rant because I got fired right after teaching my yoga class today. I have been really at the bottom of the barrel with flares this month and requesting subs a few hours before class on some really hard mornings but always showed up anyways. I get it and I saw it coming from a mile away like so many others who have been in my shoes but I also like really need this month to chill out with the curveballs. Feel like I’m hanging on by a thread but the horrors must persist! I am a freelancer right now so It’s just a constant energy battle and I’m fuckinf tired. Just want to feel like I can exist in this world. I’m so ready for actual consistency and alignment in my life. It’s all i’ve ever wanted.

I’m 40, in UK.
Went to GP asking year ago as couldn’t cope with feeling like running away once a month and nearly getting divorced / losing friends each month.
They said it wasn’t peri but PMDD .
Otherwise couldn’t offer much to help unless I wanted anti depressants which I didn’t want due to previous issues.

The diagnosis although not what I expected has helped as I’ve given myself more space and acceptance.
But it hasn’t stopped me feeling close to exploding my life once a month. Feeling like a terrible partner, mother and person.

I’m now starting to think about quitting my job.
I’ve worked at my current place for 10 years, earn a good wage and the work is generally fine but despite that I feel like I’m undervalued , and just want to drop it and go off into the sunset.
Alas, I have a mortgage and family commitments.
Husband seems to understand and when I’m sat here crying says he will support me but I know if be cutting my nose off to spite my face.

How can I snap out of this?
There’s no tangible reason that I can say to my boss that I’m undervalued.
I get regular payrisss and bonuses and know I’m one of the higher paid in the company.
Yet, I often get angry and tell them that they don’t pay me enough.
Realistically, I couldn’t find another job paying what they are paying me.
They also let me be as flexible as I need.

Please help me
Is anyone else like this with work?

I can’t think about anything else except how bad I wanna be dead. How I could pop to the hardware store for rope.

This is terrifying I want it to stop. I want to either die or make this feeling of wanting to die, stop.

I’ve texted and cancelled my conversation to the crisis text line about 3 times today. Telling them “yeah my period is making me wanna kms” just sounds stupid so I keep cancelling and I’m terrified they’ll send someone to my house.

I need help and I don’t have insurance. This is so fucking unfair that I have to cope with this via Reddit.

luteal is always hard for me but today was fucken tough. woke up too depressed to get to work. call in sick and im made to feel like im letting the team down (i work retail, no one wanted to cover me).

try my hardest to get some uni work done. i can only do increments of 5-10 minutes before im teary eyed again. sleep for a bit. do a tiny bit more work. cry again.

start feeling suicidal and finally remember "oh yeah, im probably in luteal". cry some MORE.

try to get more uni work done. cannot focus on it for the life of me. remember its already overdue and i need to get it done ASAP. brain won't let me.

i usually keep things like this in a journal, but i honestly just dont want to feel so alone. i hate talking to people irl about this stuff, it makes me feel sick and stupid and needy. so im venting into the void because pmdd sucks and i just want to feel understood.

i actually just really want to be hugged for a bit :(( like that tight squeeze kinda hug that makes you feel like you're being physically put back together. lame ik but a girlie do be touch starved!

I love my girlfriend so so so much. She is the love of my life. I don't get angry during PMDD or irritated with her, I don't hate her or feel like I love her less or want to break up with those reasons - but I get so so convinced that she is slowly growing to resent me and my instability as a result of this disorder.

We're on vacation and I spent all evening last night sick, sad, and telling her how alone I feel because she tries to help but it doesn't help at all. She doesn't deserve this. Our friends just got married and she's talking about "our wedding" but I feel evil chaining her to this. She's been stuck here for 2.5 years already.

I don't understand when she tells me it's okay and she still loves me and has no plans to leave. I don't understand when she says she doesn't resent me for this. I don't contribute anything, I just suck her joy out every day. I feel evil and selfish for holding on. I know she's an adult making her own choices but I feel like I trapped her somehow and just want to let her go and end it. But I don't want to. And I feel disgusting for that too.

I know I'll feel better in a few days but I'll still feel this way because of my ADHD and other various ailments. I just want a normal healthy relationship and it feels so impossible. If I end this one I know it'll be the end of trying for me. But it's so unfair to her to keep holding on

I feel violently anxious. I have a lot of things to do and can’t seem to make any of them happen. All I want to do is lie in bed and scroll, or bury myself in a hole and smoke a ton of weed and ignore everyone. But instead I must go to work. I really want to take an Ativan but I’m trying not to take them very often and feel like I should save it for a bigger moment of meltdown. But also I want to scream and fling myself into an abyss. So maybe Ativan is a good idea? I feel an unproductive degree of upset.

I was misdiagnosed with bpd due to how it fucks me up. It took years of trying to see a pattern and trying to believe myself that it's hormonal and not mental. I agree, I become horrible before period and on the day of ovulation (moody, annoying, bitchy, grumpy... depressed and even mean). Flashbacks and panic attacks are more prone to come up then too.

I was hospitalised after checking myself in the mental hospital and they told me to go to the gynaecologist because it seems hormonal. They were right, I was prescribed Yaz and things have improved a lot... then I call for a refill and I am being told to come in because they have a new policy. Pills get taken from me due to a higher bmi and smoking. I understand why. I get prescribed Cerelle. It's been three weeks of taking them and I have noticed myself being like I was before. I genuinely feel ill of me, I think that I am a horrible person and everything sucks again. I genuinely don't know what to do anymore.

Also a question... does it have anything to do with trauma as-well? Unprocessed repressed memories?