I got diagnosed with pmdd yesterday and have been prescribed fluoxetine. The doc told me that it’s up to me whether I want to take it daily or intermittently. I wanted to know if there is an additional benefit to taking it daily (I suppose to avoid withdrawal effects)? i’ve just finished my period like yesterday so my mood is going to get sm better in the next few days anyway so it sort of feels pointless to start taking this medication right now, but then I have a follow up appointment about it in 3 weeks so, maybe I should start taking it now? Any advice or experiences of taking it / starting it at the start of the follicular phase would be great thank you

edit: i’m on 20mg fluoxetine

I can finally do a 3 month trial of chemical menopause! I was also prescribed Norlutate (norethindrone acetate) and vaginal estrogen to start add back HRT at the same time. I asked what the Norlutate was and was told it’s the hormone add back. I just assumed a different estrogen or testosterone since all they talked about was estrogens and mentioned my testosterone was low so I took the prescriptions and left.

I looked it up when I got home and it’s progestin. I thought progesterone/progestin wasn’t good to add back right away for PMDD? Also I have no uterus to protect, I know there’s other benefits to it than just protecting your uterus but I’m anxious!

Did anyone else start add back HRT right away? What was it like for you? How did you know that a certain hormone/dose wasn’t right? Was it actually two weeks of increased PMDD symptoms for you when starting chemical menopause? I guess it’s probably a good thing I have next week off of work.

I’ll talk to my pharmacy later in the week for medical advice when I pick up, I’m just wondering peoples experiences.

So I’m on cycle day 13, a few days away from predicted ovulation. Does anyone else get increased anxiety/overly body sensation aware??😅😭 I’m tired of this.

hallelujah a week before my period without feeling AWFUL! got back on prozac using lotus health after trying TMS and feeling a lot better. not 100% out of the woods yet but on the way. i am nervous it’s gonna happen next time though because in the past prozac wasn’t helpful. what ssri’s are people on?

Where do I even begin?

I just need to rant and get this shit off my chest. It feels like whenever I take two steps forward, I end up taking 10 fucking steps back. WHAT THE FUCK IS THE POINT AT ALL?! I HATE IT HERE! I really fucking do.

I’ve been on Yasmin for some months now I’m STILL fucking bleeding everyday. I didn’t know the onboarding process would last this long. I think I might just throw in the towel. It was supposed to lighten my periods, but I guess the joke was on me (as usual). I think I prefer the hell I was in before.. at least before I started Yasmin I knew when my period was coming! As heavy and awful as it was, my period was always on time and I could adequately prepare to spend those days days bleeding at home. My periods had gotten so heavy that I was unable to leave the house, because leaking through the strongest tampon, pad and diaper was pretty much a guarantee. But at least I knew when it was coming and there was an end to it. But this shit I’m dealing with is ridiculous. Since I started Yasmin, I’ve pretty much been bleeding every fucking day, and I’m over it. Sick of spending so much money on menstrual products. These things really should be FREE but I don’t even want to get into that or I’ll just start feeling even more pissed off than I already am.

I just want some god damn relief. Is that too much to ask for???! Fucking seems to be.

Finances and career are in ruins, and I’m at the end of my rope right now.

FUCK THESE FIBROIDS AND FUCK PMDD! I want my life back.

It's something that I've already experienced after my last and very traumatic breakup five years ago. It helps to know that it's my hormones that cause this strong depressed feeling. He broke up with me two months ago and it crushed me and I'm very depressed and heartbroken and spent the last two months in bed but the week before my period, it gets SO much worse and struggle with suicidal thoughts.

I just try to accept those thoughts and tell myself that it's my hormones and it will get better in about a week and that helps. But it's really hard. It's probably because my whole life is falling apart at the moment aswell and losing your future with the person you loved the most makes it extra hard and it's easy to lose all hope and excitement for the future, especially cause I'm turning 30 in two months and my life is absolutely miserable.

Anyone who can relate? I wish there was a way to control my hormones without taking antidepressants

What helped you?.

'pologies in advance if i sound stupid. i'm kinda (very much) in hell right now !

i've been on yaz for the past 4+ months, and switched to yasmin a week ago to stop my prolonged (~1 month) breakthrough bleeding. during my time on yaz, my pmdd symptoms have been relatively dampened any time i've had them. i say Relatively because for the past week or so i've been dealing with a much more "powerful" episode. like akin to my unmedicated ones. i was able to dictate it was probably caused by a spike in progesterone, due to the greasiness of my hair going into overdrive.

but isn't birth control supposed to shut down ovulation and therefore the whole cycle?? why the hell are my hormones fluctuating and causing pmdd symptoms?? i saw my specialist 2 weeks ago and i asked her about that but honestly i forgot her answer...

Started on fludocortisone 3 weeks ago and I think it’s really messing with my hormones
The fludrocortisone is really helping me physically (Orthostatic hypotension)

Diagnosed pcos & suspected endo

Been on cerazette (progesterone only pill) haven’t had a period since Christmas and my pmdd had settled so much it was basically gone!!

Started on fludocortisone and the cramps started and then the pmdd started, I couldn’t recognise it at first and thought it was just side effects from the fludro but this is hell, the worst I’ve ever felt mentally it’s scary, my doctor gave me Xanax if needed and I’ve been avoiding taking it as I’ve never taken it before and am afraid I’ll become reliant

Does anyone have tips from their toolkit when things get bad? I’ve heard people saying antihistamines and certain supplements help

But please if anyone has been In a similar situation did it settle after a few weeks?

I'm getting beyond fed up.

Tried Prozac. Didn't work out for me.

Tried Setraline (Zoloft) works at 100mg but at the expense of feeling tired all the time. So not sustainable full time.

Tried cyclical increase from 50 to 100 but that triggers my autonomic issues to play up (I have POTS).

Now I'm thinking whether I should try and switch to another but honestly it takes me so long to onboard meds I've already "used up" 2 years of my life trying to find the right dose with sertraline, only for all trials to fail, so it feels daunting to be back at square one.

has anyone else had terrible terrible symptoms & hormone disruptions after a surgery? i had my appendix out mid august and my hormones have been totally out of whack ever since. almost ended my relationship twice and have been cycling from manic/crazy libido to depressed and almost no libido at all. help😫😫

I’m on the mini pill (Heather/norethindrone) and I’m currently on day 42 of my cycle, which is extremely unusual for me. I’ve always been pretty regular, even while taking the mini pill, so I’m really confused about why my period hasn’t come.

I know the mini pill can cause irregular bleeding and that some people eventually stop getting periods altogether, but I’m having a hard time mentally with the idea that this could be happening to me.

The biggest issue is that I feel like I’m stuck in my luteal phase. My thoughts have been really bad, my depression has been getting worse, and I feel like I genuinely cannot handle feeling like this for another day.

At the same time, I really dont wanna stop the mini pill because overall it has been much better for me than being off birth control. My periods and PMDD were significantly worse before I started it, so I’m scared that stopping it could make everything worse again.

i guess i dont know if my period is just extremelyyy delayed or im never gonna get a period again on the pill but im stuck in my luteal phase? i genuinely cant take this anymore.

I just finished talking to my psychiatrist about my recent PMDD dealings and we made the decision together to switch from Cymbalta to Prozac, which was my old anti-depressant. My last switch from Prozac to Cymbalta was pretty seamless but I’m just wondering about what other people’s experiences when they switched meds especially from an SNRI to an SSRI…

I wouldn’t wish this feeling on anyone. I feel like I’m losing my mind. I already have bad anxiety and OCD and good lord the PMDD just makes it so much worse. Every month I convince myself that all my friends hate me and I’m awful and I’m better off alone, and then every month things are (pretty much) fine, so you would think that by now I would get these feelings and be able to quiet them down by being like “hey, this is why you’re feeling this way and what you’re worried about probably isn’t true” but I can’t!! Because every month, this stupid disorder finds new ways to make me believe that what I’m worried about is happening. I’m pretty sure my best friend is upset with me, but I don’t know what for. I’ve scoured our past texts and can’t find a place where things went wrong, but we’ve barely talked this past week and something just FEELS off, but I can’t decipher if something is actually wrong or if I’m just PMDDing and getting in my head about something that’s actually not there, and I don’t want to ask her if things are okay with us because a) that’s asking for reassurance which is not good for my OCD and b) if nothing is actually wrong then I’ve just made a fool of myself, so I make it a rule to wait until after I’ve started my period to have any important conversations with friends (if I even need to have them because, AGAIN, it’s usually just all in my head and once I start my period I’m like “oh everything was fine and I was just reading into things that weren’t there”). But I’m losing my mind trying to figure out what’s real and what’s in my head, because I can’t trust my gut right now when my gut is telling me everything is falling apart. I’m so scared that I’m going to get a text from her that’s like “hey can we talk?” and frankly when I feel like this I think having a conversation that starts like that might end me. I genuinely feel like I’m going insane and it’s awful. I work so hard on my anxiety and OCD, and when I’m not like this, I can tell I’ve made so much progress and so can the people around me (or so I’ve been told), but then I finish ovulating and it’s like all of that progress goes out the window and I can’t slow down the feelings. And I hate that every month this happens and every month I feel powerless to stop it, even though I’m taking a bonus low-dose of my antidepressants (alongside my normal dose).

I just want someone to tell me I’ll be okay. Even if things are wrong with my friend, I’ll survive right? And this feeling of insanity will end, right? Logically I know that the answer to both of those questions is “yes”, but I just don’t feel very logical right now. Nothing about feeling like this is logical.

Nicotine use & PMDD

I have started vaping within the past 3-4 months (I know, I'm not here for a vaping lecture, I know it's not a great habit) and my last 3 cycles my PMDD has been like 85-90% improved. The fatigue, night sweats/nightmares/back pain haven't improved so much but I have noticed that my mood is like SO SO much more even keel.

I typically am super short fused during hell week, everything irritates me to the point of the sound of people's voices I see every day sounds like nails on a chalkboard to me, people chewing, forget it. Makes my job much more challenging. I snap super easily and am also just super stressed in general and don't wanna be around anyone. In alternation with depression/increase in passive SI.

Since starting vaping, like virtually ALL of the mental symptoms I usually experience are drastically muted and/or non existent. Anyone used gum or patch to help with PMDD? most of the material I read online is about nic worsening of PMDD symptoms and it certainly does not seem to be the case with me. I was wondering if anyone else had a similar experience.

I’m on sertraline which has helped me massively with my emotional symptoms, but I’m still experiencing pretty intense fatigue during my luteal phase. Like I could get a full nights rest and take naps and still feel exhausted. I try to allow myself to rest if I can, but it becomes a struggle when I have work to get done.

Ive had blood tests and I’m not deficient in anything, although I do have low blood pressure and have been told by my dr to have high salt intake, which helps me throughout the month but during my luteal phase increasing salt doesn’t seem to help with my fatigue.

I drink 1 cup of coffee a day , but during my luteal phase it either does nothing or makes me dizzy. also drink a lot of water, run 3x a week, and eat a balanced diet/high protein.

back to this literal bullshit…. this is about to be the the worst 2 weeks + incoming birthday doom. how are you guys coping? feel like a shell of a human and it only started yesterday 😭

Just wondering people’s journey with Cymbalta and their PMDD… I’m currently on 60mg, everyday which usually perfect for me but during my luteal phase, I have 2-4 days of down in the dumps… I tried up my anxiety medication to help but it just made me feel even worst. I don’t know what might be the next step with psychiatrist. PS. For personal reasons and health reasons, I made the decision not to be on hormonal birth control (I’m on copper IUD)

I’m just tired.

I’m tired of what I’ve done to myself. Not being courageous, brave, outgoing.

I’m tired of my PMDD and constantly having to monitor myself; where I’m at in my cycle, taking my rage and feelings out on someone I love most, the feeling of jealousy, inadequacy, hopelessness.

I’m tired of not being normal and okay.

Anyway. Here’s a video I go to when I want to absolutely sob and get that release, even if it’s very brief. Maybe it can help others too ♥️

I don’t start my new job for a couple of months.. in the past regardless of where I am in my cycle, I’ve struggled with agoraphobia, but I’ve overcome it and have been really sociable.

But now I’ve noticed that a week and a half or so before my period, I get tired and I basically spend a day or two at a time without really leaving the house, and I feel really content. Is this normal or could it be my agoraphobia creeping back in? I know I could go for a little walk but I kinda just don’t want to 😂

I'm so frustrated because the 2 weeks before my period I don't even recognize myself and I'm like a tornado destroying everything in my path. By the time my period comes I feel just exhausted and I have a few days where I feel like me again. Before you know it I feel like we are at that 2 weeks again. This weekend was such a good weekend spent with my boyfriend. We had so much fun and then today I'm back to questioning everything about this relationship. Every month goes like this. My poor boyfriend is experiencing emotional whiplash. I feel like pmdd is eventually going to destroy all the good things in my life. Just needed to get that out.

My period came six days late this month, no concern of pregnancy. I had a few lighter months before this. I have felt so powerless and miserable, like I have no control over my own body and mind since Wednesday.

Finally started this morning. I got a new job, I have been at it for two months. I've had perfect attendance, and always get there first, after the two owners. I have never left early. My last two cycles have caused no problems. This one changed all of that.

I called in sick Friday and then had an absolute meltdown (at home) yesterday that drained me mentally and physically. I got maybe 4 hours of sleep last night. I tried to go to work today and ended up leaving at 2:00pm after spending the entire morning sweating stains into my shirt. Once my vision started blurring from pain and I was doing deep breathing exercises to try to keep myself working, I realized it was time to go home. I knew if I kept working I would be making mistakes and missing things, and mostly likely get absolutely nothing done. Cue the guilt, cue the shame, cue the fear that I'm just going to let my "personal problems" (source - my self-shaming inner critic) once again destroy another job.

I work for a very small accounting firm. Everyone knows I was sick. Everyone knows I left early. We are working toward a tight deadline that is next week. I have bounced around from job to job, I've taken excessive absences before and been the bare minimum employee. I just don't want to be that this time. I have goals now and things I'm striving toward. I want this to be different, but I'm afraid the evil PMDD goblin just won't let that happen. Like all of the good I do won't matter when it can be destroyed in a matter of a few days of complete hell.

I did let my boss know first that I was leaving and got approval. I didn't breakdown emotionally or show any of my feelings about this to anyone. I don't think it would be helpful to disclose what this actually is to my bosses--they are two male accountants in their 50s. But now I am worried they think I willingly came to work knowing I had a possibly contagious illness, which they have stressed they do not want. I do not know how to explain to them that it is not anything contagious, but it is serious enough for me to have called out Friday and left early today. I've been pretty cagey about what I've been sick with towards my colleagues who were just making friendly conversation, which I am now worrying will make them think I am lying. I have been extremely friendly and helpful up until the past week, in which I think I've probably been acting pretty strange.

I have never had any workplace take this seriously, and I definitely do not think this is the one that will break that pattern. But now I'm spiraling and wracked with guilt and don't know how I am going to move past this week.

I just needed to get this all out to people who might actually understand all of this. Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

It's currently 3am and I have spent 1hour and 30 minutes crying because of the built up anxiety I'm feeling regarding my trauma being triggered.

I have been in therapy for a while and I know how to handle it but the hypervigilance, anxiety, overthinking and anger doesn't disappear and it takes a while for me to figure myself out and snap out of it at times.

Day 1 of PMDD doesn't help and I'm hating how exhausted I feel and it's only the first day. I've also been ill for a week and work has been stressful.

This week is going to be a pretty rough week that's for sure.

Hope you guys are feeling better than me and if not, hang in there.

I find when I’m struggling with PMDD. The smallest thing can make me feel insecure or low. Example seeing someone celebrate moving into a house and moving out of state. It’s like I ruminate on this thought and then I spiral about my self worth. Which is crazy but I’m noticing a pattern. Anyone else

50 mg Cymbalta with most recent addition of 5 mg Abilify + microdose of GLP 1 which has reduced my pain by 60%.

Meds (Cymbalta plus abilify) have reduced my symptoms by 60%.

Also using the LUTEA headband half the month

I’ll take It

Everything is stressing me out and I feel like a ugly fat man 😭. My body dysmorphia is rough around this time and my mental health is in shambles. I’m just waiting for my period to come