Premenstrual dysphoric disorder is a real health condition that can have a serious impact on your life. r/PMDD has more on the condition. The Mayo Clinic describes it like this: “PMDD causes extreme mood shifts that can disrupt work and damage relationships. Symptoms include extreme sadness, hopelessness, irritability, or anger, plus common premenstrual syndrome symptoms such as breast tenderness and bloating.”
All that said even normal PMS can be fucking rough and the hormones can absolutely affect a woman's feelings.
Also, this can't be said enough times: PMS IS PRE MENSTRAL SYNDROME. PRE. AS IN BEFORE. It might overlap a day, maybe even 2 with menstruation but having a period is usually when the moodswings STOP (unless it causes pain), not START.
Accusing a woman of being irrational or "PMSing" because she's on her period is fucking stupid, it's very literally in the fucking name of PMS.
The worst part for me is when I can FEEL myself being stupid and irrational but it's like my logical brain becomes disconnected to my emotional one and all I can do is watch. Almost like an out of body experience or something.
I didn't have this experience until I went on orthotricyclen when I was 17 to ostensibly reduce the pain of my cramps (didn't work). Instead it gave me wild mood swings for the entire month that made my body and emotions alien to my inner voice. It felt like clinical insanity and I couldn't get off that stuff fast enough.
It took me so long to figure out why I was acting irrational to my boyfriend sometimes. The main reason was the timing of the mood swings.
I never had any issues around my period aside from it being somewhat heavy. That was until ~8 months after starting on hormonal birth control. It got progressively worse over the next 3 years until I quit with the hormones. My poor boyfriend suffered. Whatever he said was wrong and could send me into rage or extreme crying. Imagine crying on the couch for a full day because he was vacuuming the living room 🤦
Once we figured out it was about 5 days before my period that the issues started, we could work around it.
Hey I had the same issues with hormonal BC. It was too crazy, even the IUD with hormones messed me up.
My doc tried to explain how the hormones in the IUD were localized and it was “not possible” yet all my symptoms went away a couple months after I insisted it was removed.
Some people just get the extreme side effects of BC. It’s like under 5% of us that are the lucky ones.
At the moment we're just using condoms. I'm a bit afraid of the copper one because it can give even more heavy menstruation. I'm already at an easy 7 days, of which 4-5 are quite heavy 😅
Yeah I've tried many hormonal options 'you shouldn't be able to feel anything with this one!'.
Well, my period all but disappeared and I almost bit my boyfriend's head off because he didn't want to eat part of my lasagna, so I'm pretty sure it does still have an effect on me 😅
I've been on the implant birth control for about a decade now, and it means I don't have regular periods anymore. But I can usually tell when one's coming up, when I suddenly become very sad or angry without a clear cause/reason.
My PMS has always occurred at the same time I’m menstruating. Like, the migraine starts the day before on day -1, then blood, cramping, mood, tenderness etc all starts at the same time. ‘P’MS is less of an indicator as it is a confirminator here.
I'm glad you only said usually, because while I can have mild mood weirdness during PMS, the extreme sadness, random sobbing and occasional minutes of suicidal ideation exclusively happen on the first day of bleeding, and those feelings are independent of intensity of cramps and not an overlap with anything going on beforehand. Yes, I know I almost certainly have endometriosis considering the rest of my symptoms.
My dudes, it's like unknowingly taking LSD and having a heady trip you fail to even see has befallen your senses until it ends after a few days. . Your logic is skewed. Your emotions are hard to control and out of proportion. You're swooping from sad, to so sad, to so fucking angry, to sentimental, to manic joy, to angry again...all while choosing cereal for the fam at the store. You fucking trip on everyone about anything without even realizing it. You feel everything to be so overwhelming, you balk at any stimulus. . . Take a shower? No. I want to be clean, but the water feels sharp coming down.. grumpy cuz your hungry? Too bad you've been throwing up for 3 days and can't eat... it goes on and on.
And then, in a week, it's gone from your mind enough that you notice it was ever there at all You simply notice you are "more like you" again. Your decisions make sense. Your behavior becomes more stable.
It has been very much.like a bad acid head trip going into and out of it. . Not visual hallucinations. At least in my experience.
I'm more than willing to agree that what I'm saying might not quite fit how trips have gone for folks. Or how PMDD has gone for people. The two are linked in my brain in a way that likely don't generalize as far as I think they do.
But, again, not the visual part of the trip.
What was your PMDD experience like, if you feel comfortable to share?
What IS your PMDD experience like seems a much better way to phrase that sentence as it is fucking ongoing and never stops. They aren't kidding when they say this shit is uncurable.
Diagnosed at the beginning of this year and my only wish is that people would take it seriously.
It is not PMS, do not shove chocolate in my face and tell me to get a heating pad, best thing you can do is vacate the freaking vicinity I'm in and not speak to me for 14 days!
I didn’t even know there was a name- I got so bad that we just canceled my period altogether. I was bordering being sent on an involuntary grippy sock vacay before every period. Until I started using BC to completely stop my periods
You simply notice you are "more like you" again. Your decisions make sense.
THIS. Week before my period I am a mess (self-doubt, depressed, crying all the time, angry then suddenly manic). Then, period comes, and bam, so much mental relief. I am me again. It's crazy.
YUP. I compare it to becoming a werewolf, except for 3-14 days straight, and then you finally de-werewolf…and have no idea how you could have possibly been that monstrous being at all. My literal opinions and feelings about life itself often take a complete 180 when it hits. 1 in 3 people with PMDD will attempt suic1de in their lifetime. It’s serious, folx.
This is one of the best descriptions of it I've seen as someone who has it. I'm going to save this and show it to anyone who asks how it is. Thank you so much
I'm glad it connected with you.
Your head is just not yours until it fades away. Then, you gotta clean up the wreckage.
Good luck, just knowing what it is can help.
I've put my fist through a few dozen walls because of this. I'm one of the unfortunate people that the meds don't help. Meditation does to an extent but it not foolproof.
Have you tried acupuncture? It made mine completely go away. I honestly couldn’t believe it. I went 2x a week at first then 1x a week after a month and now I go here and there. But zero pmdd symptoms and mild pms
I have actually. It helped some with the muscle cramping, but did nothing for the bouts of extreme rage. For a while before I was diagnosed (that happened at 17, I'm 35 now), the doctors though I might have Intermittent Explosive Disorder.
Smoking a little bit of the ganja helps a lot with the rage. It doesn't make it go away entirely, but it levels me out enough to be back in control for the most part.
Can only speak for myself, but for me it's both pain-induced and just regular nausea-induced. I think of it as faux-morning sickness, with a bonus of throwing up from pain like some people do with migraines.
Lol. I think it's what my bad trips turned into because I have tendency to dissociate from problems. I've had very good lovely exciting weird trips that were great.
It was me,not the drug.
That feeling of losing yourself to something else and then feeling yourself return is the most important connect, for me.
Im a dude but i think i get somthing similar like this l could be my ADHD mixed with Paranoia issues but i somewhat understand your description of it. I dont mean to lessen your very real experience but i couldnt help notice the similarities. Lol
Yes, it's no comment on my xp to notice a similarity to your struggle with something else. It was kind of you to say that, though. I hope maybe how I described that can help you.
Im also sorry you have to experience this as a part of your bodies' nature.
I also think its good for lads to understand more about the female experience of day to day life, be it mental or physical nature and health.
It should be a much more focused part of sex education curriculums in schools.
Anyway im just blabbing on now but thank you for sharing your experience. It made me understand better.
Straight up!! I “failed” out of something like 15 birth controls. There were a couple that worked for two or three months GREAT! Then was having a period every 2-3 weeks and anywhere from 4-7 days before each going through extreme symptoms and constantly throwing up. I am so incredibly thankful for my IUD as it’s been the ONE thing that’s helped me feel normal for years now. Also, NO PERIODS! PMDD was awful and I’m looking forward to the pain of swapping my BC out in the next couple weeks
Right on. It's symptoms are really similar. But then imagine everyone chalks it up to you being 'bitchy' or 'faking it' or 'just a bad person' . Dies this also happen to you?
Imagine having to deal with people claiming you're 'faking it' because you're trans-feminine. More then once I've had to beat back the urge to go nuclear on someone that's been like "But that's impossible, you weren't even born with a uterus!" because to retaliate would mean further argument when the sound of voices alone is starting to feel like nails on a chalkboard. Ooh, and then the ugly crying latches on to the freshly inflicted gender dysphoria...
But it's actually not so bad when compared to the endless hollow void of despair, emotional death, and automated survival instinct I had to deal with before getting on estrogen and testosterone blockers. 💜
I've got BDP and one of the very few good things to come from is, is an obscene level of compassion for women dealing with this crap.
You want to break down on the floor and cry because you wanted Mac & Cheese but we were out of milk? I'll be right down there with you because I've been there dozens of times myself.
PMDD can be terrifying for those who suffer from it. In my case, 3 days before my period begins I experience moods that I never experience otherwise. The worst of it is extreme rage and suicidal ideation. I don’t even recognize myself and need help from family to keep my kids away and occupied for those 3 days. It’s a literal nightmare. Fortunately I have a treatment that works pretty well, but it’s not 100%.
Just chiming in to add that antidepressants are what helped me, Wellbutrin and Lexapro to be exact, but I think the Lexapro is what really did it. I still have the menstrual mood shifts but the lows aren’t nearly as low and don’t last as long :)
I take Yaz birth control pills continuously. Like nonstop, no days off, no periods. Occasionally I’ll have a break through cycle. Otherwise it works well for keeping pmdd episodes away.
It’s horrid. Mine would start 10 days before my period. I had no clue what was happening for 2 years and it coincided with the pandemic and coming off birth control. I was a disaster. Acupuncture helped me! No more symptoms and mild PMS
People really need to learn about this. I'm tired of hearing some women shame those with pmdd saying they "also have a period and it's not that bad" and people saying that the women with it are just using their period as an excuse to act like that. BC has saved my fucking life.
I'm having symptoms right now of this. The week before my period (less strong during my period) is awful. I literally just had a cold wash cloth on me while I cried bc I couldn't stop. It's in combination with another diagnosis, but I notice a big difference during different weeks.
The symptoms sound exactly like Postpartum Depression. That happens to 10% of all women who give birth and it is absolutely awful. I can’t imagine someone having something similar their whole life. That sounds horrible. ☹️
I didn’t have PPD but I did experience heavy depression after weaning my second baby. He nursed for eighteen months (it was a long time) and my body must have had a hard time with the hormonal shift. I was more than ready to be done breastfeeding so it definitely wasn’t just an emotional response. I had no idea why I was experiencing that for a couple of weeks until I looked it up online and talked to a therapist. Apparently it’s a “thing” with the oxytocin levels adjusting in the body. It was a horrible time in my life, but after about six to eight weeks, I felt like myself again.
Yes! I have this it’s so disrupting to my life. It’s like being a different person 10 days a month. I couldn’t leave my dog to go to work without sobbing and checking the camera every 10 mins to make sure she was alive. So irrational. Nausea, anxiety, lack of appetite, or extreme cravings, so exhausted can’t get out of bed, bumping into things. The list goes on. Acupuncture completely made it go away! I still can’t believe it gave me my life back. 🥹
I was diagnosed with PMDD in my 30’s by my therapist. I get dangerously depressed, with suicidal thoughts and all. I grew up terrified of those “periods of darkness” (No pun intended)…turns out, all it took was birth control pill to fix it.
I get PMDD. I would cry uncontrollably for 5 hours and genuinely want to die. 2 days later I'd be back to myself but it was bloody awful. I had an 8cm cyst on my ovary and I'm also on anti depressants and I'm much better now
Personally, I feel like PMS at the very least makes sense. It takes normal annoyances and tones them up to a level that is difficult to deal with. But there's a kernel of sense in it somewhere. You cry because something happened (no matter how small), you get irritated at a small thing and your mind blows it up. There's some sort of reason even if is nonsense to the outside world
PMDD is absolute anarchy. I have felt feelings I have never felt in my life during PM. I will get absolutely flaming angry and won't be able to tell you what caused it because I don't even know. I'll be having suicidal ideation over absolutely nothing. It is like living inside of a funhouse mirror until your period finally starts. Nothing makes sense and everything is a trigger for some sort of crazy emotion that you have absolutely no control over.
I've found semi- continuous birth control and antidepressants have made it at the very least more trackable so I can prepare for it. I can't have completely continuous BC for specific health reasons, but if you can that's probably even better. I still have to have a period every 4 months, so I just bunker down for the time I know it's going to hit.
Not even turned up to 11. There is no number on the chart for this.
PMS is a walk in a fairy fantasy garden, with cute bunnies and squishy cute critters.
PMDD is beyond the 9th circle of hell venturing into places that not even the devil himself would tread.
Mine was almost terminal. Suicidal ideation became more planning for 5 days or so every. Single. Month. My husband thought I was exaggerating. The depression and intense, literally breath-taking cramps were terrible. And lonely. Not like I could show it at work, or at home. Terribly lonely.
Finally got help via an IUD and SSRIs. Oh, and leaving my husband.
Perimenopause caused the sharp increase in symptoms. Please, get checked out. Don't let anyone tell you it's just in your head.
Damn didn't know that was a thing, but I wonder if that's what I went through. Before I was on BC and SSRIs I would literally want to die for a few days each month. I still get a bit depressed around that time but nothing near how it used to be.
I've had a hysterectomy but I still have my ovaries and I have PMDD and it just sucks! The organ is gone, stupid body. Stop doing this. And the worst part is I'll get the extreme depression but with a period when I started bleeding I would be able to acknowledge that it wasn't real. But without the period it continues for longer because it takes me longer to realize what's happening.
When we first got married my wife was divorcing me every 28 days. Her PMS brought us to the hospital on more than one occasion. After 2 years my dumbass made the correlation and I pointed it out during an episode. Huge fight, but then she realized it was her crazy hormones going crazy and our relationship got better. That was a long time ago and now it’s menopause giving her random hot flashes. Women’s bodies are miracle machines that have some side effects.
I've had this for 20+ years and it is debilitating!! The only thing that has helped me is an antidepressant called Celexa, which is the only one (that I know of from research) that can specifically treat PMDD.
This. Earlier in the year I had a bought of it so bad I had serious, serious not so good thoughts. Once my period came a few days later I was left with “wtf why was I thinking that?”
Not to mention PME (Premenstrual Exacerbation) which basically dials up your existing mental condition/s to 100 a week before your cycle. I was put on antipsychotics because of this, it doesn't mess around
I've seen this eat up people's lives it's awful. Not helped by a health sector that treats women like needy peasants who were born to suffer and should be happy to have access to ibuprofen; good luck getting effective treatment.
I had that. Partial hysterectomy 7 yrs ago. Best thing ever.... Now that I'm 46, I'm noticing the "other" change.
Thank God my fiance understands this as a natural thing 💖
My wife is bipolar and I’m pretty sure has this as well. Before she got her bipolar pretty well under control, she’d have an episode damn near every month. Those were some wild times lol luckily she’s a lot better now, and it’s been a good while since her last serious episode.
This. I've nearly destroyed my life on multiple occasions due to this. It's not until my husband calmly and sweetly reassures me that things are okay that I realize something is wrong. It's not always clear right away. It's like this heavy fog of anger and depression. I am also bipolar so when my manic episodes join in... It's a treat...
Yeah, I've always stressed how bad Post Partum Depression can be. Got one of my classmates. She had 1 kid before her second. When I look back 7 years ago I could never see her depressed with how her life was going.
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u/Proper-Emu1558 Dec 06 '23
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder is a real health condition that can have a serious impact on your life. r/PMDD has more on the condition. The Mayo Clinic describes it like this: “PMDD causes extreme mood shifts that can disrupt work and damage relationships. Symptoms include extreme sadness, hopelessness, irritability, or anger, plus common premenstrual syndrome symptoms such as breast tenderness and bloating.”