AIBU to ask for your PMDD tips?

[fuckthemail]

I'm already on contraception which has helped a lot (no longer suicidal / ruining my life for 2 weeks every month) but I still have around 4-7 days of feeling down, upset, paranoid, rejected, snappy, pessimistic etc

What helps?

Thank you all. I wonder if anyone has been to a clinic / online clinic / bloods etc?

Ah, it was 25mg and I didn’t have many side effects. Am off it now as symptoms alleviated and I added other things into my life to keep it at bay (other things you listed, change of job, prioritising rest etc etc). I didn’t have the capacity to do those things prior to the Sertraline as the PMDD effects are so destructive. Although I am always perplexed still every month why I am sooooo fuming the week before my period. And then it all becomes clear when period starts 😄

It’s supposedly the natural hormonal fluctuations and/or progesterone that were sensitive to, rather than hormone levels being ‘wrong’.

Personally the physical symptoms I get in the luteal phase are as bad as the emotional ones, if not worse. I get hives, hot flushes, night sweats, awful fatigue, nausea, brain fog etc so antidepressants haven’t helped me. I had the mirena coil for years which stopped my periods, so I didn’t make the connection with my cycle until I had it removed. I was investigated for all sorts of things because of the night sweats, including TB and cancer.

There’s some evidence that B6 and agnus castus can help but unfortunately they didn’t work for me either, hence being referred to a consultant who prescribed zoladex. I don’t personally buy the trauma stuff and I’d be wary of the credibility of sources that claim this. It’s ok to be a woman and have a health problem without it being a result of trauma.

Thank you! Yes sertraline definitely helped me to make some massive changes too.

Thank you. Trauma so interesting to me. Definitely lots of things that went wrong when I was a teen. However I'm pretty certain there is some sort of ND at play in the whole family. I think for me it's impossible to detangle what is me, what is ND and what is trauma. But that's not important to me so long as I keep moving forward

And yes, we can be women with health problems definitely! My pmdd is very very real and has massively impacted my life

Hello

I wondered if you could expand on clean diet please?

Or if anyone else has some ideas. I'm the sort of person who needs v clear guidelines but 'clean living' is hard to Google without coming across some mad restrictive diets!

I guess -

Wholefoods
Wholemeal etc
Low/no alcohol (for me, maybe a glass of wine every now and again)
Fruit and veg
No processed foods

Anything else?

Thank you all for your help. Like I said, the last 2 months have been shocking so it's spurred me to make some positive changes to help myself

I would swap the rigevedon for Yasmin. The mental health side effects listed for rigevedon are concerning. It’s prescribed because it’s cheaper, but Yasmin is better for pmdd.

It’s the progestogen in yasmin (drospirenone) that’s more compatible with PMDD. It’s supposed to be less likely to cause mood swings and bloating, breast tenderness and so on.

Thank you. I'm so curious about yaz but also like I said, since rig pill I feel significantly better, just not 'good enough' if that makes sense. No longer suicidal / ruining my life but also I know I should be allowed to feel much better.

Do you all find that pmdd is still occuring despite being on contraception? I take the pill daily so no break, and so have no periods, but I can still sense my cycle very clearly in terms of mood for 4-7 days and also sore breasts for a day ish. I don't get why this happens if I'm on the pill??

Cross post! Thank you :)

I think it’s the progestogen that’s thought to be the culprit.

‘The mechanism underlying how oral contraceptive pills influence mood remains controversial. Nonetheless, there is mounting evidence suggesting a significant relationship between taking oral contraceptive pills and lowered mood and mood disorders such as depression.20,22-25 A comprehensive review published in 2002 included 13 controlled studies investigating the relationship between mood and oral contraceptive pill use.26 All but one study found differences in affect between oral contraceptive pill users and non-users. Another pilot study involving 58 women found that current oral contraceptive pill users or recent users had higher subjective and objective depression rates than those of non-users.27 Moreover, a large Danish study involving more than one million women found an increased risk for first use of an antidepressant and first diagnosis of depression among users of different types of oral contraceptive pills, with the highest rates among adolescents.11 Furthermore, users of medroxyprogesterone acetate, an injectable progestogen contraceptive, reportedly have greater depressive symptoms than those in non-users.17 The link between taking oral contraceptive pills and depression may be attributed to the amount and type of progestogen contained in oral contraceptive pills (Table 2).’

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9218393/

This study, which is referenced in the other study I posted, is interesting as GPs have always been so quick to tell me the Mirena coil doesn’t affect mood since the hormones are localised to the uterus 🙄 It’s like they didn’t believe me when I said how much it was affecting me and I struggled to get them to remove it.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29785475/

Thanks for all the info

I'm so confused now. If the pill stops me ovulating, and I take it continuously with no 'week off', how come I still feel like I'm experiencing these times of low mood / extreme rejection etc. it lasts 4-7 days and seems monthly to me

I don't think we really know, but it's very much a Thing. My guess is because whatever's going on in our bodies that gives us these cyclical symptoms is about more than just ovulation.

@VictorianBigot I had the mirena coil in for about 18 months when my girls were little so probably about 16 years ago.

It was sold to me as something that would help me, I kept it in as long as I could but when it was removed, I felt a weight lift.

My sister had one put in a few months ago and asked for it to be removed a month later as she felt like ripping it out herself.

I think I did too. I had two over the course of seven years and also kept it in as long as I could as HCPs kept telling me it would help my endometriosis. If anything, my pain has been less severe since having it removed last year.

This thread has been so helpful. Great not to feel alone. I take citalopram half the month and don't get any side effects at all. It's worked very well for me. I also agree that looking after myself and sleeping well helps, but is hard to do when you're not feeling good (binge eating is a nemesis)

I'm going to look into vitamin deficiency as well as I wonder if this could be a factor. And some night nurse as insomnia can be a symptom for me.

Trauma or being ND is not something I think is at play in my case though as neither apply. It firmly feels like a physical/medical issue for me as the SSRIs have had such a dramatic positive impact. My mum suffered hugely with her periods as well, so possibly genetic.

Can I ask why the antidepressants aren’t just prescribed the whole time? Surely they need time to kick in each time?