Up to 92% ASD and 46% ADHD women suffer from PMDD!

[ofwarren]

Wow, I did not know this!!

"PMDD disproportionately affects people with ADHD and autism, with up to 92% of autistic women and 46% of women with ADHD experiencing PMDD, though estimates vary6 7. There is no agreed-upon cause of PMDD, nor is it known why it affects certain populations more than others, though there are various theories."

www.additudemag.com/pmdd-autism-adhd/

I've always suffered. I have dreadful periods and my mood changes up to ten days before hand. The 5 days before it, I'm awful though.

That is interesting!!

I always experienced big mood changes and just a reduction in my ability to cope.

In the past 4 years that I have been breastfeeding it seems much less noticeable.

Having recently been diagnosed AuADHD I'm now looking into this. I started HRT before my diagnosis thinking it was hormones and when that didn't make a full impact I started counselling and here we are.

@floorwipes this was me and then when I stopped breastfeeding I hit a massive depression which I now understand to be post-weaning depression that isn't widely talked about or understood. Might be something to watch out for. I had it with both my kids.

Had horrendous PMDD until I went on the combined pill which mercifully sorted it out for the most part. My mum suffered horrible PMDD as well, probably post-natal depression too. The more I look at my parents’ histories, the more they join up to form a picture. I think both parents might have been ND (with no knowledge about it and no earthly possibility of being diagnosed in their generation).

Yes I suffer horribly from it and always have but seems to be worse post-children. Why do our lives have to be so exhausting?

Interesting! I don’t have PMDD. I’m still young and haven’t had kids so maybe things will change as I get older. (Hopefully not!)

I found during pregnancy and breast feeding this was also the case for me too.

That is so interesting. I have ADHD and suffer terribly from PMDD and have done as long as I can remember, although it’s definitely worsened in my late 30s / 40s. I can sense a hormonal shift as it happens with my mood dropping on the lead up to my period, I think perhaps at ovulation, and a sudden release of that feeling just before my period starts. My mood is affected but also my executive function, motivation and memory. My ADHD meds don’t seem to work well during this time either.

Have any of you found anything that helps? I’ve tried various supplements - Agnus Castus, B vits, starflower oil - but nothing really works.

I've never tried anything, I've just put up with it to be honest.
My doctor put me on the pill but it made it far, far worse.

I've been on sertraline for a few years for something else and the pill for a few months for PMDD. The jury is out but I think, per PP, that it is making it worse. I don't know. I am so tired in my heart and bones. Everything is too hard and has been for such a long time. There is no lightness.

@ofwarren @BrightWater I can’t take the pill either, sends me completely mad. I get very depressed on it and / or totally irrational and bad tempered. I wonder if I’m also heading into peri and whether HRT would help or just make it worse.

Exercise helps me a bit with PMDD but I have to force myself to do it. Not easy when feeling so crap. And it’s more a temporary help, for a few hours after the session.

My dd is diagnosed with ASD and is likely to have ADD too - every big meltdown she has had in recent years has been during her period.