My Struggles With Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder – Signs, Symptoms & Treatments of this little known condition

While everyone has heard of Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) and either experienced it or witnessed it first hand, many do not know of a more severe form of PMS known as PMDD. I am one of the unlucky 3 % – 8% of women who suffer from this silent life destroyer and the symptoms of PMDD can be debilitating.
Statistics say 75% of women have experienced the symptoms of PMS at some point in their life; the cramps, the mood swings, the tender breasts and so forth. This is unfortunate, but a normal part of a woman’s life during her child-bearing years.
I knew, however, that something was different about me. I soon came to be diagnosed with “severe PMS” or PMDD. PMDD means that for at least 2 weeks out of every month, I suffer terrible symptoms including :
- Agonising cramps
- Acne breakouts
- Horrible and uncontrollable mood swings
- Severe anxiety
- Tender breasts
- Bloating
- Weight gain
- Irritability
- Sleep disturbances
- Headaches and/or migraines
- Chronic IBS
- Depression
In recent years, my PMDD has become so bad that I am now permanently on anti-anxiety medication. This is simply to control my mood swings for the second half of my cycle. If I am not on this medication, I am literally out of control.
For women who have never experienced PMDD, it is simply put like this: once the second half of my cycle hits, anything and everything is like waving a red flag to a bull. The slightest thing can send me into an uncontrollable rage. One minute I can be laughing and joking, the next I am crying or yelling, for no good reason at all and it is usually the ones we love the most that cop the brunt of these unpredictable mood swings.
I know now the day the switch is flicked and my hormones start to drop. That is the day I struggle to keep it together during the day. I am extremely irritable and impatient and usually either in the car on the way home from work, or just as I walk in the door, I break down and cry uncontrollably. Every day after this day is a slippery slope, where I feel worse and worse with more and more symptoms piling on daily.
I suffer debilitating cramps, extreme fatigue, insomnia and iron deficiency due to heavy menstruation. I am forgetful and find it extremely difficult to concentrate. Which makes simple tasks very frustrating. The side effects are so severe that they interfere with my day to day life, making being a good wife and mother very difficult.
This is perhaps the hardest side of the condition. My tolerance level for my children is at an all-time low during these times, I have no energy to play with them, I cringe when they come running up for a hug knowing my stomach and breasts are so tender that any form of contact from them is going to hurt. I am so easily irritated that I generally avoid activities with them as I know I’ll lose my temper.
Lately, the break-in symptoms that I get after my period ends and I am completely symptom-free has dwindled from 2 weeks down to just 2 – 3 days. My ever-suffering husband has to tolerate my moods now for most of the month and while I try my best to control them, there are often times that they get the better of me.

And herein lies one of the biggest hurdles with PMDD. Being overly hormonal and moody means the sufferer needs to have a heightened sense of self-awareness. At times, it is hard to determine if you really are irritated at events that are occurring or are just currently being overly sensitive. Doubt begins to creep in when people say “seriously you are over-reacting.” Your mind truly does deceive you and you find that those around you will use the hormonal/overly emotional line often, making it very difficult to ever justify being truly upset again.
There are times when I do realise that I am being overly-sensitive. At these times, the only way to describe it is like an out of body experience. I know that I am over-reacting and that I need to calm down. I have an internal dialogue reminding me that I am in my PMDD sphere and I should just keep quiet: but I can’t. The compulsion to keep going is uncontrollable.
But perhaps the most frustrating thing about PMDD is that doctors do not know how to fix it. There are band-aid fixes, such as anti-anxiety medication however these, to me, are just temporary solutions. There is no real fix, everything is an experiment to see if it works and unfortunately for me, for a long time, not much did.
IS IT PMS OR DO I HAVE PMDD?
If you are feeling like your symptoms are perhaps more severe than regular PMS, it might be worth heading to the doctor.
The following symptoms are characteristic of PMDD:
- Lasting irritability or anger that may affect other people
- Feelings of sadness or despair, or even thoughts of suicide
- Feelings of tension or anxiety
- Panic attacks
- Mood swings or crying often
- Lack of interest in daily activities and relationships
- Trouble thinking or focusing
- Tiredness, low energy or severe fatigue
- Food cravings or binge eating
- Trouble sleeping
- Feeling out of control
- Decreased libido
- Painful menses
- Dizziness and/or fainting
- Paranoia and issues with self-image
- Backache
- Hot flashes
- Physical symptoms, such as cramps, bloating, breast tenderness, headaches, and joint or muscle pain
I can safely say that I have experienced every symptom from the above list, most I suffer with now for the best part of the month – whether it be one or two symptoms in a day or a large combination, making my day fairly miserable at times.
TREATMENT FOR PMDD
The first choice of doctors in treating this condition is the birth control pill. Yaz is said to be one of the most effective in helping relieve symptoms by stopping mestration. Unfortunately for me, Yaz only made my symptoms worse along with every other pill I tried.
While doctors will go straight to the pill as a means of controlling the symptoms of PMDD, the feelings behind whether this actually works are very mixed. As it is a case of trial and error to see what helps, the pill is worth trying but shouldn’t be continued if it is exacerbating your symptoms as it did in my case.
Another treatment used is anti-depressant/anti-anxiety medication. This medication has helped me in managing my irritability and anger but doesn’t work to help anything else, leaving a large number of symptoms untreated.
I have lately, however, found that taking a low dose anti-anxiety tablet (such as Lexapro – I take only 5mg) for the entire month has assisted in minimising my symptoms of PMDD overall.
NATURAL TREATMENTS FOR PMDD
Lately, I have worked hard at trying to figure out ways to minimise my symptoms. While the anti-anxiety tablets have some benefits, it didn’t stop my symptoms completely.
After extensive research, I discovered that perhaps I needed to increase my daily dose of magnesium. This powerful mineral assists in levelling out hormones, so I increased my dose to 400 mg daily. After only a week, I felt like a different person. My moods improved, my anxiety decreased and I felt as though I had some control over my horrendous mood swings. (See my article on Why Magnesium Is So Important for more information.)
Further to this, I began taking another hormonal balancing supplement to help control the vicious mood swings.
While I may not have found a cure, I have found a solution that works for me and allows me to be the best mother and wife I can be.
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I grew up in an Asian household that uses a lot of tonics and herbals when we start menstruations… I continued to visit a Chinese medicine practitioner to help with my PMS and have taking many to learn to help myself and others through my ups and downs…
I did go to see a Chinese Herbalist a very long time ago. Maybe I should re-visit them and see if they can help me now. Thank you for the advice!
Thanks for sharing your story. That sounds incredibly hard and frustrating. I do hope something else comes along that can help you!
I hope so too thank you for reading! X
Have you ever considered writing an ebook or guest authoring on other blogs? I have a blog based upon on the same topics you discuss and would love to have you share some stories/information. I know my readers would appreciate your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an e-mail.
Omg this post made me cry.. I didnt know that it was only 3-8%… that’s insane. I literally go INSANE for 2-3 weeks a month. I cry and I hate my life and I’m just a completely miserable person. My husband hates it and I feel like I’m a terrible mother during these times. It’s such a struggles every single day I just dont know what to do anymoreðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
It is such a struggle, honestly. But I have found a mixture of holistic medicine and contemporary medicine is helping a lot. I take the maximum dose of magnesium for my age and this has helped IMMENSELY. I cannot stress how important this has been for me. I also take an anti-anxiety (low dose) for the entire month. I tried the starting/stopping as suggested by my doctor, but it wasn’t working. I also take another hormonal supplement for estrogen balance too. I am almost completely normal doing this, I can’t believe how much better I feel. Also eating well, staying away from sugar and processed foods has helped too. Feel free to email me if you need and I can give you more details of what I take xx (realbadmommyblog@gmail.com)
Reading this made me feel so much better for an instant. I know I am not alone but reading what I go through with the words of someone else is reassuring, in a way.
I got my diagnosis more than 6 months ago and I am now trying a bio-identical hormone therapy (Prometrium). Fingers crossed that this will help!
For having tried it, magnesium did help when I tried. To help with the sleep problem, I would take a magnesium night (mix with melatonin) when going to bed and it did a fairly good job for a while.
Don’t despair, even though it is all we want to do at times. Let’s be kind to ourselves and focus on getting better, no matter what works.
I really hope the bio-identical hormones work for you. Unfortunately not for me, the side effects were as bad as the PMDD really. Thanks for the night mix tablet idea, I’ll give that a try!
I found this article on Pinterest when I was looking for PMS relief. The name of your blog caught my eye, because that is exactly what I am right now. I have 3 kids 5, 3 and 8m. And I don’t like any of them right now. It isn’t their fault though, I know that my stupid hormones have me under their control right now and it makes me hate everything, especially myself. I hardly made eye contact with anyone today, if I did it was only to glare at them. I found my self crying in our cold unfinished basement, I was throwing things around like a toddler. I started to feel better toward the evening only to lash out again at my 3 year old before bedtime. I am horrible. This post made me wonder if I need to be on an anti anxiety. This is only my 2nd period since having my last baby. Maybe things will level out? I just hate myself right now and needed to vent to a complete stranger. Thanks for listening.
Hi Kat, I have definitely found that anti-anxiety medications have helped me immensely, along with the highest dose of magnesium recommended. I have tried numerous times to get off the anxiety meds and within weeks I’m feeling as you are now. However, having an 8 month old it could be a case of post-natal also. I would recommend getting to the Doctor and having a chat with them about how you’re feeling. Just know you aren’t alone in how you’re feeling and you will feel yourself again. Hope that helps? xxx