Thread: PMDD-Getting to the end of my rope

dear chestnut13, i am exactly like u. i am 36 and have two daughters 1 and 6 years old. i must figure this out 4 them, they dont deserve a crazy mommy. i have a full goatee, i guess u would call it. not just some facial hair. i must shave twice a day if i want to look like a female. my emotional symtoms r exactly as u said. the food cravings the psycho behavior. it was like reading my thoughts. when u mentioned the facial hair too i had to talk to u. i have more anger and jealousy now during the bad times bc i have had this for over 1/2 my life now. i get convinced my husband is cheating during my "bad days". something i would never believe on my good days. i go out of my mind. i hate the world and myself and wish 2 die for relief. did u also start ur period early? i was 9. my mom hadnt even warned me yet obviously. i am going 2 c an endocrinologist as soon as i can save the money, but 4 now the general practitioner prescribed paxil. he reluctanly agreed 2 reccommend me to a specialist. after my first child i had the greatest depression of my life. i took lexapro, did not like it. i am really interested in ur case, and if i ever figure anything out that will help i will share it with u immediately. i feel every ounce of ur pain. my next step after the endocrinologist is a neuro psychiatrist specializing in bipolar disorder. i dont know what else 2 do. i feel like 2 different people and im tired of both of them. the positive i can do anything girl i am during and right after my period is full of bc the "b" word (i can think of no other way 2 describe her) will back to ruin everthing soon. please keep trying. if u r like me u make it thru the bad times bc u know the good is coming. like a light switch i am on or off. i want to feel in the middle just once. my hormone tests were normal also and i had 2 healthy children so obviously they work ok. my doc says its the brain that is messed up in dealing with these hormones. im with u though, how can a woman w a beard not have a hormone imbalance. where is the testosterone coming from then. also i had a thyroid test.normal. i hope u have also, bc these symtoms r also common with thyroid disorders. i prayed that would b it. simple thyroid problem, but no such luck. most people pray 2 b ok physically, we pray they just find anything wrong. isnt that backwards. thank you for ur posting.

Originally Posted by Chesnut13

Hi everyone, Im new to the forums so Ill do a brief introduction.

Im 24 and live in Seattle. My life here so far has been up and down. Really up and down, but mostly up. I moved here from Los Angeles 3 years ago and am really loving the city. I have made great friends that I never want to let go of and study Physics full time, play in a band that is going on tour at the end of the month and do various activities (cycling being my favorite as of late).

Ive been struggling with what I absolutley know as PMDD for a long time. As far as I can remember, I become completely what feels like "insane" and "psychotic" when I am about a week and a half to two weeks before I menstrate, with all the effects slowly going away as soon as I bleed. Every month is a struggle, because a day or two after mentrating I feel great and happy for about two weeks, and then its like it happens overnight, the next morning Im depressed, irritable, cranky, sad, angry and overwhelmed for almost two weeks till it happens again.

This month I was doing really well. I went about two and a half weeks without feeling anything low, and then come this morning and yesterday it hit. It doesnt go away, and even if something great happens, I somehow find something wrong with it. I basically feel like my true self is dulled down and disinegrates. A part of me is being sensible, telling myself to relax and not to take things personal, but its like my frontal lobe doesnt want to listen to reason, and I cant handle it.

Every relationship Ive ever had has had a negative outcome because of my PMDD. I become completely irrational, jelous, negative, clingy, emotionally volatile and moody, and there have been many times in my past that i have become violent (although not anymore for a long long time). I am currently in one of the best relationships of my life right now, and I dont want to screw it up. Ive had long talks with my boyfriend about what goes on with me during the month, and whats incredible is that before i even talked to him about it he told me he noticed I would get this way the time before my period, but more extreme than any girl he knows. I know its extreme and I hate it. It is really REALLY hard to control, and I really try my best, but I fail at controlling my emotions every time because of it. Thankfully, we just dont talk as much on the weeks Im feeling that way or see each other as much because we both know silly fights will happen over nothing. That is really the most responsibilty I can take when Im like this. Leave people alone, and have them leave me alone until it passes.

Another thing that happens is for some reason (i know this is super weird), I get OCD "relapses". I used to have OCD for a year when I first moved to Seattle, and I know this was because of a lot of anxiety I had and my life honestly at that point was a little low. The OCD went away permanently when I started taking the supplement 5HTP which REALLY helped my PMDD and OCD. The OCD went away, but now has been making weird appearances when Im two weeks into my cycle and its closely tied in with when Im feeling all the things I mentioned above.
I crave really horrible foods when im like this. Sugar, starch, heavy and rich high fat foods, oils,...just junk, basically. Although Im vegetarian, you can still eat a lot of cake and veggie burgers. That still adds on pounds.


I went to a gyno. two months ago, andn told her how i was feeling and told her I knew it was pMDD, she gave me a hormone test to see if anything was out of the ordinary, but when we got the results back they were normal. She dismissed what I thought of as PMDD and said that my ovaries were over-producing eggs which leads to high spikes of hormones. What is going on here? What can I do to stop feeling this way when Im getting my period? I seriously cannot handle it anymore and dont know what to do. It interferes with everything in my life! I dont want to go to school, I dont want to go out, I dont want to talk to anyone. I am a generally fun and happy person, but when I get liek this it controls and ruins my friendships and relationships. Anyone have this problem? Any advice? Help!

bio-identical creams!! I've been taking progesterone cream and it had done wonders, but i still need more help. I think I need to up the dose. A good support system helps too.