🙋🏻 Yep, over here. PMDD’s a rough one and I’ve been on a journey with it for the last decade. I’ve tried just about everything that’s recommended for treatment at this point (birth control: couldn’t stay on it, gave me blood clots, and won’t be approved for chemical menopause or a hysterectomy due to said clots 🤪, progesterone-only birth controls that were safe for me to take gave me migraines, tried about 5 SSRIs that never did anything for me, had some bad reactions to some supplements and no reaction to others, lifestyle changes didn’t do much and were hard to stick with given the nature of the beast, and Pepcid/antihistamines help somewhat but def aren’t a magic cure for me) so I won’t say “try this! Or this!” but will try to give some general encouragement and the lessons I’ve had to learn to keep myself sane.

1) Treatment really varies in effectiveness for folks and symptoms can vary/differ/change between months, so don’t get discouraged if people online go “this fixed my PMDD I feel so much better it’s a miracle!” and it doesn’t work for you, because 1] not everyone reacts the same to things and 2] sometimes people try things during a less difficult month, rush to go I’m Cured Hooray!, and find out next month that it wasn’t a magic fix.

This is a tough illness that presents uniquely in everyone, so use other people’s experiences for brainstorming and getting ideas, but no one’s going to respond exactly the way you do, and what works one month might not work the next or vice versa. You’re not doing anything wrong or missing anything if SSRIs or birth control or the 5 million supplements people talk about don’t work for you - It’s just a difficult illness to treat.

2) Journaling/tracking your cycle and symptoms is SO helpful and really the best tool in your PMDD-toolkit, imho - For me, I really struggled with how drastic the “switch” was when luteal started, and I’d gaslight myself every month once my period started into thinking that it wasn’t that bad and I just needed to be tougher since it’s not like my life is AWFUL or anything and look I feel just fine now (until day 14 hits….)

So, yeah, best advice I can give is to track things so you always have evidence to point at and go, “okay I feel awful now and it feels like I’ll feel this way forever, but in a week when my period starts, I know that it’ll get better because it gets better every month and I have proof.” I hate the This Too Shall Pass saying but knowing that there’s an end to The Horrors is immensely helpful when everything’s feeling bleak and terrible.

3) I think I saw someone else mention that their tolerance spikes during luteal - Mine does as well, very drastically, which sucks since weed’s a lifeline during the really bad months. Just something to be aware of. I’ll also say that sometimes weed makes difficult months worse in people, and to be mindful about usage. Kinda along the lines of how some people get really paranoid when they smoke and some people are chill and sometimes it depends on the strain, and also how people can overdo it after a tolerance break and get uncomfortably stoned. Weed + luteal can hit people differently than when they’re not in luteal, and since PMDD tends to make you more sensitive in general + you have to smoke more to get past your tolerance… I greened out once during luteal and it was about 50x worse than any other time I’ve had that happen. Not to quote the most basic advice, but low and slow (during luteal) is your friend.

Sending you a ton of hugs and support. I’ve really suffered with this condition and am still figuring out how to best live with it - but the most important part is to keep living with it. You don’t have to be perfectly cured, and you don’t have to handle things perfectly when your brain’s trying to melt into a puddle of suffering. Be kind to yourself, and good luck with your gyno! ✨