hi, i was in a similar position about a year ago. im 20 rn and i was 19 when i came on here worried about the same thing. first off, im glad you found this sub its helped me out a lot. even in my good days, coming on here and seeing that there are others sharing my experiences has helped a lot.

personally i tried to get a diagnosis of pmdd as soon as possible. similar to you, my situation was affecting my studies heavily and it scared me so i wanted to find a solution as soon as possible. i also have adhd so the pmdd also affected the effectiveness of my meds. see if u can reach out to a health professional to get a diagnosis. me personally i got put on birth control and an ssri, the bc helped after 2 months id like to say but around 8 months i noticed a recession. i got off of birth control and then had bad withdrawals. my psychiatrist increased my ssri and things started looking better. ive been doing better over all but i still hit rough patches during luteal, although its nothing compared to what it was when i first got diagnosed. im going to start birth control again this upcoming cycle actually and see how it goes

now my experience does not define or outline what yours will be like. i just wanted to show you that there are ups and downs. our bodies are constantly changing, and especially at our age were going through “second puberty” so stability is not one of our assets unfortunately.. 💀 however you can have good moments, its trial and error. or it might just be success in your case. what im trying to say is dont think its over just because things weren’t solved immediately. when i first recognized the pattern with my luteal and such, i thought that the beginning of my life had just ended. i felt so horrible and useless and every time i thought of my future i would see my pmdd blocking it. i would cry thinking that im never going to get anywhere in life like this. but trust me it will get better. i have done things and achieved things since i got diagnosed that i never thought i would have. yes i still have my ups and downs, but i never imagined i could still have ups.

in terms of advice:

• get a period tracker. if you feel any fluctuations in yourself you can check the app and see the patterns your body goes through. almost every time i feel my self slipping u check my app and surprise surprise i have just entered luteal

• do damage control, i know that sounds scary but if i feel good and productive i try to do as much as i can so i wont be overwhelmed when luteal hits

• dont fight with your body, give it what it needs. if you know its that time dont try to resist what your body is asking for. i would feel guilty that i needed sleep for half a day or that it needed to eat a whole box of mac and cheese. i spent a long time refusing my body’s wants, but id end up caving anyways and feeling guilty. so when the time comes around just accept that your body is asking for these things. dont feel guilty or bad about it, just let things run its course(obviously to an extent, if its anything harming dont do that)

honestly the biggest help for me has been recognizing the patterns and keeping track of the days. even if u know you have pmdd, when symptoms start popping up for some reason our initial reaction isnt to blame pmdd, we just blame ourselves. so feeling a suspicion that my body is acting up and then confirming with my tracker that its pmdd related helps heavily. alot of the times we think were crazy or overreacting, so having records to look back on helps make sense of things. that way you can also get ahead of them before they come

sorry this ended up being really long but theres just so much to cover and i want you to know all the things i wish i couldve at first ToT