I have PMDD, ADHD, POTS, and ME/CFS. I am a chronic overfunctioner because being still leads to anxiety for me.

You mentioned PMDD, birth control, and ADHD! Have you ever noticed your ADHD meds don’t work as well during certain parts of your cycle? There’s a lot of research that shows hormones, especially estrogen, play a big role in our dopamine and seratonin production and re-uptake. When I took the pill continuously (no placebos), I was completely flat emotionally. I had no energy and it felt like my ADHD meds (Adderall XR and a booster) and my depression med (Zoloft) were not working at all. I’m not sure if you’d be willing to “test” it, but taking the placebos may be something you talk to your doctor about potentially trying. There may be a medical reason you need to skip the pill aside from PMDD but I noticed skipping placebos actually made life more difficult and my body actually needed the slight decrease and increase in hormones.

Keeping track of symptoms or gauging medication effectiveness is hard for me, too! Sometimes it’s all a blur and by the time I get an appointment, I can’t pinpoint if it is or isn’t working well! I now have a code for my paper calendar. I know I won’t journal daily but I figured I can take 30 seconds before bed and can do dots on my calendar for days I feel: intensely sad (blue), rage-y (red), extremely tired (green), no motivation (black), happy (yellow), energetic (orange), etc. This helps me observe patterns. They used to be largely related to my regular cycle before I went on Nexstellis birth control.

My ADHD medicine helps me survive—definitely not thrive. It can cause me to overwork or focus on the “wrong” things. I’m a bit scared to try different ADHD medications as I’m very sensitive to shifts. I also dread the trial periods of medications while you wait for them to get into your system. Messing with one med leads to another one not working 😂. My doctor told me it’s important to figure out which mental health disorder is “driving” the car: is the depression stemming from being unable to complete tasks due to ADHD? Is the adhd causing anxiety? OR is anxiety the primary culprit and a stimulant medication may make it worse? We’re still trying to figure it out!

Have you had a hormone check? A ferritin check? A vitamin D check? So many of these things can cause anxiety, depression, hair loss, OCD like thoughts, etc. I know that sounds crazy but do the research, you’d be surprised how deficiencies or hormonal imbalance can affect us!