PMDD and Your Brain

A while ago, I read the book Women’s Moods: What Every Woman Must Know about Hormones, the Brain, and Emotional Health. It was a great book about overall hormonal health and described how hormonal issues are physiological occurrences in the brain that manifest as emotional behavior, because the hormones involved affect the areas of the brain that regulate our emotions.

On the one hand, I wished I’d read this book years earlier than I did, as it was first published in 1999. On the other, I’m glad I didn’t. While the authors completely explain the devastating effects women's hormones can have on your emotional life, they are firmly in the camp of using medication to treat these brain disorders that affect women throughout our reproductive years.

That’s fine if you want to go that route, but there are other options available now to women who suffer from hormonal issues. In 1999, these options were given a cursory mention and dismissed. Which means if I’d read the book any earlier than I did, I would have come to the conclusion that there was no alternative to my PMDD, short of medication.

That, for me, would have been very depressing indeed.

I know there are millions of women out there who have severe hormonal issues that may well require medication to control them—notice I say control them—not manage them. Me, I manage my symptoms through nutrition and exercise and positive lifestyle choices. If I took medication I wouldn’t need to be so vigilant about my health—the medication would theoretically handle the problem for me. But in my case, with the PMDD, I can’t see taking medication every day for something that only occurs a few days a month.

Still, there are days when the thought of it tempts me. But most days it does not.

As I said, to have read this book any earlier would have been devastating for me. Because the authors insist over and over that without treatment, your hormonal issues will only get worse. That there is no light at the end of the tunnel without treatment—this is absolutely true--but their treatment of choice is not mine.

That aside, I was able to read the book and learn much about the causes of hormonal issues and how and why these issues can and do get worse later in life without some type of intervention.

Hormonal issues are a very serious and practically rampant problem for women. Yet some days it seems like the only people paying any attention to us are those who can profit from our condition(s). Most of the information women receive regarding "hormonal imbalances" (a term I take exception to) comes from companies whose drugs have been approved for treatment of these "imbalances."

We need more than to be told a certain medication (or two, or three) can solve  our problems. We need to understand the underlying causes of our hormonal issues and find ways to heal ourselves from within and prevent the need for chemical solutions. We need to understand the unique female brain/body connection and how it makes us vulnerable to mood problems at the most challenging times in our lives. Puberty, pregnancy, post-partum, peri-menopause, menopause, and post menopause.

Every time you have a child, your hormones undergo an enormous amount of stress, and yet society acts as if there’s nothing to it. Life goes on and you cope.

But what happens when your ability to cope fails you? What happens when, as these authors aptly describe it, you have an internal “earthquake” and mood disorders erupt?

All this attention is given to heart health, but brain health is equally important. We need to learn to care for our brain as diligently as we do our heart. Not only the heart can be compromised by a woman’s genetic make up, life experiences, and stress load, but so can the brain.

If our brain doesn’t work right, we don’t work right, and all sorts of life-chaos can happen. No amount of "being strong" or "powering through" is going to re-regulate a brain that has gone askew. It just isn’t going to happen.

The way this book and many others describe it, our brains have neurological pathways that become worn over time like ruts in a road. When any situation arises, our brains immediately locate the memory of how we dealt with that situation in the past, so that we can effectively do so again. And each time we deal with that situation again, a new pathway is created over the old pathway.

This works fine if your brain is healthy, or operating at optimum level. But what if your brain is not? Then your brain is creating new pathways over damaged roads, and only more damage ensues.

Genetics plays a factor in this, of course, but so do your thought processes. In short, how we deal with stress affects our hormones, which in turn affects our brain. This stress can come from any and all sources, trauma from an accident or abuse, be it physical, emotional, sexual, mental, spiritual, financial, you name it, or from naturally occurring life events such as birth, death, marriage, divorce, loss of a job or health or relationship, to name just a few.

When your hormones are doing what they should, your body deals with these stresses in a normal and healthy way. When your hormones are compromised, your body and brain do not. Little stresses can be magnified into big stresses, completely out of proportion to the situation. When your hormones are compromised and your brain is dysregulated, you can feel like you are under attack 24/7. Your brain makes no distinction between the threat of an oncoming car or someone who simply disagrees with your point of view. Both, to your dysregulated brain, are threats to your very existence.

It’s not logical, in fact it is completely irrational, but that’s what it is. Your dysregulated brain is not properly processing the threat.

This is why women with mood disorders like PMDD or even simple hormonal fluctuations seem so irrational at times.

But we’re not crazy, or imbalanced--far from it. Rather, something has compromised our hormonal system, something that has yet to be scientifically identified and verified, something we have no more control over than we do an allergic reaction.

This is not to say there is nothing we can do to prevent our hormonal eruptions.  We all know that once one begins, it is unstoppable, because the PMDD brain is out to win at all costs.  But there are ways to minimize our eruptions, and this blog* is full of tips for that.  If you're looking for the information all in one place, try my book, PMDD and Relationships, or, for the supportive partner, PMDD: A Handbook for Partners.   Both are based on the posts in this blog.

*Use the search box at the top of the page to locate topics you are interested in reading more about.  Type in the subject, and if I have written anything about it, a list of posts will appear.  This will save you a lot of time spent scrolling past stuff you're not interested in.

PMDD, A Conversation with Someone Who KNOWS

Trust the process that got you here to get you through.

For today's post, I have taken a rather lengthy reader comment from one of my previous posts and re-formatted my reply to resemble a question and answer session, because, as you will see, the original comment touched on several  questions/ideas many of us have wondered about over time. 

By answering the reader here, I can reach more people.  So here goes:

Hello, Liana, 

I can't thank you enough for having the courage to put this blog out there and then be honest and specific about your symptoms and coping mechanisms as it relates to them. You wrote "No egg, no sadness. Woo hoo! Party time!" which just explained to me why some months feel suicidal and some months LIFE IS WONDERFUL!

Hard not to think one is crazy when all of this bullshit is happening.

Hello, T!  Welcome to my blog, and thank you for taking the time to write, especially in such detail.  I appreciate your affirmation and support.  And yes, the "no released egg, no symptoms" aspect of PMDD tends to throw just about everybody off and make countless women doubt their sanity.  Especially in our later years, as we begin to release fewer and fewer eggs.

It would almost make it bearable if there was a higher purpose to it, a reason why.

I've thought that same thing many times.  One day I decided the higher purpose to my PMDD is to write about it.  I spent many years thinking I was crazy, and then, finally, it hit me that "Surely there must be others out there like me, who think they are crazy.  I need to let them know (through writing about my PMDD experiences and research) that they are not."

So my blog was born during a five month period when my book editing business was slow.  I had three website pages completed before I realized the website was too static, and I needed to do a blog.  20 blog posts later my business picked up again and it's been a struggle to find time for my PMDD research and writing ever since. 

For a few years, I let my research slide.  No time.  Then, when I was ready to start up again, I had to re-do all of my research, in case new information had surfaced while I was busy doing other things.

And it had.  In the past two years, the news about PMDD has increased exponentially.  I get a Google alert every other day about someone writing something about PMDD.  So I go there to check it out.  Because, as many of us have learned the hard way, you can't trust just anything you read on the internet.  There are a LOT of supposed health sites that have jumped on the PMDD bandwagon, just to pull in readers.  Sites that I can now pick out when (because I've been researching PMDD for over a decade) they don't understand the first thing about PMDD.  Old information recycled as new, some information slanted to achieve a certain goal or just plain false, but enough of the article close enough to known facts to confuse someone new to the subject....

Anyway, I decided my mission/higher purpose would be to sort out the fact from fiction, and publish my findings here and elsewhere.

I haven't gotten to the elsewhere part yet, due to family and work obligations, and then, in 2013, there was my surprise brain surgery. 

But back to your comments:  I don't see a lot of people mentioning ANXIETY! as a symptom but it sure is one of mine, a surge of cortisol and other hormones so big it triggers obsessive violent thoughts and then it all subsides once period time gets here.

Anxiety is a huge problem for a lot of people.  I'm not sure if I'm one of them, mostly because I manage my environment around my PMDD,  so I don't put myself in situations that feed my anxiety.  But my anxieties are different from those of others, because there are a LOT of things I think nothing of, that terrify others.  And some things that terrify me, that don't bother others at all.

Educate yourself, learn to love yourself in spite of all the shit your head comes up with; there is some putting up with [this shit] that goes along with [PMDD].

I couldn't agree more, and that is what my blog is about.  I've sifted through probably 90% of the current information on the internet and in books relevant to PMDD and put the best of it on my blog.  If not in the posts, then on the sidebars, where there are links to all sorts of good resources.

For the men, if you love the woman, get educated about this as much as you can, I strongly recommend reading "Female Brain Gone Insane" by Mia Lundin.

I agree completely, and have a link to that same book in the sidebar of my blog.  Another excellent read is The Female Brain, by Dr. Louann Brizendine.

In it [Ms. Lundin] sheds tremendous light on this subject and offers great natural suggestions for relief,  but the only way out [of PMDD] is [to go] through it. [That] doesn't mean you guys take any abuse, but for the love of everything that is holy do not get confrontational—rather go for a walk or something.

Again, I agree 100% and have written three blog posts specifically for the partners of women with PMDD. 

For the ladies thinking hysterectomy as an end to this, PLEASE DON'T DO IT.  It is the easy way out and when the storm-tsunami-holocaust of this mess passes you will need those eggs!  Hysterectomy is the first thing OBGYN offers because it is a money maker.

I agree in that I believe most hysterectomies to lessen the horror of PMDD are unnecessary, and find it very saddening that there are so many women willing to die early (because hysterectomies do shorten your life span), risk their lives with major surgery, and take the very real chance that the operation won't help your PMDD symptoms at all if they don't take out your ovaries as well.  Also, when you get a hysterectomy, you go on hormone replacement therapy afterward, which just messes with your hormones all over again.  I would LOVE to hear from women who have had a hysterectomy for PMDD (not any other reason) and found it to be worth the risk, cost, lost time, health complications, and shortened life span in the end. 

I know your PMDD symptoms make you feel desperate, but I do not believe a hysterectomy is the answer.  Neither does Winnifed B. Cutler, PhD, and her reasons why are outlined in her book, Hormones and Your Health, also pictured in the sidebar of this blog. 

Please, please, ladies, do your research before you make this life altering decision.  Don't let emotion guide you, but rather the facts.

Of course all I have said is from personal experience and is easier said than done. So  please, please, please, take what you like and leave the rest.

To that I add, if you have already had a hysterectomy for your PMDD, just start where you are with improving your health and living the best and fullest life you can for the rest of your days.  Good nutrition, rest, exercise, and lowering stress are a recipe for better health for everyone, not just those of us with PMDD or hormonal mood disorders.

Pray a lot! Talk it out, DO NOT ISOLATE. This monster wants you in a corner and it wants you dead or to make you hurt someone else and usually that someone else is a loved one, although strangers can get a backlash too.

She nails it, don't you think?  PMDD is a monster determined to bend you to its will, and do as much damage as it can to your world along the way. 

I take megadoses of vitamin C, to bowel tolerance and after a few months, something inside is building back up, [and my] energy is slowly starting to come back, [but] JUST FOR TODAY.

One day at a time.  It's all any of us can do.  But vitamin C is a great place to start. 

I am 48 now. Something new is I get my period twice a month for the last two months and I feel my ovaries churning when an egg is released. I also feel hard in the lower belly before [my] period starts (something new).

I, too, get my period more often now.  Every three weeks instead of four. And I can feel when I ovulate as well.

In addition I want to shed some light from another blog I read, women who go through this, usually have had some early trauma in their lives (even or especially if they don't consciously remember) and then, spiritually speaking, the pain (stuck energy) is trying to work itself out of your body through the horrors of PMDD (just something to think about).

Don't sell yourself short, T.  I believe this can be the case as well.  And there have been scientific studies that prove a correlation between a traumatic childhood, childhood trauma in general, and sexual abuse and PMDD.  I plan to write more about it one day.  But for now I will say that for me personally, my PMDD and then period at the end of the cycle is like a huge purging of all that has distressed me in life and not yet been dealt with.  I used to let it take control.  No more.  Now I basically make note of what comes up during that time and deal with it when I'm feeling strong enough to handle it like a responsible adult. 

As for you Liana, you are the first person [to] have actually made feel and believe to the core of my being that this is not forever, that in fact "this too shall pass" and that I am not bad or crazy or being punished by the gods for all of my sins of being an imperfect human.

You are correct.  PMDD does not last forever.  It ends with menopause.  (It does, however, get worse during perimenopause if left untreated.)

You are not bad.

You are not crazy.

And you are not being punished for any sins.

I can't thank you enough and these posts in and of themselves are very cathartic. This is such an amazing twisted, enlightening, terrifying process, that I even wrote poetry a few years back and I never wrote a poem in my life...it is as if the garbage [we] accumulate over a lifetime is trying to get out of you and your true beautiful Self is trying to shine through.

Every woman's experience is different, but yes, writing or journaling about your PMDD can be extremely cathartic, and like I said above, I have long felt that my PMDD brings to the surface many things I tend overlook/avoid/suppress during my "good" times... either out of fear, denial, or the desire to avoid a confrontation.  I have read so many Facebook posts where women describe having a meltdown and then take the blame for the entire incident and don't even realize or acknowledge that the other person was yes, indeed, being a jerk.  (And that anyone in that same situation would have a right to be upset.)  It's always the PMDD that takes 100% of the blame, and not the 50% actions of the other party. 

Ladies, it takes two to make a relationship and it takes two to break one.  It's that simple.

So stop blaming your PMDD for every confrontation/mishap that happens in your life.  Other people do mean and stupid things too...what is their explanation?

Because PMDD is an explanation, not an excuse.  If you take nothing more away from this blog post than that, you will be doing something positive for yourself in 2015.

And now, a fitting farewell from our special guest interviewer, which I think sums up what many of us are feeling and experiencing.

Because [of] ALL OF YOU, I feel less alone, less insane and more hopeful. Something that comes HARD to me, but that I am working on is: SURRENDER, ACCEPTANCE AND TRUST.

As are we all; me, as well.  At the moment, I am working on exactly those three things.  Starting January 1, I've taken a 6-month hiatus from my income-generating work to focus on my PMDD blog and books, and it's going to take a lot of surrender, acceptance, and trust to see this whole thing through.

But letters like T's have convinced me it's the right thing to do.

That said, I join T. in wishing you all love and light and tons of resilience, faith, and strength in the coming year.  Happy 2015, ladies, and may it be the year YOUR beautiful Self shines through!
Blessings,

Liana

PMDD, Prostaglandins, Pain, and YOU

How do our bodies experience pain?  Through chemical messenger hormones called prostaglandins that exist throughout the body (but do not physically move around in the body—despite being called messenger hormones).  Prostaglandins pass messages of pain to the brain.  Basically, they take care of their own little backyards, and do their work, good or bad, without straying too far from the cells that created them.  

So...If you could find a way to cut these "chemical messengers of pain" off at the pass, your brain would not register your pain. 

Sounds simple, right?  It is.

Even better, if you can keep your prostaglandin production in positive balance, there won't be any menstrual pain messages for your body to send. 

First, some important background:  Just like with cholesterol, there are two main types of prostaglandins in our bodies.  (Actually, there are three, but let's keep it simple.)  And just like with cholesterol, there are good and bad prostaglandins.  Sort of like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a reference every woman with PMDD understands.

The short version is:  Series 1 (and 3) are the Good Guys, Series 2 are the Bad Guys. 

The Bad Guys are also called antagonistic prostaglandins.  Think of it this way: They antagonize your body, making it, and you, feel uncomfortable. 

Antagonistic prostaglandins are made from a fatty acid that comes from ANIMAL products.  We're talking meat and dairy here.  These bad-for-you prostaglandins can also be found in corn oil, soybean oil, and other light vegetable oils.  (At least one of which is in most, if not all, processed baked goods.  I point this out, because PMDD women tend to flock to baked goods (aka carbs) when having an episode.)

So what are these prostaglandins anyway, and why do we need them?

Have you ever touched a hot pan?  It's prostaglandins that let you feel that pain.  Have you ever burnt or cut yourself and then stared at your hand for a split second, knowing you did something painful, but it hasn't kicked in yet?  And then it does...like wildfire?? 

That's your prostaglandins rushing to the rescue, while telling your brain to make sure you move away from the danger, and starting clotting procedures to save the burnt/cut/bruised part of your body.

This is a good thing.  Something we all need for survival.

Prostaglandins are a subset of a larger family of substances called eicosanoids.  Eicosanoids are hormones that help with regulating different body processes.  As a side note, eicosanoids are found in chocolate.  Could this be why we reach for chocolate to dim our pain?  Is it possible that in craving chocolate, we subconsciously seek a way to create some good prostaglandins?

Prostaglandins help with many things, such as:

Blood vessel dilation

Muscle contractions

Inhibition and promotion of blood clotting

Regulation of secretions, including digestive hormones

Cell division and growth

Body temperature regulation

Lowering (or raising) blood pressure

Immune system responses

PMDD women are mostly concerned with the first few on the list above.  In addition to those, we need prostaglandins for several more reasons, including ovulation, ending our monthly menstrual cycle, sperm motility and fertility issues, immune system interactions, and uterus contractions in childbirth and when we menstruate.

For instance, there's a normal surge of prostaglandins at the end of your menstrual cycle, which causes your period to come.  And those painful contractions and cramps you get during your period?  The ones that radiate down your legs into your thighs, knees, calves, and even into your feet?  The kind that make you want to vomit, they're so intense?  That's your prostaglandins in action, as well. 

So why do our uterine muscles even have to contract? To help us shed our uterine lining during menstruation.  The problem is, some women release more Series 2 prostaglandins than other women.  These higher levels of Bad Guy prostaglandins create more cramps and PAIN.  And yes, unruly prostaglandins can even cause constipation, diarrhea, and/or a fever at that time of the month. The first two because prostaglandins can affect the muscular movements of your intestines and the third because of prostaglandins' connection to fighting infections and regulating your body temperature.

Tell me something good about prostaglandins, then.

Well, prostaglandins metabolize quickly.  So your body can not store prostaglandins, but instead creates them as needed.

The good news is you DO have a say in what kind are created, Series 1 or Series 2, by your food and nutrition choices.

Since we want the good guys to win, we'll start with the bad.

 Series 2 Prostaglandins (the Bad Guys)

These are produced by trans fatty acids, or trans fats, found in hydrogenated oils, meats, fried foods, junk foods, and dairy products.  There is a special enzyme in our bodies that helps to create Series 1 prostaglandins.  High stress, too much sugar and flour (baked goods) slow this special enzyme down, so that the Series 1 prostaglandins aren't made fast enough, which allows the Bad Guy Series 2 prostaglandins to get the upper hand.

Trans fats are also bad for the structure of your nerve and brain cells, areas in which PMDD women need to be particularly protective.  Trans fats also hamper our ability to create Good Guy Series 1 prostaglandins.

There is much hope though: Series 2 prostaglandins are formed at a slower rate than Series 1 prostaglandins.  So if you eat the right foods and avoid the wrong ones, you can easily tip the scales in your favor and avoid much of your monthly influx of pain and inflammation.

Series 1 Prostaglandins  (Our Heroes)

Series 1 prostaglandins are made from a fatty acid primarily found in fish and fish oils, known as EPA. (The most critical of the Omega-3 essential fatty acids).  This EPA is the ONLY material that our body uses to make the Series 1 prostaglandins that reduce pain and inflammation.  

Our bodies need three types of Omega-3 fatty acids to stay healthy:

ALA - which comes from green plants, and provides the building blocks for EPA

EPA - which comes from marine plants and fish, and provides the building blocks for DHA

and

DHA - which comes from marine algae plankton, fish and mammals, and are especially helpful for maintaining healthy eye and brain tissue (something I am especially delighted to hear).

And here's more good news:  The essential fatty acids found in olive oil and nut oils, while they don't make/create Series 1 prostaglandins, they do block the paths of your Series 2 Bad Guy prostaglandins.

 

Here are some more items you can stock up on to help combat your Bad Guy prostaglandins:

(and I'm not talking about any heat-processed stuff you get off the shelf...be sure to read your labels!)

evening primrose oil

naturally fermented fish oil

flaxseed oil

borage oil

starflower oil

a high quality Vitamin B-complex vitamin (B vitamins are essential for creating Series 1 prostaglandins)

with an extra dose of Vitamin B-6 on the side for your PMDD

Most of these you have heard of before as being beneficial during an episode of PMDD.  Now you know why they have been suggested.  And get this: painful menstrual cramps are not considered to be a symptom of PMDD, but rather PMS.  You can indeed have both PMS and PMDD at the same time.  You can also reduce your symptoms of PMDD until all you have left is PMS.  But cramps?  That's pure PMS.

Other ways to combat Bad Guy Prostaglandins:

Aspirin and other NSAIDs do block prostaglandins produced in inflamed or injured parts of our bodies.  These NSAIDs also act on prostaglandin sites in the central nervous system involved in transmitting messages of pain.  This is why ibuprofen is usually the drug of choice when the cramps begin.   

However:  The enzyme bromelain from the stem of the pineapple has been proven to inhibit the Series 2 prostaglandins and reduce pain at a much higher rate than that provided by painkillers. 

This is great news, especially because of how toxic NSAIDs are to your gastrointestinal tract.  At a minimum, NSAIDs can cause erosion of the stomach lining and ulcers, and at a maximum, death by gastrointestinal bleeding without warning.  PMDD women bleed enough.  God knows we don't need to bleed any more.  NSAIDs can also raise your blood pressure and push you along the path to heart disease, the number one killer of women.  More on NSAIDs in another post.

Why this Prostaglandin and NSAIDs information is important to you, outside of your PMDD

If your body is not in balance, and you have too many Series 2 prostaglandins, you can be susceptible to diseases linked to excessive inflammation (such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer's) and/or developing blood clots, which can also lead to strokes and death.  The latter connection is especially dangerous for women taking birth control pills for your PMDD, or HRT for perimenopause.

So, to recap:

Your prostaglandins will do the job they were meant to do.  What type of prostaglandins your body creates is entirely up to you.  The fuel (or fatty acids) your body uses to create prostaglandins (as needed) builds up in your body over time...so you want to make sure you have the right fuel on hand when the time comes.

Series 1 prostaglandins have the opposite effect of Series 2 prostaglandins.  Series 1 prostaglandins reduce inflammation, dilate blood vessels, and inhibit blood clotting.  They help us to recover from injuries by reducing pain, swelling, and redness.  They are part of our natural defenses against infection. 

Series 2 prostaglandins are created in response to trauma or stress, including trauma or stress on the body created by our food and drink choices.  Series 2 prostaglandins supply blood to the traumatized area, which in turn causes inflammation and pain.  On one level this is a necessary protective measure for injury to the body, but on the other, such as when the Series 2 prostaglandins supply more blood to your uterus, swelling it up and aggravating your cramps, this process works against you.  However, if you have more Series 1 prostaglandins in your system than Series 2, your period can be pain free. 

Basically, your cramps are letting you know your prostaglandins are out of balance. 

What, specifically can you do to put things back in balance? 

Well this is the part nobody wants to hear, so if you want to keep on having cramps, stop reading now. 

Otherwise, to cut down on the amount of Series 2 pain-producing prostaglandins only you can create in your body through your food and drink choices...

Avoid these top ten culprits.

1.  Sugar

2.  Wheat

3.  Caffeine

4.  Soy

5.  Alcohol (which also depletes your vitamin B levels)

6.  Dairy products, especially milk and cheese. 

7.  Red meat (plus that steak you so love may well contain growth hormones that include estrogen, another big problem area for women)

8.  Saturated fats and oils - palm oil, butter, margarine, lard, and fried foods (especially when eating out, where you have no idea what kind of oil they used.)

9.  Refined carbs - white bread, pasta, flour, pastry, and cakes. Stick with whole grain breads and pastas, etc.

10.  Food additives and preservatives  -  Virtually anything processed, frozen, and or pre-packaged for your convenience.

You don't have to give these up, but if you don't, the cramps will continue to come. It's that simple.

At least now you will understand what causes cramps, and understand that the key to making your period a lot less painful depends entirely on YOU.  

Stress and the PMDD Woman

So what causes stress in a PMDD woman?

Well, trauma, for one.   Trauma, (such as a life-threatening accident, war, imprisonment, witnessing or being the victim of a violent crime, including abuse of any sort, a death or major upheaval in the family, especially one over which you feel you have no control) can predispose a woman toward PMDD.  Incidents of trauma like these create neural pathways in the brain that can lead a woman with PMDD to over-react both physiologically and emotionally to normal everyday stressors in her life by producing an excess of "fight or flight" hormones, among other things.  Once this neural pathway has been opened, via trauma, the ruts are established and only get deeper with each new stressor.

 

To top it off, stress can contribute to further chemical imbalances in the brain.

So which came first, the chicken or the egg?  Is it stress that aggravates your PMDD or does your PMDD stress you out? 

 

The answer is both.  Lucky you.

Other sources of stress that work both ways include: 

Addiction

PMDD women are more prone to addictive behaviors, including sexual addiction, relationships addiction, drug addiction, nicotine addiction, alcohol abuse, and emotional eating, all of which bring stress into your life. 

Substance Abuse

This has to do with the reward/pleasure center of the brain, which is basically not working right during an episode of PMDD.  What you think will bring you pleasure or relief from your weepiness and edginess and anger in fact does not, because your brain is not processing information properly to start with.

The following has nothing to do with substance abuse, but is just one example of how my brain doesn't work right during that time...I walk around the track at my local gym.  I time myself.  On a good, comfortable day, I can do one lap in one minute.  Sometimes I can do it in 55 seconds, when I am pushing myself, and sometimes I'm just not feeling up to par and it takes an extra 5 - 10 seconds.  

But on an average day, I do one lap in one minute.

When I am having an episode of PMDD and force myself to go and walk around the track, and I feel like I am moving through molasses and every step is a challenge...imagine my surprise to discover that according to the second hand of the clock, I am actually moving at my normal pace of one lap per minute.

PMDD screws with your perceptions.  Of everything.

This includes what you see, what you hear, what you feel, what you think, and what you reach for to numb the pain.

Depressed people in general like to self-medicate (Remember, the first D in PMDD stands for Dysphoria, or depression) and jumpstart the reward/pleasure center of the brain with external substances, both legal and illegal.  But the PMDD brain does not respond properly to these stimulants, leaving the woman vulnerable to addiction.  Things that only add to the muddle going on in your brain are unresolved conflicts from the past, destructive behavior patterns, cycles of abuse, day to day stress, relationship issues, and cultural conditioning--all of which can lead to substance abuse in non-PMDD women as well.

So not only do the same things that set other women off set PMDD women off, but:

Our brains do not process the information properly during an episode...which leads to all sorts of drama...which only adds to our level of stress...thus leaving PMDD women more prone to substance abuse disorders, whether from the differences in our brain chemistry or the issues and situations that arise as a result of our choices and actions...which are also in part dictated by our abnormal brain chemistry.  

Did you get all that? 

The bottom line is it's a vicious cycle, and no matter which way you look at it, PMDD women lose.

Adolescent Abuse

Briefly, studies have shown that women who have been abused in adolescence are more likely to develop PMDD.

Childhood Abuse

A scientific link has been found between women who were abused as children, and women who develop PMDD.  Again, this has to do with the faulty neural pathways developed in times of trauma, affecting the "fight or flight" response in the brain.

Physical Abuse

Physical abuse has the same effect on the brain as trauma. Women in abusive situations are also more prone to anxiety and depression disorders, which adds to the burden on the brain.

Sexual Abuse

Studies have shown sexual abuse to be a precursor to both Major Depressive Disorder and PMDD, no doubt through the connection to trauma.  A link has been established between sexual abuse, PTSD, elevated thyroid ratios and PMDD.

Next up:  Ideas for reducing the amount of stress in your life.