Preparing Ahead for Your PMDD

Hello and welcome...today we have a fantastic guest post by Renell that was originally posted on Facebook.  I've chosen to add my two cents worth in italics (Sorry! It's the writer/editor in me!) so if it reads like two people are talking here, that's why.  Please feel free to leave any positive suggestions YOU might have for coping with/managing your PMDD in the comments section.  I'm sure we could all use a bit of help in that area.  Thank you for stopping by, and may this help you in preparing for the next time your PMDD comes around...

I now turn the keyboard over to Renell...

Hi, everyone!  I'll get right down to business: In recognizing a common theme in the comments on the Facebook PMDD loops I belong to, I'd like to offer some tips for support I've found helpful in my own therapy. We all know that every single month like clockwork our hormones will wreak havoc and PMDD will rear its ugly head. If you're anything like me, you suffer through it and once the symptoms subside you're so glad to feel normal again that you forget you have PMDD at all.

Or at least we want to forget!  This is one of the places where denial comes in...when the episode is over and we want to just pretend it didn't happen, so we don't have to deal with all the problems we created during the episode.  Unfortunately...

PMDD will remind you it's here to stay once that dreaded ovulation day rolls around yet again. Embracing this disorder means we need to accept its existence in our lives and plan for it.

I like that...embracing this disorder.  Might as well, because it's not going to go away.

Let's try to be proactive rather than reactive to our PMDD. Here are some ways you can plan ahead. These tips are useful whether you choose natural therapy or medication to relieve your symptoms.

1. Mark off the dreaded luteal phase on your calendar for the upcoming month so you know when the PMDD symptoms will likely begin.

2. Plan your activities around these days according to how your mood is likely to accept them. Make sure your partner knows what's going on as well so that he/she can help you with extra support.

3. Do housecleaning or laundry ahead of time. I clean the entire house the week before my luteal phase so that when I am in the PMDD zone I don't have major cleaning to be bothered with. It also helps to relax in a nice clean house.   I love this idea, Renell!

4. If you only take meds during your luteal phase and they take a few days to kick in, consider taking them a few days early so they have already kicked in on the first day of ovulation (Warning: Discuss this with your Dr. if you're not sure that this is okay given the type of meds you are taking)
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5. If you are highly irritable during your PMDD episodes schedule time to be alone. Sometimes it's hard for us to be around anyone during this time. Don't feel bad for needing this and do whatever you can to carve out time for yourself.  (I added the bold).

6. If you are prone to getting depressed during this time, schedule time to be around supportive friends who can help. No sense in going through this alone. Calling a friend or family member over to simply talk in your sweats or pj's helps quite a bit.

7. Shop ahead. Stock the fridge with healthy foods like leafy greens, fruits and healthy carbs to boost your energy during this phase. You'll crave junk food and if you already have healthy food on hand you'll be less likely to drive through a fast food joint for a greasy salt, sugar, and fat-laden meal that will only make you feel worse.

8. This one is important: Lower your alcohol intake. Again if you're anything like me you'll start guzzling the wine in hopes that it will relieve your anxiety. I don't usually get drunk, just a glass or two at a time. But doing this every night for weeks is not a good thing and the alcohol can actually make our anxiety and depression worse. It can lead to alcohol dependency among other serious health problems. It also is dangerous to mix with many medications that a lot of us are on. I personally recommend that you stay away from alcohol altogether during your luteal phase. It's just not worth it and its effects are deceiving.

She's right, ladies.  Alcohol is a depressant, and when you're already depressed....sure, it makes you feel good and alive and dare I say "normal" for a couple of hours—maybe—but after that, our bodies pay in ways we can't even imagine.  Renell has addressed the obvious, the possibility of alcohol dependency and the danger of mixing your meds with alcohol.  But alcohol can also mess up your blood glucose situation and don't forget....when we're having a PMDD episode every negative thought is magnified many times over, plus...our brain isn't processing information correctly to start with. 
 
So why add alcohol into that mix?

Just think about it the next time you reach for that attempt at self-medication.  Try doing something good for your body instead.  Something you've prepared for ahead of time.

Okay, now it's your turn. What are some DO AHEAD ideas that have helped you plan for your PMDD?

Should Your PMDD Symptoms be Classified as a Mental Disorder?

Here is a link to a National Public Radio (NPR) News Morning Edition segment that asks the question, Should Severe Premenstrual Symptoms Be A Mental Disorder?  Listen to the eight minute segment (play it while you're working on something else at the computer if you're short on time) and decide for yourself.  You might also recognize the names of some ladies interviewed for the segment.

The embedded YouTube segments below the written version of the NPR post are also well worth watching. 

Thank you for stopping by, and I know it's a lot to hope for, but may you be having a PMDD-Free Day! 

Is the Pill Really the Answer for Your PMDD?

Whether you're taking the Pill for contraception, or for your PMDD, you need to read this book.  If you can't afford the book, then read Holly's blog of the same name.  Make sure you are making an informed choice when you pop that pill in the morning for your PMDD.  

To quote author Laura Werschler, who wrote the foreword for Holly Grigg-Spall's book:

"Sweetening the Pill explores and challenges the ways in which the pill and other drug-based contraceptives damage women’s health, threaten our autonomy and thwart body literacy. What we don’t know about our bodies helps pharmaceutical companies “sell” their contraceptive drugs, and keeps us “addicted” to them... Prescribing the pill, or other forms of hormonal contraception, has become, in the minds of most health-care providers, the “standard of care” for being a girl. It is all too common to subjugate a girl’s menstrual cycle to synthetic hormones that superficially “regulate,” but actually suspend the maturation of her reproductive system. And for many girls, the use of hormonal contraception continues well into their 20s, without awareness of what might be or has been sacrificed."

This sacrifice can include, but is not limited to, your mental and emotional stability, both of which are defining symptoms of your PMDD.

For more information, go here, or here.  Or even here.  Learn about what you are putting into your body.  You will be surprised at how many questions these resources will be able to answer.

The Voices of PMDD, The Bigger Bitch, by Michelle

Today I am grateful to be offering a guest post which perfectly sums up the PMDD struggles we face from within...because what people without PMDD don't realize is that during an episode of PMDD, we are fighting OURSELVES as much as we are fighting with them.  So thank you, Michelle, for putting into words what so many of us feel monthly - month after month, and year after year - when the dark side of PMDD hits. 

For more great posts from Michelle, please visit her blog at Why am I Happy?

When I awoke this morning it was a normal day, I felt like my normal self. Within two hours what had passed for normalcy faded in the face of criticism and judgment. And all of it from someone that I can’t just punch in the mouth like they deserve. It is coming from HER. She is the bitch... the illness, the voice of self-doubt, the one that tells me how much everyone hates me and how worthless I am. The arch villain to my super self, otherwise known as PMDD. 

So I sit low in my desk chair trying to not draw attention to myself, like the small, scared girl I have become. There is a mean, angry, judgmental authority figure standing over my shoulder berating me, no matter what I do, no matter where I go. I feel so beaten down and broken, so battered, a heavy weight on my shoulders.

What do you do when the abuse you suffer is generated in your own brain? There are no shelters to escape to, no safe places to be had. Like the typical victim, I try to find ways to placate her, to distract her, to take the focus off of me…but she is relentless.

So I sit quietly, waiting. Waiting for the storm to pass. Waiting for the silence of my own mind to return. Waiting to feel safe again. There are no more tears to cry for my battered self-esteem. Wishing I could curl up and hold my knees to my chest and rock myself to sleep, just to try and get away. 

But I can’t give in. 

People rely on me. I have to be the best I can be, the one that always comes through. I have to survive this day professionally and personally.

So, ‘Fuck you.’ I say. ‘Fuck you for lying to me and trying to break my confidence. Now excuse me while I turn up the music, have a donut and get shit done, bitch.’ 

Why? Because fuck this illness. Because sometimes the only way to deal with her is to be the bigger bitch, to remember this is my head, my life, my rules. Today I chose to take that challenge and shove it in her face and succeed despite her barrage of negativity. 

Today it worked.

Here’s hoping tomorrow is a better day and that we can all be the bigger bitch when necessary. 

Other posts along these lines that I would recommend reading are my own They Only See Our Failures, and A Perfect Storm of PMDD.

Birth Control and PMDD

Here's a link to another excellent article by Holly Grigg-Spall, about how your oral contraceptive may be affecting your relationships.  Just remember that in taking birth control for your PMDD, you are messing with your hormones, and your hormones are already messed up, so...

You do the math.

Oral contraceptives only mask the problem.  They do not cure it, or make it go away.  In the end, more often than not, they make the problem worse.  Because eventually you will go off of the Pill, and if it doesn't happen sooner, that's most likely when your hormonal issues will resurface and with a vengeance.

Here's a quote from Holly's article:  Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, the director of Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre in Melbourne, Australia, found women on the pill are twice as likely to be depressed, anxious, have poor self-esteem, feel irritable, hostile, and numb to experiences.

Sound like anyone you know?

“We’ve seen the destruction of relationships, due to women becoming irritable, hostile and prickly when taking the pill. And then they look back and say ‘that wasn’t me’. There can be the breakdown of marriages,” Prof. Kulkarni describes.

You don't deal with a problem by covering it up.  If you are having any of these mood or emotional issues and are on the Pill, don't be so quick to blame yourself alone for feeling any of the above.  Your moods could be getting a boost--and not in the right direction--from your birth control pills.

What Happened to Me?

For those who are curious, I've written about why I disappeared for a few months earlier this year.  The short version is brain surgery for two aneurysms we discovered by accident.  A longer version can be reached by clicking on my new Personal Stories link.  Thank you again for your prayers and well-wishes.  With your help and continued prayer, my recovery continues...

Taking Yaz or Yasmin for Your PMDD?

How many women know Yaz Flex, Yaz, Yasmin and Beyaz are 99% similar in composition? ~Holly Grigg-Spall, author of the Sweetening the Pill blog and book.

If you are taking Yaz or Yasmin for your PMDD symptoms, you need to read this.  So many of you have written to tell me you are being told the PMDD symptoms you experience are "all in your head."  Well, if you are experiencing any of these reported mental, physical, or emotional side effects for Yaz or Yasmin, don't let anyone tell you they are "all in your head." 

If you choose to take these drugs, then do so knowing the risks.  Don't be taken by surprise.

Another quote from Holly: Monash University in Australia is one of the few facilities to have undertaken research into the correlation between birth control pills and depression. Professor Jayashri Kulkarni found that women on the pill were twice as likely to experience depression, anxiety, and mental numbness.

Sound familiar?  If so, you have a choice to make. 

But at least it's an informed choice.