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PMDD - premenstrual dysphoric disorder?

I had never heard of this before a couple of days ago when I started trying to figure out what is wrong with me.

Long story short, I have always had some depression/anxiety. Until about age 27 or 28, I just lived with it. After that, I went through a really bad patch, got diagnosed, and took antidepressants for several years.

About July, I came off anti-depressants for the first time in about 5 years. I felt great, until I got my periods. Then I would experience severe emotional/hormonal symptoms, including illogical anxiety about my boyfriend, crying jags, and general fear of the future and whether I was making good decisions or not. Then, after my period hit, or a few days into my period, I'd be fine again.

However, I did not even register that the above was happening to the extreme that it was for a couple months. I knew I was having PMS that was worse than I used to have before, but I attributed a lot of it simply to not being on the antidepressants anymore, and my depression coming through in full force, and going through some big life changes.

Early Nov., I started taking a birth control pill. It was the first time I've been on BC in about 8 years. I knew that there was a possibility it would aggravate my depression, but had no idea it would make my PMS worse. It was like PMS on speed. It was only as I had 1-2 'crazy episodes' a month for the next three months that I really started to see a pattern and realize that the hormone BC I was taking was making a preexisting underlying imbalance of some kind worse.

About 4 different times I felt like I should break up with my boyfriend because I didn't feel like he loved me. But he would assure me he did, say sweet things, do anything I asked for him, and the poor guy couldn't understand what he was doing wrong... because he wasn't' doing anything wrong. But my hormones were telling me I was being rejected.

Then, a day or two later, I'd be fine again. And by fine, I mean, feeling completely at peace about my relationship with my BF. Happy, calm, excited to be around him and with him, and like the anxiety I had had before made absolutely no sense.

Needles to say, I stopped the birth control. I am going to try going through two full cycles without any pill to see how I do, and find out if I think this is PMDD or if I just have stupidly awful hormones when I'm on my period that are exaggerated when on hormonal BC. But, as I said above, even back in the summer, before the BC, something was going on because those periods were making me feel much more over-the-top weepy and anxious than I remember from PMS before the antidepressant.

Reading over the symptoms of PMDD, I I was shocked. I had never heard this thing existed. I'm starting to think maybe I'm not so crazy after all, and I simply have some imbalance going on.

Has anyone else experienced things like this?
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Avatar universal
jazilu thanks for the tips. I will be talking to her. I was taking orthotricyclen. It was hell ... I had no idea it was that until a few weeks after I quit taking it, it just clicked. that was what was probably wrong.

the last five days I've been great.

would the hormone test be to tell me if my hormone levels are normal, or what BC might work better for me? or both? I'll ask about it, but i'm not sure if I can get it done due to not having insurance ATM.

Kiara_queen21... Don't know, but it could be. Are you on BC, or just experiencing that naturally? Either way, it is a good idea to talk to your mom and doctor about it.
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Avatar universal
Maybe that's what I have cause like right now I'm going through a hard time like I'm having extremely bad anxiety and ya so idk I'll ask my mom
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Avatar universal
Maybe that's what I have cause like right now I'm going through a hard time like I'm having extremely bad anxiety and ya so idk I'll ask my mom
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I'm sorry that's happening. What kind of oral contraceptive did your gyno give you? You should call your gyno and explain the situation. Maybe you need different hormones or monocycle pills so you don't have the bad spikes. After a few months off the pill, you should be able to get a hormone test.
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