I want to tell you something that took me decades to figure out, that no doctor ever told me, and it changed my entire life.

My PMDD had a root cause. Once I found it, addressed it, my symptoms went into remission.

What Doctors Did (and Didn't Do)

Every doctor I saw for PMDD did the same thing: they handed me a prescription. SSRIs. Birth control. Sometimes both. A few of them were kind about it. None of them ever said why my brain was reacting so severely to my own hormones every single month.

Sure, they attempted to treat the symptoms, but they never looked for the cause. They never did genetic testing to dive deeper. 

I was diagnosed with ADHD, PMDD, OCD, depression, anxiety, and a personality that apparently just couldn't handle stress. At one point they even thought I had bipolar, but I knew in my gut that wasn't quite right.

What I actually had was undiagnosed celiac disease driving estrogen dominance and a histamine storm every luteal phase that made my nervous system completely shot. For decades.

And the most frustrating part of it, no one connected those dots for me. I had to do it myself.

What My Root Cause Actually Was

The short version: celiac disease → gut dysfunction → estrogen dominance → histamine intolerance → PMDD symptoms from hell.

Thanks to Celiac Disease, my gut wasn't absorbing nutrients properly. That created a hormonal environment where estrogen was dominant and progesterone felt like an attack to my existence. Every luteal phase, histamine flooded my system and as a result, my nervous system went into overdrive and overnight, each month, I became a person I didn't recognize.

Once I addressed the celiac disease, the actual root,  the fibers of PMDD began to unwind. It didn't happen overnight. But it happened. 

The realization was interesting because I didn't even consider that by removing gluten, I would be eventually removing PMDD. In fact, it took me a few months to catch on. One day I'm just sitting there and I realized it had been three months since I had had an emotional breakdown that's the longest I've ever gotten in my life. So I checked the calendar. Sure enough, my period was two days away and somehow by the love of the period gods, I couldn't even tell it was coming. After decades of suffering with PMDD, I found this rather confusing. How could something that had ruined my life over and over again on repeat, suddenly just be gone?

I didn't want to get too excited because after all every doctor and professional that I had ever spoken to had told me that there is no cure for PMDD and I believed them because I don't know shit about fuck. I'm just a regular human being that has spent her life suffering.

Skeptical, I try not to get my hopes up, but a few more months passed, and there was still no sign of PMDD. My lifelong dance with depression and suicidal ideation, was suddenly gone. I'd  even go as far to say that I barely recognize myself anymore. Because who am I without the rage, the anguish and despair. Over time, all of this had become rooted as part of my identity because I believed what doctors told me when they said there wasn't a cure. What they forgot to mention is that there's a root cause. For many, PMDD doesn't just appear. It's created. Luckily for me, I am one of those many. 

If you want to understand the science behind each piece of this, start here:

• Is PMDD a Gut Problem?
• Is there a cure for PMDD?
• PMDD — The Histamine Storm
• Are PMDD and Celiac Connected?
• What Is Estrogen Dominance and How Does It Connect to PMDD?
• PMDD & Genetics — It's in Your DNA
• Is PMDD an Autoimmune Response?

For months, I still wasn't convinced that PMDD was gone, but then I consumed gluten on accident during a family trip and those debilitating familiar symptoms came crawling right back again. That's when I realized I wasn't crazy and maybe just maybe doctors don't always have the answers.

 Because sure enough, once I stopped eating at restaurants (cross contamination zones for gluten), the PMDD went back to the hell it came from once again.

My life looks a lot different these days. A lot different than I ever thought it would. I cook nearly every meal at home, which I hate because I am a dire foodie at heart, but living without PMDD has made me realize that that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make... because lafter spending decades wanting to die, life is finally worth living.

remember...

Your root cause might not be the same as mine. PMDD is not one-size-fits-all. But the fact that a root cause exists, is hopefully enough to give you the hope that you may have lost along the way in your own PMDD journey. 

Most doctors won't look for your root cause, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. Sometimes, it simply is a matter of genetics, but sometimes... it's inflammation driving it all. This is just two scenarios, but you get the idea. 

Where to Go From Here

If you want the full story, messy and unfiltered, from the beginning, it's free and waiting for you in The PMDD Chronicles. Forty-four episodes, all free. Including the remission episode. 

I spent my life suffering and searching for answers. If this article can save one person from that same misery, every hour I've poured into this site is worth it to me.