What Is PMDD?
PMDD is a living nightmare. But to be more clear... PMDD is short for Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder. Yes, it's as terrible as it sounds. It's a severe, cyclical mood condition that interrupts your quality of life.
Continue reading below for a more in depth look. For frequently asked questions about PMDD, click the button above.
The symptoms associated with PMDD, ramp up in the luteal phase (roughly 1–2 weeks before your period) and then lift within a few days of bleeding.
Key symptoms (you don’t need all of them)
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Mood: depression/hopelessness, rage/irritability, anxiety/panic, mood swings, self loathing, difficulty with relationships, rejection sensitivity, suicidal ideation
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Brain/body: brain fog, low energy, sleep changes, appetite shifts, bloat/pain, sensory overload, sudden urges to run away from everything and everyone. See a list of 50 symptoms here
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What makes it borderline obvious that it's PMDD: timing of your symptoms - severity of your impairment - and then finally, the relief you get after your period begins
PMDD vs PMS vs PME
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PMS: milder, doesn’t typically impair daily life
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PMDD: severe and function-impairing (often debilitating)
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PME: similar to PMDD with the exception that it negatively impacts other conditions on top of the standard PMDD symptoms (examples of other conditions: anxiety, ADHD, depression, auto-immune disorders) With PME your other conditions flare up along with PMDD symptoms, making everything worse.
How diagnosis works
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Track symptoms daily for at least 2 cycles
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Bring your charts to a clinician; rule out PME and medical look-alikes (thyroid, anemia, low b12 etc.)
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Diagnosis is clinical, based on symptoms—you can't “fail” a lab test
- Typically diagnosis is done by your gynecologist but not always
Some First steps that help
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Make a simple safety plan (who to text for support, where to go if you are in danger)
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Regular low histamine meals and beverages
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Plan the hardest parts of your to do list outside the luteal phase
- Meal prep outside of your luteal phase so your workload is less during the luteal phase
These are a few tips to get you started. If you think you might have PMDD, take our quiz and we will contact you your results.
If you suspect you might have PMDD, please contact your healthcare provider.
