PMDD Diagnosis

You might’ve seen over on my instagram that a week or so ago now, I had been feeling SO terrible with everything. My mom reminded me, at the time, that it was almost my time of the month, well..
I have FINALLY been diagnosed with PMDD – Pre-Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder which explains everything!!

So during the week leading up to time of month, every day I feel:
– incredibly anxious
– more tired than usual
– struggle to sleep and struggle to want to wake up
– restless, forgetful and unable to concentrate
– low mood which means I don’t want to do anything, go anywhere or be around anyone
– really low appetite
– headaches with eye pain
– bloating
– muscle aches, numbness and tingling in arms and legs
– bruising
& more.
It’s been going on for about a year now, from what I’ve noticed, every month without fail it will start about a week before my period and it goes away a within a couple of days after it starts.
You can read more about PMDD here. I know there are many more symptoms of PMDD.
I do feel better for being diagnosed, it makes me feel less like it’s all just in my head. The doctor I saw made me feel so ok about it too, not that I wouldn’t be ok about it – but she was so supportive and told me it’s actually really common – but it’s not something that many people have heard of before!
At the moment my doctor has recommended trying herbal remedies on a trial basis and seeing how I feel after 3 months of taking them.
So I have started taking Evening Primrose Oil, which has Vitamin B6 in and Gamolenic Acid.
If nothing helps too well, then she said I’d be prescribed antidepressants – which is a route I don’t really want to go down if I can help it. Being someone who doesn’t like taking tablets and medication unless it’s really necessary, I don’t feel too comfortable with the thought of having to take antidepressants every day, for something that only affects me one week out of the month. Of course if nothing else works, it’s likely to have to happen, but we’ll see.
Now, I’d love to hear – had you heard of PMDD before? Where did you hear about it? Do you suffer too?
To help try to raise awareness, I will soon be selling badges in my Etsy shop – just to to and make PMDD more well known and to get people talking!