PMDD success story

I only see awful posts on here about how there is not hope, nothing works, and we have to live with this for the rest of our lives. I'm here to prove that wrong. Though there is no cure, there are ways to severely lessen the symptoms of PMDD.

I had all the classic PMDD symptoms (was also misdiagnosed as Bipolar II).

  • Like clockwork, 10 days prior to my period I'd hate my life, hate my husband, couldn't stand the sound of him even breathing, and my kids drove me INSANE
  • Terrible mood swings
  • Binge eating/lack of control over cravings
  • Extreme exhaustion
  • Increased sleep issues (more on this below)
  • Tension headaches, migraines and other bodily pains

On top of this, I had a general dark cloud over me of depression, moodiness, and just being unhappy. At this time the only medication I was on was the NuvaRing for BC, which I've been on before, albeit prior to having my daughter years ago.

I've been following this subreddit for a long time and have seen post after post that there is no solution, you can try mental health medications, self care protocols, therapy, diet, exercise, supplements, journaling, etc. and nothing will work. I tried all those things and truly none of them made a dent in "hell week" EXCEPT for medication, I had yet to try that.

Finally in March of 2024 I went to my PCP and told him about the depression and mood swings. He prescribed me 150MG Wellbutrin XL. The first 2 weeks were hard, but then the cloud started to lift. Hell week hit and it was a tough less... hellacious.

During this time, my therapist referred me to a Psychologist where I had an assessment and was misdiagnosed with Bipolar II. After you see a Psychologist, you go to a Psychiatrist for possible meds to be prescribed (and have an ongoing convo about your diagnosis).

During those conversations, we uncovered that it's not Bipolar II, but instead PMDD, and a bad case at that. A marriage-ruining case... (we came close). My Psychiatrist upped my Wellbutrin to 300mg and more of that cloud lifted, I was, dare I say, happy?! But the mood swings during hell week were still there (to a far lesser degree).

We tried adding Abilify to the Wellbutrin but I didn't tolerate that well. We then moved on to Zoloft 25mg and HOLY HELL I could laugh during hell week?!?! It was crazy! I felt like a different person. I felt like myself. We've since upped the dose to 50mg Zoloft (the therapeutic dose) in August of 2024 and I can confidently say my PMDD symptoms were about 85% gone.

The one remaining thing was my sex drive and wanting to be intimate (both sexually and non-sexually). I don't think my meds affected it either way as nothing in that realm of my life changed, but I knew the final piece of the puzzle was my birth control (Nuvaring). So in October 2024 I completely stopped birth control and HELLOOOOO SEX DRIVE! The period of time after my period stops to about a week before my next period is glorious. I feel sexy, beautiful, wanted, confident, and my husband is loving it (and so am I!). The week before my period the sex drive tanks a bit, I'm not as "touchy" but also I'm not a raging bitch who hates every little thing everyone does.

Getting off of BC was possibly the best thing I could've done for my PMDD and my marriage. The very close second was to ignore what people said on this subreddit and take the meds. Get an evaluation, talk to the professionals, try out medications and learn more about your body.

If you're lucky enough to be in a position to do so, do it! I hope this post helps some of you if you feel like there is no hope, there's only negative things said on this subreddit, and that you have to just life with this, because you don't. Medications aren't for everyone but there are SO many out there, it's worth trying. It may just change your life.

A NOTE ON SLEEP:

I also want to mention I had terrible insomnia during the entirety of my life (diagnosed at 8 years old, I'm 34). I would not be able to fall back asleep after waking and be up for an extensive amount of time during the middle of the night.

Then I found out it wasn't insomnia... I had no snoring, no gasping for air, no enlarged neck, not a mouth breather, etc. Literally my ONLY symptom was insomnia. But after a year of working with my sleep dr. on using different techniques and therapies to work through the insomnia to no avail, our hail Mary was to finally do a sleep study. During the study it was found that I have sleep apnea.

Prior to using my CPAP machine I rarely had deep sleep, woke up very easily, and woke up exhausted due to poor sleep quality AND not being able to fall back asleep in the middle of the night.

Using the CPAP machine alleviated 95% of that, even during the luteal phase.

During my luteal phase I definitely wake up during the night more often but I'm averaging 7.5 hours of sleep a night as opposed to the 4-5 hours I was averaging prior to finding out it's actually sleep apnea.

So again, if you're in a position where your sleep is shit and can get a sleep study done, do it!