Treating Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)

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I want to give a great big, huge “Thank You!” to everyone who left comments and emailed me about my post yesterday. Opening up and sharing something that personal was scary hard, and there were several times I wanted to go back and delete it for fear of being judged or talked down to. However the outpouring of love was amazing and made me feel a thousand times better.

A few people commented and emailed me asking about the treatment options. Now, I’m not being treated for it yet so all I have is what I’ve dug up. The Wikipedia page for Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) has a ton of info, that’s where I started looking first. The disorder has some controversy around it with some medical groups not acknowledging it exists and some claims that it was created by the pharmaceutical companies to scare up more prescriptions of antidepressants.

Like other things I’m sure PMDD can be overdiagnosed for the sake of extra cash. Trust me, I’m not a fan of the pharmaceutical business. And I’m generally anti-medication on most things. But I know that what I’ve felt the last two years isn’t something being marketed to me, especially since until I went out looking for answers I had never heard of this.

OK, so Wikipedia lists treatments as:

Lifestyle changes may ameliorate some of the effects of PMDD, and certain SSRIs provide relief as well. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved four medications for the treatment of PMDD: Fluoxetine (also known as Prozac), was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug administration for PMDD in 2000. Sertraline (Zoloft) was approved in 2002, Paroxetine HCI (Paxil) and also Escitalopram Oxalate (Lexapro) has also been approved by the FDA.

Looking for help outside of medication Understand PMDD has a page of lifestyle changes you can make to help lesson the symptoms. Also some alternative therapies you can try.

I have this idea in my head to really get into the nitty gritty, detail what a week in the down cycle can be like. But that’s going to have to wait. I’m already getting palpitations at sharing too much as it is. Crazy considering how much I’ve shared before.

And now, to lighten the mood:

(Image source - Cris DeRaud)