/hb/ - Health & Beauty

>>18011
I'm in almost the exact same position as you - PMDD symptoms, relationship issues, avoiding birth control

I also have PCOS caused by years of stress/poor diet. If you aren't eating well, have untreated trauma, or have some other stress factor, take care of those first. It all heightens this hormonal response and all the emotional and physical distress that comes with it

>>18011
I think I might. I become very suicidal right before my period, as well as experiencing the other symptoms of PMS. I’ve never tried hormonal birth control. My period is very regular and I’m afraid of the mood changes or worsening my PMDD. I try to manage it by tracking my period. So whenever I do feel suicidal, I can see that it’s due to my hormones and not my actual thoughts.

I thought I had it for years, but I got off the pill after nine years of misery and my mood's been way less cyclically extreme, except for feeling stupid ambitious and the funniest person alive who spends a ton of money immediately before my period. Happens every time with a bizarre mix of on-off anxious hesitation. Then after a period I feel stupid and bad about all the things I bought/promised to do but not so heavy I can't rationalise and carry on. I think that's just PMS levels.

My physical symptoms are still shitty. I'm pretty sure all PMDD diagnosis and discussion is focused on the emotional swings though, and I remember a news article saying they feel better when the bleeding starts but that's the worst point for me. The fatigue stops taking me out, and sleep at night doesn't seem as far off, but the pain is unbearable and I get a good three days of never storing information I literally just heard. Listening to podcasts and lying down always helps in the moment but afterward I have no fucking clue what I just heard.

Also "breast tenderness" - bitch that pain shoots through my fucking ribs like pulling barbed wire that's wedged in my flesh. I have had dreams about getting my tits removed because of the pain and embarrassment my nipples cause me. Can't wear bra or pasties because they hurt but because they hurt they're gonna go hard and stick out even worse. Fuck you, nipples. Believe it or not it's been worse since I got off the pill - there was constant pain on it but turns out constant lowkey pain is just how my breasts are, but with a proper cycle I get treated to the extra nasty pain before each period.

Sorry I'm just using this to vent. I had a friend who was diagnosed with PMDD by a professional and she steadily became super fucking weird. Said she screamed on the floor in delirious states (and not like making stupid repetitive noises to manage pain, no pain mentioned at all) and had spent six months with "no leisure time" because she was too sick to read/watch/play things she was reading about online. Would say we couldn't watch her favorite shows because it gave her anxiety. Got into breathless indignant rage over completely unpredictable things eg. she and her family weren't religious, but an otome game using names from Ars Goetia set her off about how disrespectful anime is to Christianity and Japan should not be allowed to touch it. Our friendship fell apart after she suddenly announced she actually hated all the things we'd watched/played together over 10 years and she was just playing along to appease me. I doubt it to this day, but the fact is she went loopy and lashed out over things that didn't make sense. I get the feeling that is the key characteristic. Saying shit you might not even mean because now you hate someone/thing.

There's no saying how you'll react to being on the pill til you do it. Some people get off lightly, it's possible the benefits outweigh the side effects for you. My libido was pretty low and would flip round to a month long horniness every so often, but that may have been because it didn't stop my periods very well. Removing ovulation will make pelvis/lower back/cramp pain lighter. The more extreme option my friend was offered was a false menopause drug, but doctors will deny access to it if you don't have good bone density.

>>18729
Being aware of when your period is sabotaging you is the biggest life hack and I wish I knew this sooner. I would have made the same bad decisions but not felt as bad about making them.

>>18731
>I get the feeling that is the key characteristic. Saying shit you might not even mean because now you hate someone/thing.
PMDD wouldn't have helped but your friend sounds awful. The only thing stopping someone from apologizing for doing something hurtful is being selfish.
>My libido was pretty low and would flip round to a month long horniness every so often, but that may have been because it didn't stop my periods very well
I had this at its most extreme. My libido would disappear and then shoot up like crazy for months at a time. It ruined a relationship I had in college because my partner could not deal with me literally waking them up for sex some months and feeling like I could live without sex forever on other months.