PMDD affects our lives in many ways on a day-to-day basis. Sometimes, it’s hard to make sense of it all. So, where do you begin to explain what it’s like to others?
Here are some warriors sharing how they explain what PMDD is like in their own words:
Mentally, it’s like all of my fire and passion for what I love about my life has been drained from me. Physically, like the blood in my veins has been replaced with lead, making me feel heavy and exhausted. I look forward to my period because with it, my spark and ambition return.
Hannah
It makes my life an endless dance with depression and anxiety to the beat of my menstrual cycle.
Jess
It’s like PMS’s suicidal sister.
Hannah
It’s my body reacting adversely to normal hormone fluctuations. So, a normal rise or fall in estrogen or progesterone causes my emotions and mind to react negatively.
Megan
It’s like pressing the self destruct button and not giving a damn about the consequences. Then spending the next two weeks of your life rebuilding every thread of a relationship/career/friendship – every month.
Keely
A mental and physical intolerance to the hormonal fluctuations that happen during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. It’s not PMS – it’s a complete physical and psychological shift.
Lyn
I experience suicidal ideation for a week solid. I have so many panic attacks I lose count. I cry so much my face gets sore. I ache all over and am so damn tired but can’t sleep. I can’t concentrate, or think rationally. And the scariest part: I have absolutely no control over these thoughts and feelings.
Tanya
Not being able to pull myself out of a bad mood and dragging everyone else down with me.
Lucy
It’s like PMS on steroids, bipolar disorder, and amnesia all at the same time. It’s pure hell.
Kari Jean
It’s a hormone-based mood disorder.
Lynda
A sensitivity to hormone fluctuations.
Every time our hormones fluctuate we have a severe negative reaction in our bodies and brains.
The loneliness is the same as when my dad died and I realized I would never hear his voice again.
Danyelle
The worst emotion you’ve ever felt but amplified to the point of it being debilitating and it lasts two weeks every month.
PMS on steroids. Fighting a war against yourself.
Natasha
I explain that it’s an endocrine condition that leads to physical and mental symptoms. I don’t over embellish. It takes enough from me as it is. It isn’t going to ever define me as a person and I will not feed into its drama.
Sarah
