Anyone with Pmdd?

I developed PMDD after the birth of my second child. I recently had my 4th so my symptoms are at bay for the moment. PMDD is not like PMS. It's worse, much worse. For me, the symptoms disappear during the time I am bleeding but immediately begin after the bleeding stops and they "build" until the next bleeding week. I believe every woman may experience PMDD somewhat differently but the symptoms are relatively the same, such as extreme mood swings, extreme anxiety, feelings of rage/anger, extreme sensitivity...there are many more symptoms, but these are the ones I experience the most. My OB suggested I try YAZ but I had horrible side effects from the pills. I was on them for only 13 days but had to stop. I researched PMDD and found that some women do very well with herbal supplements. I have used 5-HTP for my PMDD with success. They come in 50 and 100 mg pills. When I first started taking 5-HTP, I began taking 50 mg a day but I did not notice a difference so then I introduced 100 mg a day but only found a slight improvement. I experimented with various dosages until I settled on 150 mg a day. Taking too much will have unfavorable side effects. I strongly recommend researching 5-HTP before you begin taking it, should you decide to give it a try. You cannot use 5-HTP if you are on any kind of anti depressant drug. PMDD is caused by unbalanced levels of seratonin and 5-HTP helps with this.

http://pmdd.factsforhealth.org/
Here is a link about PMDD. I hope this info may help.

I have pmdd and was depressed for 2 weeks out of 4. Horrible. I talked to by obgyn and she put me on Sarafem which is prozac, packaged for women with pmdd. I found that I would have trouble a couple days before I started the anti-depressant so I ended up taking 10mg of Prozac every day. It helps so much. I still get pms, cramps and irritability, but nothing like before. Taking the meds every day also allows me to skip periods-I am on the pill, so I do not have to deal with it every month.

Call you doctor (could get into my gyn so I went to my regular family practice dr). I finally did and now I take a daily med (10mil) and after two months am getting thing back under control. The up and down emotions were making me feel crazy and wearing my family out too.
You will be glad you called. Best Wishes!

Talk to your doctor before doing or taking anything. Good luck.

Use the Shaklee products..I also use Moodlift by Shaklee. Since I've been using it for the last 2 weeks this time with my cycle those symptoms were improved. Check it out. I would not go on Effexor either...nor Cymbalta...bad withdrawl. If you need an antidepressant Lexapro is great with the anxiety and withdrawl is minimal as you reduce the dose. Best wishes..hang in there :)

wow this sounds so familiar and im 30 so i dont think age has to do with it. my OBs solution was birth control (which i cant take bc im too sensitive to the hormones) so i went to my chiroprator/healing genius and she said it sounded like my progesterone levels were off, gave me a few all natural supplements and im feeling sooooo much better now! i see ur in PA and my genius doc is in hockessin, de if ur interested - dr. blossic at hockessin chiropractic. i live in townsend, de and i drive an hour to see her and shes worth it!!

YES..I have been crying or raging all day. I spoek to my OB back about 13 years ago and have been trying to find a perfect "solution" since. I have tried several anti depressants for it and most recently I take Shaklee GLA, 2 capsules a day, and they help somewhat. Im looking for a better alternative and am curently having my hormone levels looked at. I had been on celexra, wellbutirn, Yaz, Effexor. However stay away from Effexor...the withdraw is HORRIBLE, I seriously thought I was losing my mind and felt "drunk" I had what I will call brain zaps. The best way I can describe it is a brain tick. My recent blood draw shows I have a vitamin D deficiency. Im hoping upping my D will help aslo.
Best of luck!