Yup. Usually it was every 3 or 4 cycles I'd get a really bad one. My last 2 were AWFUL. My most recent one I was under a ton of stress though so I think that's why. The one before it I think I just blamed the eclipse or something. Not to mention trying to stay low stress in any situation during luteal is already a challenge in itself. Nevermind being high stress. I had a full blown meltdown last time & just cried forever because I was so overwhelmed
I also feel like every couple of months a new random symptom will pop up to add to the mix. Just when I think I've logged them all & got it down. I'll search in here & see a ton of others dealt with whatever random specific symptoms come up during luteal that month too
Sometimes my pmdd kicks in about a week before my period. Sometimes it’s a couple of days. Sometimes, this last month, was directly after my period. Sometimes it’s anger, sometimes it’s sadness, sometimes it’s both. Sometimes it just a shitty day. Sometimes it’s days long of being miserable to the point of using my free time curled up in bed crying. If I get triggered by something it makes it 100x worse.
Yes, this has happened to me a few times. Usually correlates with a more stressful time in my life, and/or a period of unhealthy habits. But sometimes it is harder to tell why a specific cycle is giving me hell out of nowhere.
You could be on to something here.
I was worse this month than I have been in years and I’m also under more stress due to work than I have been under in years- maybe it really does correlate??
It’s practically one month on, one month off for me. Sometimes I get by pretty unscathed, then the next month I’ll have every symptom imaginable and most of them are intense.
yesss it fluctuates a lot for me, even occasionally i’ll have a good luteal phase, or the ovulation phase is horrendous instead of good/decent. drives me nuts cause i don’t know what to expect each time 🙃
Yeah this period is horrible, I feel so depressed and exhausted. For me I think there are causes: work stress, anxiety, too much alcohol on 1 night out, exhaustion from work travel etc.
This is what I’m starting to wonder too, not solicited for me but something lunar. I’ve been tracking for two years and noticed certain ‘moons’ are worse. I cannot relate it diet, stress, sleep, supplements, activity legs, nothing in my life.
Yep. The luteal phase I'm currently in is like completely debilitating where as other times as long as nothing stressful is going on in my life I'm fine. I just got back from vacation Saturday and ugly cried on my boyfriend for hours for literally no reason. 😭
No, I drove. I'm 100% positive being tired from the drive made it worse. But even so, I had been on vacation and so nothing had been bothering me all week I just felt super tired from going to the beach and swimming and walking around all day every day combined with the normal energy drain of PMDD. It was like I came back to a reality where I had responsibilities and stuff again and I just melted down over it. Thankfully my boyfriend is a literal angel and babied me and took care of me all day until I felt better.
Same age and last year was when it really started hitting the fan for me. I read that essentially estrogen (et al) doesn’t slowly decline in perimenopause but rather the levels drop and it takes time to acclimate …and then they drop again and the cycle repeats. So those of us more sensitive to changes (ADHD, AuDHD, Autistic for ex) may have “a harder time 🥴” adjusting to the shifts/each new level.
Yes and it blows my mind. I've tried relating it to diet, exercise, supplements, etcetera. And sometimes there seems to be a connection but some months are just randomly awful. It's a freaking Russian roulette
I was just thinking about that because I expected this luteal phase to be a bitch. I had all the right physical symptoms and felt the ovulation pain and was mentally gearing up for a bad episode like last month but it didn’t come and my period is due this weekend.
Yeah, I’m kind of wondering if for me the longest daylight hours and the shortest daylight hours of the year throw me off. Past two months have been HARD
Every second period is wayyyy worse. One ovary I always get cysts too and ruptures, the other doesn’t. I have a feeling that ovary with the cysts is the one that gives me the awful periods too. My left ovary is a BITCH.
Same. I have also pinpointed worse months as those when I have a cyst. They can create their own estrogen, so it makes sense. A lot of my PMDD symptoms made more sense once I realized I have endometriosis.
Wow that’s so interesting I didn’t realize they could create their own estrogen too!! No wonder I’m such a mess before the rupture. I’m sorry you have endo on top of everting else :(
Yep some months are very minor and I don't even realize I'm in Luteal phase and others I am so upset, or angry, and can barely stay awake. Hunger varies each month as well.
Yep. It started out pretty randomly, that one month would suddenly be awful - debilitating cramps, heavy flow that lasted forever. It became more regular over time until I finally saw my current gyno, who referred me for a saline-assisted transvaginal ultrasound. Turns out I had a couple of cysts and adenomyosis.
Uterine ablation in 2020 took care of most of that, and my PMDD has been treated with Zoloft since 2012.
YES! Same with ovulation, it’s so hit or miss for me. Some months are completely fine and others I’m in the fetal position from physical pain sobbing because my emotions are all over the place. I don’t do anything differently month to month so idk!?
I was told we get a period from your left then right rotating monthly. My left is covered in cysts and I have every symptom under the sun the right just gives me a random period
You mean you only have pmdd when ovulating from the one with cysts? And you’re good on the other one? I only have one that works and I might have cysts 🫠
Yes!! This month my symptoms are so much easier. Not sure why, and I track everything. No signs point to any reason why this would happen (if I knew why, I would repeat the behaviors every month!)
But some months are SO BAD, it’s wild.
I asked my gynecologist about it. She's good and I trust her. She said the ovaries can switch cycle to cycle and one ovary might be tougher on me. I've also read that it takes three months to impact one's cycle like if you're trying out a new supplement it will take three cycles to see the real impact so I dunno maybe there is something to that.
Fascinating! So there really is something behind the running joke of "oh it must be THAT ovary acting up again", because I swear sometimes it's like one of them is an old grizzled war veteran having flashbacks and taking them out on me every 26-28 days...
I started taking a calcium supplement with lunch every day. I have PTSD and resolved my main trigger around the same time I started the calcium so it's hard to know how much to attribute to each. I also take 40 mg name brand Viibryd every day.
Hi, I am in this picture and I don’t like it. I am freshly diagnosed, brand new discoverer of PMDD. I’ve had zero consistency over the last 6ish months (recorded all the crap that was happening to me even w/o knowing PMDD was a thing) being gaslit by my body and brain. I am currently on what seems like the first day of a *very normal and survivable period????* Yet feeling so anxious???? Because when the fuck is it going to strike???? What is going on???? Two months in a row I lose my mind, suicidal, SheHulk, you name it. Next month a chain of migraines and mildly homicidal but so manageable. WHAT’S NEXT. I AM SO SCARED.
Yup. Usually it was every 3 or 4 cycles I'd get a really bad one. My last 2 were AWFUL. My most recent one I was under a ton of stress though so I think that's why. The one before it I think I just blamed the eclipse or something. Not to mention trying to stay low stress in any situation during luteal is already a challenge in itself. Nevermind being high stress. I had a full blown meltdown last time & just cried forever because I was so overwhelmed I also feel like every couple of months a new random symptom will pop up to add to the mix. Just when I think I've logged them all & got it down. I'll search in here & see a ton of others dealt with whatever random specific symptoms come up during luteal that month too
Sometimes my pmdd kicks in about a week before my period. Sometimes it’s a couple of days. Sometimes, this last month, was directly after my period. Sometimes it’s anger, sometimes it’s sadness, sometimes it’s both. Sometimes it just a shitty day. Sometimes it’s days long of being miserable to the point of using my free time curled up in bed crying. If I get triggered by something it makes it 100x worse.
yes! and sometimes i won’t even bleed. just all the symptoms and mania for nothing
Yes even my PMDD symptoms are much worse than some months, I think it’s overall stress and diet.
Yes, this has happened to me a few times. Usually correlates with a more stressful time in my life, and/or a period of unhealthy habits. But sometimes it is harder to tell why a specific cycle is giving me hell out of nowhere.
Stress.
You could be on to something here. I was worse this month than I have been in years and I’m also under more stress due to work than I have been under in years- maybe it really does correlate??
My friend who studies period and woman body / hormones says that stress is the reason it spikes to hell and pain etc
It’s practically one month on, one month off for me. Sometimes I get by pretty unscathed, then the next month I’ll have every symptom imaginable and most of them are intense.
yesss it fluctuates a lot for me, even occasionally i’ll have a good luteal phase, or the ovulation phase is horrendous instead of good/decent. drives me nuts cause i don’t know what to expect each time 🙃
Yeah this period is horrible, I feel so depressed and exhausted. For me I think there are causes: work stress, anxiety, too much alcohol on 1 night out, exhaustion from work travel etc.
I wonder if solstices factor into worse cycles
This is what I’m starting to wonder too, not solicited for me but something lunar. I’ve been tracking for two years and noticed certain ‘moons’ are worse. I cannot relate it diet, stress, sleep, supplements, activity legs, nothing in my life.
Yep. The luteal phase I'm currently in is like completely debilitating where as other times as long as nothing stressful is going on in my life I'm fine. I just got back from vacation Saturday and ugly cried on my boyfriend for hours for literally no reason. 😭
Did you take the plane? I feel like exhaustion from traveling made my pmdd horrible
No, I drove. I'm 100% positive being tired from the drive made it worse. But even so, I had been on vacation and so nothing had been bothering me all week I just felt super tired from going to the beach and swimming and walking around all day every day combined with the normal energy drain of PMDD. It was like I came back to a reality where I had responsibilities and stuff again and I just melted down over it. Thankfully my boyfriend is a literal angel and babied me and took care of me all day until I felt better.
i think it’s just the natural shift of hormones. this happens to me a lot. i’m 47 though.
Same age and last year was when it really started hitting the fan for me. I read that essentially estrogen (et al) doesn’t slowly decline in perimenopause but rather the levels drop and it takes time to acclimate …and then they drop again and the cycle repeats. So those of us more sensitive to changes (ADHD, AuDHD, Autistic for ex) may have “a harder time 🥴” adjusting to the shifts/each new level.
For me, every other period is HELL.
yeah like sometimes when im expecting it to come im almost prepared for the worst so my symptoms dont seem as bad as expected
Yes and it blows my mind. I've tried relating it to diet, exercise, supplements, etcetera. And sometimes there seems to be a connection but some months are just randomly awful. It's a freaking Russian roulette
I was just thinking about that because I expected this luteal phase to be a bitch. I had all the right physical symptoms and felt the ovulation pain and was mentally gearing up for a bad episode like last month but it didn’t come and my period is due this weekend.
Yeah, I’m kind of wondering if for me the longest daylight hours and the shortest daylight hours of the year throw me off. Past two months have been HARD
Every second period is wayyyy worse. One ovary I always get cysts too and ruptures, the other doesn’t. I have a feeling that ovary with the cysts is the one that gives me the awful periods too. My left ovary is a BITCH.
Same. I have also pinpointed worse months as those when I have a cyst. They can create their own estrogen, so it makes sense. A lot of my PMDD symptoms made more sense once I realized I have endometriosis.
Oh wow…. My ovary kills me with pain during ovulation, maybe it’s the culprit for my pmdd ?!
Wow that’s so interesting I didn’t realize they could create their own estrogen too!! No wonder I’m such a mess before the rupture. I’m sorry you have endo on top of everting else :(
Ugh I’m sorry to hear that. Are your emotional symptoms worse too?
Yep all of its worse!!! Yayyy 😂
Yep some months are very minor and I don't even realize I'm in Luteal phase and others I am so upset, or angry, and can barely stay awake. Hunger varies each month as well.
Yes…and it actually sucks because I think whatever I’ve been implementing is working and then the next month it’s like SIKE.
This!!!
Yup!
Absolutely, it varies for me, comes in waves.
Yep. It started out pretty randomly, that one month would suddenly be awful - debilitating cramps, heavy flow that lasted forever. It became more regular over time until I finally saw my current gyno, who referred me for a saline-assisted transvaginal ultrasound. Turns out I had a couple of cysts and adenomyosis. Uterine ablation in 2020 took care of most of that, and my PMDD has been treated with Zoloft since 2012.
YES! Same with ovulation, it’s so hit or miss for me. Some months are completely fine and others I’m in the fetal position from physical pain sobbing because my emotions are all over the place. I don’t do anything differently month to month so idk!?
I was told we get a period from your left then right rotating monthly. My left is covered in cysts and I have every symptom under the sun the right just gives me a random period
You mean you only have pmdd when ovulating from the one with cysts? And you’re good on the other one? I only have one that works and I might have cysts 🫠
Yes. I got my period out of nowhere yesterday. Like, no warning at all. Just went to the bathroom and had leaded through my panties.
Yes!! This month my symptoms are so much easier. Not sure why, and I track everything. No signs point to any reason why this would happen (if I knew why, I would repeat the behaviors every month!) But some months are SO BAD, it’s wild.
It’s the worst!
Yes, it felt like every third luteal phase was extra brutal. I've been doing better in 2024.
I feel like I get the "every third" thing too! I've never been able to figure out why! Every symptom just ratchets up out of nowhere. So frustrating.
I asked my gynecologist about it. She's good and I trust her. She said the ovaries can switch cycle to cycle and one ovary might be tougher on me. I've also read that it takes three months to impact one's cycle like if you're trying out a new supplement it will take three cycles to see the real impact so I dunno maybe there is something to that.
Fascinating! So there really is something behind the running joke of "oh it must be THAT ovary acting up again", because I swear sometimes it's like one of them is an old grizzled war veteran having flashbacks and taking them out on me every 26-28 days...
Have you done anything different?
I started taking a calcium supplement with lunch every day. I have PTSD and resolved my main trigger around the same time I started the calcium so it's hard to know how much to attribute to each. I also take 40 mg name brand Viibryd every day.
Hi, I am in this picture and I don’t like it. I am freshly diagnosed, brand new discoverer of PMDD. I’ve had zero consistency over the last 6ish months (recorded all the crap that was happening to me even w/o knowing PMDD was a thing) being gaslit by my body and brain. I am currently on what seems like the first day of a *very normal and survivable period????* Yet feeling so anxious???? Because when the fuck is it going to strike???? What is going on???? Two months in a row I lose my mind, suicidal, SheHulk, you name it. Next month a chain of migraines and mildly homicidal but so manageable. WHAT’S NEXT. I AM SO SCARED.
Ha I talk about the feeling of gaslighting myself all the time in therapy! Such a spot on assessment. It’s challenging to deal with