Handling Depression while having premenstrual syndrome
So, about a week before my period my anxiety, depression, and anger issues are out of control. It feels similar to before I got on medication and started therapy for my depression and anxiety. However, during these days it literally feels like my medication is not working. And if someone looks at me I'm either going to murder them, turn into a puddle of tears, or have a full on panic attack. I am just wondering if there is anybody who is experiencing the same who can help me through this as I have no clue what to do. I don't want to up my dosage on my anti-depressants just to get through a few days. But over the years it's gotten worse and I really don't know how to help it.
Posted Sep 18, 2021, 10:17 PM UTC
128
Yup, sounds like PMDD. I struggled with this for a long time without realizing it wasn't normal. Drs prescribe either birth control or SSRIs, I saw a few and they weren't very helpful at all unfortunately. Birth control never seemed to make a difference and depression meds (I was already on them), did absolutely nothing and some of them made it 1000x worse. Definitely see what your doctor(s) say, hopefully something will work for you.
What did help me was cutting out sugar and going low carb. Vit D3+magnesium, potassium, and iron also help a ton. Learning a few mindfulness techniques to manage anger outbursts was also super helpful. I inherited this from my mother and she would just explode at as each month, it was awful. I vowed never to be like that so I learned to manage my outbursts. There is hope, but it might not be from a pill.
Thank you so much for the tips! Yeah I definitely don’t want to increase my SSRI dosage or be put on birth control. So I am going to try the diet changes suggested. Thanks again!