[Velouria]

What I get I feel goes beyond PMDD. It's not something an antidepressant cures. Before I get my period, it's as though I'm on no meds at all.

Today, for instance, I felt like I was on coke. I actually still feel that way. So I was very productive all day at work. Except that one part where I painted my nails (orange, with orange glitter -- it might sound ugly but it's very pretty and fall-y). But I also feel like I've cycled through several states, from a very good mood, to a bit depressed and insecure, to paranoid someone was laughing about me (probably from my insecurity), to nostalgic over someone I was once in love with whom I fell out of love, and back to a chatty, joking good mood, to agitated from all the chatting, and then back to chatty, and then at the end of the day I was done and agitated again. I was just like, "Party's over. That's it." I didn't even respond when my co-workers tried to continue the repartee. I basically shut down with my computer.

And just now I realized I'm PMSing. I feel like I get so much worse when I'm hormonal. But is it just PMS/PMDD? Has this happened to anyone else?

[HALLIEBETH87]

When Im on my period or in that time of moodiness before...its extreme for me. Think suicidal.

[ladybug5]

Yes!! I always did to a degree but this month was bad bad . let's just say I took a trip to icu, you do the math. I mean I started to plan something then that I recently just came home from the hospital from.

[lacerta]

This is a hell for me. I get really aggressive, or suicidial, feeling absolutely awful. Irritable. Depresed. Crying. Whole stuff of this sh** cycling around and around. BTW I was first suspected for BD by my gynaecologist so probably it's part of that. Meds have not helped me on this, I'm still seeking for solution

[tradika]

The difference is if it always hits before your period (may be a little more diagnostically complex if hypomanic symptoms are present though because it's generally depression/anxiety/irritability). Otherwise, I believe it's considered exacerbation of your per-existing condition . However, if antidepressants don't work (or your bipolar and can't take them), that doesn't mean that it isn't PMDD. Some people do not respond to Sarafem/Zoloft. I think they try a specific type of birth control, and there is another treatment which I can't think of off the top of my head. Plus, a bunch of other non-prescription treatments.

My diagnosed PMDD is so very predictable. If I experience any hormonal fluctuations I begin to have rapid mood swings similar to what you are describing. There isn't so much of a euphoria but agitated irritability (depression isn't always present in these states in the traditional sense) to the level I could send tables flying. I feel severe depression, agitation, and I pace, disassociate, sleep less, feel rejection sensitive paranoia, anxiety, etc. These comes in cycles, and in between I am happy and chatty. If they do not resolve, I know that I've just hit a really bad case of it. My functioning hits bottom, and I just wait for it to go away.

Oh, and I'm experiencing it now! How exciting!

[Trippin2.0]

I've never so much as PMS'd so my BP has never gone out of wack due to hormones, save for the time I changed my birth control. On the other hand, my sister (who does not have BP) was dxd with PMDD, and put on BC even though she's been sterilized.

She's been doing better these days, her *****Ometer has dropped considerably

[notALICE]

For me, yes. I actually was diagnosed with PMDD a decade before BP. I also get horrid migraines, up to 4 days before. Won't go on the pill due to my age so I (and everyone else around me) suffer through it. I thought there must be a link to BP. Article from PC seems to support that:

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder | Psych Central

Also gives some good tips on treatment.

[Velouria]

Originally Posted by HALLIEBETH87

When Im on my period or in that time of moodiness before...its extreme for me. Think suicidal.

Yeah, I get suicidal ideation, and agitation and rage and self-hatred. Haven't gotten it this month yet, but I just started Topamax, and I'm wondering if that's why. Then again, I feel like my mood has been very up lately. I just came out of a bad depression a few weeks ago, and I've been feeling impervious. So I don't know if that has anything to do with it either.

[Velouria]

Eek duplicate

[Velouria]

Originally Posted by ladybug5

Yes!! I always did to a degree but this month was bad bad . let's just say I took a trip to icu, you do the math. I mean I started to plan something then that I recently just came home from the hospital from.

Aww I'm sorry to hear that and I hope you are feeling and doing better.

That's part of the reason why I posted this thread, though I made no mention of what you're speaking of, I get the ideation, obsessively. It scares me.

[Velouria]

Originally Posted by tradika

The difference is if it always hits before your period (may be a little more diagnostically complex if hypomanic symptoms are present though because it's generally depression/anxiety/irritability). Otherwise, I believe it's considered exacerbation of your per-existing condition . However, if antidepressants don't work (or your bipolar and can't take them), that doesn't mean that it isn't PMDD. Some people do not respond to Sarafem/Zoloft. I think they try a specific type of birth control, and there is another treatment which I can't think of off the top of my head. Plus, a bunch of other non-prescription treatments.

My diagnosed PMDD is so very predictable. If I experience any hormonal fluctuations I begin to have rapid mood swings similar to what you are describing. There isn't so much of a euphoria but agitated irritability (depression isn't always present in these states in the traditional sense) to the level I could send tables flying. I feel severe depression, agitation, and I pace, disassociate, sleep less, feel rejection sensitive paranoia, anxiety, etc. These comes in cycles, and in between I am happy and chatty. If they do not resolve, I know that I've just hit a really bad case of it. My functioning hits bottom, and I just wait for it to go away.

Oh, and I'm experiencing it now! How exciting!

SSRIs never did anything for me except make me realize that my problem wasn't just PMDD. That's actually how I started my "journey" (s into therapy and medication. I went to my gyno about PMDD. She gave me Prozac. I took it. It worked a little. I realized I needed it more, not just for PMDD. And then it quickly stopped working. SNRIs work better, though mine kinda failed me last month (not for PMDD) but that's partially why I started Topamax.

You sound just like me, though! I become a ragey mess. The agitated irritability where you could send tables flying -- and I have destructive fantasies constantly when I get like that. I just want to put my fist through everything and tear off my skin. I get just about evety symptom you named - even the dissassociative symptom. I experience derealization, most likely due to my anxiety.

I hate birth control. It makes me gain weight and it makes me cry easily. I don't cry easily. It takes a lot for me to cry, or certain buttons have to be pushed. And while there are times I wish I could cry, because I could desperately use the catharsis, the last time I was on birth control I felt like I was PMSing all the time, I was crying every week, and I just can't go back on it. It was terrible. I've tried it several times. Hated it every time. I know, you're going to say, "Fine Mary, suffer!" But hopefully the Topamax helps alleviate some of the symptoms . . . We'll see.

[Velouria]

Originally Posted by notALICE

For me, yes. I actually was diagnosed with PMDD a decade before BP. I also get horrid migraines, up to 4 days before. Won't go on the pill due to my age so I (and everyone else around me) suffer through it. I thought there must be a link to BP. Article from PC seems to support that:

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder | Psych Central

Also gives some good tips on treatment.

Thanks for this!

[HALLIEBETH87]

Originally Posted by Velouria

Yeah, I get suicidal ideation, and agitation and rage and self-hatred. Haven't gotten it this month yet, but I just started Topamax, and I'm wondering if that's why. Then again, I feel like my mood has been very up lately. I just came out of a bad depression a few weeks ago, and I've been feeling impervious. So I don't know if that has anything to do with it either.

I am on birth control now and on second month of it...so far so good..

[CozyMellie]

Originally Posted by notALICE

For me, yes. I actually was diagnosed with PMDD a decade before BP. I also get horrid migraines, up to 4 days before. Won't go on the pill due to my age so I (and everyone else around me) suffer through it. I thought there must be a link to BP. Article from PC seems to support that:

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder | Psych Central

Also gives some good tips on treatment.

You and I share the exact same story.

Zoloft helped my PMDD pms stuff really well. My pdoc actually has me up my Zoloft 10 days before my period and it seems to significantly reduce my symptoms.

I'm kind of confused. (My brain's been pretty out to lunch the last couple of days, so that could be part of it, lol) In the thread title, what is "it"? Reading didn't really clarify. By the title, I thought you were asking if the pms/pmdd was part of bipolar. (It isn't, btw.) You have the pms/pmdd symptoms and you wonder it might be more. Here's the thing. The symptoms happening in that timeframe would be meaningless in terms of BP. In terms of diagnosing. They are already accounted for with the PMS/PMDD dx. Could someone have both? Yes. But the symptoms during that timeframe wouldn't even count towards dx'ing BP. You ask if others (specifically, given the forum, people with BP) experience it that way. Well, of course some will. But the same could be said of any forum (PC or elsewhere --- assuming women were on it, haha) The question infers a search for connection, especially given the thread title.

Similar questions often come up regarding other conditions, and because the people most likely to respond do have the given condition, there begins to be an appearance that there's some kind of connection with BP. But there isn't. It's simply a respondent skew. That said, there are some things which have a higher occurrence of comorbidity than would be expected in a random selection. Even things for which that is true does not make them part of BP.

Blah blah blah. Hope I'm not coming off wrong. It's just that it was unclear to me what was trying to be determined. From other of your threads, I know you are looking for clues to try to figure out what's going on. And because the above scenario pretty much invariably happens (not everyone comes to that conclusion of course, but enough do that I'm compelled to put it out there. Also, because I'm bored up a wall atm and probably overzealous for something to do, haha).

In personal answer to the question (finally, eh? ). No, I don't experience big hormonal issues (it was actually part of my being dx'd…an example of symptoms not being better explained by something else). My sympathies go out to those that do though, that's for sure.

(p.s. I do get the rageful agitation thing (and totally agree -- it sucks!!). The timing doesn't have any correlation my "lady cycling" though.)

[Velouria]

Originally Posted by Innerzone

I'm kind of confused. (My brain's been pretty out to lunch the last couple of days, so that could be part of it, lol) In the thread title, what is "it"? Reading didn't really clarify. By the title, I thought you were asking if the pms/pmdd was part of bipolar. (It isn't, btw.) You have the pms/pmdd symptoms and you wonder it might be more. Here's the thing. The symptoms happening in that timeframe would be meaningless in terms of BP. In terms of diagnosing. They are already accounted for with the PMS/PMDD dx. Could someone have both? Yes. But the symptoms during that timeframe wouldn't even count towards dx'ing BP. You ask if others (specifically, given the forum, people with BP) experience it that way. Well, of course some will. But the same could be said of any forum (PC or elsewhere --- assuming women were on it, haha) The question infers a search for connection, especially given the thread title.

Similar questions often come up regarding other conditions, and because the people most likely to respond do share a given condition, there begins to be an appearance that there's some kind of connection. But there isn't. It's simply a respondent skew. That said, there are some things which have a higher occurrence of comorbidity than would be expected in a random selection. Even things for which that is true does not make them part of BP.

Blah blah blah. Hope I'm not coming off wrong. It's just that it was unclear to me what was trying to be determined. From other of your threads, I know you are looking for clues to try to figure out what's going on. And because the above scenario pretty much invariably happens (not everyone comes to that conclusion of course, but enough do that I'm compelled to put it out there. Also, because I'm bored up a wall atm and probably overzealous for something to do, haha).

In personal answer to the question (finally, eh? ). No, I don't experience big hormonal issues (it was actually part of my being dx'd…an example of symptoms not being better explained by something else). My sympathies go out to those that do though, that's for sure.

You're right, I kinda didn't really make that clear. No, you are not coming off wrong. I was looking to see if there was a connection/correlation because a lot of the time my PMS/PMDD symptoms seem to be similar to dysphoric mania.

What I experienced when I wrote this post was mild in comparison to what I usually get. What I usually get has ended a few relationships.

My mother told me once that my grandmother used to get like me before her period. She once ripped the wife beater right off of my grandfather in a fit of rage over something. As sweet as she was, I can totally see her doing that. lol

Prior to the addition of PMDD as a disorder, though, what was the explanation for such severe symptoms?

Originally Posted by Velouria

...Prior to the addition of PMDD as a disorder, though, what was the explanation for such severe symptoms?

Oh, that's probably someplace we don't want to go….

[Velouria]

Originally Posted by Innerzone

Oh, that's probably someplace we don't want to go….

LOL Should I take your word for it or should I ask why?

...I'm gonna ask why. Why?

Oh, I'm just thinking how so much was just written off to women being "crazy" or hysterical or whatever.

[Velouria]

Originally Posted by Innerzone

Oh, I'm just thinking how so much was just written off to women being "crazy" or hysterical or whatever.

Oh yes. The problem must be in their vaginas! Take them out!

[tigersassy]

This is an interesting question I've often wondered similarly. But mine is a little different. Mine doesn't come before it's the 5-7 days of mother nature's gift/curse. It was a joke (not funny. It was mean) in my family that I didn't have pms I had dms. And when it hits it can go either direction. It doesn't last long, but long enough to say something's wrong then it's gone. I'm going to bring it up to my Pdoc next visit to see what she thinks. I don't think it's normal to get these symptoms during the flow. Sorry ramble. Thank you for bringing this up.

[Velouria]

Originally Posted by tigersassy

This is an interesting question I've often wondered similarly. But mine is a little different. Mine doesn't come before it's the 5-7 days of mother nature's gift/curse. It was a joke (not funny. It was mean) in my family that I didn't have pms I had dms. And when it hits it can go either direction. It doesn't last long, but long enough to say something's wrong then it's gone. I'm going to bring it up to my Pdoc next visit to see what she thinks. I don't think it's normal to get these symptoms during the flow. Sorry ramble. Thank you for bringing this up.

Hey -- my symptoms start to occur 10 days - 2 weeks prior, so I totally understand.