Pmdd - Seattle,WA

My pmdd was affecting my parenting, and my marriage. I knew that I needed to get help. I was a raging nightmare. Sooo, that's exactly what I did. During my yearly visit, I told my obgyn what I was going through and she told me that I could take a prozac 7 days a month, the week before I start, obviously. I was concerned about having to take something daily, and she explained that I didn't have to. I asked her about after the 7 days, wouldn't I have issues with withdraw? She said not at all, so I went for it. It has forever changed my life. Around day 21 of my cycle, I start taking the med. On the day I start my period around 28, I stop. I would have done it a very long time ago if I had known how helpful it would be for me.

I do not recommend Prozac. My experience with Prozac was not positive. I found that it increased my stress level and I became angry quicker. But everyone is different. My most positive experience has been with Wellbutrin.

I have taken Sarafem. It works well and I took a low dose, 20mg per day. I take it throughout the month, I am bad about remembering to take pills, then having to start and stop it was more confusing. There were no side effects either.

When I was suffering from depression, I looked into a kind of treatment called neurofeedback therapy, which teaches the brain to reset its depressive habits. Basically, I would sit with a therapist and talk for an hour once a week while electrodes read my brain waves to see if there was any discordance. The electrodes were attached to a cd player, which would skip when they found discordance, thereby signalling the brain to adjust itself. It really helped me, both by lifting my depression and by giving me more control over my thoughts. Even now, though I've been off it for a couple of months, I can still see my brain catching itself and pulling out of destructive thought habits. It's really good for me. I feel more empowered.

And by the way, thanks for asking about PMDD. I had never heard of it until I read your question, but I looked it up and it matches a lot of symptoms that I've been having every month. I kept thinking I was pregnant. It was very disheartening to realize that I wasn't each time. Now I have a name for what's going on. That helps a lot.