Anonymous #4 6w

it’s great that worked for you but worth just putting out there that for MOST people hormonal birth control is far lower risk than antipsychotics, so in general if you’re asking about medication options, i would make sure your dr knows whether you have tried/are open to bc before skipping steps presuming another provider already tried that

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Anonymous #9 6w

Yeah i only arrived at this option after trying many many other things

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Anonymous #4 6w

for sure, i just mention it bc especially male doctors in my experience have presumed in the past i have already tried first-line treatments with my psychiatrist and ob-gyn

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Anonymous #14 6w

Which ones??

1

Anonymous #16 6w

My doctor is going to prescribe me bioidentical hormones so I never get pms (PMDD) again tho

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Anonymous cyborgirl 6w

also: theres research OTC famotidine, pepcid, can really help by modulating certain receptors in the brain. please give it a shot!

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Anonymous cyborgirl 6w

Ughh but sugar always makes my depression better

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Anonymous #27 6w

I feel that, I have a raging sugar addiction! It’s a lie, it gives you temporary dopamine. Youll feel like a whole new person if you only ate whole foods!

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Anonymous #16 6w

She gives me the pill but says i don’t have to take placebos so I won’t get it indefinitely, minus a bit of spotting

3

Anonymous cyborgirl 6w

Cravings go crazy

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Anonymous #27 6w

as someone who has cut almost all processed sugar/sugar alcohols in favor of fruit or lower sugar options, the cravings do subside after a few weeks of adjusting

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Anonymous #9 6w

Wow I admire you sm. What benefits have u noticed?

8

Anonymous #16 6w

What’s that?

3

Anonymous #30 6w

Basically she’s gonna prescribe me estrogen and progesterone to trick my body into not ovulating or menstruating. Super helpful for PMDD

4

Anonymous cyborgirl 6w

mostly the lack of crashes and more stable energy, but i haven’t cut it out entirely, just a lot from having previously consumed a lot of candy

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Anonymous #9 6w

I don’t feel a crash so I don’t gotta stop eating it

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Anonymous cyborgirl 6w

you’re a lifesaver i’ve been struggling with pmdd and nobody has ever told me that sugar can make it worse

8

Anonymous #34 6w

sodium too bestie

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Anonymous #9 6w

(in excess i mean, obviously you need enough electrolytes which you can calculate online based on your personal info)

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Anonymous moonlightbae 6w

i’m not diagnosed with PMDD but i’m pretty sure i have it

1

Anonymous moonlightbae 6w

the minute my period hits it all goes away too

1

Anonymous moonlightbae 6w

Same

1

Anonymous #9 6w

ty! i crave salt so much before my period and i’ve tried to have it in moderation, this’ll make me fight the cravings more!

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Anonymous #42 6w

Literally like it can help a bit but you need some sort of medication.

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Anonymous #35 6w

Yes my birth control & Prozac was the mixture that quite literally saved my life. I was extremely suicidal without them and it was so scary. This works wonders in terms of regulation

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Anonymous #9 6w

did you notice any bloating go down?

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Anonymous #44 6w

unfortunately i have unrelated medical issues that cause more bloating than my period has personally, but it is possible to see bloating go down with reduced sodium and sugar intake aligned with the recommended meal plan you can generate at myplate.gov or daily recommended intake information available at usda.gov. just keep in mind that the research that results in those figures is funded by the agriculture industry, so if you follow it and anything doesn’t seem right, consult your doctor.

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Anonymous #49 6w

i truly hate to be that person though lol, i personally take continuous BC so I don’t get a period (i literally pass out and am dysfunctional on mine LMFAO), but I know Nina Pool on TT has a video on OTC meds for PMDD. I hope you’re able to find relief!

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Anonymous #49 6w

words can have multiple meanings. they just said “bipolar,” which is a different thing than invoking “bipolar disorder” proper. it’s not like people saying they’re “so ocd about” something or using ‘autistic’ to just mean socially awkward. there are a lot of things with two extremes, and even if this person said they feel like they may have bipolar disorder, their describing their own health concern is not belittling anyone else’s.

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Anonymous #49 6w

she’s just using the word to describe how she feels. some people who do slip into major mood swings, especially ones this extreme might suspect they have bipolar disorder and honestly it’s better to acknowledge how you feel instead of trying to tell someone online they’re throwing words around when they aren’t. that’s how people end up getting ignored and invalidated.

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Anonymous #9 6w

It does belittle those disabilities to use them casually like that but go off ig

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Anonymous #49 6w

i used to think similarly, but it’s kind of classist, because it’s stigmatizing people who are experiencing symptoms that may warrant a diagnosis but can’t access medical care. if they attempted to collect benefits or unfair disability accommodations for someone with bipolar disorder, that’d be a whole different problem, but most reasonable adults would not infer they’re trying to claim they have bd from this context.

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Anonymous #2 6w

imho it is more damaging to belittle op’s lived experience by jumping to the conclusion their symptoms are “casual” (when they’re pervasive enough that they’re asking for help) than it is to presume everyone who is trying to look into their own symptoms does not have a legitimate problem, and again “bipolar” ≠ “bipolar disorder” i’m an adjunct in stem where we discuss bipoles all the time and haven’t been called unsympathetic to my friends who have diagnosed bd or have undiagnosed symptoms.

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Anonymous #9 6w

than it is not to presume**

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Anonymous #9 6w

i never said their symptoms were casual, i said they are just as valid as bipolar disorder but not the same thing. and yes, bipolar has plenty of different meanings, but talking about it in a stem class and in a medical context are two different things. I’m a bipolar person who works in healthcare and there were years where i knew I was probably bipolar but couldn’t afford treatment, and even then i said i think i might have bipolar, not a definitive diagnosis. that, im okay with.

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Anonymous #10 6w

I would definitely recommend trying SSRIs because they treat depression and anxiety and my life has improved so much since i started taking them. they also tread pmdd, please talk to your doctor about it.

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Anonymous #9 6w

but OP so clearly is showing symptoms of PMDD, not bipolar which is why i worded it the way i did. People using self-dx as a clinical diagnosis causes SO SO much harm (not that OP did this, this is a completely separate thing), i watched people do that with EDS and now my suffering has been lessened bc of the “just a silly stretchy disease” jokes that go around. same thing w ppl saying “the weather is so bipolar” or “ugh xyz is so depressing”.

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Anonymous #49 6w

also would like to add that I only felt comfortable saying THAT bc everyone in my family is diagnosed with BD and I had every symptom to a T. If there was enough research done to self dx with bipolar, op would’ve known these symptoms are PMDD. (again not saying OP is doing this just in general)

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Anonymous #49 6w

if you’re in the healthcare field you should really know better than to go around doing this to people? “depressing” is also a good example of ‘being depressing’ or ‘feeling depressed’ ≠ claiming to have a depressive disorder. saying “enough research done to self dx” is also harmful, because mood disorders on their face are inherently not able to be self-diagnosed with any accuracy due to implicit biases. please try to do better for patients without letting your own experience get in the way.

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Anonymous #9 6w

this. i feel like no one online can talk about how they feel these days without someone critiquing what they are saying in the comments. no shade. if someone feels like their symptoms align with any type of disorder that should be validated. i think i have PTSD and OCD but i never talk about it on here because people are so quick to tell you that you’re throwing words around when you’re just trying to make sense of yourself. this is why people refuse to get help.

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Anonymous #49 6w

things can absolutely be depressing to someone if that’s how they feel… i think the weather right now is depressing because it’s raining and gloomy out. OP is just trying to explain to people what she feels like and she’s trying to compare her mood swings to a diagnosis that already exists which is completely fine. people do this on a daily basis. she’s not claiming or self diagnosing herself as being bipolar at all.

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Anonymous moonlightbae 6w

i’m sorry this has been your experience. i was able to get a formal ptsd diagnosis, and it has helped me personally feel like my symptoms are being taken more seriously by healthcare professionals even though there are officially no medications for ptsd. if you are a college student, you university may have lower-cost or easier-to-access options for psychological or psychiatric services.

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Anonymous #49 6w

i’d also just like to see the literature that suggests “people using self-dx as a clinical diagnosis causes SO SO much harm,” because although i don’t mean to belittle your experience, doctors, medical professionals, parameds, educators, etc. have NEVER just taken my word that i have a diagnosis without documentation when it actually counts for my health/disability accommodations. when you put things in perspective, the way other people joke to cope with their disorder […]

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Anonymous #9 6w

[…] “lessening your suffering” in a social context is certainly hurtful to your feelings, and that is significant, but it seems like quantifiably less harm than dissuading someone from accessing the medical care they need. a lot of things inherently cause harm, but you have to compare that harm to the alternatives rather than using a baseline of ‘no harm,’ because unfortunately there is not a reality with no harm.

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Anonymous #9 6w

joke to cope with their disorder or symptoms, i mean**

2