In this episode, we dive into if your bad mental health and painful periods are what they seem or PMDD, premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
Painful cramps, lack of energy, anxiety, and depression, but told it’s just your period? Well, that’s not a diagnosis! This episode is a learning opportunity for anyone experiencing abnormal mood swings during their period, but also for parents whose kids might be struggling as well. We dive into premenstrual dysphoric disorder, how it affects the body, how it's different from PMS, signs of the disorder, what treatment may look like, and more.
Lastly, we end on a high note that could increase your life span. And it only takes 10 minutes a day?! 💜
Thanks for listening, learning, and being you. And join us back here every Tuesday for all things uterus, in service to you, uterinekind.
Mental health plummeting, and your doctor says it's just a bad period. Well, bad periods isn't a diagnosis. I'm Carol Johnson and this is Hello Uterus. In this episode we're talking about premenstrual dysphoric disorder or PM D D a condition that is often blown off with devastating consequences, but first uterus in the news.
If you purchased hair straightening products from Revlon and wish to file a proof of claim form, you have until April 11th. That is just about a month from when we're recording this episode. So the reason why is because Revlon filed for bankruptcy, which was news to me. This happened last June. They cited supply chain issues and competition from celebrity makeup brands.
I don't. I mean maybe, but bankruptcy, I mean, did it eat into it that much or, or is this maybe a sign of what's to come? Because if you've been listening to this show for any time period, you know that I think these companies are all going to be experiencing a wake up call from people who've purchased their products and are now dealing with a lot of chronic conditions as a result.
So just make sure that if Revlon was the product that you used, you need to get that claim form in by April 11th, you can Google it. The first half dozen, results will direct you to law firms that are managing this class action lawsuit. And, um, you can file your, your claim with them and good luck and, track your symptoms.
Track all your symptom. Every day. It doesn't have to take a long period of time to do it. You can use the uterine Kind app to make it really easy and get educated at the same time, but, You will need this data, whether it's for lawsuits or it's to get a diagnosis. It's clear that without detailed daily records of our symptoms and the ability to defend our symptoms and the trends that we've experienced, without that, We are left with chronic conditions that progress and we're the ones that are paying the price.
So it's really important to go ahead and do that. We'll get ready for more makeup problems because we're being embraced by a trend I can get behind. No makeup instead truly clean skin.
The more I take care of what goes in and on my body, the less issues I have with skin and I don't feel the need for makeup. and this has been going on for probably like the last five years as I've just continued to clean out my life, clean out my life, and try to remove anything that is an endocrine disruptor.
Plastics. it is a long process to do, but. My health is improving dramatically, and this is the only change that I've been making. So stick with ingredients straight from nature and avoid all products with fragrance or flavoring.
Remember what I said at the start of the year, 2023 is the year of the endocrine disrupting chemical, and it's proven already. We're only in March and, and I'm, I'm pretty much thinking that I, I won because. We are inundated with story after story about chemical impact on our bodies and the chemicals that are in the air, the water, and the products that we use, the chemicals that are as a result of fracking or chemical explosions or trained derailments.
These things are all having a massive impact on our bodies and they, they are accelerating the rise of chronic conditions that are, we, we might call them like, Period related conditions, right? Fibroids, endometriosis, abnormal uterine bleeding. we may also be using the term endocrine conditions or endocrine disorders, which is accurate, but the more we actually connect the dots, we recognize that pretty much everything, you know, diabetes isn't really termed.
A reproductive disorder, but diabetes is an endocrine disorder and people who have P C O S can develop diabetes. It's all connected. It's all connected. And while we wait for research to catch up, we can use our common sense. To connect the dots and recognize that everything, every condition that I just mentioned, and, the dramatic rise in colorectal cancer in young people and the rise in prostate cancer.
These all lack known causes, and there's one giant cloud of chemical toxic. That seems to be hovering above all of them. So the one thing that you can do is take action in your personal life today and pay attention to these warning signs. There is only good that can be realized when you eliminate your exposure or reduce your exposure as much as you possibly can to endocrine disrupting chemicals.
And we're here. So after a quick break, we're gonna dive into premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
Before we begin a word for parents, the periods of our times are not the same as periods today. You know what I'm gonna say next? We don't know why we lack research. Research funding of the female body is just 1% of the 220 billion spent worldwide on health-related research. What we do know is that mental conditions, chronic diseases and cancers are on the rise, as I said before, the break, and many of these conditions are tied to endocrine, disrupt.
Endocrine disruption changes how hormones carry out their jobs in our bodies and hormones. Their jobs are crucial. They carry messages throughout the body and signal to organs and systems. What to do when all in order to keep the body in balance. Imbalance is really key for our systems to operate as they are designed as these diseases are rising.
So is our exposure to chemicals that disrupt our endocrine system and mimic hormones or block the messages they are attempting to deliver. And this knocks our systems out of balance and then they don't operate as intended. So please don't dismiss symptoms in your kids as just a bad period. Also know that you will need to get informed before going to a doctor because not all doctors will take symptoms of premenstrual dysphoric disorder seriously, especially in adolescence.
So get ready to defend symptoms and advocate from an educated position in order to avoid a delay in diagnosis. And this is crucial for for all conditions, most certainly P M D D. So what is it? Well, it's loosely defined as a more severe form of p m s, which just strikes me as problematic out of the gate as a definition because p m s is completely blown off.
So if it's like, oh, it's just worse than p m s. Oh, so it's just really bad. PM m s no, , no, it's not just really bad PMs and pmms has been, kind of mutilated over time and it's used in a derogatory fashion rather than actually being considered a true condition that really negatively impacts people.
So we'll start with just, The ovulatory cycle and the fact that it's 28 days long and P M D D is a, timing oriented condition. it actually does show up and then disappear. . And so it's different than something like endometriosis, or P C O S. It is a condition that within a month can be there and then it vanishes.
But there's a reason why. So estrogen rises in peaks before the egg is released. And in the ludial phase, which is before menstrual bleeding commences. when you're bleeding, that's the follicular phase. In the lal phase, progesterone is released. Then there's a second peak in estrogen, and those with premenstrual dysphoric disorder are more sensitive to fluctuations in hormones during this ovulatory cycle.
So we all, anyone who's ovulating is going to have fluctuations in their hormone. And those fluctuations can be normal, right norm, they're, they are normal. If hormones are in the right levels and in balance, then those fluctuations are part of the ovulatory cycle. They're expected, and in most people, they're well or decently tolerated.
You might experience a day or two of discomfort before your period. You might a few days before your period, experience a little bit of mood changes, but these are things that, that you can relatively easily deal with, right? And that's a normal period. But P M D D, while the hormone levels are normal, the way the body.
Responds to the hormone levels is, is what causes the symptoms of P M D D. So in short, those with P M D D are just simply more sensitive to fluctuations in hormones during this cycle. So I think a better definition is, is a, is maybe that the reaction to ovulation indicates a hormone sensitivity. And again, the symptoms, it's really important to know this because you might go to the doctor and say, I wanna get my hormones tested, and your test comes back normal, right?
The symptoms are not due to abnormal levels of hormones. They have to do with how the brain is processing the hormones. 5.5% of the population that is ovulating naturally lives with pm d d, so it is fairly common. and it's really debilitating. I spent some time listening to multiple stories of people who live with P M D D and some of them, well all of them were, um, really a gut punch, but some of these stories they, they took to record their day-to-day life over a period of time.
And it was amazing to watch because first you're introduced to this person who's just, you know, present there. You know, they're not necessarily jumping up and down or, you know, performing for the camera or anything. They're just saying like, Hey, this is my life. This is, you know, how I'm feeling.
Pretty normal, pretty okay. I definitely noticed a little bit of anxiety as the days got closer. To their period and they maybe were anticipating what they were going to experience and then holy wow. When they were probably within about a week of their period, their entire personality shifted, and these people were just forlorn, distraught, anxious.
Hopeless. Feeling like they, they weren't gonna be able to make it through the day, and that there was nothing that they could do to make it any better. retreating from their normal life. So everything is pretty fine and normal. You know, maybe the, it's not like the, you know, their, their greatest time ever in that week. After they have finished their menstruation, everything's pretty okay. And then, wow, it is like a cyclone hits watching these videos.
And again, I probably. Close to 10 different individuals and you just see it change. You see it in their expression, certainly see it in their tears and in their confessions of how desperate they feel and how, how isolated they feel and. , I don't recall anyone saying, you know, people are blowing off people.
People are telling me it's just PMs. But it, it definitely felt like they were isolating out of, um, an inability to advocate for themselves and that they themselves kind of questioned whether or not there period symptoms were really as bad as, as they felt they. and also I just said it myself, right?
Their period symptoms, if they weren't. Really speaking directly about educating on P M D D, and they were just talking about symptoms. They, they definitely were isolating the symptoms to their period, right? I didn't hear anybody say that the symptoms or the result of my brain, um, what I heard a lot were that the symptoms were associated with my period.
Which they are, p d D is is a result of what happens during ovulation. So it certainly is part of the ovulatory cycle and the menstrual experience, but, It is really important to understand and, and to explain to, you know, certainly if you have adolescents that are ovulating, explain it to them that it has to do with how the brain is processing the hormones.
It's not a bad period. So what are the symptoms? Well, there are four symptoms. When one is trying to determine if pm, d, d is in fact the cause, you have to have one of these four symptoms and they are emotional swings, irritability, anger, conflicts, you know, a lot, a lot of rise in conflicts out of anger and irritability.
So lashing out, things like that. Depression and anxiety. Right. So emotional swings, irritability, and anger, depression and anxiety. . P M D D requires. The more mental health symptoms. It's not just physical symptoms, but we're gonna get into physical symptoms in a second. So you have to have one of one out of those four. And then overall five symptoms in total need to be present. So what are the other symptoms that your Dr. May look at?
Decreased interest in usual activities. Fatigue, lack of energy, lethargy, changes in appetite. So eating more, maybe not eating hypersomnia or insomnia, so sleep disturbances, difficulty concentrating, feeling overwhelmed or out of control. That was a big one on the videos that I watched, that the patients themselves were.
And then physical symptoms like pain and bloating, breast tenderness, and headache. But if you only have physical symptoms, then P M D D is not the diagnosis. Again, it's primarily about the brain and emotional sensitivity and sensitivity to hormones, not the physical symptoms.
It's also to important to know that p d D is not a medication induced mood disorder. PM d d is not a result of birth control pills. So birth control pills prevent OB ovulation and pm. D D requires ovulation. There is a lot of research going on right now around mental health and the impact that birth control pills can have on mental health.
So the way to, to really just isolate this conversation on P M D D and, be able to help you have a conversation with your doctor. If, your on birth control pills or if your adolescent is on birth control pills, then P M D D, you can just take it off the table because it requires ov.
Now, here's the thing that was very interesting that I mentioned earlier about timing. P M D D resolves itself each month, and while it may not happen every month when it does happen, the symptoms follow a timing pattern. So the symptoms begin to accelerate in number and in the, measure of impact on the body.
So they, they get worse as you approach the onset of menstruation in that lal phase. So for some people that can be in the two weeks before they begin. Before they begin menstruating, definitely the week before, and the, the trajectory of these symptoms accelerating, it's pretty steep. So it kind of comes on, like I said, like a bit of a cyclone.
it's on an upward trajectory all the way up until the point at which the person begins to menstruate and then it slowly descends. So the symptoms will resolve around three to four days after menstruation commences. And that kind of sounds a little bit like p m s, right? Like, oh, you feel a little bit crappy beforehand, and then you know, a few days after your period begins, after you begin menstruating for that month, your symptoms will settle down.
But in the case of P D D, again, we're talking about. Really disruptive symptoms. We don't need to repeat them. We already, we already went through them, but I just want, I, I don't, I wanna be really careful of not aligning P M D D with p m s in any way, shape or form. So in the research, What they have found, and there's not much we know that.
Right? But what they have found is that those with P d D have poor serotonin levels. Serotonin, which acts like a hormone affects mood in how you're feeling. It helps concentration, it helps with learning and memory, and it impacts our ability to enjoy things. In the LAL phase of the ovulatory cycle has been shown to impact serotonin levels, but research has not determined.
And those with P M D D also show imbalanced GABA activity, which are GABA activity. GABA is the messengers and there's a group of them and they keep things in balance to create a feeling of calm. And so those are the two things that have been isolated in research that, are specific to those. Living with P D D, there's a serotonin issue and there's a gaba.
So another reason why I think it's really important to be talking about this is when it comes to treatments, typically the treatment for P M D D is SSRIs, oral contraceptives and GnRH agonists. None of these are ideal because they're not medications that have been developed specifically for the treatment of P M D D, but they are the medications that that we have to work.
Interestingly enough, SSRIs are actually a really good fit because of the serotonin issue. So SSRIs balance the serotonin and, and or get it back into balance and, and it can be really effective. Although about 40% of people who take SSRIs. and either of the other options. Oral contraceptives and GnRH agonists do not realize any relief from their symptoms.
So, you know, we, we talk about this all the time. We just, in female health, we get a lot of repurposed medications. and what we need is to get at the root cause of these conditions and syndromes. And disorders that we are seeing rise so that we. You know, have, have more effective treatments. But if someone gives you an S S R I for P M D D, and, and maybe they say it the wrong way, right?
They say, oh, you're just depressed. No . No you're not. You have P M D D, which can cause feelings of depression. Okay? There is a diagnosis here that, is treatable and, and is, is more appropriate, right? Because depression can be caused by a wide variety of things, and P M D D is is caused by how the brain is processing hormones, or I should say better than saying, caused by, because we don't have a root cause it, it has to do with how the brain is processing hormones, so the SSRIs might be right. and maybe the way in which the information is communi communicated is not full and complete.
So I know that, I've certainly experienced being blown off, having my symptoms being blown off, and, and having therapy suggested, uh, rather than getting to the root cause of my symptoms, which in my personal case were fibroids and un undiagnosed fibroids and undiagnosed celiac. And, and I was offered, um, I forget the name, maybe Wellbutrin or something like that, which I took for some time, but it didn't, uh, have an impact on my symptoms.
so it's really about connecting the dots, right? You wanna get with a doctor who is talking about P M D D in a way where it's, it's clear they understand what we know today, and they're, and as a result, they're not going to. Your tests are normal when your hormone panel comes back normal, right?
That's really important because it is not about normal levels of hormones. I keep drilling that. and I won't anymore. That'll be the last time I go over that point 10 times. I just think it's so important. It is so, so important to understand these conditions because once you have that solid foundation of understanding, then you can spot misinformation as you're trying to receive.
If you're gonna take birth control pills for management of P M D D, it has to be on the extended cycle with no medication break. Because if you take the medication break, then your, your hormones will start to fluctuate. And again, you know, can't, that, that isn't being handled well in, in some cases. So it's important that you have the extended cycle.
So the takeaway here is that we must be recording our physical, emotional, and mental symptoms daily in detail, the record of symptoms and the ability to communicate symptoms. and talk about the trends that you're seeing in your symptoms over time and defend your symptoms and advocate for your health is the key to getting a diagnosis.
It is absolutely hands down the key to getting a diagnosis. So it's important that if you are in a position to do that for yourself, that you take the time to do it. and, and it's really important that if you are a parent that and, and you feel that your kids may be experiencing symptoms that, that are not the typical period symptoms, just a little discomfort a day or two before your period.
Maybe a little discomfort the first day or two. When menstruation begins, but you know what we just described here as P M D D, this is a much different scenario. We're talking about two weeks of the month where this person's life is absolutely, disrupted. And, you know, cyclone is the only word that comes to mind.
Like it really feels like a cyclone. So pay attention parents and, and work with your adolescents to record their symptoms and really take them seriously. This is a really good way to instill in adolescence a connection with their body, the importance of being connected with their body, staying in tune with their body, respecting the signals that their body is sending.
Rather than dismissing them, which they may encounter out in life, it's important that you not dismiss them. And sometimes parents can, can inadvertently dismiss symptoms by trying to make someone feel better. so instead of saying like, oh, it's okay, it's just your period, please don't say that . Um, it, it's much better to, to just.
and perhaps say, Hey, let's, let's start recording these over time so that we can get a really good idea of what's going on with your body. when your body is out of balance and you're experiencing these symptoms, that's a signal that we ought to pay attention to. We don't need to be scared by that.
It's the body is a very sensitive system, it's just letting us. that we need to pay attention, that something could be awry. And I, and I want you and I to have an open dialogue around this so that you feel comfortable and that you know that you have a place to come to, to talk about what you're experiencing and we'll just get it down so that we can, when.
And if we need to seek care, we're prepared. Right? So that's how I would handle it with, with adolescence. If you wanna get a diagnosis faster. Then check out the Uterine Kind app. We built it so that it is easy to develop a good habit of recording daily symptoms. We graph the data for you and enable you to share the data graft specifically for clinicians of all types, MDs, nurse practitioners, therapists, virtual care calls, anyone, school nurse, anyone.
So check out Uterine Kind. You can download it from the Google Store. And we're still waiting on Apple Store. Uh, green light should be any day now, but you also, we, we designed it so that you don't need to have a smartphone to use it. So you can go to uterine kind.com and you can download the app there and prioritize keeping this record, this daily record of your symptoms.
It takes less than two minutes. To put them all in. The more time that you spend considering your symptoms and, and then using the data to connect the dots on your symptoms and get informed about the trends in your symptoms, the more time that you do that, I promise you, you are gonna have a better experience with your body, with the symptoms impacting your body, and you are going to.
Be in a better position to advocate for your health and defend your symptoms in any kind of situation. So please take advantage of that. And when we come back, we're gonna end on a high note.
It doesn't take much to lower your risk of disease. In fact, it only takes 11 minutes, just 11 minutes to get from where you are to wildly healthy. Okay, now I'm exaggerating, but actually this is really good news. I, it, it feels like such a relief, like a, a big fresh breeze because we are inundated.
So many messages around, you know, workouts and diets and you know, what celebrities doing what, like ridiculous workout and tire flipping and rope smashing and climbing stuff and, you know, it can be really, kind of demotivating to see all of that stuff, right? And you think, God, I'm, I'm just not, I'm not gonna do that.
It's just not, I don't have it in me. I know you have 11 minutes a day. I know you do. You have, there has to be 11 minutes where you can stand up and you can briskly walk, and that's all you need to do to slash the risk of a premature death by almost 25%. Those are some big numbers. This research came outta the University of Cambridge.
A team there showed how one in 10 early deaths could be preventative. Everyone managed to reach the threshold of just 75 minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity. And that activity alone, I prefer the 11 minutes a day rather than the 75 minutes per week. so that activity alone, the 11 minutes per day, is sufficient to lower the risk of heart disease and stroke, as well as a number of cancers.
Right, just 11 minutes a day, and I'm not a doctor, but from a common sense perspective, if you're briskly walking for 11 minutes, you're activating your lymph system. And you are enabling your endocrine system to operate more easily. Distributing hormones, dispatching hormones, and those hormones are speaking to your organs and your other systems.
And everybody is in good communication and it requires, it requires some sort of physical activity to keep those systems operating because only the heart is a pump. The heart can pump blood all on its own, but the lymph system needs us to move in order for it to move.
And that removes toxins from your body and. Dead cells stuff and all of that, it's just like a giant vacuum cleaner and you need it operating to be well. So 11 minutes a day, that's all you have to do. Like that's it. We can do that. And then, and you can know that with just 11 minutes a day that you're cutting your risk of premature death by 25%.
So I expect everybody to be doing that. I am definitely gonna make that happen. Really good news. I love it when research gives us like definitive stuff like. . So that is a wrap for this week's episode. Subscribe, please, and rate and give us a review. If this information is helpful, we'd love to know it and it helps Get the podcast out to other people who will benefit from this information.
Follow us on Instagram and TikTok at Uterine Kind. We're having some amazing conversations over there. All things that we talk about here, endometriosis, fibroids, latest research, the the red herrings and how you can spot them and, and it's um, just a great, great exchange of information over there. As I said earlier, we're in the Google Store soon, we swear in the Apple Store, so stay tuned for that.
But you can always visit uterine kind.com to learn more. Thank you Angel and Maryelle for producing this show and the team at Uterine Kind for working on behalf of our. And thank you for listening. Till next week be well. Be cool. Be kind.