(no subject)

[dystatic.livejournal.com]

anyone here with pmdd or just bad pms, um.. mood related symptoms
did you find going on birth control to HELP the MOOD symptoms at all?
or make them worse
or do nothing
or what
?

Comments

[batgrl.livejournal.com]

ive been on orthotricyclin for years, and it makes all of my moods WORSE. i had my first pap ever (yay) today and the dr. told me to change to a lower dosage of both the e and the p. hopefully that will help. apparently everyone has different effects with different pills...its all a personal trial and error i suppose.

[dystatic.livejournal.com]

im treated for mental illness
but my depressive symptoms are way worse premenstral
ive heard that being on birth control MIGHT help
but then again ive heard that being on birth control makes you wacko moody
an i dont really want to mess with it if wacko moody is the more common of the two
im not sexually active

Re:

[batgrl.livejournal.com]

i wouldnt mess with it. ive met more girls that say it makes than nuts than girls who say it makes them better.

[dystatic.livejournal.com]

yeah thats what im thinking
probably best not to play with hormones when theyre obviously already WAY out of wack.

[yafah.livejournal.com]

eh.. if you are already having mood problems, i wouldn't try ortho. i don't know about other pills but i have mood problems as it is and on ortho it was really bad.

[dystatic.livejournal.com]

thanks.. i agree.. i think its best not to mess with them
esspecially being that im not sexually active.. so.. its not like i need to be on them for their intended purpose
and i dont have bad physical symptoms (not heavy bleeding or bad cramps, etc)

[peacemercutio.livejournal.com]

The pill helped me for a little while when I was in my early teens. Its effectiveness gradually waned over less than a year though.
I have knock out pain, hysteria (i really do), and nausea/digestive symptoms most months, and the best thing that I have found to control it (and i rarely take my own advice, though it works when I follow thru) is a meatless diet and minimal caffeine consumption. wolfgrrl the goddess (http://www.livejournal.com/users/wolfgrrl/) recommended coltsfoot and crampbark, which found very helpful in September.

[dystatic.livejournal.com]

i just get suicidal
:(

[tigerfemme.livejournal.com]

Good lord, dystatic, you need a lower dose (or to be off of it entirely) if it's making you suicidal!

My gyn gave me a prescription for a low-dose pill if I choose to go that route. What he gave me was Desogen. I've taken it before and saw no discernable mood problems from it - though that was 8 years ago, too. But I was in grad school and under considerable stress, so if it was going to affect my moods, it was a "prime time" to do so!

Please take care of yourself...

[dystatic.livejournal.com]

im not on birth control

im wondering if birth control would possibly help with pmdd symptoms.
but im thinking no now.

[krasota.livejournal.com]

The first bc pill I was ever on was desogen.

I went from a very happy, gentle, giggly girl with absolutely no temper to an angry, moody, girl with a hair trigger temper that *did not quit*.

Then again, I have adverse side effects to many different medications, so I might not be good for comparison. ;)

The guy I was dating put up with it, amazingly. We're now married. He's a keeper.

[peacemercutio.livejournal.com]

i get homicidal, too. Don't forget that one.

[tigerfemme.livejournal.com]

My gynecologist recommended cutting down on the caffeine, too. (Though I'm not doing too well today - one cup of coffee and one cup of tea already!)

But apparently it's helpful with PMS mood swings.

[dystatic.livejournal.com]

oh im horrible with caffine
ive been trying to cut down
but then stress
and when stress comes.. and i have add, so caffine being a stimulant actually works as kinda the opposite, it calms me down
so stress ahhhhh i need to calm down, i need caffine
blah

[tarafuzz.livejournal.com]

the pill made them SO much worse for me. when i stopped taking them, my doctor told me i was *this* close to being severely depressed. they just weren't worth it for me.

[dystatic.livejournal.com]

yeah.. im already in a severe major deprssion..
the week before my period it gets way worse..
suicidal ideation becomes stronger, more tearful.. urges.. a lot of urges
i think its just got to the point where i need to go to the hospital
thats what my doc told me today.. but i just dont want to do it right now.. i just.. blah
and the thing is im not even premenstrual right now..
so.. the next few weeks are going to be fun.

[tarafuzz.livejournal.com]

that sounds like hell... why don't you switch pills or maybe look into other methods of contraception?

[geminigirl]

I found that in addition to the physical side effects of the pill (lighter shorter less painful periods, somewhat fewer PMS symptoms-for me that's usually GI-related) that my mood and energy level improved when I started taking the pill, and that it seemed to lessen PMS symptoms. The absolute predictability of when I'd be experiencing PMS also helped me to learn to better function with what symptoms I have.

[dystatic.livejournal.com]

theres one for the postive!

[geminigirl]

Hey, different strokes for different folks. I was on Lo-Ovral 28 to start, and since then I've switched to Levlen. Make sure that if you decide that hormones are the path you want to try, that you work with someone who is knowledgeable about both contraception and depression; they'll know how to start dosing and combining things for you.

Good luck.

[butifuldisaster.livejournal.com]

Birth control pills always made me worse. I'm moody to begin with. And my PMS is/was horrible already. One birthcontrol pill I took, Estrostep, threw me and my hormones so out of wack that after only taking it 4 months I sunk into clinical depression and had to take antidepressants to reagain chemical balance.

This is not saying they're all horrible. With the help of a new GYN I've found pills that work great with me. They've even helped my mood.

It's all a matter of how important your Doctor is to you. Hormones,moods,emotions are all things that will be effected by birth control pills. I had a doctor that was presribing pills to me without ever having a conversation with me. She knew nothing about my moods, emotions, even ME. Nothing about ME. No wonder I had a bad experience, I had a BAD doctor.

If you're considering birth control pills or concerned about PPMD go to your doctor. Make an appointment just to talk. Be open, clear, honest.. tell him/her all of your fears and needs. If you can't do that with your doctor then you might consider looking for one you can do that with.

Sometimes I think a womans life is in the hands of her GYN.

[jitteryladybug.livejournal.com]

Sometimes a woman's life is in the hands of her gyn. They are the only ones that can tell you if you have cancer or certain potentially life threatening diseases. You're right in thinking that.

[tigerfemme.livejournal.com]

Yup. This is why I give thanks every day for the fact I have a great gyn...it's such a crucial part of a woman's life.

[dystatic.livejournal.com]

see i would probably just have my shrink or my gp prescribe them for me
i suppose i could go to the gyno
but.. it would probably be months before i could get into see her
specialists are not very accomidating

[perplexxi.livejournal.com]

my solution was depo. no period = no period/PMS related problems. unfortunately, it's not a miracle drug for everyone.

birth control is a tricky thing. it can lessen your PMS, but at the same time it can make you nuts for the rest of the month. it's all about finding the right hormone levels for you, and that can take months (they suggest staying on a pill for 3months in order to let the side effects subside - if they don't you can try a different pill for another 3 months, so on and so forth).

i believe Yasmin has been proven to help with PMDD. i've not heard many bad things about that pill and i maintain the birthcontrol community.

you don't have to go the BC route (especially if you're not sexually active). there's a drug called Sarafem (http://www.sarafem.com/) which is specifically designed for PMDD. you may want to ask your doctor about that.

good luck.

Re: World too mean

[tigerfemme.livejournal.com]

According to my gyn, Serafem is Prozac. Not that there's anything wrong with Prozac! But I believe that's what it is.

Sarafem

[tigerfemme.livejournal.com]

Whoops, Sarafem, not Serafem.

In any case, yup, it's Prozac (fluoxetine). From their website:

"Sarafem (fluoxetine hydrochloride) is the first FDA-approved prescription treatment for both the mood and physical symptoms of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD)."

It's a clever way for Eli Lily to recoup some losses since Prozac went generic, but...sheesh. Well, they're not the first drug company that's done it, either. (Zyban = Wellbutrin)

But I would hope that doctors aware of women who might have heavy prescription costs or a tight budget would just prescribe generic Prozac rather than brand name Sarafem. ;)

Re: Sarafem

[dystatic.livejournal.com]

yeah.. like i said before.. its supposed to help, but ssri's dont work for me, in fact the time i was on prozac it made me sick.
wellbutrin (not an ssri) helped for awhile.
i am treatment resistant.
thats why i was hoping that possibly the birth control route might help somewhat during the premenstrual times.
but hell, if antidepressants dont help with depression .. i guess its just wishful thinking.

[dystatic.livejournal.com]

sarafem is an ssri
and ssri's dont work for me
i have a more severe.. no.. how do i word it.. more treatment resistant form of depression and ssri's dont work. none of them.
so.. bah.

[tome.livejournal.com]

I'm on BC pills and have "recurent episodes of major depression with anxious features," blah... blah... blah. I had one doctor who sugested I go off of them and see if it helped. I got very anxious because I didn't have predictible periods. I was off for two months. We decided that BC pills were good for me. Also, I had a consoltation with a psychitrist and he said that probably with the previous experience that I should stay on mono-phasic BC pills. I know what to expect and when to expect it. Also, with the mono-phasic pill I can reschedule my period if it is scheduled for a week that I feel will aready be hard.

[dystatic.livejournal.com]

hmm.. well thats a bit different i think, cause you have anxiety in regards to your period right?
so it would make sense to make it something you could control.
and that would lessen the anxiety
at least that makes sense to me
me its more of just mood before my period.. sometimes i dont even realize its pms.. but then my period starts and its like BAM instantly 10 times better.
i dont know.
it all just sucks.

Sarafem (and something else?)

[tigerfemme.livejournal.com]

My gyn also said that the makers of Zoloft are making a short-acting drug that (unlike Sarafem) can be taken just during the week or so that the PMS moodiness is in full-swing.

I took a quick look through a magazine he threw my way, but I didn't find an ad for it (yet).

Re: Sarafem (and something else?)

[dystatic.livejournal.com]

zoloft is an ssri as well though.

Re: Sarafem (and something else?)

[tigerfemme.livejournal.com]

Right...I didn't see your post before I posted the thing about the Zoloft maker's new drug. I'm assuming the new drug is an SSRI too, though I don't know that.

Has anyone tried tricylics on you? I had an ex- who did well on Wellbutrin (no pun intended)...

Re: Sarafem (and something else?)

[dystatic.livejournal.com]

ive been on at least one tricyclic with some luck.. but then it stopped working. thats what happens with me.
wellbutrin isnt a tricyclic its in a different class altogether
ive had luck with wellbutrin, its my fallback drug
i was off all meds for a year and doing good. because im treatment resistant we try and keep me off meds so that i have options when thngs get worse. so when i start to get worse id go on wellbutrin.. but its stopped working this round. so then i went to an maoi i had lots of luck with before and it caused anger, so.. blah. now im on remeron which is a tetracyclic, and it was working at first.. but target dose is 15-45mg/day and im currently on 90mg and its not helping.
i hate my mind i hate my body. im so sick of this. i know this isnt the right forum to complain about this. but im only 22 and i try so damn hard to be hopeful and to stick with it. but most people have a year or more before a drug loses its effectiveness.. for me its a couple months max. im just so tierd of this.

[pfc-rat.livejournal.com]

I'm on as BCP called Marvelon and have been for about 6-7 years. I started at about 15 because my PMS was excruiciating: cramps so bad I couldn't stand up and was taking Tylenol with codeine for the pain. I bled between 12-20 days and was as irregular as all hell. I had mood swings, and was beginning to get anemic from the massive blood loss.

AFTER I started on the pill, everything got better: cramps were totally gone, everything got regular, minimal 4-5 day bleeding, and and no mood problems. Also, I got none of the side effects commonly associated with birth control. I actually lost weight in the first 3 months!

But it seems like my case is a bit of a rarity.

[dystatic.livejournal.com]

ick, sound awful
my periods themselves are not that bad
fairly regular, not very heavy, not much cramping
though i do have some digestive stuff.. but i have digestive problems all the time
its just the week or two before my moods are horribly horribly dysphoric
even when im generally doing ok
i mean lately.. the past few months ive not been doing well at all the whole time
but if im doing good.. its not right to want to die 1 week out of every month. its just not. something is not ok.

[tigerfemme.livejournal.com]

That's the truth; something's not ok. :(

I forget; did we discuss whether you've been bluntly honest with your gyn about the fact you get suicidal from PMDD? As my gyn said to me recently, PMS/PMDD is is a real and serious set of conditions and worthy of medical attention. Now, granted, I have an excellent gyn; if you lived by me and would see a (very gentle and compassionate!) male gyn, I'd send you his direction. But I digress.

In any case, it's being taken more seriously by the medical community (as a whole at least), and if your doctor won't take it seriously once you've told her what the deal is, you need a new doc. Seriously. You shouldn't have to deal with that; something is definitely wrong if it's happening every month.

Please excuse my rather passionate stance about this; I just get ancy about women's isses with regard to PMS/PMDD or anything else being blown off. Please don't let them do that to you...you're worth more than that!

[dystatic.livejournal.com]

i recently had some visits with a gyno about lower right quad pain
i had a diagnostic laproscopy/hymenectomy
and then last time i saw her was just a check up from that and i had her feel a breast lump
i dont remember if i talked to her about my pms symptoms too much. i did a bit i know, but mostly i talked about the pain
they found nothing physically wrong.. which could just mean its muscle related or bowel related cause i have bowel problems
but i live in canada
and its kinda hard to get into see a gyno
and i think for pms/pmdd theyd just reffer you to a shrink
and i already see a shrink
i know thats what they did to my mom.
my shrink knows that my symptoms are worse before my periods
but hes never brought up the option of birth control
my mom, they did that with her. but she also had bad physical symptoms, heavy periods, cramps, etc.. so i dont know