noodle

I've met sixth graders with what appears to be PMDD in my experiences as a mental health therapist with kids, but there were always underlying disorders with it... typically bipolar II, PTSD or GAD. But the symptoms were so much more severe about a week before and then during the first few days of their periods. I did keep track of some of it when I was in the field... they'd be more aggressive, get suspended more frequently, and one kiddo even fell into the pattern each time she was Baker Acted (four times) in the three years I worked with her. You could see it build for about three months prior. From what I understand, though, PMDD isn't comorbid with most of the other major diagnoses? E.g. not diagnosable if there is another condition for which the person meets the criteria...

Only one ended up on the Pill, but she was on so many other medications that I, personally, couldn't say which helped. I've wanted to do more research on the topic for my own knowledge and decision-making, but I'm not in that field any more. I do think that it's highly likely that as women age, the PMDD symptoms could be linked to the hormones in birth control because so many women are on it. Younger girls that have symptoms are also dealing with so many other things that it would be hard to truly diagnose it, in my opinion. I'd be very interested to see what research is done to address this. I was a little wacky without the Pill for five months, but I've been on it for 16 years other than that time frame. My PMS has escalated in the past year to include severe abdominal pain, notable increase in irritability, minor weight gain, and periods of intense rage. The Wellbutrin XL isn't helping as much anymore closer to my cycle, whether I have a period that month or not. I'm examining non-hormonal options because I'm starting to meet the "criteria" for PMDD myself.

Edit: I'm actually on Yasmin and the symptoms didn't increase until I'd been on it about a year. Have they done longer term studies on that one?

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