Just hormones, or potentially something else?

[Dark.Green.Feathers]

Not asking for medical advice, and definitely not an armchair 3rd party diagnosis. More so a perspective.
Not someone with PTSD, as a disclaimer, I’m not sure where else to put or ask.
I know people here are familiar with anxiety and depression.

I have a friend who falls into a deep depression every time she’s menstruating. It “ruins [her] life” during that time, which I agree with. Anxiety, depression and self worth issues go way up.

It seems like a intensely bad time. Consistently, life stressors come to a head during, and she really struggles.

Sometimes outside of this time she feels significantly bad, too. She can tell when it’s from life stressors cumulating, or when it’s “just hormones” making them more prominent. She has a “Just ride through it” approach, but I worry she’s struggling this much because something is wrong (that may be helpable). I haven’t heard of it making things this bad.

Can normal hormone fluctuations do this? Or would it be worth suggesting a deeper look?

 

[Sideways]

Can normal hormone fluctuations do this? Or would it be worth suggesting a deeper look?

Both.

See, for example, Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder.

And it’s worth a closer look.

 

[RainbowSearchParty]

It sounds like classic PMDD to me. The sort of thing that people assigned female at birth are trained to dismiss, but is a real Mexican condition with real medical treatment.

 

[Friday]

Can normal hormone fluctuations do this? Or would it be worth suggesting a deeper look?

Absolutely. To both.

The normal hormone fluctuations of pregnancy? Cause ALL the women in my family to suffer from something called “antepartum depression & psychosis”. Every day. For several hours. For 6-9 months. Most of us? Learned to chain ourselves up, to prevent injuring or killing ourselves & others, from the other women in our family. It’s like a LIGHT SWITCH. On/Off. same exact time, every single day, same exact duration. Modernly? One doesn’t actually have to chain oneself up, as there are pregnancy-safe meds on can take to counteract the effects… as well as a handful specialized hospital wards that will lock you in/up & release you, daily, if you don’t want meds. Yep. AND RELEASE you. Day in, and day out. Because you’re not crazy. You’re suffering from hormone driven APDD (like PPD, but whilst pregnant) & psychosis.

Hormones are THAT powerful. Full on psychosis. Screaming, howling, thrashing, attempting to murder anything that moves, including yourself/your unborn baby, out of your f*cking mind. And then? Completely yourself, totally normal. In the blink of an eye. Because the hormone surge has come on, or passed.

Most women? Suffer from a little PMS. When it reaches the level your friend has? It’s prooooooobably PMDD. For which there are either meds, or gritting through it, as she’s doing. Which durn well may be the best option, depending on her reaction to those meds. So she may well have already tried the treatments out there, and decided against; or she may not know they’re an option at all. My OBGYN? About brained herself once she learned I’d been suicidal/homicidal/psychotic for 6mo…and didn’t bother mentioning it, as I was never asked about it, and it’s totally “normal” in my family, and pop-culture hormone talk normalizes the “normal” of it. Soooooooo all my future pregnancies were very carefully planned, in advance by she/we, to account for modern options I was entirely unaware of my first time through. But? It’s just one of those things… that a person has to decide for themselves. Choosing to grit through it? Isn’t a wrong choice. As long as it IS a choice.

Something extra interesting about the hormone hijack women deal with, each month? MEN have it, too. But it’s not on a monthly cycle, it’s on a daily one.

 

[Cheri]

I have PMDD and it’s life altering. I chose meds, for me a low dose of Prozac does the trick, because I’m only a few years or less from menopause.

What you’re describing sounds a lot like what I experienced. The day I decided to get help I cried for 8 hours in my room because my husband asked me about the turkey in the fridge.

 

[loxsunshine]

Not asking for medical advice, and definitely not an armchair 3rd party diagnosis. More so a perspective.
Not someone with PTSD, as a disclaimer, I’m not sure where else to put or ask.
I know people here are familiar with anxiety and depression.

I have a friend who falls into a deep depression every time she’s menstruating. It “ruins [her] life” during that time, which I agree with. Anxiety, depression and self worth issues go way up.

It seems like a intensely bad time. Consistently, life stressors come to a head during, and she really struggles.

Sometimes outside of this time she feels significantly bad, too. She can tell when it’s from life stressors cumulating, or when it’s “just hormones” making them more prominent. She has a “Just ride through it” approach, but I worry she’s struggling this much because something is wrong (that may be helpable). I haven’t heard of it making things this bad.

Can normal hormone fluctuations do this? Or would it be worth suggesting a deeper look?

PMDD. Polymorphic Disphoria Disorder. I have it and it’s pure hell.

 

[Dark.Green.Feathers]

Completely forgot to reply here… shortly after posting I did talk to her about it. Thanks all. She agrees it is likely PMDD or similar. Difficulty in this area runs in the family, apparently.