Hi Ladies,
I am wondering if anyone here has had any success with birth control?? specifically with the PMS/PMDD side of things..
My hormones are a mess, and pretty much after day 21 I am a mess. My cycles vary from 40 - 70 days.. so thats a long time to be in hell. I have tried so many things.. bioidentical, herbs, hormone testing, blah blah blah. at this point im pretty desperate and considering going on birth control hoping that might just smooth things out. I would love to hear from you and what your experiences were.. and if you had success which brand did you use??
thank yooooouuuu!
Hi Alice, I used to have very severe PMDD (to the point I'd end up in hospital the day before my period sucidal or get into trouble with the police). It used to give me very severe mood swings. Hearing about your issue and what your cycle is, I think you may have similar issues to what I had.
Firstly your 40-70 day cycle is very likely to be polycystic ovulation syndrome (PCOS), have this investigated (you'll need your ovaries scanned to see if you have multiple egg folicles developed). Usually in PCOS people have issues with too much testosterone, in ME though this drops testosterone for many of us a ME person with PCOS may not show the testosterone symptoms of PCOS. (In PCOS the ratios of LH and FSH may be reversed so a good specialist should be still able to tell that you have PCOS even if the ME has screwed up some of the things of it).
What caused my PMDD was the fact that my PCOS had given me issues with insulin and I get severe reactions to having high insulin (maybe due to that I also have MCS??). 80-90% of those who have PCOS have insulin resistance or diabetes by the time they are 40 years old. (I need a lower in carbs then a diabetic diet for my issues and this diet has now got my PMDD in control so it doesnt happen now to me every month).
Anyway, I think you need to do a few things.
re your periods See someone who has a special interest in PCOS to have it ruled in or out for you eg a gynocologist
. If you do have this like I think you may do, then you a 2hr Glucose tollerance test done with the insulin included. (Some places screw up these tests as they need to be transported from whenever the blood is taken to the lab on ice, centifuged and ice transported). Be aware that my specialist for all this has actually treated some so called ME/CFS patients as it turned out their whole issue wasjust insulin problems. This he calls the pandoras box of illnesses as it can cause so many different symptoms (and it certainly was making my ME worst).
..................
Something that did help my PMDD was 1200mg of calicum a day. I had to thou take it daily for several months before it worked thou.
............
As far as treating the PMDD by birth control. I did try that. A doctor put me onto Lovan (an SSRI) drug in just the last half of my monthly cycle. Turned out thou I couldnt take the Lovan. I tend to respond badly to all SSRIs.
