Update after 4 years and good news.

So i left my job 3 years ago. PMDD got too much again after i came off HRT, so went back on patches for another year. Was suffering from stress and had time off work just before that.

New job is going well, boss is very nice and although i still have deadlines, I had an easier 2 years the last 2 years. I did get ill with a bacterial(or viral?) bug which gave me gastritis(?) last winter which lasted 5-6 months. I suspect bacterial as antibiotics and proboitics helped but i didnt get given antibiotics until after 2 months but the pain did start improving after that. The NHS is close to collapse, thanks to Tory CUT's, so i didn't get much useful information out of my doctors and never found out the cause.

I would say my PMDD started improving from a year ago last October after i got ill (but I don't think the improvement it was related to the illness). I started having a heaped tsp of (gelatinised) Maca in banana and almond milk smoothie in the morning with hazelnuts (made in my Nutribullet). I also took VSL#3 probiotics for 6 months which are strong probiotics prescribed for colitis. Also soya yhogurt with fruit/marmalade.

Maca is known for it's hormone balancing properties and i haven't stopped taking it since. I may have a break next year just to see if the PMDD comes back.  Raw Maca apparently can provoke thyroid issues, so i switched to gelatanised after reading that. It's also a good caffeine/energy substitute and i have been able to take less caffeine since starting my smoothies although i still need a bit. Caffeine gives me migraines... The only side effect i've noticed is i might be slightly more anxious rather than depressed but only around ovulation and period time. This may just be because i came off HRT though.

The only other changes i've made to my life besides less stress at work / no more bullying boss are:
1) Gardening in the summer weekly.
2) Got my vitamin d levels up (and that is thought to help PMS)
3) Still taking a magnesium oil supplement at night (which mostly prevents insomnia as its a sedative).
4) I also take more codeine (Solpadeine) as my migraines have become chronic and daily, due to A14 widening project which has left me sleep deprived for 2 years.
5) Still taking probiotics (Alflorex, OptiBac (tried) and Bimuno sometimes) and making my own Kefir.
6) Still take multivitamins on and off but not consistently, nor very high doses.
7) Possibly eating a higher fat/ higher cheese diet also helped? Dr Panay did try a vit d and high calcium diet on women with PMDD.

I did have a slightly higher FSH level on one blood test but back to normal now (meaning possible early menopause) but that was within a year of coming off HRT and NICE guidelines say not to have the test then, although Dr Panay thought it would be fine. So not sure what that means.

I wouldn't say my PMDD has gone completely as i still suffer from fatigue and migraine which follows a hormonal pattern and i get a bit of anxiety around ovulation/period time. But apart from the odd mood swing from interacting with people on facebook, i barely notice my PMDD anymore. I put it down to the Maca but will keep you posted when i experiment coming off it..

It's been a good month!!!

It might just be a coincidence/random good month but here's what i've done differently: 

Vitamins daily:
Healthspan CoEnzyme Q10 (migraine)
Holland and Barret Vitamin B6
Solgar Vit D3 Gel Capsules
Cytoplan Magnesium Biofood and Citrate (Citrate with dinner, Biofood with lunch and breakfast, citrate if for sleep)

Indigo Herbs of Glastonbury Agnus Castus tincture:
15 drops with breakfast & lunch in warm water with slice of lemon. 

Breakfast: fruit smoothies with almond milk

L-glutamine for stomach and finished my food intolerance diet. Still making the odd mistake with foods i can't have though!

Linseed, Chia seeds most days with meals. And fish (tinner mackarel or salmon) almost daily. These are low mercury fish. 

PMS symptoms have been minimal and mostly physical symptoms - insomnia(may be heat tho), appetite huge, a little fatigue and brain fog. One migraine&associated gastro symptoms, although all symptoms disappeared when i finished my agnus castus drink!!!  And only the stomach symptoms returned later when i was hanging my washing at 9.30. Went when i sat down and ate some crackers and cheese.

Will keep you posted if this is coincidence as i've had some terrible months lately and was close to taking antidepressants, and have barely had any focus or interest in activities as everything is overwhelming. Still had a bit of that fatigue/lack of motivation this month but not all the time. It's day 27 and I usually start on day 28 now. 

Shitty month

After a great month after my holidays and a quiet period at work, where i had hardly any PMDD symptoms. I then had a really really shitty month - a week of anxiety, followed by a week of mood swings and tearfulness, starting every morning at work (only for 4 days though). This last week has been a bit better though. I've been taking tryptophan when needed, although it interferes with sleep if i take it in the evening, and so iv'e switched to a small dose - 250mg max! 

I also had my blood test results back and they indicated Stage 1 - 2 CKD - chronic kidney disease. :( This panicked me quite a bit as it's not treatable. I'm going to have the test done the same time as last month, to check it's not a PMDD anomoly.

I think the food intolerance diet is working now but i can't do the reintroducton yet as keep eating foods by mistake. Hopefully this week though as i can't bear it any longer... and it will take 2 months to reintroduce all the foods. I'm thinking progesterone does cause me to bloat but some foods may aggravate it. I suspect onion or garlic but i'm really hoping not. Even if it's just one of them, that will rule out 99% of what i can buy in the supermarket. :( Which i wont cope with.

I've decided to get a dishwasher in January as i dont have enough time to wash up so much. I create a lot as i'm always cooking. 

Quick Update

I saw the dietician again. We both agreed the FODMAP diet hasn't worked particularly well. Although i decided the week before that magnesium citrate might be having a laxative effect. So i've ordered a different type of magnesium - magnesium glycinate which is better on the stomach and also some more Better You magnesium oil to rub on my skin. Unfortunately the brand i ordered, didn't seem to help me sleep - i'm not convinced it has magnesium in it as it isn't chalky when i run it under the tap. The Solgar magnesium would get stuck to my skin. So i've sent that one back and found a few good vitamin companies:
metabolics
terranova
together

Went on a course with work and colleagues were ok with me. But i'm finding work relationships much much harder off the HRT and i also made a mistake on Friday, i think because of tiredness. I need to get proper blackout for my bedroom so i can sleep as i have achieved very little in the last 8 months. Hopefully my friend will help me sort this out tomorrow. 

I've decided to start a month long diary also, to describe my feelings and symptoms in detail on each day and see how it compares each month, whether each symptom follows an exact pattern? Then maybe i will try to correlate it with temperature which sort of follows progesterone... I'm about to come on so i will start today...

Yay there's hope!!!

Finally they are starting to take women's hormonal challenges seriously!!!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2708901/Revealed-The-hormone-gel-banish-depression-women-Its-revolutionary-discovery-lives-countless-women-currently-given-antidepressants-transformed-using-simple-rub-gel-instead.html

"To investigate why this is happening and what is the best treatment, Dr Michael Craig, a psychiatrist, has opened the first female hormone clinic at the Maudsley, a psychiatric hospital in South London and the largest mental health training institution in the UK.  "

Day 8 and Calm!

Still a bit stressed/anxious today but finding it much easier to rise above the work issues. Definately calmness has returned. And i got through another month without killing anyone ;-) 

Just realised i only had 3 bad migraines last month, 2 of which were during my period. The other was day 24, a few days after ovulation. So seems my migraines have returned to menstrual migraine, rather than chronic migraine (16 a month!). This happened when i stopped taking nurofen. But also could be because i came off HRT. However that was 2 years ago, and the timing coincided with me deciding to swap Nurofen for triptans, as my only treatment! Hmmm i am starting to agree with the camp who believe medication does more harm than good! In my case, it seems to have done the exact opposite of what i wanted - caused my migraines!!!

Still sleeping well on magensium citrate during my luteal phase. But my new flat is both noisy and bright which interferes with sleep during follicular. My sleep pattern follows progesterone levels exactly, when progesterone is low, i can't fall asleep easily and i wake up early. If i wasn't sensitive to my hormones before, i definately am now!! 

Stomach issues were insane over my period. Had heartburn at 1am one night and couldn't sleep. And following night stomach cramps all evening. And pretty much had stomach cramps for the next 3 days. I'm hoping they calm down now period is finished... 

As for the next month. I hope i can resolve my issues with my work colleagues. But find it hard to trust people again, once i've had PMDD rage at them! It's certainly true that PMDD damages relationships. And after my moods this month, i'm considering low dose Prozac again! :(

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Worst PMDD month so far. First argued with colleagues. Then following week couldn't stop crying for 4 days. For NO reason. Started feeling a little bored/unsettled Sunday night, after my parents left. Then this turned into slight tears, when trying to go to sleep. Spent the next 4 days crying. Through training sessions at work and pub lunch with the whole office today, outside in the sunshine! I've just come on, at 9.30pm. Want this shit to stop. Definately didn't feel this bad on HRT. Feel sooo depressed :(