WORDS: ALYCE CIMINO | Lead Naturopath + Clinic Owner
Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder or “PMDD” is a condition that can affect women of any age, essential is a more extreme presentation of PMS, that affects women generally the second half of their cycle.
Once ovulation has occurred, women can go through extreme emotional shifts, super lows, increased irritability, anger, and an overall lull in motivation. For some women there can also be physical representations as well such as breast tenderness, headaches or migranes and muscle and joint pain.
WHAT CAUSES PMDD?
While there isn’t a single cause of PMDD, it is thought that hormonal dysregulation is the main culprit. As women, our sex hormones naturally fluctuate throughout different stages of the month, when the balance isn’t quite right we can start to see it in other areas of our health, such as mood changes with our cycle.
There is some research that suggests a lower production of serotonin (our neurotransmitter responsible for helping us to feel happy, cognition and lasting feeling of happiness) may be a key player in PMDD.
Lack of wholefood nutrition, increased stress and prolonged stress can usually play as a trigger for PMDD, which is also why this naturopath is possibly seeing PMDD more and more with mummas of toddlers… out of the newborn phase, the body is tired, we aren’t eating as well as we could and now the body is screaming for help.
AS A NATUROPATH, HOW CAN WE SUPPORT PMDD?
We want to ensure that we are supporting the body as a whole, creating balance in our nutritional intake and wholefood intake so in turn we are also supporting the ability for our hormones to create the balance as well.
With all our clients we love to have updated blood work done so we can support any deficiencies which may have taken hold of late. We also want to make sure that women are eating enough and eating correctly to support hormone production and its regulation.
As a Naturopath, we have some pretty amazing tools on our dispensary shelves;
+ herbal medicine: we can use herbs to support how the body deals with stress (adaptogens) or calm the nervous system (nervines).
+ amino acids: there are some brilliant amino acids that work to support the hormone and nervous systems. they shouldn’t just be taken without monitoring though, so speak to your pracititoner before adding them into your routine.
+ mineral support: simple minerals such as zinc can play a role in hormone regulation as well, again make sure you are taking the right form and dose for your current needs
if you feel that you may be experiencing PMDD please know this is NOT your normal, this is not how you should be feeling AND you do NOT have to feel this way! Please reach out for help, PMDD can be very debilitating not only for the person who is experiencing it but also their loved ones.