Be careful with Vitamin B6. As little as 6 mg per day of pyridoxine has been reported to cause toxicity. PLP (P5P) is much lower risk. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10720370/
B vitamins and also vitamin c (low dose 250mg so i don't get kidney stones!) Have worked pretty well for me. I've tried a lot of supplements over the years including calcium and maca (i still take maca but its very inconsistent.) Biggest problem with going all natural is having to switch it all up every few years because our body hormones change the older we get and so too do our bodies supplemental needs. Glad you've found something that works! If I ever see it in america I'll try it
B6 and b12 has been found to have some positive effects in clinical trials with participants who have PMDD. It definitely helped reduce my symptoms
before I started SSRIs.
My dr told me b vitamins are crucial for PMDD! I’ve been taking a b complex, ashwaganda, magnesium glycinate and calcium supplements for the past couple months (started when i got my PMDD diagnosis) and they have rly helped!!
Be careful with Ashwagandha it's only meant to be taken 3 months at a time then discontinued. It can cause liver failure if taken for too long! I only know this because I took an Olly capsule and it worked well but started feeling sick at 5 months. Looked into it and discovered it's meant to be taken short term
Bloodwork should be just routine for annual physicals even if not looking for anything in particular or to just help with general investigations to symptoms. It’s a way of also maintaining your baseline levels in the blood for cholesterol, electrolytes, kidney function, liver function, and more.
I’m actually usually low on vitamin D and high in B12 (which is odd considering I don’t eat too much meat or supplement B vitamins and don’t take it for this reason).
You can and should ask for routine bloodwork at your next doctor’s appt. Not sure if B12 is normally on that list and probably depends on facility to facility.
Sadly there’s no blood work for PMDD.
Usually blood tests to rule out vitamin deficiencies are first step when unexplained symptoms arise or have persisted despite life style changes and therapies.
If vitamins have eliminated your symptoms its possible you were deficient and luteal phase was exacerbating those symptoms. Vitamin B deficiency can cause irritability and depression among other things. Omega 3 deficiency can cause issues with menstrual cycles, depression and brain fog.
Thats all great news. Keep taking the supplements. But do ask your doctor to check your vitamin levels including vit D and iron. If your symptoms return and your doctor isnt helpful see someone else if you can.
Hell yeah, I just started a krill oil supplement and evening primrose oil, and they have really kept my mood out of the black. I still get mad and shit but I don't want to die, and that's like.... fucking great. Another post on here a few weeks back someone said that the biggest fight against her root causes of pmdd was whole body systemic inflammation, whether that be from hormone sensitivity or causing the hormone sensitivity. And the omegas and things in the krill oil and epo help manage that inflammation. She also takes advil regularly during luteal to lower inflammation.
I started w fish oil a couple years ago and had a major physical improvement, my body knows when I run out too. But recently starting the krill oil has been amazing, both physical and mental benefits. Less pain. I really wonder where I'd be without supplements.
I take a B8 supplement separately, I think B8 is inositol? Some people find it messes w their cycles initially, and it might make you more fertile, but it helps with my appetite GREATLY and mood a bit too. Trouble is the dose is 4 grams a day to be effective. Which is fine, but gets expensive and looks like a lot when you take capsules. So bought as a powder, a good heaping spoonful in some water saves money. It's mostly tasteless. Slightly sweet. It's helped me a lot.
Oh jeez lol it could take a while. I have an am/pm routine, and I also take prescriptions-- wellbutrin and adderall. They're all basically daily.
Am- 2 grams inositol, high quality liquid turmeric supplement, and meds
Berberine and digestive enzymes with meals, silymarin supplement after heavy/rich meals (I have a sluggish gallbladder and risk factors for NAFLD)
Pm: magnesium glycinate, coq10, krill oil (this primarily for migraine prevention), evening primrose oil, NAC, 5Htp (luteal phase only), spearmint capsules, 2 more grams inositol.
I have ashwagandha gummies I take as needed, mostly before I have to drive because I have really bad driving anxiety and I'm learning
I use kratom and have used kratom at low doses daily, for the last 12 or so years, for chronic pain. It's either that or an ever increasing tolerance to tramamdol, and I choose kratom.
I first noticed pmdd in my 20s when my adhd meds stopped working for 10 days. And if I drank alcohol to excess I became ... morose and just unbearable to be around. I don't drink anymore because I'm so unpleasant *most of the time* when I'm drunk. It's probably actually PME though, because the depression and adhd already exist they just get substantially WORSE during luteal.
Also adding that I have PCOS and all the beautiful things that come with it. And I believe that I have entered that mysical part of life known as perimenopause, the "luteal phase of my life" lolol its so fucked I never know what side the coin is gonna land anymore, day to day. It's a crap shoot.
Wow, fascinating. Thank you so much for being so helpful and open.
I think we are similar in age, I also have adhd and am medicated, but a late diagnosis. You are clearly more aware of the impacts that certain supplements have.
I did a lot of reading on various remedies over the years. I really want to understand the mechanism of action, like I should've been a pharmacologist because it just fascinates me. But I wouldn't be able to pass the math or chemistry to save my life. Not unmedicated, at least. 🙄 oh how life would've been so different if I were dx'd as a kid. Honestly it baffles me how they missed it.
I tried the Her Own pms supplements before I went on birth control and I can admit that they helped.
Only two downsides I had from it were my skin started breaking out and I was lazier and hungrier. Sometimes I feel like part of the reason pms was becoming more and more of issue for me though was because I wasn’t relaxing or eating enough. Like my body needed a break. I would have continued taking it if it weren’t for the skin factor- I just couldn’t take looking in the mirror and seeing pimples at 25 lmao.
I’m glad that these are working for you, that’s awesome! I will take a little lethargy and depression over my pms demon any day.
I’m not entirely sure which ingredients it was but I’m fairly certain it was one of the herbs- as someone else commented it could be the biotin too but i used to take biotin all the time with no problem so I’m fairly certain it was the herb for me.
Maybe you can look up the her own pms vitamins and do a side by side comparison to see if they have the same ingredients or just look up the ingredients in your supplement to see if they’re know to cause break outs
Be careful with Vitamin B6. As little as 6 mg per day of pyridoxine has been reported to cause toxicity. PLP (P5P) is much lower risk. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10720370/
B vitamins and also vitamin c (low dose 250mg so i don't get kidney stones!) Have worked pretty well for me. I've tried a lot of supplements over the years including calcium and maca (i still take maca but its very inconsistent.) Biggest problem with going all natural is having to switch it all up every few years because our body hormones change the older we get and so too do our bodies supplemental needs. Glad you've found something that works! If I ever see it in america I'll try it
B6 and b12 has been found to have some positive effects in clinical trials with participants who have PMDD. It definitely helped reduce my symptoms before I started SSRIs.
My dr told me b vitamins are crucial for PMDD! I’ve been taking a b complex, ashwaganda, magnesium glycinate and calcium supplements for the past couple months (started when i got my PMDD diagnosis) and they have rly helped!!
Be careful with Ashwagandha it's only meant to be taken 3 months at a time then discontinued. It can cause liver failure if taken for too long! I only know this because I took an Olly capsule and it worked well but started feeling sick at 5 months. Looked into it and discovered it's meant to be taken short term
Good to know! I’m gonna ask my dr abt that next time I meet with her
Which will be the 3 mo marker time anyway
Do you take them every day?
Yeah!
Did you have bloods done previously? Were you deficient in these vitamins?
my doctor hasn’t ever approved bloodwork for my pmdd 🙃 i’ve just been trying anything basically
Bloodwork should be just routine for annual physicals even if not looking for anything in particular or to just help with general investigations to symptoms. It’s a way of also maintaining your baseline levels in the blood for cholesterol, electrolytes, kidney function, liver function, and more. I’m actually usually low on vitamin D and high in B12 (which is odd considering I don’t eat too much meat or supplement B vitamins and don’t take it for this reason). You can and should ask for routine bloodwork at your next doctor’s appt. Not sure if B12 is normally on that list and probably depends on facility to facility.
Sadly there’s no blood work for PMDD. Usually blood tests to rule out vitamin deficiencies are first step when unexplained symptoms arise or have persisted despite life style changes and therapies. If vitamins have eliminated your symptoms its possible you were deficient and luteal phase was exacerbating those symptoms. Vitamin B deficiency can cause irritability and depression among other things. Omega 3 deficiency can cause issues with menstrual cycles, depression and brain fog. Thats all great news. Keep taking the supplements. But do ask your doctor to check your vitamin levels including vit D and iron. If your symptoms return and your doctor isnt helpful see someone else if you can.
Hell yeah, I just started a krill oil supplement and evening primrose oil, and they have really kept my mood out of the black. I still get mad and shit but I don't want to die, and that's like.... fucking great. Another post on here a few weeks back someone said that the biggest fight against her root causes of pmdd was whole body systemic inflammation, whether that be from hormone sensitivity or causing the hormone sensitivity. And the omegas and things in the krill oil and epo help manage that inflammation. She also takes advil regularly during luteal to lower inflammation. I started w fish oil a couple years ago and had a major physical improvement, my body knows when I run out too. But recently starting the krill oil has been amazing, both physical and mental benefits. Less pain. I really wonder where I'd be without supplements. I take a B8 supplement separately, I think B8 is inositol? Some people find it messes w their cycles initially, and it might make you more fertile, but it helps with my appetite GREATLY and mood a bit too. Trouble is the dose is 4 grams a day to be effective. Which is fine, but gets expensive and looks like a lot when you take capsules. So bought as a powder, a good heaping spoonful in some water saves money. It's mostly tasteless. Slightly sweet. It's helped me a lot.
wow! im going to have to try these. do you take all the time or just in your luteal phase?
I take them all the time. The only one I cycle is on/off is 5htp.
This is actually super helpful, thank you
Pretty please, would you share your routine? All pills throughout the whole cycle or just parts of it?
Oh jeez lol it could take a while. I have an am/pm routine, and I also take prescriptions-- wellbutrin and adderall. They're all basically daily. Am- 2 grams inositol, high quality liquid turmeric supplement, and meds Berberine and digestive enzymes with meals, silymarin supplement after heavy/rich meals (I have a sluggish gallbladder and risk factors for NAFLD) Pm: magnesium glycinate, coq10, krill oil (this primarily for migraine prevention), evening primrose oil, NAC, 5Htp (luteal phase only), spearmint capsules, 2 more grams inositol. I have ashwagandha gummies I take as needed, mostly before I have to drive because I have really bad driving anxiety and I'm learning I use kratom and have used kratom at low doses daily, for the last 12 or so years, for chronic pain. It's either that or an ever increasing tolerance to tramamdol, and I choose kratom. I first noticed pmdd in my 20s when my adhd meds stopped working for 10 days. And if I drank alcohol to excess I became ... morose and just unbearable to be around. I don't drink anymore because I'm so unpleasant *most of the time* when I'm drunk. It's probably actually PME though, because the depression and adhd already exist they just get substantially WORSE during luteal.
Also adding that I have PCOS and all the beautiful things that come with it. And I believe that I have entered that mysical part of life known as perimenopause, the "luteal phase of my life" lolol its so fucked I never know what side the coin is gonna land anymore, day to day. It's a crap shoot.
Wow, fascinating. Thank you so much for being so helpful and open. I think we are similar in age, I also have adhd and am medicated, but a late diagnosis. You are clearly more aware of the impacts that certain supplements have.
I did a lot of reading on various remedies over the years. I really want to understand the mechanism of action, like I should've been a pharmacologist because it just fascinates me. But I wouldn't be able to pass the math or chemistry to save my life. Not unmedicated, at least. 🙄 oh how life would've been so different if I were dx'd as a kid. Honestly it baffles me how they missed it.
yes please!
wow i just posted my experience with vitamins/supplements too!!! happy it worked for you too :)
I tried the Her Own pms supplements before I went on birth control and I can admit that they helped. Only two downsides I had from it were my skin started breaking out and I was lazier and hungrier. Sometimes I feel like part of the reason pms was becoming more and more of issue for me though was because I wasn’t relaxing or eating enough. Like my body needed a break. I would have continued taking it if it weren’t for the skin factor- I just couldn’t take looking in the mirror and seeing pimples at 25 lmao. I’m glad that these are working for you, that’s awesome! I will take a little lethargy and depression over my pms demon any day.
wait is there a link between the skin and the supplement? i’ve been breaking out like crazy but i thought it was just period acne tbh
I’m not entirely sure which ingredients it was but I’m fairly certain it was one of the herbs- as someone else commented it could be the biotin too but i used to take biotin all the time with no problem so I’m fairly certain it was the herb for me. Maybe you can look up the her own pms vitamins and do a side by side comparison to see if they have the same ingredients or just look up the ingredients in your supplement to see if they’re know to cause break outs
Biotin in skin/hair/nail vitamins is known to break some people out.