In a First, Scientists Found Structural, Brain-Wide Changes During Menstruation

[u/CookMotor]

https://www.sciencealert.com/in-a-first-scientists-found-structural-brain-wide-changes-during-menstruation

[u/M00n_Slippers]

I definitely have PMDD and it's hard to get anyone to do anything about it. It's like my anxiety meds just stop working.

[u/mangorain4 → u/M00n_Slippers]

I highly recommend therapy- it’s not a psychological problem but the symptoms are. Learning how to handle PMDD via therapy saved my life several times over. I react terribly to SSRIs and hormonal birth control so that was really my only option and it has genuinely been so helpful.

[u/M00n_Slippers → u/mangorain4]

I don't mean to put down your advice, and I appreciate that you are trying to be helpful by suggesting something that helped you, but I can't help feeling so patronized by this advice.

Therapy would do basically nothing for me as my symptoms are almost completely physical, not mental. The grouchiness and sensitivity I handle more or less alright. I have had therapy before for other issues, I already know how to manage my emotions and be objective, but you need a baseline of control to do that, which is where medication comes in, they take the edge off so you are more in control.

Because Therapy can't do anything about the buzzing in my spine that drives me crazy, and make it impossible to be still and makes me feel trapped wherever I am, or the physical feeling of needing to sigh to fix my overactive nerves, or cry from excess stress hormones. It is literally, PHYSICALLY uncomfortable, to the point I feel like I am going insane, and no therapist I have ever been to gave me any decent advice on that, at best they are like, 'meditation apps exist'. Like gee, why didn't I think of that obvious thing I didn't need to pay you for? I am already on medication for anxiety and it's like I am not even on it during my period. They say, "take more during your period" yet they don't prescribe me extra pills so I don't know how I am even supposed to do that.

[u/Malcolm_TurnbullPM → u/M00n_Slippers]

dialectical behaviour therapy, and cognitive behaviour therapy;

do any of these feel familiar?

Common Cognitive Distortions

Core Distortions

• All-or-nothing thinking: Viewing situations in extreme, black-and-white terms

• Overgeneralization: Seeing single negative events as endless patterns

• Mental filtering: Focusing exclusively on negatives while ignoring positives

• Discounting positives: Dismissing achievements and positive experiences

• Jumping to conclusions: Making negative assumptions without evidence

Advanced Distortions

• Magnification/Minimization: Exaggerating or downplaying significance

• Emotional reasoning: Treating feelings as facts

• Should statements: Using rigid, demanding self-talk

• Labeling: Defining yourself entirely by mistakes or shortcomings

• Personalization/Blame: Taking excessive responsibility or blaming others

Correction Strategies

Primary Methods

• Identify distortions in your thinking

• Examine evidence objectively

• Apply double-standard method (treat yourself as you would a friend)

• Use experimental techniques to test negative thoughts

• Think in gradients rather than absolutes

Additional Techniques

• Survey others for perspective

• Define terms precisely

• Use less emotionally charged language

• Consider multiple contributing factors

• Analyze costs and benefits of thoughts/behaviors

the full list and expanded commentary/examples below, i just made a quick bullet list to hopefully get my point across and let you know you aren't alone. there are plenty of other sites and lists, this is just the first one that popped up on google and i have seen others.

https://arfamiliesfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Cognitive-Distortions.pdf

i am not diagnosing you, i am not here to tell you everything will be cured at once. but you have an opportunity to make progress in the one thing that realy counts for all of this stuff and it's time. time is the most annoying answer ever. but even the smallest change now, like awareness, can have huge benefits for those physical symptoms down the line. please don't let your knowledge and time go to waste by succumbing to some of the distortions we all face. there are ways to get better.