Why Having PMDD Makes Me A Better Writer.

Going crazy once a month is actually pretty useful.

Source: Pinterest.

Once a month, but not during that time, I turn into a different person.

I become an angrier, less patient, exhausted version of myself. I gain 3 inches of flesh on my hips. My face is visibly angrier-looking. My spending goes up.I have more incidents of acting in a way that could only be described as hysterical. That terrible, terrible word actually applies to me in this state.

I’m working at obtaining a formal diagnosis. But the experts I have consulted with thus far agree with my hunch: I have PMDD.

How do I begin to describe PMDD? The short answer is that it is Super PMS. Or, depending on what you learned growing up, it’s what most people think normal PMS is like. From personal experience, I can say that it feels like a demon is possessing you eight days a week. Hence why that time is referred to as Demon Week in my house.

An article in American Family Physician describes symptoms of PMDD this way:

1. Markedly depressed mood, feelings of hopelessness, or self-deprecating thoughts
2. Marked anxiety, tension, feelings of being “keyed up” or “on edge”
3. Marked affective lability (e.g., feeling suddenly sad or tearful or…