How PMDD Affected Me: Part 3 Now What…The Recovery Process
- pmddwarriorprinces
- May 6
- 3 min read
Season 3, Episode 04
PMDD, like building a sand castle of good habits, positive moods, and a loving personality then watching it all get swept away to leave depression, anger, hopelessness, and anxiety in its wake. The wave recedes. You begin to rebuild, just as a new wave crashes. ~RJones
Over the handful of post's I have made, you have learned that I suffered with PMDD for close to 2 decades. The first decade I was clueless and it effected my life greatly. The second decade, I was educated and made irrevocable choices that altered my life permanently. After years of documentation with several different medical personal, I qualified for the only known cure (ATM) and had my surgery to remove EVERYTHING, in December of 2023. Now that I do not suffer from the symptoms of PMDD, what does that actually mean? Now what? This means I closed the chapter titled "Life with PMDD", and started the new chapter of "The Recovery Process". This is where this blogs actually comes into play.
The Recovery Process
I knew that my work was just starting after the surgery and that surgery didn't mean it was over. I am smart enough to know that just because I no longer suffer from the physical effects of PMDD (due to the surgery), doesn't mean that I do not have 2 decades worth of psychological knots to undo in my brain. I created a "SMART" goal of how to get my life back on track.
Steps
Create a Blog to share my story and provide personal experiences with the disorder and provide a safe space to those who want to talk with those who experience they do.
Seek Counseling for the guilt I need to unpack, accept and work through.
Learn to integrate myself back into society, work, family and friends.
Attended Anger Management to relearn how to deal with stress, irritation and anger.
Re-establish good, healthy habits and get my life back into routine.
Pick up the pieces…
Pick up the pieces…
By the time I understood what was happening to me, I was not working (due to the duty station we were at) and I was away from close friends and family. My story is a "catch 22", or a "double edge sword". I was extremely lucky that I had the opportunity to put myself into self imposed withdrawal from society ( later found out it is called "dissociative disorder"), that way PMDD did not ruin my job or friendships. PMDD also has stages from mild, medium, and severe. I ended up with an Extremely Sever PMDD. I had closed off my little world to the four walls of the house I was living in and only being near my husband and son. I was afraid to be in public because I didn't know when a PMDD episode would happen and I couldn't control them ( no matter what other opinions are, you can't control something that hijacks your whole body and brain). I may no longer have PMDD, but I now have PTSD, Anxiety and Borderline Personality Disorder to work through. The good thing is, is that these are because of PMDD and not genetic. Therefore, I can work through these with the help of therapy, counseling, and medication to overcome these struggles and get back to having as normal a life as anyone can have.
"Have you ever confused a dream with life? Or stolen something when you have the cash? Have you ever been blue? Or thought your train moving while sitting still? Maybe I was just crazy. Maybe it was the '60s. Or maybe I was just a girl... interrupted." ~Susanne, Girl Interrupted.
Tune in next Week for Episode # 5: Smart Goal Step 1 - Create Blog
Tags = newblogpost, pmddawareness, pmddsupport, pmddpeeps, pmddwarriors, pmddcommunity, pmddsurvior, womanshealth, womenshealthmatters, youmatter, mental health, iapmdglobal, pmddsignificantothers,
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