Photo by Natalia Vaitkevich VIA Pexels
When you first receive puberty and sexual health education, they typically teach you about things like body hair and BO. They’ll tell you that you’ll start menstruating and that it’s a very normal thing to happen. Maybe, if you’re lucky, they’ll tell you how your body is likely going to feel when you begin menstruating. They won’t tell you about what might go wrong. They won’t teach you about ovarian cysts, endometriosis, menorrhagia or all the other disorders related to menstruation that might affect you. If they’re not telling you, a person who menstruates, this, you can be certain they aren’t telling those who don’t menstruate. This blindness to menstrual disorders creates stigma and reinforces misogynistic perceptions about women and other people who menstruate.
Since hitting puberty, I’ve always felt like something was off. I often assumed I had undiagnosed depression or anxiety. When I began taking birth control, I found that the wrong prescription made these symptoms of depression and anxiety worse. By the time I was in college, I found myself overwhelmed by my emotions, facing difficulty managing and navigating my interpersonal relationships. At one point during my freshman year of college, I felt like I had lost the entire plot as I experienced complete emotional overload over what I can only describe now as a “spilled milk” level incident. It wasn’t until three years later, in late 2020, I came across a Tik Tok exploring a menstrual disorder. Resonating with it, I began tracking my own symptoms for the next several months, and to my simultaneous joy and chagrin, I found a pattern. I took this pattern and my hypothesis to my OBGYN during a regular checkup, and was met with a confirmation to my hunch: I had Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder.
Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) is a menstrual disorder which leaves a menstruating individual feeling anywhere from unmanageably irritable to anxious to depressed the week before their period. In my own words, PMDD is pretty much exactly what you would expect of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), but a million times worse. While 75% of menstruating people experience PMS, only 3% to 8% are affected by PMDD.
In receiving my PMDD diagnosis, I acutely recognized how menstrual stigma and misogyny had, and would continue to, affect my life. Though I treat my PMDD through birth control and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs, or antidepressants), I still struggle to navigate menstrual stigma when asking for compassion or accommodations. PMS is already the butt of many jokes, coming both from non-menstruating people as well as those who do menstruate. It is often cited as the reason why cisgender women cannot hold positions of power or political office: the mood swings associated with PMS would launch a company into financial disrepair or a country into nuclear war.
If this is the perception of PMS, what can I expect from sharing with others my PMDD diagnosis? Can they even wrap their head around the disorder with a limited understanding of the human menstrual cycle? Can I expect to be treated as the same professional woman instead of an unstable feminist lunatic? If I ask for accommodations and compassion from colleagues and friends, will I be taken seriously?
Every day, menstruating people are told to get over the lethargy, mood swings and physical pain associated with a non-disordered menstrual cycle. Many people with non-disordered menstrual cycles rightfully struggle to navigate their symptoms of PMS. However, most academic and medical sources use the word “debilitating” to describe the symptoms of PMDD. With PMDD, life without compassion and accommodations can be impossible to manage. The same goes for others who experience other menstrual disorders, many of which result in immense physical pain.
To resolve these challenges, our society must dedicate itself to two solutions: improving sexual health education, and destigmatizing the menstrual cycle. By improving sexual health education, menstruating individuals can better identify symptoms of menstrual disorders and advocate for themselves in medical spaces. At the same time, non-menstruating individuals can be equipped with information that leads to a clear understanding of the physical and mental challenges associated with menstruation. Then, by destigmatizing the menstrual cycle, menstruating individuals can be better empowered to advocate for themselves in spaces like school and the workplace. While they do this, destigmatization should mean that non-menstruating individuals don’t feel grossed out or disgusted by the discussion of menstruation, leading to honest and compassionate discussions about the menstrual cycle.
In an ideal world, a menstruating individual should be just as respected calling in, missing class or asking for accommodations for their PMS or their period as they are for the cold, flu or COVID-19. Just as much, they shouldn’t have to worry about being disparaged or disqualified in their credentials from colleagues, superiors or the public for experiencing menstruation. Every month, 1.8 billion people across the world menstruate. We need to stop acting like it’s an anomaly to be ashamed of.
Author’s note: If you or a loved one believe you are experiencing symptoms of PMDD, please seek care from a healthcare professional. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, “PMDD is a serious, chronic condition that does need treatment that may include lifestyle changes and sometimes medicines.”
Frequently observed symptoms in PMDD are: Depressed mood, Anger or irritability, Trouble concentrating, Lack of interest in activities once enjoyed, Moodiness, Increased appetite, Insomnia or the need for more sleep, Feeling overwhelmed or out of control, Other physical symptoms, the most common being belly bloating, breast tenderness, and headache, Symptoms that disturb your ability to function in social, work, or other situations, and Symptoms that are not related to, or exaggerated by, another medical condition
I appreciate seeing representation for my condition alongside my poetry. It makes all the sense in the world to me<3
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