Years ago I got the book When Your Body Gets The Blues by Dr. Marie-Annette Brown and Jo Robinson. It stresses getting enough light, getting some walking in and a vitamin cocktail of B1, B2, B6, D, Folic Acid, and Selenium. They did studies using this combination and found that it helped women going through what I go through. I follow this but sometimes it doesn't work for me. I think the extra weight digs a deeper hole in PMDD symptoms for me.
A couple days ago of desperation I read everything I could on the internet about serotonin. When I was on Phen-Fen (now that could be a whole other post!) I felt WONDERFUL!! Sure I lost weight but it was just grand that I didn't think about food every blessed second, slept great, and felt like I knew I always should have felt. When they found that Phen-Fen was causing holes in people's hearts, they took it away. I was so sad and miserable! So I've been looking for a shot of serotonin ever since. I bought the OTC vitamin 5-HTP a couple days ago and so far I'm feeling less foggy, more relaxed and calm, AND not thinking I need to eat or forage for food. It isn't as strong as Phen-Fen was when just looking at food made me feel full. With 5-HTP I have to make the choice of whether I should eat but I'm been grateful my head is allowing me to ask the question instead of 'no thoughts, just open mouth and insert any food that's near.' Now it's only been a couple of days so I cannot make a complete decision on whether this will work but I'm going to keep taking it and jot notes down to see how I do.
This makes me so sad!
"The incidence of suicide in women with depression is significantly higher during the latter half of the menstrual cycle."
