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PMDD: A hormonal inferno women face
30 Oct
Summary
- PMDD affects up to one in 20 women.
- One in three PMDD sufferers attempt suicide.
- Research and treatment for PMDD remain experimental.
Historically, medicine has enforced socially constructed divisions, often relegating women's health to their reproductive organs. This pattern continues with conditions like Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD), a severe hormonal mood disorder.
Australian novelist Laura Elizabeth Woollett's book, 'Hell Days,' confronts PMDD through memoir, journalism, and research. She details personal experiences with debilitating depression and suicidal ideation linked to her menstrual cycle, only recognizing the condition in 2018.
PMDD, estimated to affect one in 20 women, causes severe emotional and physical changes. Alarmingly, one in three sufferers attempt suicide. Despite this, the condition was only recognized as a distinct category in 2013, and research remains underfunded.
Treatments are experimental, including oral contraception and antidepressants. Woollett's work, alongside Emma Hardy's 'Periodic Bitch,' underscores a critical failure by healthcare systems worldwide to adequately address the profound suffering caused by PMDD and other menstrual and mental health issues.
