... and welcome to the message board
Thanks for your informative post. I agree with your comments about suppressing menstruation for up to 3 months at a time, it is a fairly new idea here in the USA, although it has been practiced successfully abroad in many countries with no reports of ill-effects. I will see what I can dig up about this and post it either here on the MB or on the main site, or if you find some info, please post it here for us.
It is great that you have found relief using BC and prozac for your own symptoms; like you said, each person is different and different things will work, or not work, for different people.
Personally, I don't like the idea of using BC and Prozac as the major tools for treating PMDD, simply because of my own experience and what I have learned over the years about the nature of PMDD.
While supressing ovulation seems like a good idea, and the most obvious course of action, because less periods = less PMDD, this is in fact not strictly true, as PMDD is more than just hormonal in nature, i.e. suppressing ovulation does not necessarily suppress all symptoms of PMDD. This is because, first of all, the
primary cause for PMDD is not to be found in the fluctuation of hormones as is generally believed, there are many 'causes,' the primary being STRESS. However, hormonal changes do obviously play a role in the big picture.
In my knowledge, numerous women have tried to use BC to control their PMDD with no success. The general feedback is that symptoms reappear, and often worse, after the sugar pills are started and menstruation occurs. Of course, this does not apply to everyone, and is dependent on many factors, as well as the severity of symptoms to begin with.
The problem with Prozac and other SSRIs is that these drugs also do not address the
primary cause of PMDD, and thus are ineffective as a long term treatment, or cure. They also do not address the multitude of physical symptoms women experience. To understand why this is so, one has to know how these drugs work. SSRI's simply cause a 'loop' effect between the synapses of the brain. They prevent the 'reuptake' of serotonin into the blood stream and keep existing serotonin circulating between the synapses, regardless of how low the levels of serotonin are.
As a result, as soon as the medication is stopped, emotional symptoms return with a vengeance, and more often than not worse than before. Also, the longer one uses these drugs, the more chance there is of building up a tolerance for the drug, necessitating higher dosages, and thus greater side-effects and subsequent health problems.
Both ovarian suppression and SSRI use are nothing more than band-aids, and very dangerous ones at that. The reason for this is that the pseudo-feel good effect that is temporarily achieved masks the real cause and problematic nature of PMDD. PMDD is primarily caused by STRESS and other factors such as nutrient depletion in the body.
For the sake of simplicity I will focus on how stress affects the brain functions. Stress depletes the body's natural levels of the essential amino acid L-Tryptophan. L-Tryptophan is the precursor to Serotonin, and also an extremely important component in other body systems. The less tryptophan circulating in the brain due to stress, the less serotonin and other important life supporting functions in the body.
So while one is using band-aids to cover the unpleasantness of PMDD, the monster is still raging quietly under the covers to wreak havoc on the unwitting individual. In my own opinion and experience, it is far better to get to the root cause of PMDD and procure an effective cure, using safe, effective naturopathic methods, rather than using a band-aid which is covering up a festering sore.
The L-Tryptophan is only one small part of the treatment 'method' I recommend for ridding oneself of PMDD for good. Extremely important is correct nutrition, proper hydration, exercise and stress relief practices. Without these supportive functions, the L-Tryptophan taken on its own would just be another half-assed band-aid cure.
Your concerns about the L-Tryptophan is valid however, but let me set your mind at ease. L-Tryptophan is not a banned substance, and certified pure pharmaceutical grade L-Tryptophan is obtainable through doctor's prescription at compounding pharmacies, and special select outlets. L-Tryptophan is still added to baby's milk formulas and other food products obtainable here in the USA. You can read the story of Tryptophan here on the FDA's web site:
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/ds-tryp1.html
Naturally, my "PMDD Cure" is a suggestion only, and as I state quite clearly on my site, the individual undertakes this treatment at their own risk. I also have published the information about Tryptophan on the main web site, to help people make an informed decision before blindly following my suggestions. I absolutely encourage each and every visitor to my site to not take anything anyone tells them as gospel, but to undertake their own research, and from there make their own informed decisions.
The PMDD Cure worked 100% for me, with no ill effects, where all the other touted treatment methods did not. It might not work the same for you, as we all are individuals and one has to take into consideration one's current health status above and beyond PMDD, i.e. if an underlying medical condition such as endometriosis, underactive thyroid etc. is present, the wisest course of action would be to address these health concerns first, as these underlying conditions exacerbate premenstrual symptoms to where it may
seem one is suffering from PMDD, where it may really only be PMS were one not suffering any other health problems.
If anyone has any questions or concerns, please feel free to ask me. My site is an ongoing project, and there is much information about PMDD that still needs to be put up on the site. I am more than happy to answer questions to the best of my knowledge and experience.
Sincerely,
Anthea