It affects millions of people of reproductive age, but experts say premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or PMDD, is still widely misunderstood. The chronic condition can cause severe psychological distress in the lead up to menstruation and those living with it say a lack of research has left them in the dark.
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00:00The feeling is cyclical.
00:08Every month, about two weeks before menstruation, Ava is hit with symptoms of PMDD.
00:15It's immediate after ovulation for me personally, I can feel the flick of the switch moment
00:21and usually as soon as I start bleeding it goes away, which is one of the craziest things
00:29to experience.
00:30Among a raft of physical and emotional symptoms, the disorder can cause temporary extreme
00:36mood shifts, in severe cases leading to suicidal ideation.
00:41This thing that's happening biologically to you kind of becomes you and you become it
00:49as well, this experience in mind of depression.
00:54Treatment options are available, from the contraceptive pill to antidepressants.
00:59But PMDD was only recognised as a diagnosable mental disorder in 2013, so the research and
01:06education is limited.
01:08Dr Rosie Worsley runs a clinic which treats PMDD, with her sister who's a psychiatrist.
01:15They're overrun with demand.
01:17It's not really something that's taught at medical school at all.
01:21It's not treated by and large within the public hospital system where all the doctors
01:25are trained.
01:26GP Sarah Whitburn says it's up to practitioners to expand their knowledge.
01:31We want to build on some of the skills we already have, so promoting resources and also
01:38putting it in our curriculum.
01:39Ava has spent hours reading articles and research papers, trying to better understand her own
01:46experience.
01:47It's amazing how real and how terrifying, how isolating this feels from my own experience.
01:54If there was an education around our cycles from an early age, we wouldn't have to do
01:59as much of the digging ourselves.
02:01A simple request that could lift a heavy burden.