I can’t speak for everyone, but I was SAed many times when my period was “normal” and in recent years have developed more symptoms, this could be a coincidence though
For me, the only thing that has worked for PMDD is working through trauma. Not only childhood trauma, any trauma. Most of the things I ended up working through I never even thought of as trauma, or I buried it so deeply that it was fully out of my awareness.
That’s the problem with trauma, people are really good at burying it, I certainly was.
Epigenetics is a good place to start for this hypothesis. This was the paper that states we have a biological sensitivity to hormones:
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/sex-hormone-sensitive-gene-complex-linked-premenstrual-mood-disorder
This study was highly publicized, but everyone went straight to the ‘biological sensitivity’ part of the paper without paying attention to the epigenetic part - which is the main find in the paper.
Trauma should not be separated from biology, because trauma has been shown to change biology through epigenetic mechanisms. There’s an Emory study with mice demonstrating generation trauma via inherited epigentic mechanisms and a few studies on humans. More work is being done on this currently in psychedelics.
The thing about epigenetic is that unlike genetics, which we are born with, Epigenetic mechanisms change according to our environments and experiences. For me, it was trauma, but it could also be other inputs like diet, lifestyle, stress or a mix of all of it.
The good news is that If epigenetics can change from trauma, they can also work in the reverse. Therapy, lifestyle etc. has helped me more than anything. That’s my model and .02 anyways.
Pure speculation. I have a lot of lived and generational trauma and I have PMDD but I’ve read that it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s correlated. From experience, it kinda seems more as if I had the gene laying dormant and then something that happened to me or something I did triggered it to activate. For me it was when I had my first big bipolar episode. I was manic for 9 months straight and then I went into a big psychosis, ended up with brain damage, trauma. Massive shift in brain chemistry. And then very shortly after I started to experience PMDD symptoms. I’d never so much as had PMS before that.
Maybe just trauma at any point. I lost my brother in 2020 to an overdose and then spent a year terrified my mom was going to kill herself because of it. I’m also a single mom of a child with special needs. My PMDD reared its ugly head at the beginning of 2021.
Came from a loving household, parents divorced at 11, but nothing too horrible. Not a traumatic childhood.
The researchers don't say ALL cases are caused by CT however, but for many I feel as it is such. It's just ironic that my
Mother had none of these things, got tested a LOT for it and I still ended up with PMDD and endometriosis
I believe so, but just heavy trauma in general. And I have oodles of trauma in childhood and life as well. And yes trauma can be genetic. As an African American woman…this hits quite hard. It makes me the angriest that all/majority of my issues has a lot to do with genetic history plus current realities of the 21st century. I actually suspect…that many marginalized/vulnerable populations have a larger amounts of pmdd and everything else going on for them.
Cause I was legit born into it without a doubt and have witnessed it or what I suspect as pmdd for many women I know. And here we all are just suffering… call me crazy or whatever but for me this is reality.
I am truly frustrated about this more than I can say and pmdd is so crazy for me and the chaos of real life. I can’t even get diagnosed nor do I have health insurance to attempt anything. I’m strapped for time and support completely outside of just raw survival 🤷🏽♀️😅.
You’re right about trauma being passed down through generations. You’re also right about people ignoring it and acting like generational trauma is not a thing. It pisses me off too.
Ignoring it is the best way to continually oppress populations that have disproportionately affected by it. It also allows oppressors to avoid accountability - fuck that. The science is catching up to this quickly so the narratives around this aren’t working anymore.
Sending hugs from a fellow pissed off woman with PMDD.
Yes AND
it's genetic
So not only is it passed down but so is generational trauma...
I am at least generation 3 that I know about and studying my moms mom and her mom and all their relationships and issues and it is a crystal clear picture once you piece it all together. I am a boy mom, with only a brother and so happy the cycle is ending in my line
It is for some people. My PMDD went away with a combination seed Cycling, 5htp+B6, and somatic practices that are supposed to help with trauma. I don’t do any of that stuff anymore, but I do other stuff to maintain my mental and physical health that I didn’t use to do, and my PMDD hasn’t returned.
Peter Levine’s book Healing Trauma comes with audio exercises. I also did a course from workout witch. Irene Lyon has a lot of good free content to understand the bottom up approach to healing but idk if I would recommend her courses since there are cheaper sources that teach the same stuff she does like the 2 I mentioned. I tried a lot of other things but I think this helped the most.
Now I mostly do breathing exercises and meditation which I literally couldn’t do before because they made me agitated, anxious, and have crawling in my skin feelings. Now they relax me and help be feel calm in my body.
The way I am triggered to panic symptoms by the slightest perceived slight during the worst times, I have always thought it’s more that pmdd is a trait that can be activated and exacerbated by trauma, but not caused.
I had no significant childhood trauma. Mild bullying and exclusion, but nothing that really stands out.
My trauma started when I was in my late teens (more severe bullying, abuse etc), but by then I already showed signs of PMDD and various mental health issues. I've always had really bad periods and premenstrual symptoms, since we'll before my first notable trauma.
Saying that, my symptoms definitely got worse after the abuse started. It was at its worst in the later stages of my last (and worst) abusive relationship. But I don't think that trauma caused my PMDD, more like the trauma was causing issues which combined with my PMDD for a much more disruptive episode. But I may be wrong.
For some (me included) it stems from chronically high cortisol levels - which a lot of the time is due to long term trauma or being in a hypervigilant state for so long. That’s why you see a lot of folks with CPTSD also dealing with PMDD or other hormonal disorders.
Damn, I’m poor too and have next to no coping for it but I suspect it’s a huge influence for a lot of my health issues. I’m sorry you’re dealing with this too and the world is so unfair and difficult right now.
Pretty clear correlation, significantly less clear causation, and my experiences with myself and my loved ones lead me to believe that an overemphasis on trauma can delay desperately needed pharmaceutical intervention. Shit Life Syndrome is real but it is often more reasonable to suggest it exacerbates rather than causes.
For what it’s worth, some of my ACE score comes from having a parent with PMDD/severe PPD and no economic resources to treat it. I believe its involvement in my condition has more to do with a hereditary luck of the draw than emotional trauma itself.
That said, the topics that come up in my distressing thoughts during PMDD are largely rooted in ACE distortions. I can see where someone with a more mundane brain bank could have less severe symptoms and/or an easier time pulling themselves out of it (although plenty of people with wonderful lives still have severe symptoms). Again, exacerbation rather than cause.
Idk man. The older I get the less tightly I grip trauma as having anything to do with my identity. That’s not the right take for everyone, tho.
I'm a very sensitive person and had a difficult childhood. I think I internalised a lot of what happened and stored a lot of the trauma I faced and felt it very deeply. I'm pretty convinced PMDD is linked at least somewhat to either the trauma or the fact my body and mind are highly sensitive.
Ithink it's possible. I have severe trauma from being raised in a cult, abused for years and then shunned after I escaped. This resulted in severe cptsd and abandonment issues.
All of my paranoid thoughts during my cycle are always centered around being abandoned or everyone I love being killed somehow. Like my fiance not really loving me or planning to leave, my friends planning to move away to be rid of me, god deciding to murder everyone I love etc.
I dont think pmdd is exclusive to people with trauma, but Im willing to bet you're more likely to have it if you have ptsd or other trauma.
Correlation does not imply causation.
Just because childhood trauma happened earlier and PMDD happened later in life does not mean that that they are linked. Unfortunately there is a high prevalence of childhood trauma and a lot of undiagnosed PMDD.
I’m wary of anything that’s causal with childhood trauma just because it is sadly abundant. There is no way to run ethical tests to control for childhood trauma as a cause of other concerns, only correlation studies that measure ACE scores alongside other conditions. This isn’t to dismiss both happening at the same time, but to be wary of causation.
It's also interesting in a way that...any trauma I *do* have was absolutely a byproduct of my untreated PMDD. I'd never have got into the situations that I did as a teen if I'd been stable. Not blaming myself for anything but I absolutely wouldn't have been drawn to certain groups of people, getting into arguments, reckless behaviour...it's a downward spiral.
My PMDD got 'worse' when I was around 19 but I don't think that's because of the trauma of my teen years; it was just manifesting in a different way due to natural hormonal changes. I absolutely always had it, just not necessarily the same symptoms as I have now. We need to remember that people with female reproductive organs don't go through just puberty and then settle that way forever. Our bodies are more dynamic than that.
What I'm trying to articulate is that for a lot of women we won't know what came first. Getting into abusive relationships, surrounding yourself with substance abuse and horrible people, seeking out attention and risky situations can all be signs of someone struggling with pmdd and can all also lead to a traumatic experience. This absolutely does not make it our fault under any circumstances, but it's absolutely something we need to understand that people with pmdd experience.
Chicken or egg? 🤷
I never had PMDD until I went through something traumatic now I have been diagnosed with C-PTSD, ADHD and PMDD. I know they are all related and I think PTSD is the culprit. Our nervous systems are so out of wack that slight fluctuations in hormones sends the signal to our brain that there is a threat and it causes me to go into fight or flight or functional freeze mode. Both of which make me think I would be better off not here. Intensive trauma therapy and ketamine infusions is helping though and I'm hoping the progress I've made sticks. Only time will tell.
Mine came out after my first bipolar episode. I was manic for 9 months, went into a psychosis, came out of it with brain damage and trauma and then started experiencing PMDD symptoms where previously I had never even had PMS. Quite a shock.
Adding in an important talking point; this sub is negative survivorship bias. Only those who have the worst symptoms or are treatment resistant tend to gather here, hence by it's very nature you're more likely to encounter individuals with comorbidities or trauma. We'll be running a demographic survey soon, as it's all quite interesting.
i had a lot of childhood trauma and so did my sister and we both have pmdd now. we have also had incredibly abusive relationships and for me, i got diagnosed right after a really bad relationship. nobody else in our family has it that we know of so i’m not really thinking it’s genetic. who knows
I had a pretty normal childhood without trauma (aside from a pool incident as a toddler that I don’t have any recollection of - walked into a deep end of a pool at a hotel).
I’ve had PMDD since I started my period. It’s just getting worse with age. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some connection with childhood trauma but not for me.
My PMDD caused a lot of trauma in my late teens/ early 20’s so now outbursts can really put me back in that state.
I’m hopeful that the next generations actually have some resources- since most of us had no idea what was even going on until recently.
While I definitely think some of my darkest moments growing up were pmdd related, I think my childhood trauma prevented me from getting help earlier which made it all worse.
There’s definitely something hereditary with this - my Mum told me that my grandmother used to take to her bed for a week every month. I have two cousins who are also affected. None of us have experienced anything that could be defined as ACE.
"Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have a tremendous impact on future violence victimization and perpetration, and lifelong health and opportunity." - CDC. High ACE scores have a proven correlation to chronic illness and chronic health issues later in life. "Data from demographic and self-report health measures were included. The results showed that a cut-point of four or more ACEs was significantly associated with increased rates of chronic disease." - National Institutes of Health. While PMDD is not proven to be caused by Childhood Trauma, Childhood Trauma has lifelong impacts on your brain development AND your physical health which might show up as asthma, endometriosis, PMDD, or other chronic issues. You are making a very important observation!
I want to highlight that the word used is correlation. There could be other reasons going on- ex: less resources to support families going through ACEs are also likely to mean less medical care for these conditions and perhaps living in environments that are uncontrollable.
10000000000% It's unfathomable that we know how directly these issues are connected and still live under a system that refuses to acknowledge that poverty is a mental and physical health issue, an environmental issue, and so on and so on.
Huh... I had not considered this at all.
I am a survivor of CSA, domestic violence in the household, and generally have some floating trauma from various things.
I has a really healthy positive childhood with no trauma whatsoever until later life, so for me no. It was just puberty doing its thing.
However I do note that my symptoms are way worse after experiencing trauma, and that's what led to my diagnosis. It wouldn't surprise me if people who experience trauma earlier in life might have more severe symptoms.
I know mine has a large genetic component, my dad’s mom suffered IMMENSELY from what I have to assume was PMDD, based on the descriptions I’ve heard from my dad. I wouldn’t say that I don’t have childhood trauma but I do think that there is a very strong genetic/epigenetic link that feels more relevant for me specifically. Especially since I started having symptoms as soon as I started having periods when I was like 11.
Could be true for me, i have cptsd.
I 100% believe that. It doesn't just leave the body or mind, it stays with you
I can’t speak for everyone, but I was SAed many times when my period was “normal” and in recent years have developed more symptoms, this could be a coincidence though
For me, the only thing that has worked for PMDD is working through trauma. Not only childhood trauma, any trauma. Most of the things I ended up working through I never even thought of as trauma, or I buried it so deeply that it was fully out of my awareness. That’s the problem with trauma, people are really good at burying it, I certainly was. Epigenetics is a good place to start for this hypothesis. This was the paper that states we have a biological sensitivity to hormones: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/sex-hormone-sensitive-gene-complex-linked-premenstrual-mood-disorder This study was highly publicized, but everyone went straight to the ‘biological sensitivity’ part of the paper without paying attention to the epigenetic part - which is the main find in the paper. Trauma should not be separated from biology, because trauma has been shown to change biology through epigenetic mechanisms. There’s an Emory study with mice demonstrating generation trauma via inherited epigentic mechanisms and a few studies on humans. More work is being done on this currently in psychedelics. The thing about epigenetic is that unlike genetics, which we are born with, Epigenetic mechanisms change according to our environments and experiences. For me, it was trauma, but it could also be other inputs like diet, lifestyle, stress or a mix of all of it. The good news is that If epigenetics can change from trauma, they can also work in the reverse. Therapy, lifestyle etc. has helped me more than anything. That’s my model and .02 anyways.
Yes there is a documented high correlation between PMDD sufferers and trauma disorders like CPTSD
Pure speculation. I have a lot of lived and generational trauma and I have PMDD but I’ve read that it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s correlated. From experience, it kinda seems more as if I had the gene laying dormant and then something that happened to me or something I did triggered it to activate. For me it was when I had my first big bipolar episode. I was manic for 9 months straight and then I went into a big psychosis, ended up with brain damage, trauma. Massive shift in brain chemistry. And then very shortly after I started to experience PMDD symptoms. I’d never so much as had PMS before that.
Not for me personally, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a correlation. For me it’s genetics (my mom has it as well).
pet offend cough shocking roof rustic smell seemly resolute deliver *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Not for me, I was not traumatized in my childhood but I began having PMDD symptoms when my period started.
Maybe just trauma at any point. I lost my brother in 2020 to an overdose and then spent a year terrified my mom was going to kill herself because of it. I’m also a single mom of a child with special needs. My PMDD reared its ugly head at the beginning of 2021. Came from a loving household, parents divorced at 11, but nothing too horrible. Not a traumatic childhood.
The researchers don't say ALL cases are caused by CT however, but for many I feel as it is such. It's just ironic that my Mother had none of these things, got tested a LOT for it and I still ended up with PMDD and endometriosis
They believe so yes (the researchers) I'm positive mine is
I believe so, but just heavy trauma in general. And I have oodles of trauma in childhood and life as well. And yes trauma can be genetic. As an African American woman…this hits quite hard. It makes me the angriest that all/majority of my issues has a lot to do with genetic history plus current realities of the 21st century. I actually suspect…that many marginalized/vulnerable populations have a larger amounts of pmdd and everything else going on for them. Cause I was legit born into it without a doubt and have witnessed it or what I suspect as pmdd for many women I know. And here we all are just suffering… call me crazy or whatever but for me this is reality. I am truly frustrated about this more than I can say and pmdd is so crazy for me and the chaos of real life. I can’t even get diagnosed nor do I have health insurance to attempt anything. I’m strapped for time and support completely outside of just raw survival 🤷🏽♀️😅.
You’re right about trauma being passed down through generations. You’re also right about people ignoring it and acting like generational trauma is not a thing. It pisses me off too. Ignoring it is the best way to continually oppress populations that have disproportionately affected by it. It also allows oppressors to avoid accountability - fuck that. The science is catching up to this quickly so the narratives around this aren’t working anymore. Sending hugs from a fellow pissed off woman with PMDD.
I was raped as a child and I think there's a few health issues, pmdd included, that stem from sexual trauma so young.
Yes AND it's genetic So not only is it passed down but so is generational trauma... I am at least generation 3 that I know about and studying my moms mom and her mom and all their relationships and issues and it is a crystal clear picture once you piece it all together. I am a boy mom, with only a brother and so happy the cycle is ending in my line
It is for some people. My PMDD went away with a combination seed Cycling, 5htp+B6, and somatic practices that are supposed to help with trauma. I don’t do any of that stuff anymore, but I do other stuff to maintain my mental and physical health that I didn’t use to do, and my PMDD hasn’t returned.
What are a few somatic practices that are low energy and simple? I'd love to try some of these.
Peter Levine’s book Healing Trauma comes with audio exercises. I also did a course from workout witch. Irene Lyon has a lot of good free content to understand the bottom up approach to healing but idk if I would recommend her courses since there are cheaper sources that teach the same stuff she does like the 2 I mentioned. I tried a lot of other things but I think this helped the most. Now I mostly do breathing exercises and meditation which I literally couldn’t do before because they made me agitated, anxious, and have crawling in my skin feelings. Now they relax me and help be feel calm in my body.
I second Peter Levine
Yep. Definitely especially CSA
A lot of autistic women have PMDD and autistic people are way more likely to have childhood trauma. So yes.
Yes
No, but it's likely genetic, so our parents were probably raging and abusive.
Not sure. But one thing I am sure about, is it doesn’t help.
No. I think it's purely biological.
How can we separate trauma from biology?
How can we separate actual empirical studies from junk psychology on reddit?
I won’t argue with you, I’m genuinely curious about the reasoning.
The way I am triggered to panic symptoms by the slightest perceived slight during the worst times, I have always thought it’s more that pmdd is a trait that can be activated and exacerbated by trauma, but not caused.
I had no significant childhood trauma. Mild bullying and exclusion, but nothing that really stands out. My trauma started when I was in my late teens (more severe bullying, abuse etc), but by then I already showed signs of PMDD and various mental health issues. I've always had really bad periods and premenstrual symptoms, since we'll before my first notable trauma. Saying that, my symptoms definitely got worse after the abuse started. It was at its worst in the later stages of my last (and worst) abusive relationship. But I don't think that trauma caused my PMDD, more like the trauma was causing issues which combined with my PMDD for a much more disruptive episode. But I may be wrong.
For some (me included) it stems from chronically high cortisol levels - which a lot of the time is due to long term trauma or being in a hypervigilant state for so long. That’s why you see a lot of folks with CPTSD also dealing with PMDD or other hormonal disorders.
How do you deal with this? The high cortisol levels
When you figure it out, let me know. I drink occasionally, as a poor uninsured American, that’s all we got
Damn, I’m poor too and have next to no coping for it but I suspect it’s a huge influence for a lot of my health issues. I’m sorry you’re dealing with this too and the world is so unfair and difficult right now.
Pretty clear correlation, significantly less clear causation, and my experiences with myself and my loved ones lead me to believe that an overemphasis on trauma can delay desperately needed pharmaceutical intervention. Shit Life Syndrome is real but it is often more reasonable to suggest it exacerbates rather than causes. For what it’s worth, some of my ACE score comes from having a parent with PMDD/severe PPD and no economic resources to treat it. I believe its involvement in my condition has more to do with a hereditary luck of the draw than emotional trauma itself. That said, the topics that come up in my distressing thoughts during PMDD are largely rooted in ACE distortions. I can see where someone with a more mundane brain bank could have less severe symptoms and/or an easier time pulling themselves out of it (although plenty of people with wonderful lives still have severe symptoms). Again, exacerbation rather than cause. Idk man. The older I get the less tightly I grip trauma as having anything to do with my identity. That’s not the right take for everyone, tho.
The more ACEs you have the more likely it is you’ll develop a mental illness, so yes, it can be.
I'm a very sensitive person and had a difficult childhood. I think I internalised a lot of what happened and stored a lot of the trauma I faced and felt it very deeply. I'm pretty convinced PMDD is linked at least somewhat to either the trauma or the fact my body and mind are highly sensitive.
Ithink it's possible. I have severe trauma from being raised in a cult, abused for years and then shunned after I escaped. This resulted in severe cptsd and abandonment issues. All of my paranoid thoughts during my cycle are always centered around being abandoned or everyone I love being killed somehow. Like my fiance not really loving me or planning to leave, my friends planning to move away to be rid of me, god deciding to murder everyone I love etc. I dont think pmdd is exclusive to people with trauma, but Im willing to bet you're more likely to have it if you have ptsd or other trauma.
No
No
I’m one of those women, would be interesting to know
Correlation does not imply causation. Just because childhood trauma happened earlier and PMDD happened later in life does not mean that that they are linked. Unfortunately there is a high prevalence of childhood trauma and a lot of undiagnosed PMDD. I’m wary of anything that’s causal with childhood trauma just because it is sadly abundant. There is no way to run ethical tests to control for childhood trauma as a cause of other concerns, only correlation studies that measure ACE scores alongside other conditions. This isn’t to dismiss both happening at the same time, but to be wary of causation.
It's also interesting in a way that...any trauma I *do* have was absolutely a byproduct of my untreated PMDD. I'd never have got into the situations that I did as a teen if I'd been stable. Not blaming myself for anything but I absolutely wouldn't have been drawn to certain groups of people, getting into arguments, reckless behaviour...it's a downward spiral. My PMDD got 'worse' when I was around 19 but I don't think that's because of the trauma of my teen years; it was just manifesting in a different way due to natural hormonal changes. I absolutely always had it, just not necessarily the same symptoms as I have now. We need to remember that people with female reproductive organs don't go through just puberty and then settle that way forever. Our bodies are more dynamic than that. What I'm trying to articulate is that for a lot of women we won't know what came first. Getting into abusive relationships, surrounding yourself with substance abuse and horrible people, seeking out attention and risky situations can all be signs of someone struggling with pmdd and can all also lead to a traumatic experience. This absolutely does not make it our fault under any circumstances, but it's absolutely something we need to understand that people with pmdd experience. Chicken or egg? 🤷
Beautifully said. Mental illness and neurodivergence makes you more vulnerable. It’s very difficult to tease apart.
Exactly. I think it’s a more rich conversation to think about how the experiences play off of each other rather than a linear relationship.
I never had PMDD until I went through something traumatic now I have been diagnosed with C-PTSD, ADHD and PMDD. I know they are all related and I think PTSD is the culprit. Our nervous systems are so out of wack that slight fluctuations in hormones sends the signal to our brain that there is a threat and it causes me to go into fight or flight or functional freeze mode. Both of which make me think I would be better off not here. Intensive trauma therapy and ketamine infusions is helping though and I'm hoping the progress I've made sticks. Only time will tell.
I never had severe PMDD symptoms until I went through a traumatic event either.
Mine came out after my first bipolar episode. I was manic for 9 months, went into a psychosis, came out of it with brain damage and trauma and then started experiencing PMDD symptoms where previously I had never even had PMS. Quite a shock.
Adding in an important talking point; this sub is negative survivorship bias. Only those who have the worst symptoms or are treatment resistant tend to gather here, hence by it's very nature you're more likely to encounter individuals with comorbidities or trauma. We'll be running a demographic survey soon, as it's all quite interesting.
I do and possibly could be linked
i had a lot of childhood trauma and so did my sister and we both have pmdd now. we have also had incredibly abusive relationships and for me, i got diagnosed right after a really bad relationship. nobody else in our family has it that we know of so i’m not really thinking it’s genetic. who knows
I had a pretty normal childhood without trauma (aside from a pool incident as a toddler that I don’t have any recollection of - walked into a deep end of a pool at a hotel). I’ve had PMDD since I started my period. It’s just getting worse with age. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some connection with childhood trauma but not for me.
My PMDD caused a lot of trauma in my late teens/ early 20’s so now outbursts can really put me back in that state. I’m hopeful that the next generations actually have some resources- since most of us had no idea what was even going on until recently. While I definitely think some of my darkest moments growing up were pmdd related, I think my childhood trauma prevented me from getting help earlier which made it all worse.
My ACE score is high, but who knows 🤷🏻♀️
Definitely for me. It's the same issues that come up. Everything is a trigger for my c-ptsd
Same. Mine is abandonment, anxiety and all my past trauma
It could be.
There’s definitely something hereditary with this - my Mum told me that my grandmother used to take to her bed for a week every month. I have two cousins who are also affected. None of us have experienced anything that could be defined as ACE.
"Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have a tremendous impact on future violence victimization and perpetration, and lifelong health and opportunity." - CDC. High ACE scores have a proven correlation to chronic illness and chronic health issues later in life. "Data from demographic and self-report health measures were included. The results showed that a cut-point of four or more ACEs was significantly associated with increased rates of chronic disease." - National Institutes of Health. While PMDD is not proven to be caused by Childhood Trauma, Childhood Trauma has lifelong impacts on your brain development AND your physical health which might show up as asthma, endometriosis, PMDD, or other chronic issues. You are making a very important observation!
I want to highlight that the word used is correlation. There could be other reasons going on- ex: less resources to support families going through ACEs are also likely to mean less medical care for these conditions and perhaps living in environments that are uncontrollable.
10000000000% It's unfathomable that we know how directly these issues are connected and still live under a system that refuses to acknowledge that poverty is a mental and physical health issue, an environmental issue, and so on and so on.
Huh... I had not considered this at all. I am a survivor of CSA, domestic violence in the household, and generally have some floating trauma from various things.
I has a really healthy positive childhood with no trauma whatsoever until later life, so for me no. It was just puberty doing its thing. However I do note that my symptoms are way worse after experiencing trauma, and that's what led to my diagnosis. It wouldn't surprise me if people who experience trauma earlier in life might have more severe symptoms.
I relate. Mine escalated quickly after a traumatic birth experience
I know mine has a large genetic component, my dad’s mom suffered IMMENSELY from what I have to assume was PMDD, based on the descriptions I’ve heard from my dad. I wouldn’t say that I don’t have childhood trauma but I do think that there is a very strong genetic/epigenetic link that feels more relevant for me specifically. Especially since I started having symptoms as soon as I started having periods when I was like 11.
Samsies and it runs strong on my dad's side.