Helen Flanagan gives fans an update about battle with PMDD and says she has ‘four personalities each month’
HELEN Flanagan today gave fans an update on having PMDD and revealed that she has “four personalities each month”.
Sharing a video, Helen, 34, used humour to share her ongoing health battle.
PMDD – premenstrual dysphoric disorder – is an extreme form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) that can have a dramatic effect on someone’s physical and mental health.
Helen shared a comical video of herself explaining how she feels during the different stages of her period.
Taking to Instagram, she said: “I always feel like I have four personalities in one month and any boyfriend I’ve ever had knows how bad my PMDD can be.”
The Coronation Street legend went on to explain that she always suffered from “intense symptoms for roughly 10 days including severe depression, sadness, hopelessness, worthlessness, anxiety, and OCD.”
She added: “The Luteal phase for me can be the very worst. I used to have very bad intense symptoms for about 10 days, severe depression- sadness, hopelessness, worthlessness, anxiety/ ocd- ocd so crippling I thought I was going mad, exhaustion, brain fog.
“Now I get about 4 days before my period where I don’t feel myself mentally. I also get severe bloating before my period where I can pass off at being pregnant.
“I also am always so desperate to come on my period as I know how much happier I will feel when I bleed and I will just feel more able to cope with anything life throws at me and feel I have my sanity back.
“I had this from being about 16 but never really knew what it was.”
She continued: “I’ve been prescribed sertraline before for my PMDD but it didn’t work for me x (just sharing my personal experience here, we are all different and great if sertraline works for you) It just made me feel angry which isn’t me at all.
“I then tried Yasmin the contraceptive pill to help control my pmdd and that really didn’t work for me (again great if it works for you I think we all react differently to things).
“It made me feel really sick ( I had hyperemesis gravidum in all pregnancies so very sensitive to hormones) and I just felt low on it and not myself.
“I also took medication for ADHD for years, that I ended up being really poorly on so I was really put off medication so wanted to go though a more natural route as I didn’t feel I had much choice x (also again if medication works for you, for some people it really does that’s great, just sharing personal experience).
“I did Cycle Syncing with my friend Grace which I absolutely loved I felt like I got such a better understanding of myself and my cycle and understanding the different stages helped me take more control back and worked out strategies.”
What is PMDD?
PREMENSTRUAL Dysphoric Disorder is a very severe form of PMS and causes emotional and physical changes during the week or two before a period.
There are many symptoms such as anxiety or depression, feeling angry, tense or even suicidal.
Physical signs include headaches, bloating and pains in the muscles or joints as well as difficulty sleeping.
Symptoms usually begin to improve when bleeding starts and disappear by the time a period ends.
Exercising regularly, reducing stress and eating well can help ease symptoms.
Anti-depressants and hormone patches or injections are used to control more severe cases.
ON GOING BATTLE
Helen first opened up about her health battle last year, when she shared a very candid post.
The star is known for her glamourous looks, but in this post she was seen in her pyjamas, looking in pain while holding a tampon, with her head in her hands.
At the time she wrote: “My PMDD has been a nightmare this week, worst it’s been since the beginning of the year.
“It’s horrible with hormones as you can’t control what the hormones do to your brain.
“I was so happy on holiday my hormones were stable and then as soon as I came back I was the week due before my period and the hormones just made me feel so depressed.”
Helen revealed it had become so bad that she was “crying all the time”, didn’t want to leave the house, and felt exhausted – which was particularly hard as she looked after her three children.
“Any other women that struggle with this I feel you ,” she wrote. “Then as soon as you bleed you just feel such a relief as you know mentally you’re going to feel ok again and normal.”
“I read PMDD is more common in women with ADHD which is me I think I’ve have everything actually, bit of OCD too, might as well throw myself in the bin x”
COPING WITH PMDD
Helen previously revealed how she had attempted going on the pill to curb the symptoms, but they did little to help.
Thankfully she’s largely managed to get it under control with ‘cycle-syncing’ in order to understand her menstrual cycle more and prepare herself for harder days, with exercise, monitoring her alcohol intake and diet helping as well.
“I used to never let myself cry or really feel my emotions and fight them which I think made it all worse,” she said. “I got myself in this kind of mentality when me and the father of my kids separated to cope really and was almost constantly in a not natural masculine energy.
“Now I don’t, I be totally in my feminine energy. I cry when I need to cry. I get angry when I’m angry and I let myself feel sad ( only for a certain amount of time though.”
“Anyway I just wanted you to know share this picture of me on the loo this morning ,” she wrote. “Just before the school run as all my kids shout MUM MUM a million times.
“It was a relief to come on my period this morning and for all the women that struggle with the same thing.”