u/FoundationPatient622

TL;DR: Lexapro helps my PMDD, but the side effects are ruining my quality of life. Looking for non-medication things that have actually helped people.

Hi everyone,

I have read through this subreddit a lot over the last year, and I have learned a lot. I wanted to share my journey in hopes that someone can help me find something that genuinely helps, even a little, that does not include medicine.

I got diagnosed with PMDD last year. For years, I suffered through what I thought was some sort of bipolar disorder because I was two different people depending on the time of month. I knew it couldn’t be bipolar because most bipolar “waves” last months.

I had been diagnosed with anxiety since I was a kid and had tried Lexapro, Zoloft, and Celexa over the years. Around 2022, I got diagnosed with depression, but it was so confusing because I would feel completely fine for weeks at a time and then suddenly have 1–2 weeks of literal hell.

I then started Lexapro again for the depression because my friends and family were so concerned with me. It obviously helped, but I hated the side effects: weight gain, low libido, night sweats, extremely vivid dreams, the usual. I was then given Wellbutrin because the side effects from Lexapro were so frustrating, and it was amazing. I used to call it the “happy, healthy (skinny), horny” pill. Who wouldn’t want that?!

The issue was that I started to feel those random 2 weeks of depression each month again, and Wellbutrin made me angry. It was around this time in 2025 that I heard of PMDD. I immediately resonated with the symptoms. I saw a doctor, and she explained that Wellbutrin is unlikely to help with that.

So, I decided to go off everything for about 6 months, regulate my body, and see how I felt. It was AWFUL. I don’t need to explain how I felt because you all know. I will say the worst part was the impact on my relationship.

I was determined to heal myself without medicine. I tried a low histamine diet for 2 months. It barely helped and was so hard. I tried Quercetin, and it did nothing. I went to therapy, and it did not help. Because, as many of you know, PMDD brain is FACT when it’s in place. It isn’t about regulating emotions; it’s about training your brain not to believe itself.

After months of trying different supplements, I gave up. I was so close to ruining my relationship that I finally decided to try Lexapro again.

I cycle dose my Lexapro. I do 5 mg all month long, then 10 mg from ovulation to my period. It helps so much!!!!!!!

The issue is that the side effects are killing me. I have gained so much weight. I already live a very healthy lifestyle. I strength train 3 times a week and try to get 10k steps every day, which makes the weight gain even more upsetting and frustrating. It kills my libido, and it makes me feel numb. I feel like I am having to choose the lesser of two evils.

I really, REALLY want to go off the Lexapro. I hate the side effects. Now those are affecting my relationship. I feel like I am in a lose-lose situation. Either be destructive to myself and others half the month, or lose my entire sense of self, my sex life, and hate how I look.

I am searching for something that helped people that isn’t medicine. I have heard EMDR? My therapist is an old man, and as lovely as he is, he doesn’t know PMDD very well. Another therapist perhaps? Vitamin B?

Please don’t recommend birth control or other SSRIs. Birth control is not really an option for me personally, and I’m not interested in pursuing it, but I appreciate the intention behind the suggestion. My goal is to be off medicine.

I just have so much resentment and anger built up that my entire life is burdened by managing this. Tracking my ovulation, knowing when to take certain doses, feeling guilt over libido, hating my body…it is just so upsetting.