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What No One Tells Black Women About Period Pain
If your time of the month is particularly rough, you might have Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder
For as long as I can remember, my monthly cycle was accompanied by a wave of mood swings and cramps. For me, this time of the month meant potentially missing class or work for at least the first day of my period. I would also shed an occasional tear or have at least one heated exchange around this time. But in the most recent years, I could feel a sudden shift in my mood that hit me like clockwork at the same exact time each month (10 days before my period) and lasted for a little over a week.
I would go from having a great week to being bedridden and plagued by inexplicable fatigue; feeling sad, extremely anxious, and even paranoid; or making snappy remarks to loved ones. Though I was familiar with PMS, I knew that what I was experiencing surpassed the typical premenstrual syndrome because I felt worse than I had ever felt since beginning my cycle.
In 2019, I came across a YouTube video by Patricia Bright in which she explained that she had a condition called PMDD. Everything she was experiencing sounded exactly like what was happening to me each month, which led me to do further research on the condition.
