If you are a woman, you probably know when it is “that time of the month” just by how you feel. Grouchy? Check. Irritable? Check. Eating every piece of chocolate that you see? Check. Unfortunately for some women, the monthly menstrual cycle brings more than just the usual cast of hormonal characters. Women that suffer from Premenstrual Dysphorhic Disorder, or PMDD as it is commonly called, experience major depression and/or anxiety and severe irritability each month as part of their cycle. The depression and anxiety are so severe that they interfere with the women’s day-to-day activities and relationships, and often result in social withdrawal.
Research has revealed that PMDD is hereditary. If someone in your family has been diagnosed with PMDD, do not panic. The studies that have been done to date show that women who have a variant of a specific gene are at risk for developing PMDD. This means that if someone in your family has PMDD, you may be at an increased risk for having that genetic variant. It does not mean that you will definitely be affected by PMDD. One of the interesting things about the research is that scientists have also learned something important from the control group that was involved in the experiment. In this case, the control group was made up of women that do not suffer from PMDD. The results of the study indicate that these women actually have gene variants that protect them against PMDD.
The implications of this research for treatment of PMDD are not certain. However, if anyone in your family suffers from PMDD, you may want to mention it to your doctor and other health care providers. The more family medical history information your doctors have, the better able they are to identify things that could affect your health. Since PMDD has a pretty stringent set of criteria for diagnosis, you should make sure that your family member had an actual, confirmed diagnosis of PMDD before you tell your doctor that it runs in your family.