Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is known to affect ~5% of women in the week or so prior to their period. It is characterized by severe irritability, depression or anxiety that improves 2-3 days after the period starts, and may need treatment in severe cases. This poem highlights how someone with PMDD might feel.
I feel exhausted and emotionally drained
The will to do anything has waned
I don’t want to engage with anyone today
I’ll curl up in my cocoon till the blues go away
My body aches, inside I feel numb
There is profound sadness to which I succumb
Like I have done every month for so many years
This is the time of the month that I fear
The rest of the month fairly reasonable am I
But depression just seems to rain on me from the sky
As the cycle of my body enters this phase
I morph into someone else, transformed by my craze
I keep this a closely guarded secret
But often end up behaving in a way I regret
In the next day or two, in embarrassment I reflect
On what I did, and resolve that next month I would deflect
My emotions such that damage they do not cause
I decide that next time I feel this way, I would pause
And take a break, but alas- life does not wait
For my mood to improve, I find myself in the same state
Month after month, year after year
I battle depression for a few days, I fear
Each time that the fog would not lift at all
And in a permanent depression I would fall
*
I know women have been ridiculed throughout
For being hormonal creatures, existing without
A well-functioning reasonable mind
Why is it that every month many of us find
Ourselves to be in a deep dark place
That is difficult to explain and harder to face…
*
I keep hoping next month lucky I would be
And sail through that time uneventfully…
Passion...unbridled 