Helen Flanagan shares details of ‘horrible’ PMDD symptoms
Helen Flanagan has been opening up about her experience with PMDD.
PMDD is known to be a very severe form of PMS (premenstrual syndrome), which stands for premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and can leave women who experience the condition with physical and emotional symptoms.
Helen, who suffers from PMDD, has decided to share an insight into her ‘nightmare’ experience and revealed the ‘horrible’ symptoms she often has.
Sharing a selfie to her 1M Instagram followers, the former Coronation Street actress explained, “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. Not wanting to leave the house, crying all the time, exhaustion ( like a pregnancy kind of tired) focus and concentration really poor, even clumsy, irritated. Any other women that struggle with this I feel you”.
“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”.
“I tried the pill in December to try and help with my PMDD but it didn’t agree with me at all, it might mr feel really wierd and worse in a way. Then made me bleed so heavily that I felt faint all the time. Medication kind of freaks me out anyway after having such a horrible reaction to ADHD meds”.
The soap star continued, “Everyone each to their own just talking about my own personal experience x I’ve done cycle syncing with my lovely friend Grace @graceprosser13 and that really helped me. Helped me understand my cycle more and my emotional state on all the different stages of the menstrual cycle”.
“I used to never let myself cry or really feel my emotions and fight them which I think made it all worse. 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”.
“Exercise helps HUGELY. I like being in nature which sounds hilarious but it’s true. Sleep. Watching alcohol intake. Healthy diet. Looking after mental health best as you can.
Anyway I just wanted you to know share this picture of me on the loo this morning. Just before the school run as all my kids shout MUM MUM a million times”.
Helen closed off by adding, “It was a relief to come on my period this morning and for all the women that struggle with the same thing. @vickypattison talks a lot on her page about PMDD and her posts are always such a comfort for me”.
Many fans took to the comments to share support for Helen and to praise her candid admission about her experience with PMDD.
One fan penned, “I don’t think it’s spoken about nearly enough. Thank you for normalising it!”.
“Thanks for raising awareness about PMDD”, wrote a second commenter.
Another said, “Well done for sharing this….it will help so many women xx”.
