00:00The feeling is cyclical.
00:08Every month, about two weeks before menstruation, Ava is hit with symptoms of PMDD.
00:15It's immediate after ovulation for me personally, I can feel the flick of the switch moment
00:21and usually as soon as I start bleeding it goes away, which is one of the craziest things
00:29to experience.
00:30Among a raft of physical and emotional symptoms, the disorder can cause temporary extreme
00:36mood shifts, in severe cases leading to suicidal ideation.
00:41This thing that's happening biologically to you kind of becomes you and you become it
00:49as well, this experience in mind of depression.
00:54Treatment options are available, from the contraceptive pill to antidepressants.
00:59But PMDD was only recognised as a diagnosable mental disorder in 2013, so the research and
01:06education is limited.
01:08Dr Rosie Worsley runs a clinic which treats PMDD, with her sister who's a psychiatrist.
01:15They're overrun with demand.
01:17It's not really something that's taught at medical school at all.
01:21It's not treated by and large within the public hospital system where all the doctors
01:25are trained.
01:26GP Sarah Whitburn says it's up to practitioners to expand their knowledge.
01:31We want to build on some of the skills we already have, so promoting resources and also
01:38putting it in our curriculum.
01:39Ava has spent hours reading articles and research papers, trying to better understand her own
01:46experience.
01:47It's amazing how real and how terrifying, how isolating this feels from my own experience.
01:54If there was an education around our cycles from an early age, we wouldn't have to do
01:59as much of the digging ourselves.
02:01A simple request that could lift a heavy burden.
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