To those of you who are of the male persuasion, please don’t call this bulls/t. What I and many other women went through/go through is real.

I was never able to take any birth control (yes, I too am one of Rush’s sluts!) that contained estrogen. I could however use a progesterone only bill (more confirmation that I am a slut!). When I got pregnant, I puked 24 hours a day for the ENTIRE pregnancy. I did IV’s for 32 weeks. I had a healthy baby but he almost killed me!

After I had our son, the doctor warned me that another pregnancy might kill me, thus we never tried to have another child. the one we had is a gift, but another wasn’t worth my life – or theirs without their mother.

When our son was 3 years old, I got hit with PMS that was debilitating. As I look back now, I realize that even back in college, I was showing signs of PMS, although back then it didn’t exist officially. in 1999, I got so tired of fighting a monthly battle that started 5 days after my period ended (when I ovulated) and ended several days after I started my period again. I never thought about suicide – would never have put my son, husband and family through that – but there were times that I wished that I just wouldn’t wake up. I could not….did not….function.

I saw doctors and psychiatrists, and they all said it’s just PMS and put me on a variety of anti-depressants. It wasn’t until we moved back to our home state of Wisconsin that I found a great psychiatrist who looked at all of my records (I had kept detailed records and journals) and the first thing he said was that there was a pattern and it had to do with my monthly cycles. he referred me to a reproductive endocrinologist.

Within 5 days I had an appointment with a woman named Dr. Elizabeth Pritts (her husband is also a reproductive endocrinologist). although her specialty was infertility, she listened intently as I cried my way through my story, and then she looked at me and said, “We can fix this.” she explained about the procedure and together my husband and I decided that doing nothing was not an option.

What was the procedure? It was a shot every three months with a drug called Lupron Depot. It was originally a drug used in men with advanced prostate cancer, but they found uses for it in women who suffered from endometriosis, uterine fibroids, and many other female-related problems. she warned me that the first two weeks after the shot would be worse than anything that I’d been through so far, but that if I could hold out, I would get my life back.

The shot (in my butt) was mildly uncomfortable, and the next two weeks were exactly how she described they would be. my body was saying MAKE ESTROGEN….MAKE ESTROGEN, and the Lupron was saying STOP MAKING ESTROGEN, STOP MAKING ESTROGEN – MENOPAUSE IS WONDERFUL AND IT WILL END THE PMDD.

Dr. Pritts was right on! On day 14, I got out of bed, showered, and all was well. Yes, the shot put me into a drug-induced menopause, and I expected the hot flashes and night sweats, but never had any! for the next ten years, I got a Lupron shot every 3 months. A year ago, given my age, we decided to see if I was in menopause and it was basically a waiting game. Blood tests said I was in perimenopause, but to this day I have not had my period, and the PMDD is no longer a problem despite the fact that I am no longer on Lupron.

Just a warning….if you check out Lupron Depot online, you will find many who think it’s the worst drug on the market. I have to disagree because it gave me my life back. When I was offered the drug 10 years ago, there was no question that I would give it a try because life was no longer worth living. Dr. Pritts and Lupron gave me my life back. my son is now almost 16 years old, and consider myself a two-time survivor – first from the hell of PMDD and second from the sometimes hell of having a teenager!

I owe my life to Dr. Pritts. she is my savior and I will be forever grateful for what she did for me. No, mine was not a typical case of PMS or PMDD, and no, Lupron is not normally prescribed for conditions such as mine, but when you’re at the end of your rope, you’ll try just about anything.

I’m very lucky. I have a wonderful family, and my husband is a gem. Unlike some of you other guys who have responded to this article, he never once called me a bitch or questioned whether or not I was faking it. he loved me, he supported me, and he comforted me. to those men responding critically about this issue, I feel sorry for your wives because they’re married to real idiots and creeps!