PMDD after 40
and perimenopause
By Ben Jonas Goedeke · 3 min read · checked against its sources
In the years before periods stop, some people find their premenstrual weeks getting harder, or notice them for the first time. This stretch is called perimenopause, and it is different for everyone.
Why it can change
PMDD can get worse around big hormonal changes in life, such as pregnancy, giving birth and menopause. Perimenopause is one of them. Periods often change first: they may come more or less often, and get heavier or lighter.
For a brain that reacts to the monthly rise and fall, a less regular cycle can make the hard weeks harder to predict.
Telling them apart
Perimenopause can bring mood swings, low mood and brain fog of its own, on any day of the cycle, and poor sleep makes them worse. What still points to your cycle is timing: worse before a period, easing after it starts. A daily record shows that, even when the dates get less regular.
Worth raising early
If your hard weeks are changing in your forties, tell your doctor what has changed and when, and bring the record. Perimenopause is common and there is help for it, so it is a conversation worth having sooner rather than later.
Keep the record your doctor needs. Tideline is a period and mood tracker for iPhone: write one sentence a day, and after two cycles it puts the week before your period next to the week after it starts. Free to track, no account.
Get Tideline on the App Store