PMDD or
PME?

By Ben Jonas Goedeke · 3 min read · checked against its sources

Some people feel low or anxious most of the month, and noticeably worse in the days before their period. That pattern has a name of its own: premenstrual exacerbation, or PME.

How the two differ

With PMDD, symptoms arrive after ovulation and clear within a few days of bleeding. In between, you feel like yourself.

With PME, a condition you already live with, such as depression, anxiety or ADHD, is there all month and gets louder before your period. It does not bring new symptoms. It turns up the ones you have.

Why the difference matters

The two can look alike, and the answer changes what helps. With PME, care usually starts with the underlying condition, with extra support planned for the days before your period.

PME is still mostly studied in research and is not yet an official diagnosis, so not every doctor will use the word. You can describe the pattern instead: "I feel this all month, and it gets much worse before my period."

The record tells them apart

Daily notes over at least two cycles are how the two are separated. Good days between the bad weeks point one way. A low that never quite lifts points the other. Tideline keeps every kind of day, so the pattern shows either way.

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

Keep reading

• PMS or PMDD? How they differ
• Why doctors ask for two cycles
• Questions for your doctor

Sources

• IAPMD: What is PME?
• IAPMD: Steps to diagnosis