By: alyssa

alyssa — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:32:36 +0000

Hi there! I am in Toronto Canada. I have found the most wonderful supportive team here. Women’s College Hospital has a Women’s Mental Health Program. Also known as the Reproductive Life Stages Program. You need a referral to the program from your general doctor(this is pretty standard here in canada) Then an intake worker calls you and does an extensive interview with you on the phone. She then places you with a therapist from their team. (from my doctor sending the referral to seeing my therapist, was only a few weeks) Your therapist will help you to manage your disorder,figure out your medications, supply counseling, refer or enroll you in programs (covered both by public and private health care, my stress workshop is covered by the government) that will help you manage stress, couples counseling,group therapy, one on one etc….. . They also will help you with pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause and menopause. As well as setting you up with a team of doctors if you want to become pregnant or are pregnant. It is an incredibly nurturing environment. I have to say that I have tried everything. The last post I left here I was about to start naturopathy. That was a disaster and I was slowly losing my mind but didn’t know it until PMDD started to make me severely suicidal for the first time in my life and then I knew I needed real medicine to stabilize not vitamins (those are helpful when you are stable!). I didn’t want to post again until I had something positive to say and was feeling well. I am happy to say that I have been stable for 1.5 months straight . I haven’t felt that way in years. I felt good days at a time, maybe a week at the most but never a whole 40 days in a ROW! It’s remarkable. I am not PMDD free nor do I ever expect to be. It was hard to accept that I will never be 100% symptom free, it will always be with me, but at least for once I can manage it instead of it managing me!! I am not unreliable anymore or all over the place. At the end of the day it really is a highly specialised combination of things suited only to your body that will help you heal. And it was hard to accept that I would need to be dependant on medication. but my normal is broken, so i need medication to fix it. for me it’s ssri celexa 7.5 mg twice a day instead of once (a big dose of ssri at once is too hard on my system and i get too many side effects I am glad I had a psychiatrist that allowed me the freedom to play with my doses in an unconventional way) An acid blocker for my stomach, because the stress was getting so bad I developped gastritis, IBS and an ulcer. I take lorazepam when I need to have a good nights sleep or I am really anxious and nothing works. I have body work (myofascial release) done for the crazy joint and muscle pain. I follow a healthy diet. I get a lot! of walking and deep breathing and stretching done which believe it or not can work as well as a lorazepam (I never thought it possible)It is so much easier not to be stressed and anxious when you are properly treated. It takes perserverance and a lot of trial and error…follow your instinct and listen to your body. good luck! will keep you posted.
womens college program….416-323-6230…………ALYSSA.

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By: alyssa