Using theatre to deal with 'unwanted visitor who won't go'

An actor and writer from West Yorkshire has created a play about her experience with premenstrual dysphoric disorder, also known as PMDD.

- by Jennifer Cartwright

PMDD is a severe form of premenstrual syndrome. It refers to a range of emotional and physical symptoms people may experience in the days or weeks before a period.

For Nichole, who first started experiencing PMDD at 12 years old, she remembers having “massive breakdowns” in her teenage years due to intrusive thoughts but was told how she felt was normal.

According to Nichole, going to university exacerbated her condition. She became isolated as she experienced “breakdown after breakdown”, panic attacks, anger and suicidal ideation.

She said: “By the time I had got to uni it was so out of control. That's when I knew something was wrong. I was completely isolated. Nobody knew what I was going through.”