I've been crying for the past two days straight. Every month it's the same story... the week leading up to my period makes me crazy. To say I have mood swings doesn't begin to describe it. I'm talking hysterical crying. I've been so upset that I've called in sick the past two days at work, and I finally went to see my doctor yesterday.

I'd been in to see her for the PMS a few months ago and she told me to exercise and take B vitams, which I've been doing, but there I was again, literally sobbing in her office for no apparent reason. The diagnonsis? Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD). Basically, for one week each month I'm clinically depressed.

Soooo... what to do? I spent part of yesterday afternoon trying to alter my mood with flavored vodka, and as yummy as it was, that was a bad idea. Alcolhol is a depressant. Somehow that fact eludes me at crunch time. Even in my altered state I remembered to call my sister because it was her birthday. I can't seem to recall the actual conversation, however, so Sis, sorry if I cried in your ear or blathered on about god knows what. And Happy Birthday, too (just because I remembered to call doesn't necessarily mean I remembered to say it).

The upswing of all this (in addition to deciding to become alcohol free) is that my doctor prescribed me good ol' Prozac. I'm supposed to take it for two weeks a month - the week before PMS and the week of it. I'd never heard of the use of prozac selectively, but according to my doctor there was a study done by the prozac people about PMS-induced mood swings and drops in seratonin levels, so they now market a drug specifically for sufferers of PMDD (it's essentially prozac with fluffier name).

Prozac, you have claimed another victim. But any minute now I'm expecting that period to arrive, and I can go back to being myself. And next month I'll be better prepared. So THERE, PMDD. Neener, neener, neeeeeeennnneeer.