Trigger Warning: This article discusses mental health. Please do not continue if you find this topic triggering.
Married At First Sight Australia star Jules Robinson has opened up about her struggles with premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or PMDD.
Following the birth of her son Oliver in 2020, the young mum realised there was something wrong.
“It was about three months in, and obviously because you’ve got so many hormones going on [post-partum], you don’t really know if you’re coming or going,” she revealed on her podcast The Juggling Act with co-host Mel Wilson.
“But I’d stopped breastfeeding and I’d just got my period [again] and it was just the most intense emotions and feelings.”
Jules explained the feeling as being unable to “function with life” and was incredibly lethargic, where she then “cut [herself] off from the world.”
While the pain and high emotions was something she had “always suffered” with, the “depth of despair” intensified after Oli’s birth in October 2020.
“After I had Oliver, it just took another level of that depth of despair, [feeling like] ‘I can’t actually function through today’.”
“It got really bad when I was actually in Bali… It was awful. I had really dark, horrible thoughts, and that’s when I was like, ‘This is not me’.”
Eventually a doctor diagnosed the reality tv star and business owner with PMDD which is a severe form of premenstrual syndrome, or PMS.
A year on from her diagnosis, Jules admitted “it’s been hard.”
“I am next-level, totally different to who I am on a normal basis. It’s not a nice feeling. I naturally am a very happy, upbeat person, and then to literally go, from one day to the next, you can’t get yourself out of that hole.”
With doctor’s help, Jules has made significant changes to her lifestyle in order to reduce the symptoms of PMDD including diet and exercise.