Mindfulness for PMDD with Diane

 Have you ever noticed that when you're having a really tough day it can often feel harder to do the very things that you know will help you to feel a bit better?

Mindfulness can be especially hard to practice on our hard days, even though stress management skills can be helpful for those of us with PMDD or Autism (or other chronic illness or neurodivergence, for that matter).

In this episode, I discuss how to meet yourself where you...

Learn how the Belle app is so much more than a symptom tracker and how it can help you to not only get some relief from PMDD in the short term, but also build resistance over time.

Victoria Schoeffel is the CEO and Co-founder at Belle Health. Victoria was inspired to " change the status quo in female health" after identifying a gap in support for premenstrual dysphoric disorder. While she was at the University of Cambridge, Victoria...

What if I told you that you don't need to meditate or do a mindfulness exercise to practice mindfulness?


What if I also told you that it is an act of mindfulness to:

• kindly acknowledge how much things suck right now
• recognize your needs
• and choose to move forward by giving yourself what you need right now

That's what I talk about in this episode. 

I also share how I haven't been practicing mindfulnes...

Do you feel like you spend so much time managing your PMDD that you are losing touch with: 

• the things that are important to you?
• the things that bring you joy?
• the people you love to be around?

This absolutely happened to me. And it makes sense!


It makes sense that when when PMDD is taking over our lives, we want to do everything we can to feel better and get back to living.


And...

In this episode, Shamash Alidina and I discuss: 

• How living with PMDD, or other chronic illness, can lead us to pause our life while we try to heal 
• And how this can lead to losing touch with ourselves and the things that bring value, meaning and purpose to our lives

Shamash and I talk about how making room for our challenges, and turning back to the things that are meaningful for us, can help us to live a riche...

Last month, I shared that I recently learned I'm Autistic. This month I'm talking about the autistic burnout I've been in since the summer. Specifically:

• What triggered autistic burnout
• The first signs I was in burnout
• How I realized I was in autistic burnout and had it confirmed
• How autistic burnout came on just before my autism assessment
• The symptoms of autistic burnout I'm experiencing
• What I'm doing to help myself throug...

Cheryl Crow, OTR/L, is an occupational therapist who lives with Rheumatoid arthritis and runs a support group for others living with chronic illness. She also practices and applies Acceptance and Commitment Therapy into her own life and in her work.

In our chat, Cheryl shares about:

• Her diagnosis story and experience with medical gaslighting
• How she came to run a support group for people with rheumatoid arthritis and chron...

I recently had an Autism assessment and learned that I am in fact Autistic.

In this episode I discuss what led me to pursue an Autism assessment, how I've been feeling since having my Autism confirmed, and what this has to do with my PMDD and this podcast.

Mentioned in this episode:

Aspergirls by Rudy Simone

Unmasking Autism by Devon Price, PhD.

Dr. Stephen Shore

Connect with me!

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Have you ever said or done something in luteal that left you cringing with guilt and shame?

Have you wondered whether you might have bipolar disorder or PMDD or both?

Want to know how to tweak your daily routines to help boost your mood?

This episode is for you! 

On it, I chat with Robyn Tamanaha, LMFT, a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, based out of California. Robyn specializes in Bipolar...

You know the feeling...

You're in your luteal phase and along comes some negative thought--about yourself, your life, your PMDD--and before you even know what is happening you are getting swept up in that thought and down an endless spiral of ruminating on this thought. You are now going down the rabbit hole with this thought, unable to let it go, and maybe even believing whatever awful thing this thought is telling you. In...

I discovered Nikki Wilson’s Mindfulness work when I was in the throes of my own birth trauma drama, which ultimately led to a diagnosis of PTSD. While I was searching for help & support and seeking out a diagnosis, I needed something to help me survive and get through the difficult early days of new motherhood. At that time, Nikki had created, and was single-handedly running, a Mindfulness for Mums program, called 10 of Z...

I like this meditation for helping to align body and mind, so you can use this one if:

• you're feeling disconnected from your body
• you're feeling up in your head with your thoughts
• you're experiencing some uncomfortable sensations in your body
• you want to explore trying to bring some ease and more comfort into your body

It can be nice in the luteal phase of your menstrual cycle or anytime, PMDD or otherwise!

S...

Do you find it hard to take care of yourself when you've also got kids to parent, a demanding job, a partner to show up for, and bills to pay? Then you need to listen to this interview with Ali Cornish.

I reached out to Ali because I wanted to talk to another chronic illness warrior who has embraced simple living, minimalism, and mindfulness. Because I've learned that while we may have different diagnoses, often those of us ...

So much of my resistance to PMDD came from trying to maintain the charade of perfection that I'd been trying to keep up my whole life!

Mindfulness and Acceptance taught me to be present, not perfect. That the full spectrum of emotions is normal. That the aim is not to feel better, but to get better at feeling.

And here's the crazy thing that happened when I let those ideas in...not ONLY did I feel so much better in my...

Have you thought: "Is this grief? Am I going through grief right now?"

Have you wondered why your experiences don't quite match up with the 5 Stages of Grief model we've all heard about?

If you've got PMDD or any other chronic illness, chances are that, yea, you very well may have experienced grief as a result or are going through grief right now.

Sarah McCauley LMFT is here to validate our feelings of grief an...

If you feel like you have tried all the PMDD treatments and suggested self-management tools and strategies and STILL feel like you're trapped in a vicious cycle with PMDD, you need to listen to this episode.

I was there. That was me. Literally doing EVERYTHING I could to take care of myself--to optimize my health and minimize my symptoms--and guess what??

No matter how good of a place I got myself to, no matter how mu...

I cannot stop seeing the commonalities between Minimalism and Mindfulness!

In this episode, Emily and I chat about:

• Minimalism and Simple Living and their relevance to living with PMDD and Chronic Illness
• How my relationships with minimalism and mindfulness are connected
• Unexplained fertility and in vitro fertilization
• Motherhood
• The science behind clutter and stress
• How to simplify to decrease decision fatigue
• The impact of ro...

Does PMDD make it really tough to be around other people?

Do you deal with feelings of isolation and anxiety in even the simplest of interactions? 

I used to hide from my landscapers, no joke!

Classic kindness helps us to take a step back and see the common humanity we all share. 

You are not alone in your struggles. When you are reminded of this, it may feel a bit easier to navigate the challe...

Does your PMDD lead you feel isolated, alone and misunderstood around others...even with friends, family and colleagues? Do you suffer with social anxiety over chatting with a neighbor or making a routine phone call? Does feeling unseen, unheard, and sensitive to rejection cause tension between you and your partner?

This is all super common in PMDD. I myself have experienced every one of these issues!

Then, I found a ...