Confused as to what the hell is causing your mood to swing, depression and anxiety to spiral, insomnia, headaches, bloating, food cravings and more. It may be PMDD

PMDD stands for Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, which is a severe form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) that affects some women during the luteal phase of their menstrual cycle (this is the time between ovulation and your period). Within 1-2 days of menstruation, it can be like a switch, with little to no symptoms until after ovulation in the next cycle.

What is the difference between PMDD and PMS?

While becoming pregnant is an exciting time in a person’s life, many are shocked at the toll it can take on their body even from those early first weeks. Nausea, vomiting, huge amounts of growth, increased blood volume, on top of actually growing a human, cause many people to become depleted of key nutrients during pregnancy. On top of this many people are actually starting pregnancy depleted of iron and vitamin D, while folate has huge importance in the early days of pregnancy, before many people even know they are pregnant.

Egg quality is one of the key factors in supporting a woman’s fertility. Poor quality eggs are less likely to fertilise as may essentially ‘dissolve’ when fertilised. Poor quality also means the precious DNA contained within them, is not good quality which can affect fertilisation and implantation leading to infertility or chromosomal abnormalities, which is the most common cause of miscarriage.

Why might my eggs not be of good quality?

For many women their fertility plan goes as follows:

- Take pill for 5-20 years, to prevent falling pregnant

- Stop pill and expect to fall pregnant within 3 months

The problem with this plan is it often fails, and it doesn’t take into consideration the negative effects of the pill on fertility and a woman’s body that she needs to recover from well in advance of conceiving a baby.

When I work with a woman during preconception and pregnancy I am always looking at optimising her microbiome in all areas of the body- gut, oral, vaginal and uterine to support a healthy transfer of bugs to her baby to be. But what about when they leave your womb? There are some simple steps we can take to optimise a baby's arrival and hit of bacteria from the outside world.

Progesterone’s main role is to maintain the uterine lining (endometrium) after ovulation which allows a fertilised egg to implant, aka pregnancy. If there was no conception in a cycle, progesterone levels will slowly start to fall, causing the endometrial lining to shed and you have your menstrual period.

The preconception period is one the most important stages of your future baby’s health as both parents are setting up their baby’s DNA for life. Essentially inside an egg and sperm cell is the DNA or we could think of as blueprint, that will be joined together to create your baby. Dietary and lifestyle choices during the preconception period can influence this DNA for better, or worse.

5 common myths about PCOS

It all begins with an idea.

So, while it is best to start your preconception journey with removing the above factors, thankfully we also have some wonderful nutrients to support men’s fertility.

These are the most important nutrients a woman needs during preconception for a healthy pregnancy and baby.