PMDD & Me: How Micro-Dosing Mushrooms Helped Me Be Less Bitchy

July 1, 2026
By Isabella DeChard

This article first appeared in the Psychedelics edition of Fat Nugs Magazine, published in the summer of 2025

Ever since my teenage years, I was labeled “bitchy” during moments of heightened emotions. Minor annoyances would spoil my entire day, and as I got older, drastic waves of sadness or anger started interfering with my relationships. Any typical emotional response seemed like I often felt it tenfold, and would debilitate my everyday life.

It took me a long time, well into adulthood, to learn how to sort through intense feelings, stressors, and personal waves of depression. Eventually, I discovered that what I was experiencing was related to premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).

PMDD & Me

PMDD is a severe form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) symptoms, both emotional and physical. For me, it causes a range of intense mood swings, chronic pain and cramps, fatigue, feelings of helplessness, depression, and anxiety. Studies show it’s not exactly a hormone imbalance, but a neuroendocrine disorder. This essentially means that my brain has an abnormal sensitivity to the normal fluctuations of ovarian hormones during the luteal and menstrual phases.

My symptoms often occur mainly during the luteal phase, which typically falls around day 13-15 of a 28-day monthly cycle for women. If you felt glued to a tumultuous emotional rollercoaster every luteal phase like I did, you would’ve also spent sleepless nights desperately scanning Google for answers. Finally identifying this for what it was felt validating, but then it was time to understand the cause and solution.

Kicking off my general research into women’s health disorders, there is one fact that, when I first read it, felt like a total sucker punch to my gut: It wasn’t until 1993 that women were included in any pharmaceutical trials.

For reference, Adobe Photoshop launched in 1990, so up until just three years later, all pharmaceutical clinical trials only included men. This lack of information and inclusivity of women in clinical trials can arguably be due to the history of Western science’s invalidation and dismissal of psychological and physical pain experienced by women.

When I started to explore clinical research related to the symptoms I was experiencing, it became clear that most available studies primarily focused on men. The studies addressing women’s health disorders, particularly those related to PMDD and other menstrual issues, were often disappointingly vague. (Balch, 2024)

I read about a key study in 2017 that revealed ADHD symptoms in women with regular menstrual cycles worsened during low estrogen periods. From 2020 to 2022, ADHD diagnoses in women aged 23 to 49 nearly doubled. Stimulant prescriptions for women and girls rose by 14% in just one year. (Dennis, 2024) While I understand stimulants and certain pharmaceuticals can be imperative to one’s healthcare, I don’t believe in them as a band-aid solution.

With so many questions still unanswered, I began exploring natural aids that could better support my symptoms, creating a path for insight into my own wellness.

Exploring Natural Remedies for PMDD

I tried many different herbal supplements like Chasteberry, Vitamin B6, dong quai, Lemon balm, and licorice root. Herbal tinctures infused with cannabis and CBG have been supportive during challenging emotions, and throughout this exploration of plant medicines for mental health, I discovered that psychedelics played a crucial role in my healing.

My research hit a new level when I finished Ayelet Waldman’s book A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life. With her background as an experienced public defender, novelist, and mother, she writes about her 30-day trial with microdosing LSD: 10 micrograms every three days.

Diagnosed with bipolar II disorder and PMDD, she exhausted all options before she came across James Fadiman’s The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide and wanted to see what feeling “better” through psychedelics meant. Her daily log and journal excerpts of her microdosing exploration are authentic and honest. She shares her bad days as equally as the good, including interesting insights and the science behind how it’s interacting with her body.

Waldman explains that psilocybin and its prodrug, psilocin, are tryptamine alkaloids that mimic the actions of serotonin neurotransmitters. Studies are showing that psychedelics boost neuroplasticity in the brain, increasing brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels, which supports the development of new neurons and synapses. (Ly, 2018) What’s happening is a mix of improved cognitive functions and neurological factors that can change negative thought patterns associated with disorders like PMDD.

Another study I read was a clinical case series led by Natalie Gukasyan and Sasha Narayan. The series explored the idea that changes in menstrual health could be linked to the impact of psilocybin on the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis, which plays a vital role in regulating hormonal and reproductive functions. (Gukasyan, 2024)

The study examined three women between 27 and 34, who all reported notable changes in their menstrual cycles after using psychedelics. Notable results included the return of menstruation after periods of amenorrhea, an unexpectedly early onset of menstruation when psychedelics were taken during the luteal phase, and improved cycle regularity in one participant diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).

Another clinical trial backs up this information on how classic psychedelics (LSD and psilocybin) interact with the brain’s serotonin 5-HT₂A receptors to influence neurobiological effects of mood, perception, and cognition. This research further shows that psychedelics may enhance neuroplasticity and emotional processing. (Vollenweider, 2010)

Could Microdosing Make A Difference for My PMDD?

Inspired by Waldman’s success in A Really Good Day, I opted for my own self-experimentation to see how psychedelics, specifically psilocybin, could improve my mental and menstrual health.

I experimented with The Stamets Stack, a microdosing protocol developed by famed mycologist Paul Stamets. This powerful blend effectively supports brain health, enhances cognition, and promotes neurogenesis.

Each dose of this supplement combines a microdose of psilocybin mushrooms, which boosts brain neuroplasticity while improving mood and cognitive flexibility. The addition of lion’s mane mushroom promotes the production of nerve growth factor (NGF), supporting neuron growth and repair. (Aloe, 2015) My microdose supplements also include maca root, which offers adaptogenic support for energy and reproductive health.

It took me longer than I’d like to admit that talk therapy alone wasn’t going to pull me out of the dark trenches of PMDD. Acupuncture and SSRIs offered temporary relief, but felt like soothing band-aids. Even as a heavy toker, cannabis sometimes amplified my anxiety when I was feeling my lowest.

After a decent experimental period, I found myself feeling lighter and brighter from microdosing psychedelics, with fewer severe grey clouds from PMDD holding me down. I embraced the difference and dug even deeper, exploring ways to incorporate plant medicine and herbs into my health regimen, while connecting with reputable brands that support women’s wellness.

One standout, Hello Again, creates vaginal suppositories with hemp-derived cannabinoids and botanicals that directly target menstrual symptoms like cramps, menopause, and sleepless nights. The tincture brand Yummi Karma has given me sweet relief on bad days, with mindful formulas using full-spectrum cannabinoids. Microdosing psilocybin has also become a conscious and regular part of my mental health routine.

Pairing these practices with my psilocybin Stamets Stack also meant including a steady rhythm of exercise, nourishing foods, and art therapy. Just like set and setting can influence a psychedelic trip, these factors of my mental health have all helped me as a hippie stay less bitchy.

As Waldman concluded in her microdosing memoir, “Microdosing makes me both irritable and able to tolerate irritability.” I couldn’t agree more. Sure, I still have rough days and moments of frustration, but I feel more emotionally in tune, more resilient, and better able to steer the rollercoaster I’m riding.

For women, the hormonal, neurological, and emotional shifts we experience throughout our reproductive cycles mirror the nuances of psychedelic interactions. Both tap into our brain-body connection, affecting each of us uniquely based on our individual hormone and chemical makeup, and no two responses or reactions are ever the same.

This journey taught me that no one else can define what works for my body other than myself. It took time, patience, and plenty of trial and error to find my own affinity, and the work and progress around it keep flowing.

Psychedelics aren’t a one-size-fits-all, and that’s exactly the beauty of it. Holistic wellness will look different for everyone, and there will be many elements and factors to consider in its exploration. We each hold the power to decode our rhythms and advocate for what health truly means to us.

Today, I feel more grounded, more aligned, and deeply connected to the healing that plant medicine brings me.