There are some studies showing that birth control pills (especially drospirenone-containing oral contraceptives (DCOC) – brand name “Yaz”) are helpful for PMDD. However, not all studies show a benefit of the DCOC over a placebo, and they don’t appear to perform as well as SSRIs for treating PMDD.
Of note, all of these studies showing a benefit of this type of birth control pill (DCOC) use a 24-4 schedule (24 active pills, 4 inactive pills) or continuous schedule (where no inactive or ‘sugar’ pills are taken -so you ‘skip’ the sugar pills every month).
None of the studies looking at a 21-7 schedule for oral contraceptives (that is, taking birth control pills for 21 days and the sugar pills for 7 days) showed a benefit for those with PMDD. We suspect this is because patients experience more hormone fluctuations during and after the 7 days of inactive pills (sugar pills) on the 21-7 schedule, and therefore the PMDD symptoms occur.
So if you take oral contraceptives for PMDD, the evidence suggests you should start with a DCOC (such as “Yaz”) and use it on a a 24-4 or continuous dosing schedule (no sugar pills!)
However, many women and AFAB individuals with PMDD cannot tolerate the progestins in hormonal contraceptives (pill, patch, shot, implant) at all. This progestin-sensitive syndrome has been recognized by the International Society for Premenstrual Disorders and is an active area of investigation in several European laboratories. Unfortunately, however, we don’t yet understand who is at risk for a negative reaction to hormonal contraceptives, so it is a trial and error situation.
Although birth control pills might be more appealing because they impact the reproductive system, SSRIs are actually the first-line medical treatment for PMDD— they probably work by helping to regulate serotonin in the brain and by increasing conversion of progesterone to neurosteroids, which probably increases neurosteroid stability and thereby reduces symptoms. So even though they are working in the brain and not the reproductive system, they do address the biological mechanisms of PMDD symptoms.
It should also be noted that SSRIs seem to work faster in PMDD than in depression/anxiety-- they start to beat placebo (sugar pill) after about one day. So they might work differently in PMDD than they do in depression.
Updated 12 January, 2020 by Tory Eisenlohr-Moul, PhD