A former Married at First Sight UK star has opened up about her life with a disorder that effects roughly 5% of women. Kristina Goodsell was a bride in season nine of Married at First Sight UK, where the relationship experts set her up with Kieran Chapman.
Before heading onto the show, Kristina said she was looking for someone who could “support her and accept her struggles” with a disorder she suffers from, known as Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD).
The NHS describes the symptoms of PMDD as: “similar to PMS, but are much more intense and can have a much greater negative impact on your everyday life.” PMS is the name given to the symptoms women can experience in the weeks before their period.
Symptoms include headaches and joint pain, overeating, problems sleeping, and feeling anxious, angry, depressed or suicidal.
Kristina openly talks about her disorder on social media, often sharing her experiences to TikTok. In one video she says: “I have struggled with my periods for as long as I can remember, I think as soon as I started them.
“And my PMS symptoms have been very, very drastic over the years and I’ve been on every single different type of contraception, going from the average combination pill to implants, to coils, to mixed hormones.”
She went on to say share that she’s really struggled and has never felt “fully at one” with herself. In 2014, she spoke to doctors after researching PMDD but they dismissed it and instead diagnosed her with depression.
However, her symptoms only got worse as she got older. She explained that she had “heightened emotions, very erratic behaviour, erratic thoughts and feelings, very over stimulated, extreme sad thoughts, extreme bloating.”
When Kristina was finally diagnosed with PMDD, she was given a new anti-depressant and a monthly jab, sharing that it would cause early menopause.
In another recent TikTok, she shared the ups and downs of PMDD: “One minute you feel like you’re drowning, the next you’re on cloud nine, forever grateful for the highs no matter how big or small they may be”.
Speaking to Capital, Kristina said it was “easy” for her to share her struggles with husband Kieran, but she was still nervous.
“Because I cared so much for Kieran I was so scared to tell him, I thought he was gonna run but just having that reassurance was just incredible and it really put me at ease,” she said. However, despite the initial strong connection between the couple, they did eventually leave the experiment single.
The NHS have said it is “not clear” what causes PMDD, but “it’s been linked to being very sensitive to changes in hormones, or certain differences in the genes you inherit from your parents.”