Jules Robinson diagnosed with premenstrual dysphoric disorder

Jules Robinson has gone public about her diagnosis with a “difficult” health condition that made her feel like she “couldn’t function”.

Jules Robinson has revealed her “difficult” battle with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).

The former Married At First Sight contestant shared her diagnosis with the chronic condition – a much more severe form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) – on today’s episode of the Kidspot podcast, The Juggling Act.

While the exact cause of PMDD is unknown, it typically affects women of “child-bearing age”, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine, and has a breadth of physical and psychological symptoms – including nervousness, anger, insomnia, depression and anxiety – that “are so severe that women have troubling functioning at home, at work, and in relationships during this time”.

Robinson, who was diagnosed with the condition 12 months ago, told co-host Mel Wilson she “knew something was wrong” after the birth of her son, Oliver, in 2020.

“It was about three months in, and obviously because you’ve got so many hormones going on [post-partum], you don’t really know if you’re coming or going,” she said.

“But I’d stopped breastfeeding and I’d just got my period [again] and it was just the most intense emotions and feelings.”

Jules Robinson has shared her diagnosis with premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Picture: Jonathan Ng

The former MAFS contestant with her husband, Cam Merchant, and their son, Oliver. Picture: Instagram

The 41-year-old said she felt like she “could sleep for days”.

“I am so emotional [when I’m menstruating]. I actually feel like I can’t get through – you almost feel like you can’t deal with life,” Robinson said.

“I can only explain it as you just feel like you can’t function with life, and I think I cut myself [off] from the world.”

Asked by Wilson if at first, she just thought it was part and parcel of having her period, Robinson said she’s “always suffered a little bit, as in, [I’m] very emotional around that time”.

“But I think that’s quite normal to feel like that. I’ve always been very sensitive,” she added.

“After I had Oliver, it just took another level of that depth of despair, [feeling like] ‘I can’t actually function through today’.

“It got really bad when I was actually in Bali … It was awful. I had really dark, horrible thoughts, and that’s when I was like, ‘This is not me’.”

‘I had really dark, horrible thoughts, and that’s when I was like, ‘This is not me’.’ Picture: Instagram

Robinson went to her doctor, and was ultimately diagnosed with PMDD – for which she’s explored a number of treatment options in the months since, including lifestyle changes like exercise and diet.

“I can say now, a year on, it does depend on many things … it’s been hard,” she said.

“I am next-level, totally different to who I am on a normal basis. It’s not a nice feeling. I naturally am a very happy, upbeat person, and then to literally go, from one day to the next, you can’t get yourself out of that hole.

“[But] it feels really good to talk about it.”