Article #38971

Mothers with PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder) explain how it has affected their relationship with their families

Laura Daly was six the first time she suspected something was wrong with her mum, Wendy. Furious at locking herself out of the house, Wendy reversed and rammed the car into their garage door once, twice, then three times, as Laura cowered silently in the back, her head flopping forwards with each smash. On the seventh smash, the garage door contorted just enough for Laura to squeeze under, get into the house and fetch the keys.

“It was like I was watching myself,” Wendy Barker, 56, says of this moment now. “Nothing would’ve stopped me.”