Christina’s Story
A life of brilliance and a silent battle.
Christina Bohn was an accomplished person, who had a wonderful, abundant life. From the time she was young, she seemed to shine in every direction. In high school, she was admired for her kindness, talent, and drive. She sang beautifully, played piano, excelled in academics, and thrived in athletics.
After high school, she attended Brigham Young University in Utah, where she entered the nursing program. While studying, she taught economics labs, conducted nursing research, and graduated as valedictorian. Christina went on to become a thoracic ICU nurse — admired by colleagues, loved by friends, and cherished by her family.
But behind her radiant smile, Christina carried a hidden struggle.
For years, she masked symptoms of a condition few understood: Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD). Unlike PMS, PMDD is a severe, hormone-based mood disorder that can cause depression, anxiety, psychosis, and even suicidality. Because symptoms appear in one part of the month – the two weeks before menstruation – they are often misdiagnosed or dismissed. In the two weeks before her period, Christina would experience intense depression and anxiety, and for years, she was able to mask her symptoms; her parents, her roommates, and other close friends had no idea.
“It’s a spectrum disorder which is how Christina could hide her symptoms for years,” said Marybeth Bohn, Christina’s mother. “School semesters, test dates, due dates and things to look forward to would keep her moving. After she graduated, she had work schedules and volunteered at her church where she was always planning events. When Covid happened, everything halted, and she didn’t have anything moving her forward. That’s when symptoms increased dramatically.”
Christina was misdiagnosed several times over the years. At one point, doctors said she had bipolar disorder, one of the most common errors made in PMDD cases. Christina was always willing to try anything – antidepressants, anxiolytics, mood stabilizers, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)–with little to no success.
Christina described her PMS as lasting for two weeks at a time, but her parents didn’t know what that meant. None of them knew there was something far worse than PMS. By October 2020, Christina’s symptoms escalated, and she left her home, her husband and her two young kids to stay with her parents for two and a half weeks to recover from yet another misdiagnosis (treatment resistant depression) and the prescribed treatment: electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). After 11 ECT sessions, she needed the time to sleep and recover. She never returned to her husband and children because her symptoms were so serious that she needed more medical help, and her husband could not care for her and the children. Her parents witnessed her go from having suicidal thoughts to having suicide attempts and psychosis.
“Her first suicide attempt and her first time experiencing psychosis was after Thanksgiving 2020,” Marybeth said. “I thought she was finally sleeping in after having insomnia for three weeks because her bedroom door was shut, but she had snuck out early in the morning, and the police found her in the woods in full psychosis.”
After another suicide attempt, Christina was brought back to life when a surgeon happened to discover her and performed CPR. Almost a month later, Christina told her mom that she would never attempt again, but that promise lasted only two days. In the ER, Christina said, “Mom, I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if I can explain it. Something just took over. I’m so glad to be alive.” Several hours later, Christina started her period.
Christina had 11 suicide attempts in one year.
Hospitalized repeatedly, Christina spent more than 100 days cumulatively between two behavioral health units during her final year. Each hospitalization coincided with the start of her period, but nobody made the connection. When Marybeth asked doctors if her cycle could be involved, the idea was dismissed.
Christina continued seeking help, still no one asked the most basic question: Could this be connected to her cycle?
In July 2021, after nine months of watching Christina suffer, Marybeth was lying in bed when she heard a voice urging her to look up “menstrual psychosis.” She did an Internet search, and articles about PMDD came up. That night, she read everything she could about PMDD. Suddenly, the puzzle pieces fit: Christina’s cycle, her hospitalizations, her symptoms – all aligned with PMDD.
The next morning, Marybeth called Christina in the hospital to tell her they figured it out – she had PMDD! Christina told her parents that she had likely experienced PMDD since high school, but she had learned to hide it.
Christina’s inpatient psychiatrist recommended seeing a gynecologist right away. He was aware that birth control (one of the evidence-based treatments for PMDD) had worsened her symptoms, so he recommended she see a gynecologist to start chemical menopause and eventually have a Total Hysterectomy with Bilateral Salpingo-Oophorectomy (THBSO) the removal of the uterus, cervix, both fallopian tubes and both ovaries.
The first gynecologist told her she was “doing great” and to remain on the prescription from her psychiatrist (with a potentially deadly antipsychotic). The second gynecologist canceled the appointment just a few days before because he felt her PMDD was too severe for him to treat. The third gynecologist disregarded Christina’s negative history with birth control and chose to decline the psychiatrist’s request for chemical menopause and prescribed a birth control patch.
Through it all, Christina remained compliant and wore a hormone patch. At one point, Christina shared how much she was enjoying a beautiful fall day, and Marybeth thought, “Wow! What a difference! I think we’re on our way!” Little did she know, Christina was journaling her suicide plans.
“We didn’t learn what PMDD was until the final three months of Christina’s life, and by then, it was too late,” Marybeth said. Christina died by suicide on Nov, 3, 2021, at age 33.
Christina’s story is not unique. PMDD affects one in 20 women — as many as 4.2 million in the U.S. alone(1). It is often misdiagnosed, most commonly as bipolar disorder. The statistics are staggering:
- 72% of women with PMDD experience suicidal thoughts
- 49% make plans
- 34% attempt suicide(2)
“It takes an average of 12 years to receive a diagnosis due to lack of awareness, yet a diagnosis can happen in a matter of two or three months after tracking daily if a provider knows about PMDD,” Marybeth said. “It’s important to know PMDD can happen at any time during the reproductive years–from a girl’s first period or anytime on through perimenopause.”
PMDD is not simply “bad PMS.” It is a severe, biological disorder that can be fatal. “PMDD is like being thrown out in the open ocean in a storm and you’ve got to try to tread water for two weeks,” Marybeth said. “It’s dark, frightening, overwhelming, and exhausting to deal with these symptoms that keep coming with no breaks until bleeding begins.”
Families, providers, and communities must learn to ask the right questions, which Christina suggested to her mom when she learned she had PMDD. The Bohn’s call these “Christina’s Questions:”
- When was your last period?
- When are you expecting your next period?
- What is PMS like for you?
“If you know someone who seems full of life one week and disappears the next, who breaks down before every period, who has tried every therapy, but the darkness returns every month – it might be PMDD,” said Maybeth.
Symptoms include extreme mood swings, depression, anger, rage, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, brain fog, and feeling like a different person before the period.
Awareness is the first step in getting help(3). “We are proud of the history we’ve made so far, in honor of Christina, to increase awareness of PMDD and to help more women,” Marybeth said.
In 2023, Steve and Marybeth worked with the Missouri Legislature to pass the nation’s first annual PMDD Awareness Day, which is on Christina’s birthday, Oct, 2. In 2024, they launched the annual Christina Bohn Memorial 5K for PMDD Awareness that brought together women from 18 states and two countries. One month later, they started the Christina Bohn Foundation.
By Erin Wegner
To support the Christina Bohn Foundation or to find resources, visit www.ChristinaBohnFoundation.org.