u/ndnd_of_omicron

Hey y'all! I hope everyone is having a restful Sunday.

Some of the mod team have been looking into a supplement called HerLuteal, which has been showing up in ads that specifically target people with PMDD in the U.S. This was brought to my attention first when a user of r/PMDD posted about it last week and -after a cursory glance- some red flags popped up. After some digging, it became more and more clear that this supplement company was out to scam people.

The "lead formulator" (a PhD credentialed neuroscientist who has specialized in PMDD) does not exist. Her headshot is AI generated (tested across multiple detection tools) and we were unable to find any real person matching her name and credentials across peer-reviewed literature, professional registries, or the organisation she claims to be affiliated with.

https://preview.redd.it/u94udxmm40hh1.png?width=1317&format=png&auto=webp&s=17fd0fbf6e2b2f9d18523d63eae0770ab3f5c849

https://preview.redd.it/hu97l4yq40hh1.png?width=1567&format=png&auto=webp&s=bf664615333016d732aebe69284ae2a2ebbd796b

https://preview.redd.it/f967z58s40hh1.png?width=1290&format=png&auto=webp&s=3d6d5b5e9a5d715bc295c29ebb2fde3832f5db9a

The company's "founder" also could not be verified as a real person, despite her personal experience of PMDD being front and center of their sales page. Her photo was also identified as AI generated via detection tools.

https://preview.redd.it/cx5qd6cw40hh1.png?width=1327&format=png&auto=webp&s=b56976cfa18638f29c8850f36d10b390c9a276a2

https://preview.redd.it/j73rgctx40hh1.png?width=1586&format=png&auto=webp&s=e3dd3035b21ec5a70bd5e15a0d8267df7178599f

https://preview.redd.it/guppra5z40hh1.png?width=1306&format=png&auto=webp&s=975a85a9e9fd843f8d49e9336cb090138fbca103

Diving into the handful of reviews with a name / photo attached, all appear to be AI generated. Both the photos and the review text.

Keep \"15,247 women\" in your head. This is important for my next point.

https://preview.redd.it/9hk2a98j50hh1.png?width=1262&format=png&auto=webp&s=240d54038397f8791300fb92a85cb471be06b4c3

https://preview.redd.it/qd7zb14k50hh1.png?width=1232&format=png&auto=webp&s=275a4757c4148b1e2e35cf8a9a1a34db0f2abc01

https://preview.redd.it/5c2wjcyk50hh1.png?width=1225&format=png&auto=webp&s=3562217dc737029d4c61df71c5f1dfaa7d73843a

https://preview.redd.it/ec3wfyxl50hh1.png?width=1231&format=png&auto=webp&s=2db96946dc9b8181e1024827a32d931706bc2959

https://preview.redd.it/p3m2y67n50hh1.png?width=1232&format=png&auto=webp&s=3d8353f146d072285d26ac5e8c56849fa4d3c839

https://preview.redd.it/zum2cs1o50hh1.png?width=1220&format=png&auto=webp&s=7bffa9dd922ae4abc4a1c4a943728ea5cba52fb5

HerLuteal was registered as a company on 5/29/2026, through a Wyoming address commonly used for shell companies. Despite this, their website contains reviews claiming 4-6 months of use...since before the company existed. Not only this, but they claim that 15,000+ people have tried this supplement and are ostensibly raving about it. As y'all can tell, the math doesn't work.

Initial filing date of LLC was 5/29/2026, 2 months 4 days or 65 calendar days

Taking for 5-6 months.

Taking for 6 months

Taking for 4 months.

The ingredient claims lean heavily on studies done on PMS, not PMDD, and that is important because as you all know PMDD isn't just "worse PMS.” Several of the specific citations on their site don't hold up when you actually go look at the original research, as most of it was done for/on folks with PMS, not PMDD.

Honestly, this seemed like another generic supplement company trying to make a buck off of vulnerable and desperate people, until we saw that they were using our users' posts to promote their scammy ass supplement. They stole OPs' posts, changed OPs' names, and added fake comments recommending their product before using them to advertise on Facebook.

https://preview.redd.it/vka42i0m60hh1.jpg?width=492&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cc92ef1f1c9da8d3b931aed6dd8a8bddea46a6c6

This is the link to OP's post. Note, HerLuteal is NEVER mentioned.

https://www.reddit.com/r/PMDD/s/liVHLkxAKR

https://preview.redd.it/bn0k5oq170hh1.png?width=456&format=png&auto=webp&s=8ff530cf8ef211f4c14aa3c1f2917ca7092be2e4

This is the link to OP's post. Again, HerLuteal is NEVER mentioned.
https://www.reddit.com/r/PMDD/s/ZIgeFFTzo9

And yeah, that...uh... really pissed us off to say the least. So, we wanted to warn our community. Also, because these folks trying to scam off our community are apparently sub lurkers, we wanted to let them know that we are on to them. And, because I'm in luteal and feeling ALL the luteal vibes, I've already filed a lengthy report with the FTC for some of the more technical legal issues with how they are advertising to folks with PMDD, as advertising supplements to folks with actual medical conditions in the US is not exactly legal.

We care deeply about this community. And, we know how badly this community wants something that actually helps, and we know how exhausting it is to be dismissed or to feel like nothing works. That's exactly why predatory marketing like this targets us specifically. This isn't about shaming anyone who's already tried it or was considering it. It's genuinely hard to spot this stuff, because it's built to look credible.

If you've already purchased this product and want to pursue a refund, most companies advertising a money-back guarantee are legally obligated to honor it. If you'd like to report what you've seen to the FTC, you can do so here: reportfraud.ftc.gov. If you need help with this form, please ping me to help.

Take care of yourselves. We are here if you need us.

Hey folks. Time for a twice-a-year PSA.

We've got a wave of new members (again, hi, welcome, sorry about the disorder) and that means it's time to remind everyone: this is Reddit, not TikTok. You will not get demonetized. Nobody's grandma is finding out that you say "fuck" or "sex" or "weed".

At least, I won't tell.

You can say the actual words. In fact, we really prefer it if you do. Truly.

That means: no "unalive," no "sewerside," no "seggs," no "grape" when you mean rape, no "spicy pillow" when you mean bed, none of the algospeak. And this includes throwing asterisks into the middle of words too. S***cide is still suicide. K*ll is still kill. D*e is Die.

Same goes for medication names. Sertraline is not a slur. Prozac will not get your post nuked. Cymbalta doesn't need asterisks either. Say what you're taking.

And you can talk about weed here. It's not w33d or w€€d.

The asterisks don't make it safer or softer, they just make posts harder to read and honestly kind of harder to search, which matters when someone's trying to find posts about a specific symptom or situation. Say the word. This is a science-based sub for a legitimate DSM-5 disorder, and clarity matters here more than almost anywhere, because half of what gets posted is people trying to describe symptoms accurately enough that someone else can go "oh my god, same" or a mod can point them toward the right resource. Euphemisms and asterisk-mangled words both work against that.

Another thing a lot of folks don't think about - there's also an accessibility issues. People who use screen readers can end up with words spelled out letter by letter or mangled into nonsense when there's an asterisk jammed in the middle, which is a genuinely bad experience for someone who's blind or low vision and just trying to read a post like everyone else. And for folks who use trigger warning tools or content filters that scan for specific words to flag or soften sensitive content before it hits their screen, algospeak and asterisks defeat the whole purpose. Those tools are looking for the actual word. If you write around it, the filter can't do its job, and the person it was supposed to protect gets blindsided instead. So self-censoring here doesn't just make things harder to read, it can actively undermine the accessibility tools other members are relying on.

If your post gets pulled for filler words or self-censorship, don't panic, don't spiral in the modmail about it. Just edit it, drop us a polite modmail letting us know it's fixed, and we'll reapprove it.

We're not trying to piss in anyone's cheerios - we just need the sub to actually function and be accessible, and vague-speak makes moderation slower and harder for everyone, including you.

For the deeper why behind this policy, u/Natural-Confusion885 wrote up the full explanation a while back, linked here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PMDD/comments/1kh21x4/censorship_and_rpmdd/

Carry on. Swear as needed.

Hi friends! Hope everyone is having a nice weekend!

We're at 150k members now, which means a lot of you are new here, and a lot of you have never seen this post before. So we're doing it again. Mark your calendars, this is probably going to become a biannual tradition at this rate as we keep growing

As most of y'all know, PMS and PMDD are not the same thing.

Premenstrual Syndrome affects up to 75% of people who menstruate at some point in their lives. It involves physical and emotional symptoms in the days before your period, things like bloating, breast tenderness, mild irritability, fatigue. It's common, it's manageable, and for most people it does not significantly disrupt daily life. It does not have formal DSM diagnostic criteria because it isn't classified as a psychiatric condition.

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder is different in kind, not just in degree. It's classified in the DSM-5 as a depressive disorder. To be diagnosed, you need at least five specific symptoms, including at least one core mood symptom, confirmed through prospective daily tracking across a minimum of two menstrual cycles. Those symptoms have to cause clinically significant distress or impairment in your work, your relationships, your ability to function. PMDD carries a substantially elevated risk of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. It is treated with SSRIs as a first-line intervention, often at doses and schedules that don't apply to any other condition SSRIs are used for. None of that is true of PMS.

So when PMDD gets called "really bad PMS," it's not just inaccurate, it's a different category of illness being flattened into a more socially acceptable, more easily dismissed one. PMS is a societal annoyance everyone nods along to. PMDD is a diagnosis that has cost people their jobs, their relationships, and in the worst cases, their lives. Those two things are not interchangeable, and treating them like they are makes it easier for the people around you, and sometimes even your own doctors, to underestimate what you're actually dealing with.

Culturally, PMS gets treated like a punchline. "Oh, she's cranky, throw that cranky bitch some chocolate." That framing is degrading on its own, but when it gets applied to PMDD, it actively does harm. PMDD is not "PMS with a cape." It's not "PMS on steroids" or "PMS on crack" or PMS that joined a CrossFit cult. It is a separate, clinically recognized, and demonstrably more severe disorder. Saying "I'm PMSing" when you mean PMDD diminishes a debilitating, sometimes life-threatening condition down to a cultural stereotype about moodiness.

We're not here to police anyone's language harshly. But we do keep this distinction enforced in this space, because language affects whether people take your experience seriously, whether you get the right support, and whether the conversation stays grounded in what's actually happening medically.

So yes, we remove posts and comments that use "PMS" when describing PMDD symptoms. This does not mean you don't have PMDD. It means we're asking you to call it what it is.

What can you call it instead? Luteal. Hell week. Dark days. Whatever accurately describes your experience. Just not PMS.

If your post or comment was removed for this, send us a modmail letting us know you've updated it to reflect PMDD rather than PMS, and we'll reapprove it.

Thanks for understanding, and welcome to all 150k of you. We mean it when we say this is a science-based space. That starts with getting the words right.