Anxiety/OCD worse during your period?

bhession · April 2012

I'm pleased to say that I am feeling more and more like myself with each passing month...My husband and I have even started to talk about trying for #2. Part of me is nervous because of what I went through last summer with out of control anxiety and intrusive thoughts, but I feel confident that I will never allow myself to get to that place again. I recognize the signs and know what to do if ever those thoughts or feelings resurface.

In any case, we all know that for many of us, OCD and anxiety are things that we have struggled with for a while...long before ever having children, and it is not something that will ever just totally disappear. While we learn to cope and deal with our thoughts, unfortunately so much of it is in our genetic and chemical make up.

Does anyone find that they seem to be doing fine, but feel that their symptoms of anxiety/OCD are slightly heightened around the time of their period? I have found that this is really the only time of each month that I find it difficult to just let my fears and anxious thoughts roll off my back. It makes sense, I suppose. Thoughts?

jenny1980 · April 2012

Yes, hormonal fluctuations definitely increase my anxiety symptoms. PMS tends to be the worst period for me--usually once I get my period, I start feeling a bit better. Exercise and eating healthfully helps a bit.

circa1978 · April 2012

Totally. I actually went on birth control for six months and I was amazed at the difference that made - it really levels my emotions out. Most of the women I've talked to IRL w/ OCD have noticed a link between tough times and PMS. I ended up on Yaz, which also treats PMDD.

grandmadiane · April 2012

unfortunatly i am an expert at this area . although i am now a grandma. i wll tell you i suffered terrible with pms and thing got so wacked out before my period. i use to have to have all the laundry done, the dishes done , floors scrubbed.any thing and everything had to be in order before my period. i was a clean freak but i went crazy. i would talk to dr for yrs and no one ever offered anything. they did not see the monster i would become to my children. i was the joan crawford of mommy dearest. i would aways appoligize but you know that gets real old. its like when a man beats you i guess. i never had that problem but it is not nice. later in life i went on antidepressants gosh i must have been mid thirties when someone had the brains to do this. i use to want to kill myself every 2o th of the month. clockwork. tic toc. my husband would get depressed and fall alseep and my small daughter in elementary school would sit up with me so i did not kill my self. alot more is known about this stuff. but it is in the genes or it is condition . because now my daughter susffers from perfection. i feel bad i feel like i did this too her. my mom would say to me diane you can not take it with you when you go. or it really does not matter in the big picture. well i watch her suffer with this and i could die. my daughter is so smart and so aware of all the names and illnesses this has. she got her masters degree in social work. she is brilliant. but when you are nursing you do not wan to take anything at all and you know the drill. i beleve i had pmdd. and when my daughter was born they would not let me hold her right away . i told my mom her is your girl you wanted. i suffered 38 hr hard labor. they if they have a brain in there head would not let someone go threw that these days. oh but i was all about natural childbirth..... man if i had it to do over i would be give me the drugs. lol . it helps if the family gets on board with you so they can not do things that aggravate your ocd. like make sure things are perfect. but i tell my daughter who has a one yr old and due any day with her second. at least if the house is a mess you know your child has been well carded for. she agrees but as we all know that has this crazy ocd stuff it still has to be in order and perfect. i now am disable and the house could just walk away with the dirt as i can not do anything about it now. god has a funny way of telling you what is and isn't important. antidepressants did the trick for me. a little late for a raving lunitick mom that i was. but i am the best grandma that ever lived. if i only could get over the guilt of what i put my poor kids through. i had to take a mix of antidepressants and they ware off and then i have to go threw it all over again. but i know in my brain its just chemical. i had cancer this yr and they had to take out the kitchen sink. and for the first nine months i was perfect no depression no crazies it was great to be calm and not worry. finally i had a life of peace. oh then it has crept back in my life. and i do get help. i pray all of you who suffer this gets help. and if what they are doing with you does not work go to someone else. if it takes a life time . keep changing till you get the right fit dr wise , medicine wise. and you will be wise. my cancer is gone and i am so happy to be a grand ma and can not wait for baby no 2. i will do what ever i can to make up to my girls what i did to them. yelling and screaming over a spoon not being on the table for dinner. it just is not that big of a deal......in the long run it is not that big of a deal tell yourself over and over and over. again. because one day you will have to look thoes kids in the eye when they are grown and say mommy did not know any better. and i did the best i could. and it really was not good enough. work with the things that make you nuts. like if the toy is in the middle of the floor. leave it there for a week . its alot about condition as well . good luck and god i pray for all of you who suffer . i do understand and you are not by far the only one that has to go threw this

Toni W · June 2012

as I write this I am crying it stinks so bad I do the same thing that you did but i have the cleaning and I worry so much about infestations its crazy how much I worry and I think it is some kind of hormone imbalance I hate it we have no money to go have my hormones checked mine came on after I had my girls. I feel that I have given my girls the same fears and I hate it so much. I yell alote when i am having an anxiety attack and I always tell them how sorry I am and that I love them so much but like you said some day i will have to look at them and say i tried my best but it wasn't good enough I'm so scared that they will just want to leave so bad when they are 18 and I don't want that I try so hard to make it up to them in anyway I can. I hate this so much I just want them to have a normal mom.

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