For those of you who suffer with depression and anxiety, do you feel that your symptoms get worse around that time of the month? The past several months I feel like my PMS moods have been to the extreme. I want to talk to my T about it, but he's a dude and I feel like it may make him uncomfortable. If T was a woman, I wouldn't think twice about discussing it. I just feel like he really has no idea what PMS feels like, and I don't want to make him feel weird. I get it, he's a professional and nothing I talk about should rattle him. I'm just not sure he would even be able to give advice on the situation.

[Petra5ed]

No I don't feel that way. I'm on the pill so that time of the month comes only every four months, but, to be honest I always thought PMS was really BS. There is no medical reason for moodiness right before your period. I thought it was an invention by men to make women feel crazy for expressing their emotions. Study: Mood Changes Not as Closely Linked to PMS as Assumed | TIME.com

[A Red Panda]

Nope, my symptoms don't escalate when I'm nearing menstration. I do tend to get more hungry sometimes which is annoying but my mood fluctuate in whatever manner bipolar decides to send it!

Originally Posted by Petra5ed

No I don't feel that way. I'm on the pill so that time of the month comes only every four months, but, to be honest I always thought PMS was really BS. There is no medical reason for moodiness right before your period. I thought it was an invention by men to make women feel crazy for expressing their emotions. Study: Mood Changes Not as Closely Linked to PMS as Assumed | TIME.com

I respectfully disagree with you.

[ruh roh]

Yes. That doesn't meant it's the only time I feel wrecked, but it does intensify. If you don't want to talk to your therapist about it, can you see a naturopath? If there were no link between the body and moods, medication would have no effect and neither would food and other substances. It's just that you want to work with someone who isn't simplistic about it and dismiss it as only PMS (as if hormone fluctuations were only anything).

(Not advocating medication here. Just making a point about the physical/mental. I've been ruined by meds.)

Originally Posted by ruh roh

Yes. That doesn't meant it's the only time I feel wrecked, but it does intensify. If you don't want to talk to your therapist about it, can you see a naturopath? If there were no link between the body and moods, medication would have no effect and neither would food and other substances. It's just that you want to work with someone who isn't simplistic about it and dismiss it as only PMS (as if hormone fluctuations were only anything).

(Not advocating medication here. Just making a point about the physical/mental. I've been ruined by meds.)

YES! I don't want it to just be dismissed as PMS. Thanks for the suggestion!

I don't have the same issues as you, but my symptoms definitely get worse with PMT. I also have a male T, and I've brought periods up a couple of times and he didn't bat an eye lid- I'm sure your T will have heard it all before

[LonesomeTonight]

I tend to feel more anxious than usual during PMS times. And I usually have a day when I feel more depressed. I notice this more now that I haven't been on the pill since having my daughter 4 years ago (I was on the pill for like 12 years). On the plus side, I don't get the migraines I used to get while on the pill. Hormones can definitely affect our emotions--it's a big part of why postpartum depression (which I had, too) is a thing.

[NowhereUSA]

I have friends who have depression around certain points in their cycle. I haven't ever noticed any on mine, but that being said, the only birth control I can do is an IUD. Anything with estrogen makes me feel like I'm losing my mind. My doctor says I'm probably sensitive to estrogen.

I don't have any issue chatting about it with my T and he's a guy. He got quite a lesson in the female cycle including how cervical mucus can help one prep for ovulation (I was trying to get pregnant with our second baby at the time). To his credit, he refrained from cringing LOL.

[Petra5ed]

Originally Posted by twistedangel00

I respectfully disagree with you.

Sure... that's why you thanked literally everyone who replied except for me, because you "respect" my opinion. And I have great links, like this one, PMS Study: Mood Swings From Menstruation May Not Exist, Study Finds ! But you already know what answer you want to your question, and it's not mine.

I personally think the DSMV should add a blatantly sexist mental disorder for men called "ball rage." Ball rage happens any time a man is angry, it has to do with an overload of testosterone. It's not a normal part of being a male, it needs to be pathologized into a mental disorder, so any time a man is raging we can disregard him entirely and just say to ourselves "don't listen to him, it's just ball rage, it will pass."

Originally Posted by Petra5ed

Sure... that's why you thanked literally everyone who replied except for me, because you "respect" my opinion. And I have great links, like this one, PMS Study: Mood Swings From Menstruation May Not Exist, Study Finds ! But you already know what answer you want to your question, and it's not mine.

I personally think the DSMV should add a blatantly sexist mental disorder for men called "ball rage." Ball rage happens any time a man is angry, it has to do with an overload of testosterone. It's not a normal part of being a male, it needs to be pathologized into a mental disorder, so any time a man is raging we can disregard him entirely and just say to ourselves "don't listen to him, it's just ball rage, it will pass."

I don't have to "thank" you if I don't want to. You can find a study to back up anything you want to. I spent a lot of time debating this very thing in college. I disagree with you. End of story.

BTW, I never suggested that PMS was a mental disorder. And this has nothing to do with woman who use PMS as an excuse to be a *****.

[BlessedRhiannon]

Yes, I have noticed that my anxiety and depression do increase around that time of the month. I wouldn't really call it PMS - I don't experience bloating or cramps or anything. It's a change in hormones that causes a spike in anxiety and if I'm already depressed, then it causes a spike in depression as well.

I have talked to my pdoc about this, and we've talked about different ways to manage it. He's suggested upping my Xanax as needed and he also suggested getting on a birth control pill that limits periods to once every three months. Because my body doesn't react well to bc pills, I've gone with just increasing Xanax at this point, and that seems to help. Maybe once I'm more stable on my other meds, I'll consider bc pills again, but I want to be totally stable on everything else first.

I will say that my pdoc was totally fine with discussing this, and he's a guy. He just treated it like any other symptom I experience.

[Favorite Jeans]

There is a lot--A LOT--of good quality work out there about PMS/PMDD. Time magazine is not an authoritative source. Dismissing a phenomenon as exaggerated or unreal because one has not experienced it personally is neither fair nor scientific. Finally the fact that PMS might--might--be less prevalent than formerly thought does not diminish its impact on those who do have it.

Epidemiology: Menopause International

Pathophysiology: Menopause International

TA I also experience cyclical mood changes. At a minimum I feel more sensitive and tearful, at worst I can feel totally despairing. Certainly the symptoms are worse when I am having a difficult time in general but the fluctuation is actually most noticeable when I otherwise feel fine and then there's a sudden feeling of despair that seems to come out of the blue.

[Petra5ed]

Originally Posted by twistedangel00

I don't have to "thank" you if I don't want to. You can find a study to back up anything you want to. I spent a lot of time debating this very thing in college. I disagree with you. End of story.

BTW, I never suggested that PMS was a mental disorder. And this has nothing to do with woman who use PMS as an excuse to be a *****.

I disagree with you too.

Severe PMS is a mental disorder according to the psychiatric community and DSM 5, you didn't have to suggest it.

[Salmon77]

I would like to dismiss PMS as an evil sexist invention, but 2-3 days before I get my period I routinely have some big emotional outburst (fight with husband, crying for no reason, etc.). I guess it could be psychosomatic, but it does happen.

I have mentioned it to my male T when it has seemed relevant, especially in relation to some other medical stuff I've had going on. I felt sort of shy about it—in fact I think I posted a similar question here at the time—but it was fine, and now I think it's something a T should be prepared for. Menstruation is a normal bodily function.

Originally Posted by Petra5ed

I disagree with you too.

Severe PMS is a mental disorder according to the psychiatric community and DSM 5, you didn't have to suggest it.

Well, gee, it must be a real thing then.

[stopdog]

Although now I am no longer having periods (thank god that is finished - and saving a ton on not purchasing tampons) - it never had bearing on therapy that I can see. But I always knew when my period was coming because of the sore/tender breasts and the fact I craved chocolate and potato chips (two things I really care nothing about on a daily basis) and wanted to weep at sentimental commercials (again - not my base position). Seriously - I never bothered keeping track of 28 days - but I could always tell.

[Sarah1985]

Yes, I feel like I get more depressed the week before. Then my mood goes back down during.

[Petra5ed]

Originally Posted by Favorite Jeans

Dismissing a phenomenon as exaggerated or unreal because one has not experienced it personally is neither fair nor scientific.

I just wanted to clarify one thing, as a person who dismisses PMS as even being a thing, it is certainly not because I have not experienced it personally. I have had cramps, bloating, physical pain. I'm sure I've even been irritated by it and in short temper, as I almost always am when I'm in pain or discomfort. And anyways, I do believe in almost all other medical disorders even though I've probably only experienced a very small fraction of them.

The people who dismiss it as a thing do so primarily because it seems to be blatantly sexist. It's like in the old days when emotional women were diagnosed with "hysteria." PMS has long been used to totally discount anything women are saying. It has also long been used as an argument why women should not be in positions of high regard, like CEO's or politicians. Finally there is no scientific evidence it's a thing, and out of a number of studies done on it, there isn't a clear correlation that women experience monthly cyclical *****iness.

I know what you are thinking, and no, it's not that time of month for me.

[JaneTennison1]

I think dismissing PMS as non existent just as bad as men who dismiss women having any emotions as just being hormonal. It's real and it sucks but it does not mean guys get to say my every emotion is due to this.

I find that some months my anxiety goes up and I never know why until I figure out PMS. So I'm not waiting for it to happen it just does. I also suffer nausea which not a lot of people seem to but consistently the few days before I get full very fast and feel a bit sick. So that's a joy too.

[Petra5ed]

Originally Posted by twistedangel00

Well, gee, it must be a real thing then.

Here are some other things that must be real mental disorders too then, because they were also DSM diagnosis' at some point:
- homosexuality ( mental disorder until 1973 despite clear evidence of homosexuality across all species of animals)
- Aspergers (the mental disorder of being smart and having poor social skills)
- penis envy (because you know all us girls want a penis, and we long for it so much that it is an actual mental disorder)
- hysteria (because being a woman means youre crazy.)

[AnxiousGirl]

Oh mine do! My anxiety gets SO high and my mood changes so much. I think it's normal, I've read about it online that people do experience it. My anxiety changes my cycle so much though and it scared me so after months of hiding it I asked my T (a woman) and she told me it was normal. Hope that helps!

[ScientiaOmnisEst]

A little, I'm probably more susceptible to mood swings when my hormones are acting up like that, but for the most part, I don't believe in PMS as an excuse. Probably because my menstrual symptoms aren't that bad. I still don't know what real period pain feels like.

Originally Posted by Petra5ed

I just wanted to clarify one thing, as a person who dismisses PMS as even being a thing, it is certainly not because I have not experienced it personally. I have had cramps, bloating, physical pain. I'm sure I've even been irritated by it and in short temper, as I almost always am when I'm in pain or discomfort. And anyways, I do believe in almost all other medical disorders even though I've probably only experienced a very small fraction of them.

The people who dismiss it as a thing do so primarily because it seems to be blatantly sexist. It's like in the old days when emotional women were diagnosed with "hysteria." PMS has long been used to totally discount anything women are saying. It has also long been used as an argument why women should not be in positions of high regard, like CEO's or politicians. Finally there is no scientific evidence it's a thing, and out of a number of studies done on it, there isn't a clear correlation that women experience monthly cyclical *****iness.

I know what you are thinking, and no, it's not that time of month for me.

Like I said in my earlier post, I am not talking about women who just act like a ***** because they are on their period. I am specifically talking about women who experience an increase in anxiousness and depressed feelings during that time of the month.

Yes my periods are irregular so I don't know they're coming, but often if I'm feeling inexplicably low and negative a period follows. I'm very sensitive to hormones physically and emotionally (pregnancy was hell). I've talked to both the male T's I've had about 'hormones' but can't bring myself to say period. When I said hormones to T1 he said "are we talking about menstruation?" and I was embarrassed and quickly said "yes" and moved on.