A ? for the ladies...

Yes, my anxiety and depression and moods are worse when my period is coming. It sucks and I hate it.

Thanks to everyone who has participated in this discussion. I'm glad to know I'm not alone!!!

You can get a lot of feedback from friends and the ladies on here!

My anxiety is better but the depression is worse. The problems are about the same...lol!

I have about four good days out of 30!

Bring on the chocolate!

YES!!!!

I flip randomly from constant nausea to "feed me desserts please"

Also I get feeling like a guy T wouldn't "get" it. You can talk to them about anything but it's difficult. I thought a guy T could never "get" the feeling of a miscarriage but most women can having had a period, they get it physically.

The only thing more annoying than going batty the week before my period is being told that I'm imagining it or making it up.

People seem to forget that not every woman responds the same way to hormones. Hormonal birth control which is supposed to lighten and stop periods for me makes me bleed like a tap. It's scary, actually. I've had medical emergencies because hormones and my body do not get on at all. The very same pill which makes most women experience reduced flow and menstrual relief can kill me.

Some of us are more sensitive to various hormone levels. Some of us naturally produce a lot more of this or that hormone. Some of us can't take synthetic hormones. Some of us can't function without them.

If I had two words to describe my mood leading up to a period, they would be: Genghis Kahn.

I try my best to avoid lashing out or behaving in ways that are unfair to others, but on the inside I'm basically simmering with repressed rage until I finally start bleeding. It sucks.

I also find a smaller effect around the time of ovulation. My body doesn't whisper about hormonal changes, it roars. It's physically obvious in a variety of ways where I'm at in my cycle - I imagine for women who don't experience PMS, it's probably not.

Put it this way, if I were trying to conceive, I would not need to chart or take temps or anything like that, I pretty much physically go on heat every month. Maybe that's TMI, but it's been my experience of myself.

On the other end of the scale, there are people who don't notice when they're six months pregnant. People's bodies are as different as their minds.

OMG Genghis Kahn! You're such a rockstar. At least you have a sense of humour about it.

I sooooo relate to this. I feel like things have gotten worse since I got back on birth control. Maybe it's time to try a different one and see if my body responds better.

My friend tried 3 or 4 BC before finding the right one. One left her a crying wreck and she loathed it. The others had lower key symptoms.

Thanks Without humor, there would be a lot of tears. I really wish I didn't have to have a reproductive system, they're so buggy!

Can't do BC at all. Most of them make be bleed continually and the progesterone only ones send me into a spiral of depression and anger. I'm currently trying to convince H to get the snip.

That continuous bleeding is the worst. And then there's the pill they give you which stops bleeding - but the side effect is horrendous PMS symptoms. Cue epic meltdown.

My partner got the snip, best thing ever. Good luck with your H!

Seasonique was great for my emotional health....but not so much for my acid reflux. It was worth it for the past eighteen months but I think I'm in a better place emotionally right now. I just started Nuva Ring, we'll see how that goes

Please let me know how things go with the Nuva Ring. My gyn has wanted me to try it for some time now. I'm just not sure how I would like it.

In the last few years my PMS have become bad. Every month it's different and one month it can be crying at the drop of a hat and the next month angry at the littlest thing. It sucks when you are angry, grouchy or emotional yet there is really nothing you can do about it but wait it out. On the other hand, it sucks when you are legitimately pissed about something and your H asks if you are PMSing, like your feelings aren't valid.

I have talked to my male T about and he didn't blink an eye. I did try a naturopath last year but the amount of supplements she had me trying got to be too much for me.

Exercise, self-care and therapy are the best way for me to get through those few days a month.

If anyone is wondering (and reading). The hormones in question are estrogen and progesterone. Progesterone spikes right after ovulation and (ideally) remains high for (average) around 14 days - known as the luteal phase (I have a shorter one myself at around 10-11 days). The drop in progesterone is what brings on your period.

Progesterone is also what's higher in pregnant women (because if you get pregnant, the progesterone levels keep increasing).

Having tracked my cycle is how I know I don't have any emotional changes due to hormone fluctuations, but I have a friend who talks about how horrible she feels emotionally between ovulation and her period. (Same friend referenced before) - she feels better once her period starts. I mean, the period itself sucks but her mood stabilizes.

It's crazy how once I start bleeding my mood drastically improves. I still deal with headaches and cramps, but I feel "normal" again. Well, normal for me.

I get irritable right before period comes. So yes. I am not prone to depression but I get anxious at times and have mood swings s bit so it is worse before periods. But I am in pre menopause right now and my periods are about once in 4 months and come unexpected. It's a nightmare

I think it should be ok to tell male t. Maybe Because my gynecologist are always men I don't think it's a big deal. But I understand you feel awkward

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It's kinda comforting hearing all these stories and knowing I'm not the only one who gets kinda crazy. I used to only get a little weepy a day before (that's how I'd know my period was coming--I would cry at the stupidest stuff). Then it progressed to full out panic attacks the day before I started without fail...Then I started having a period every two weeks and it threw my emotions all to crap. I was irritable and apathetic. Just a blank page of nothing.

But oh, the birth control. I was put on it in January to get my cycles back to 4 weeks, and I still tell my mother I think it's making me crazy. The first one made me so depressed that I would just weep uncontrollably for hours, and then I started getting irrationally angry at everything and I thought I was actually losing my mind. The one I'm on now is definitely toned down, but I can count on some serious PMS symptoms (especially a huge spike in my anxiety) in the third week of the pack.

I vaguely discussed my issues with the bc/PMS with my male T when it was destroying me at the beginning of the year. He wasn't awkward about it, and I doubt any decent T would be. Even if they are shocked or uncomfortable, they probably won't show it. Mine just discussed it with me as a medical problem, and made sure I had intentions of talking to my doctor and actually following through with it. They may not be able to be fully empathetic about it, but they'll take it seriously and discuss whatever you need/feel like you need to.

This is actually not true. The rise in progesterone causes SOME women, not all, to experience mood changes. Out of that group, a small percentage experience extreme mood swings and severe depression. I am one of those people. Some women take prozac for one week out of the month to treat it and it works amazingly well. It may not be your experience or that of many others, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Postpartum depression and the rare instances of post partum psychosis are also very real. If you've never experienced these things you're lucky but it doesn't change the fact that hormones do indeed affect mood. Testosterone does too (as in what you'd see with "roid rage"). Sure, some people take this as an opportunity to grossly stereotype menstruating women as unstable, but hopefully most people are more evolved than that. But making a blanket statement to the contrary by asserting the condition doesn't exist is just as invalidating.

I talk to my male pdoc about it frequently and it doesn't phase him. I started taking Prozac initially to treat PMS and it was quite helpful. I sometimes forget and wonder what's wrong with me (often my insight is not the best at this time). But then it hits me as soon as the bleeding starts and I immediately feel like myself again.

Not that I want to butt in on this discussion (I've been over here hiding under the bed for most of it) but I actually have been starting to wonder if my testosterone levels are out of whack. Over the past week I've ranged from episodes of explosive hot-tempered fury (last Wednesday) to bottomless lethargic depression (today) with no obvious external causes for the swings. Since I'm sure my depression is chemical anyway I suppose I should get tested.

Men apparently have cycles too although I don't know what that really means in relation to hormone levels. I think think your testosterone levels would have to be excessive to be the direct cause of aggression, but it might be worth having some tests done.

I kept a mood tracker for 2 years, and I always get more anxious, irritable and sad for a few days before my period. Like clockwork.

Low dose antidepressant helped me, and then it's much better now that I don't get a "full" period now that I'm on birth control.

And see to me, saying to someone "no you're not depressed, you just need to think positive" would be invalidating... But that's totally different from saying "I don't think your sadness is likely to be the direct result of your having a period" in my mind. Clearly though, my position is very offensive and many are certain their period is to blame for depression and anxiety and for anyone to suggest otherwise is awful. To those people I would suggest a good birth control because they can put an end to your periods now and it's fabulous. At the end of the day we are all depressed and anxious and blaming it on something! Brain chemicals, mom, period, childhood... I think even the so called professionals would agree it's a guessing game.