Pms and anxiety

[Marie2016]

Hi ladies,

I'm wondering if anyone else suffers with heightened anxiety during their Pms week?
I have GAD and agoraphobia. I've been doing better recently, going out for longer walks, managing to keep my anxiety under control while I have visitors and generally just worrying less. Fantastic! Until PMS hit like a tonne of bricks on Friday! Now I'm exhausted, cramping, really on edge, I've had five panic attacks since yesterday and I've been worrying more.
One thing that's worrying me is Xmas, im worried that I'll feel terrible for it and won't be able to deal with visitors or going out.
I'm due on this Tuesday so I'm hoping that all signs of the Pms will be gone by Xmas as I'll either have finished or will be finishing my period depending on all the timings working out!

Any tips on how to deal with the heightened anxiety? Or reassurance that this will all calm down by next week?

Thanks x

[Mochi]

My anxiety heightens more with lack of sleep, but it definitely is there when I have PMS. The best thing to do is what you would do normally... breath, distract yourself, drink some tea. PMS will pass and if you have had anxiety come and go with PMS before, then it will do this again.

Hang in there...

M

[sammie13s]

Yep every month my anxiety goes through the roof and I no my period is on its way. This lasts for around a week. Don't have any tips sorry. I battle through like I doe very god damn day anyway. But your not alone x

[ana]

My anxiety is higher when I have PMS, too. I try and not worry about it and explain it to myself as 'just hormones' rather than 'my anxiety getting worse!'. As for the holidays, I'm dreading them like nothing else. I hate family dos for Christmas, and I'd welcome any tips on how to survive them!

[Marie2016]

Thanks ladies,

I know it's just hormones because it's not related to any anxiety thought processes or situations as it usually is. During Pms I can be just sat watching tv and I get waves of adrenaline, it's awful! Ahh the joys of being a woman!

I've been using the usual techniques like, mindfulness, yoga and deep breathing which are very helpful until the next wave!

Ana, as far as the holidays go, mindfulness and yoga are extremely helpful to me before I enter anxiety provoking situations and while I'm in the situation deep breathing helps a lot as well as just accepting my feelings and letting them pass

Has anyone had any luck with the birth control pill easing Pms? I'm thinking of giving it a go as I'm not on anything at the moment.
It's so annoying to be getting on top of your anxiety for weeks and then to get hit with Pms!

X

[ana]

Thank you for your advice, Marie. I know mindfulness can be useful, but I can never seem to be able to get myself to start practising it! My therapist has taught me some breathing techniques that lower anxiety, but I tend to forget about my breath and get swept away by anxiety... :(

[Marie2016]

It takes some practice with the breath but it does work if you can remember to do it. There's a great app for mindfulness, it's called headspace and you get 10 sessions for free to try before subscribing. The subscription is quite pricey at £9.99 per month but it's worth every penny if you ask me.

[ana]

I've tried Headspace, actually. I've completed the 'take 10' series, but haven't subscribed. Thanks for the recommendation.

[DoraFlora]

Hello Ladies,
I know this thread is from last month, but I am having a really hard time right now.
I had a horrible anxiety crash before Christmas and it corresponded with me coming on my period.
Then I managed to stabilize after a bit and was just starting to feel close to stasis and then all of a sudden this morning I was struck with an out of the blue horrible wave of anxiety. Hot flushes. Feeling like I want to gag. Jittery.
I am due again today.

I know a lot of people experience heightening anxiety prior to their cycle, but mine seems to be the worst while on my cycle.

I don't want to be terrified every month.

Does anyone else's anxiety spike DURING their period or has anyone had any hormone testing done with their doctors to see if everything is in normal ranges...?

-Dora

[Jillinpa]

Hi ladies,
I've been struggling with severe anxiety, in particular health anxiety since around 2011. I have noticed in the past that my anxious feelings would hit me harder right before my period, unfortunately, this would always be accompanied with severe depression. I went on the pill this past September and unfortunately now it is ten times worse! Thinking of going off but then again I'm anxious of the side effects from stopping-- sometimes I feel like we just can't win