Was this a "normal" blip of moodiness/temper/irritability/loss of patience or do I need help?

[FlavourMaker]

I've been pretty upbeat for months, despite dealing with a fairly up-in-the-air life for a while now. But yesterday evening, I completely lost my temper with DS (4) - his behaviour really infuriated me - and I restrained him while he was having a strop and squeezed a bit too hard. Later that evening, he was answering back like a 14-year-old and I couldn't find it in me to brush it off: I grabbed him and carried him down to his room and dumped him on the bed for his dad to deal with him. This morning, DS refused to get ready for school and shouted in my face when I insisted and, unlike at other times, I just couldn't handle it; it riled me. I stormed out of the room, feeling my temper rising, and he came running after me, crying, "You're not leaving me are you Mummy?"

I feel sh*t today. I feel sooo guilty, and a bit bewildered by how much my patience and ability to handle DS's behaviour have plummetted in the last 24 hours. I've done a load of exercise this morning to try to nip it in the bud and am eating like a health fiend, but still feel like a miserable, beastly mummy and like crawling into bed and hibernating.

It's the wrong time of the month for PMT, although my hormones have been known to have a mind of their own. So what the heck is this?! Do I need help, or am I just having a blip like we all do, and the problem is I'm not forgiving myself for it and instead letting the guilt eat me up?

BTW, I apologised profusely to DS this morning, and he said, "I forgive you."

[cole1]

You are sooooo human. If you were not feeling guilty thats the time to be worried. I am a full time working mother of two ( 4 and 2) and as mums we are not perfect we do our best and you know what the best is blinkin fantastic. Put it behind you and learn from the what built up to it. I know its a cliche but ME TIME sounds like what your in need of..... smile nobodies perfect