Anyone else struggle with anxiety and anger ahead of their period!m? Any tips to help? I’m in such a bad place

[Huoaaa]

I am due on my period in the next week. Every month I am hit with heightened anxiety and this feeling of anger. I have learned to notice when my feelings relate to my period and that does help me to be a bit kinder to myself. I am due to go on holiday tonight and I just feel so rubbish. I take sertraline generally for anxiety, a low dose, and so don’t want to take more medication. Does anyone have any strategies to cope with these feelings? It’s like I am just not myself for a week or so a month.

Yep, same here. It really picked up in perimenopause. It’s like I’m a different person for a week before every period. I’ve had some depression in the past but this anxiety is new. No solution, following in case someone has something useful!

in extremity this is PMDD. Reading some threads about how people manage their PMDD will give you loads of great ideas. I got a private prescription of oestrogen to take on the week before. It makes a big difference. I take inositol to support my hormone health, along with blood sugar management including weight lifting all of which is linked to hormone health. Therapy and meditation, reading period power and learning what to expect from myself at each stage. None of these are a magic bullet but together they can all make a big difference. I’m feeling a lot better now even though the mood swings are still very pronounced.

It’s awful you have my sympathy. If I have any last words of advice - it’s really hard to get comprehensive medical support around this from a GP so go and become your own expert and put in place support for yourself.

I used to, yes, especially as I approached menopause. Here are some things that helped me; perhaps they might help you too:

1. Try to arrange to spend as much time on my own as possible. I found it difficult to be around others in the day or two before my period came down, but being on my own, or just me and my dog, was much more manageable. So I would plan things, like a 'trip to run a bunch of errands' that could get me on my own in a cafe to relax and be quiet in myself
2. Exercise. Going for a run every morning was a life saver during my last few menstruating years when the PMS was really bad. Something about emptying my mind and just moving my body made me so much more hopeful and less anxious. If running's not your thing, walking is just as good if not better (for your joints). Just, try to do it in a park or in nature. Not a stuffy gym.
3. Distracting myself with entertainment that suited my mood. Weird or not, reading about 'violent' history seemed to match my mood whilst also distracting me and putting things into perspective. I read about things like the Punic Wars, the Spanish Inquisition, Genghis Khan, the Knights Templar. Not only was I kept entertained but I was also educating myself on history which gave my self esteem a needed boost
4. Keep a cavewoman perspective. Whilst scientists don't know much about what causes PMS, the current dominant theory is that back in early early homo sapiens days, the feeling of anxiety and restlessness that is characteristic of PMS acted as a push to get a cavewoman to leave her current caveman squeeze and find someone else more likely to get her pregnant (the reproductive urge being the core of evolution). For some reason this always used to make me laugh and helped keep it all in perspective.

Good luck xx