15 yr old DD terrible anxiety at time of the month

[AngelaHog]

My 15 year old has horrendous anxiety and overthinking issues when it is her time of the month. She is sad, angry and cant regulate at all. I've tried counselling and the doctor but this time she is worse then ever. The doctor suggested the pill but she is adamant she doesn't want it. It breaks my heart to see her like this. She overthinks everything and shuts her self off from everyone except me. But she isn't particularly nice to me either. I suffered similarly as a teenager. Does anyone have any suggestions of anything that may help? We do thinks together and she will go for walks with me etc and we are joining the gym together but is there anything she could take to help?

I think there are herbal things that are supposed to help - look into evening primrose and St John’s wort. I also think that tracking her cycle is helpful so she can frame her feelings as ‘things that happen to me when I have PMS’ rather than ‘this is the way I truly feel’. Mindfulness. It’s just tough, being a teenager.

I find evening primrose oil INCREDIBLY helpful for this. Like, transformative. I resisted taking it for years because I thought it was quackery, but it genuinely is so helpful for me. I take it every day, all month, though I think some people just take it in the run up to their period. Highly recommend giving it a go.

Agnus castus is helpful. Need to take it daily for a month or two to see results. Your poor DD, hope she's feeling better soon.

@midtownmum
Can you tell me more about the evening primrose oil please?
What was the dosage you took?
My dd struggles likewise and I would like to get some respite for her if possible

Look into PMDD, it is an extreme form of PMS and is hardly known about. Basically after ovulation and until menstruation she may go through all sorts of extreme feelings: brain fog, anger, rage, lack of confidence and self esteem, confusion - to name just a few. It really helped me to track my cycle, literally writing down how I felt every day: felt sad, had an argument, couldn’t decide which toothpaste to buy, extreme tiredness, lack of confidence - and she will build up a picture. There are cycles within cycles, for me every third month was the worst. There’s not a huge amount that can be done about it, sadly. Diet, supplements and vitamins may help, but going on the pill or any hormone related intervention needs monitoring extremely carefully, it can lead to some very, very dark days.

My DD 15, has an app which she uses religiously. I’ve been very involved in DD cycle since her first period, my PMDD definitely started in my teens and I had some really awful times that I just didn’t understand. By my 30’s I could literally tell where I was in my cycle by how I felt - Day 17 and I would argue with anyone about anything until I shook with rage. Awful. But understanding my cycle really helped put things into perspective.

Good luck.