Does your OCD get worse during your period? I usually hear that OCD can get worse shortly before the period (PMS/PMDD), but my mental health declines rapidly DURING my period. Does anyone else experience the same?
YES. I have really bad PMS, and it heightens all my mental issues tenfold. It’s a week straight of just depression and feeling like nothing. It sucks so much, luckily birth control has helped a lot
YES!!!! Last month my ocd was really bad before and during my period. I think it’s really interesting how that can affect ocd
Ladies be prepared, that in my case it’s flared up badly during and post menopause. Hormonal fluctuations seem to cause havoc with ocd.
Thanks for the heads up!
My OCD is awful before and the first few days of my cycle. I am seeing a doctor to check my hormones and see what I can do help this. I was wondering about menopause and how it would effect the OCD.
I’ve always feared menopause or just had like a really hard time the past year where I was just freaking out about menopause definitely not excited for that omg, and hormones definitely play a major role because even when not stressing about your ocd themes or intrusive thoughts mental health just always seems to fluctuate so much while on your period, i need to get my hormones tested too I suffer with cystic acne and am taking a hormonal medication to help but I never actually got tested so hopefully that helps
I’ve been feeling a lot more like myself and I’ve recently been off my period but I’m still suffering I think with some ocd but it was super bad while I was on my period I noticed but I’m not so sure yet since I’ve just recently come off
this is so helpful!!! i suffer with Tocd and I was just not feeling like myself at all while on my period and I’ve never felt like I was in the wrong body not even while on my period and struggling with these bad thoughts but it got super overwhelming and hard and just made me extremely depressed and out of it did you guys notice anything similar too?
Yes, I suffer from Harm OCD and I get so easily overwhelmed by all those thoughts, urges and feelings during my period, that I always begin to think that it's actually the end this time...
@rbecks I’m sorry about that!! That’s was one of my previous themes and I know how awful it is, i suffered from a lot of dissociation and just feeling so disattached but it did get better!! unfortunately I’ve attached to a new theme recently and being on my period was probably one of the hardest weeks I’ve ever gone through recently
@khm Sorry about that, but I also admire your perseverance! I just got my period yesterday and I feel really awful... I need to constantly remind myself, that it's going to be better next week. But I'm also glad that I'm not the only one who experiences a worsening of their OCD during their period.
me too it’s really comforting to know that it was just my period and I’m also taking an acne medication called spironolactone that’s supposed to balance my hormones and it could’ve caused some side effect?? not sure entirely but I may stop it soon and get tested to see if I do have an imbalance but I think that plays such a major part is the fact that we’re producing such different hormones while on our period and typically suffer more mentally even if we aren’t going through an ocd theme atm
Thank you for being inclusive❤️❤️❤️
My period plays a huge part in mine. I also find it harder to sleep around or right before my period. Then not sleeping makes it worse. Plus, my hormones go nuts and twirls my OCD right around with it. Moreover, my period kind of makes everything in my life worse, not just OCD. Emotions make a bit less sense, OCD gets flared up, and I just don't feel good. Anytime I'm unwell mentally or physically, that's an extra stressor. Then the stress feeds OCD
Currently having an anxious night because my hormones are doing whatever they want before my cycle starts. It's so frustrating. I feel very, very on edge and like I'm constantly anxious about something bad happening. Also been nauseous and having sleep issues. So irritating. How does everyone else deal with the spike in anxiety and OCD before periods? I'm seeing an endocrinologist on Monday to try and help but I feel so stressed out.
I don’t have an official OCD diagnosis, but I will be asking my doctor tomorrow if I can get referred to a psychiatrist to get an official diagnosis. The way I came to the conclusion that what I’m dealing with is OCD is because a month ago I just started having the most horrible disturbing intrusive thoughts that go against all my values and beliefs and attacking the stuff/people I care about the most. Mind you, I have never had anything like this happen in my life. I feel that I have always been someone with a peaceful mind and one of the worst intrusive thoughts I can ever remember having before this happened, was “what happens if I cut my finger right now” while I was cutting fruit. That’s pretty much it. After this whole horrible intrusive thought spiral started happening I was so scared because I have never had such awful intrusive thoughts like this that were the complete opposite of me, it just quite literally started out of NOWHERE, and that’s what was so scary and terrifying. It was like my whole life got turned upside down because of this and I’ve been mainly isolating in my room, feeling so much anxiety and dread and guilt/shame. I get four of the same thoughts and one intrusive image repeating over and over again even if I would not try to think about them, and it caused me so much distress and anxiety that I would be so anxious and cry everyday just thinking how I could ever possibly think such horrible intrusive thoughts like that. It’s caused me insomnia which I’ve never dealt with before and I went three days in a row without being able to sleep no matter how hard I tried (even while taking melatonin). Other days I struggle so much to fall asleep due to the intrusive thoughts being much more present at nighttime, and even when taking melatonin that doesn’t do anything because of my mind being so active and having so much anxiety. Is this what they call an OCD flare up? After constantly looking up all the symptoms of ocd (the more and lesser known ones alike), I noticed there were some symptoms of it that I displayed in childhood when the ocd could’ve been more dormant or mild you could say (skin picking), because once again I have never had such horrible intrusive thoughts like this out of nowhere and constantly repeating in my mind that felt like they were out of my control. I noticed that these intrusive thoughts started on the second day of my menstruation when I was in a lot of pain and was feeling very emotional/stressed. One of the things I’ve heard a lot is that during the menstruation cycle is when ocd flares can happen more often due to the increase in hormones during that time, and I wonder if that’s what happened to me? I’m also overall such a big over thinker and have been for as long as I can remember. I also have had anxiety and depression since middle school as well. Any insight would be very much appreciated 😭
I don’t have an official OCD diagnosis, but I will be asking my doctor tomorrow if I can get referred to a psychiatrist to get an official diagnosis. The way I came to the conclusion that what I’m dealing with is OCD is because a month and a half ago I just started having the most horrible disturbing intrusive thoughts that go against all my values and beliefs and attacking the stuff/people I care about the most out of absolutely NOWHERE. Mind you, I have never had anything like this happen in my life. I feel that I have always been someone with a peaceful mind and one of the worst intrusive thoughts I can ever remember having before this happened, was “what happens if I cut my finger right now” while I was cutting fruit. That’s pretty much it. After this whole horrible intrusive thought spiral started happening I was so scared because I have never had such awful intrusive thoughts like this that were the complete opposite of me, it just quite literally started out of NOWHERE, and that’s what was so scary and terrifying. It was like my whole life got turned upside down because of this and I’ve been mainly isolating in my room, feeling so much anxiety and dread and guilt/shame. I get four of the same thoughts and one intrusive image repeating over and over again even if I would not try to think about them, and it caused me so much distress and anxiety that I would be so anxious and cry everyday just thinking how I could ever possibly think such horrible intrusive thoughts like that. It’s caused me insomnia which I’ve never dealt with before and I went three days in a row without being able to sleep no matter how hard I tried (even while taking melatonin). Other days I struggle so much to fall asleep due to the intrusive thoughts being much more present at nighttime, and even when taking melatonin that doesn’t do anything because of my mind being so active and having so much anxiety. Is this what they call an OCD flare up? After constantly looking up all the symptoms of ocd (the more and lesser known ones alike), I noticed there were some symptoms of it that I displayed in childhood when the ocd could’ve been more dormant or mild you could say (skin picking), because once again I have never had such horrible intrusive thoughts like this out of nowhere and constantly repeating in my mind that felt like they were out of my control. I noticed that these intrusive thoughts started on the second day of my menstruation when I was in a lot of pain and was feeling very emotional/stressed. One of the things I’ve heard a lot is that during the menstruation cycle is when ocd flares can happen more often due to the increase in hormones during that time, and I wonder if that’s what happened to me? I’m also overall such a big over thinker and have been for as long as I can remember. I also have had anxiety and depression since middle school as well. Any insight would be very much appreciated 😭
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