My ocd started as postpartum ocd and now it flares any time my hormones are wack. Like right now, it’s the worst it’s every been but there’s a pattern with my cycle. It’s worse around End of period until ovulation and lets up completely when I start. Anyone else have this?? When my hormones are normal my ocd is almost nonexistent
Mine started in childhood (before I ever got my period) and I have the same issue. But for me, mine spikes a few days before my period and then will usually go away within the first couple days of my period
Mine doesn’t go away completely the rest of the time though.
My cycle and now perimenopause make my ocd much worse
I know big hormonal shifts can really mess with ocd - I’ve been having problems since perimenopause and pregnancy at 42. From what I’ve seen the ovaries are the big issue for pmdd, but I’ve just started looking into this. My hormones were a nightmare in my teens and difficult in my 30’s.
@Erin P Hi Erin I am just wanting to know how your perimenopause journey is going? I am still not in menopause and I have good weeks and bad weeks. Are you in menopause yet ?
@Schoolie93 I’m 59 and on estradiol so I’m not in menopause yet. I’m also still having good and bad weeks. But without the estradiol I’d be crying all the time. Sorry you are still having bad weeks.
@Erin P Omg 😳 I thought at 59 you would be in menopause by now. Did your mom go into it late? You must be very close. Did you take the FSH blood test? Do you take antidepressants for OCD? Do you feel like intrusive thoughts are much worse in peri? I’m doing ICBT therapy and it’s helping some but the hormone roller coaster is awful
@Schoolie93 If I weren’t on estradiol I would start menopause but without it I’m crushingly sad so I may never end up in menopause. My Mom started many years earlier. I take Zoloft for the OCD. It helps some. ICBT did not cut if for me so I’m now doing a blend of ERP and iCBT because neither works enough for me. I’m trying to get into residential. Do you have a good OCD therapist to help you?
@Erin P I was told from my doctors that estradiol or HRT does not prevent you from going into menopause. You will know if you take a FSH test. That’s the final test to confirm
@Erin P If your FSH is above 30 you’re in menopause .
I’m similar. I’m noticing I’m worst during ovulation and right before period but once I start, usually it’s like my hormones stabilize.
I’ve noticed I’m worse before period. Mine also started as postpartum ocd
Look up PMDD! i have the exact same thing!
@Joy2307 I believe I gave pmdd and I’m still suffering at 57 - have you tried the meds that mimic a ovaryectomy - I’m thinking of doing this and want to know if it or anything else helps
@Anonymous Are u doing better now?
@Anonymous Estradiol helps me. Without it I am crushingly depressed, cry during sappy commercials and way more anxious. I still have pms/period mental and physical symptoms except bleeding even with the estradiol but not nearly as bad as without it.
@Anonymous It’s worth trying. There are some risks (increased breast cancer risk and having to be checked for endometrial thickening to ensure that other cancers don’t happen) but for me they are worth it.
@Anonymous Even with breast cancer in my family I am risking estrogen because life is unbearable without it
@Anonymous The estradiol makes it bearable and between cycles I don’t do too bad and am able to do erp more successfully. I hope you are able to get relief from the hormonal nightmare as well
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 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 😭
I'm roughly 2 months pregnant and I'm struggling so bad with OCD (specifically surrounding psychosis/postpartum psychosis, postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, etc). I'm so discouraged because I was sub-clinical for over a year and this pregnancy and the hormones are undoing all of my progress. And it actually seems so much harder than BEFORE when I was at a low point. It feels like the hormones are ruining my brain and making me lose my mind. I keep looking over my shoulder, getting intrusive images of scary hallucinations that I might start to get, i fear hurting myself or my baby, etc. Psychosis in pregnancy is 1 in 1000. That's not that rare. I feel like I just upped my chances of my biggest fear happening and I have so much regret and fear around that. I'm also a Christian and I'm relying on God so much more now than ever, but I'm afraid of that too because people in psychosis often have religious delusions and I can't tell if I'm slipping into that or if God is really just using this trial to pull me closer to him. I just feel so defeated. I feel like ERP just isn't going to work for me because the hormones are a whole different animal that "normal" people with OCD don't have. Like they're making me immune to ERP or that ERP isn't for people like me and I'm hopeless.
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