- Date posted
- 1y
Hormones
Ladies out there, do hormone fluctuations make your ocd/anxiety symptoms much worse? I notice more intrusive thoughts as well, anyone relate? thanks
Ladies out there, do hormone fluctuations make your ocd/anxiety symptoms much worse? I notice more intrusive thoughts as well, anyone relate? thanks
Absolutely. I track my cycles so I can be aware of what’s going on in my body as well as my mind. Lots of connections here.
@Sunstone Great idea 💡 I wish I had done that when I was younger.
Yes definitely. I am about to start my period and my intrusive thoughts and fears have been much worse, including physical symptoms like heart racing/sweaty palms. My period has been late the last few cycles too and I have been wondering if the stress associated with OCD can cause that?
Yep, during the luteal phase (a week or two before your period), your estrogen levels drop dramatically. This is what causes the mood fluctuations. Last month my period was a week late so my PMS lasted three weeks long….Girl, I cannot tell you how bad my OCD was. People do not give women enough credit for the stuff we go through every month 🤣🤣🤣😅😅😅!
@chibiyu Mine is super bad in luteal phase too
oh yes, i have PCOS and my hormones have been out of whack the past few months and noticed a pattern.
Yes, definitely last month was my first month with OCD omg I felt awful a week before and then I remember it was probably because of my cycle
Yes when I’m about to start my cycle OCD definitely flares up for me! It makes me scared to have kids in the future cause I struggle with harm/pocd but I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it 😵💫🥲
@lbwocd I got though it , I just had meds for awhile after having them because of the drop in hormones but it got better. You will be fine ☺️
@Schoolie93 Thank you 🫶🏼
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.
How are your experiences during an ocd spike while going through a menstruation? It doesn't matter if you are afab, your experience is valid too! I noticed my thoughts get worsened and the spike intensified, but now that I'm taking sertraline I don't feel an panic attack as before but the throughs and feelings are definitely there so is an unpleasant situation
I was wondering why my ocd was so much worse and I think it’s the luteal phase. I got diagnosed with PMDD recently. For a couple cycles, the pre and during was brutal but I was put on supplements that I thought helped. Now, I think the luteal phase just started but my religious ocd is coming back at full force. It’s scary. It feels so urgent. Like I must figure out the answers to every problem because it is life and death. It’s hard to recognize it is OCD. I feel like if I don’t figure everything out, I’m sinning and disappointing God. Does anyone have advice for surviving the luteal phase?
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