- 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 🫶🏼
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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