- Date posted
- 1y
OCD and period
Hi friends, Everytime my period comes around my ocd tends to get worse. Just curious if anyone else deals with this and if you have any tools/tips on how to deal?
Hi friends, Everytime my period comes around my ocd tends to get worse. Just curious if anyone else deals with this and if you have any tools/tips on how to deal?
Yeah Hormones are low during that time, and then estrogen starts going up, without progesterone to balance it out. That comes later in the cycle, the second half. Progesterone is the relaxation hormone. Low hormones = low serotonin And I do believe low serotonin causes OCD and anxiety to get worse, depression too. I just wait it out, knowing the better days of the month are coming. For me, it’s days 11-28, end of cycle right before period. That’s when my OCD & anxiety are non-existent.
@SomaticSun🌤️ This was actually super insightful! Thank you!
yup!! usually the week leading up to my period is absolutely awful and the intrusive thoughts i have are super convincing. i don’t have a lot of tips to offer besides the usual ocd ones, but sometimes it’s a nice reminder that your thoughts are so much more intense because your period is coming/has started and there’s a whole mess of hormones going around in your system. you are not your thoughts :)
@ivyleaftea Thank you so much this is helpful as well! It’s nice to know I’m not the only one dealing with this!
i’m the exact same way! i know it sounds cliche but please prioritize self care during this time. utilizing your methods of challenging your OCD is always important, but it can be much more difficult during your period. keep fighting against it, but always remember to prioritize your self care and give yourself grace during this time! 🩷
@lyssielou3 This is super helpful! Thank you! 🙏
probably.. I feel like periods cause a lot of more moody feelings- for me it does
the same happens to me! it’s actually what made me pay attention to the thoughts i was having and question if i had ocd before i started therapy and got a diagnosis. i know it probably sounds silly but i just try and be more gentle with myself i guess, and try to remember that it’ll pass, i use the self care app finch where you take care of this little bird and ive recently added ocd specific goals into there and so far it helps with the day to day so im hoping it’ll help me tackle the period flare ups better too
this is such an important topic! and there’s not enough research on it because so much of women’s health is just women talking!!! i’m there rn too my ocd and life stressors make me super emotional and my thoughts tend to race so much and my mind just feels like that inside the head ocd feeling buzzing, i just sitting with it, not adding too much energy to them even tho it makes me feel anxious. for me i have rocd so my sex drive lowers and i have those stressful thoughts i don’t usually get at any other time of the month!
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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