extremely BAD anxiety when my periods comes?!?
i have this panic attacks anxiety depression :-(
Its hard for me to have Faith & Hope when I keep getting this bad anxiety and

it comes with crying and shaking & depression - loss of apetite and faintness

& horrible scared feeling (afraid to be left alone, afraid of losing control & hot

flashes Shaky, Sweaty & negative thoughts - and fear - thought I was going

crazy -I can't breathe, my heart races - not able to sleep :-( i feel sick with the

horrible feeling - allways anxious!
I'm tired of the pain, and despairing/losing hope -
I start to feel a bit better but them my periods come & its HELL again :-(
When will this nightmare be over?? I'm so scared that its not going to end? :-(
begun anti-depressants "Citalopram" 20 mg been on them for 4 weeks now

and i dont know if they are helping? i did feel a bit better intill periods come?
whats going on with me? how can i stop this?
so say its a hormonal imbalance and Overactive Thyroid? i did have a blood

test and it come back all fine -?
I do try to be happy - but its hard to stay positive when I know what's going to

happen to me every 4 weeks! Even when I have a good week its still there at

the back of my mind knowing what's to come. :-(
i went to see a Natural Healthcare lady - homeopathic & she said i do have a
hormonal imbalance and Overactive Thyroid and she will regulated to the

normal speed and imbalance my hormonal! but she did not say how long it will

take?
love & hugs littlemissmuchafraid

Hi there.... just want to say I am 45 and in the last year I have panic and anxiety starting a few days before my period, getting worse on my period and hitting a screaming peak the day after my period! never had this before.My period allways brought a feeling of releif and calm before. I take klonopin .5 as needed to get me through these days given to me by a very inteligent, empythetic, female psychologist. It help alot. Linda

When levels of progesterone drop, it cuases a woman to have a period. I'm wondering if you both aren't extremely sensitive to the drop. I'm so sorry this is happening to you.

Miss Tibbs

When I began reading your post I had to check the name to make sure that I had not written this post...and simply forgotten .

I had the similar experience. After two months without a period... and I must say feeling very well, exception for my ocd...the day before my period started I just did not feel quite right. The next day began what you expressed above in your post. The anxiety which lead to depression...rapid mood swings...the internal shakes...crying and feeling like crying all the time for no apparent reason...nervous and apprehensive about doing my regular daily activities...woosie/cotton head/fuzzy head feeling. I started back taking Librax, which is an antianxiety/antispasmotic medication for my IBS. I also tried to get more sleep. My period lasted about three days, but the symptoms listed continued for about seven more days. I even placed a call to my doctor to discuss going back on antidepressants.

All of this and I'm taking compounded progesterone...I had to also start back taking the compounded dhea to help with the mood swings.

Thank God that I've felt somewhat "normal" for the last two days.

Hi girls,
just wanted to add that I've been keeping track of my symptoms for 7 months & I noticed that from days 1-8/9 of my cycle I was experiencing more intense anxiety symptoms.
These included:
* panic attacks
* feeling apprehensive & uneasy-fear flashes
* tearful & depressed-especially strong around day 4 of my cycle?!
* palpitations
* angry & irritable
* dizzy / light-headed
* head feels spacey / muddled thinking
* hot a lot
* chronic hyperventilation
* chest & stomach 'lurches' & weird sinking sensations

I can get these at any time but they are much more intense & frequent during my period. Also a bit of a flare-up mid-cycle but a lot calmer towards the end of my cycle.
Just wanted to share this with you so you know you're not alone in this. Really hope that when I'm post it eases off. It helped to keep a note of the symptoms then, when I felt like this it was reassuring to see that I'd had these symptoms before during my Hope this helps!
love Sarah xx

Count me in here too Marchgirl & MyFaith. I have the same symptoms at this time of the month too and things get better after ovulation only to start up again when my period starts. I think it's down to too low estrogen at this time and I have a flare up around midcycle when the estrogen fluctuates when progesterone is supposedly kicking in. And also MyFaith I was a million times worse while I was taking compounded bio-identical progesterone cream (just some food for thought ). It maybe to do with too much progesterone and too low estrogen while using the cream (a worsening of the hormonal imbalance). Oh well anyway I am slowly improving now to some degree since getting the stuff out of my system and trying something else.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Rox

Rox, I've been wondering how the compounded progesterone played into the heightened symptoms that I experienced last month. Thanks for the information...I'm going to discuss this with my doctor on Tuesday.

Muchafraid, As I read your post I couldn't believe how much you sounded like me when the anxiety was real bad.
I just wanted to encourage you by letting you know it will get better. I haven't felt the anxiety for months.. in fact I don't feel anxiety at all anymore. You'll get threw this, in the meantime we are all here for you.

Hugs,
Jalyn

I have been struggling with the same issues and have posted about them, too. And it's always around my period time.....

I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone and this won't last forever.....although it's hard to get thru those days when we feel so horrible and not like ourselves. Today and yesterday I got "me" back again. And each time gettig thru the rough patches and the fears will only make us stronger. We're all here for support and I know on many occasions I've been comforted by others who have helped to quiet my concerns and my fears and give me a soft place to land. We are here for you.

Hugs to you,
Guitarplayer Sue

HI,
I CAN'T RELATE TO THE SPECIFIC REASON YOU'RE HAVING THESE ANXIETY ATTACKS, BUT I JUST WANTED YOU TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE DEFINITELY NOT ALONE!!!! MY HEART REEEEEEEEEEALLY GOES OUT TO YOU, BECAUSE I HONESTLY KNOW EXACTLY HOW YOU FEEL. I'M 52 Y/O AND HAD A HYSTERECTOMY 20 YEARS AGO; BUT STILL HAVE MY OVARIES. DON'T EVEN KNOW IF I'VE GONE THROUGH MENOPAUSE OR NOT, AND I'VE BEEN EXPERIENCING EVERY SYMPTOM YOU'VE DESCRIBED FOR OVER 25 YEARS, ON AND OFF. WAS DIAGNOSED WITH FIBROMYALGIA OVER 10 YEARS AGO, BUT WHEN I LOOK BACK, I BELIEVE I'VE HAD ALL THESE SYMPTOMS AND MORE SINCE I WAS A TEENAGER. AND IT'S EXTREMELY HARD TO KNOW WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON WITH ME, CUZ THERE ARE SUCH A VAST NUMBER OF SYMPTOMS WITH FIBRO. IN ANY CASE, NO MATTER WHAT THE CAUSE IS, THEY ARE EXTREMELY LONELY, FRIGHTENING, AND DEPRESSING SYMPTOMS. I WISH I HAD THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION ABOUT HOW LONG IT WILL LAST, CUZ I'D HOPED I'D HAD IT WAY BACK WHEN! THE ONES THAT FRIGHTEN ME THE MOST ARE WHEN I FEEL LIKE I CAN'T CATCH MY BREATH, MY HEART STARTS RACING, AND I GET EXTREMELY FAINT. I DID LEARN, HOWEVER, THAT MY BLOOD PRESSURE MEDICATION WAS CAUSING A LOT OF THE FAINTNESS. ALSO, MY SHOULDERS AND LEGS GET VERY HEAVY TOO. I KEEP TELLING MY GUY-FRIEND THAT HE'LL COME HOME ONE DAY AND FIND ME ON THE FLOOR UNCONSCIOUS OR, AT BEST, INJURED. I'VE HAD TO REMIND MYSELF NOT TO GET UP TOO FAST FROM A SITTING POSITION, BUT SOMETIMES IT JUST HITS ME OUT OF THE BLUE LIKE WHEN I'M JUST WALKING AROUND THE HOUSE OR EVEN IN THE GROCERY STORE. SO THEN I GET ANGRY AT MYSELF, BECAUSE I THINK I MUST'VE DONE SOMETHING TO BRING IT ON. IT'S A VICIOUS CYCLE!!!!. SINCE MY BP MEDS WERE ADJUSTED, HOWEVER, THE FAINTNESS AND HEART RACING HAVE GOTTEN SOMEWHAT BETTER, BUT MOSTLY ONLY UPON RISING FROM THE CHAIR. I STILL DO HAVE IT AT OTHER TIMES. AND YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! IT IS EXTRAORDINARILY DIFFICULT TO REMAIN POSITIVE WHEN YOU HAVE THESE "EPISODES" OR SYMPTOMS REPEATEDLY AND HAVE TO DEAL WITH EVEN JUST WONDERING IF THEY'LL EVER END TO BOOT. IT'S JUST SO STRESSFUL, MADDENING, AND EXHAUSTING, AND I JUST KEEP THINKING SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE!!!!!! I DO HAVE GOOD DAYS, JUST NOT ENOUGH OF THEM. BUT WHEN I START HAVING A CYCLE OF THESE EPISODES, I STILL HOLD OUT HOPE FOR THOSE DAYS!!!! YOU HAVE MY TOTAL EMPATHY!!!!!!!!!! I HOPE YOU'LL FIND SOME RELIEF SOON!!!! OH, BY THE WAY, I'VE BEEN TAKING XANAX FOR A SHORT TIME NOW, AND IT REEEEEEEEEEEEALLY DOES NIP THOSE PANIC ATTACKS IN THE BUD!!!! THE OTHER BENZODIAZEPINES THAT ARE MOST COMMONLY USED FOR ANXIETY ARE KLONOPIN, ATIVAN, AND VALIUM. THEY'RE ALL BASICALLY THE SAME; JUST HAVE DIFFERENT ONSET OF ACTION, PEAK TIMES, HALF-LIVES, AND DURATION. KLONOPIN IS ALSO USED FOR RESTLESS-LEG SYNDROME. I SINCERELY HOPE YOU FIND ONE THAT WORKS FOR YOU!!! IT HAS SAVED MY LIFE AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED. I EMPATHIZE WITH YOUR FEELING OF DESPERATION!!!!!!!!!! TAKE CARE AND GOD BLESS! CINDY

Good luck MyFaith with getting your doctor to admit it may be the progesterone making things worse . The people who advocate the stuff don't like to think that some women react badly to it. It was only when I found this site that I realised it wasn't all in my head & that the progesterone was making me sick. When I finally pieced it all together I realised that the only times in my life that I have suffered with severe anxiety & some of the other horrible symptoms I have is when I have been trying to take the BCP. My body just doesn't like hormones of any discription, natural or synthetic, my mother and sister are the same.

Please keep me posted on what they say about it.......

Rox

These symptoms that come the day before or day of your period are classic for low estrogen. Estrogen dips around ovulation but it makes the biggest drop just before your period starts and takes 5-6 days to rise again. Using progesterone without adding estrogen during this time will only make your symptoms more intense because progesterone "blocks" or tempers your already low estrogen level. If you are not opposed to using estrogen you may want to talk to your practitioner about it. If your symptoms are pretty much limited to this week of the month you may be able to just supplement with estrogen during this week to keep your level from dropping so low and not have to use it the rest of the month.

YES YES YES NiteOwl this explains what's happening to me exactly. The only symptom I get of my impending period coming now is the lightheaded feeling that I experience on an almost daily basis, worsening. During my period I feel awful then about day 6 things start to slightly improve till around day 11-12 then I feel the worse I feel all month till after ovulation then I improve 10 fold till my period is due again then the whole process starts over. I have been keeping a journal of each month for over a year now and every month is paractically the same. Things were much much worse when I was using the progesterone cream and it took approx 12 months to get it out of my system after I stopped using it. I had 1 hormone blood test during this time and my estrogen was low and progesterone was high. I've always been very aware of what goes on with my body and I know when I ovulate down to the hour practically, but when I was using progesterone and the months after stopping it I didn't feel like I was ovulating at all. The month I started to feel better and more like myself I definitely ovulated (with much discomfort) and have done so since (without the intense discomfort now). My periods are coming regular again and bleeding as they should do unlike when on the hormones when they were getting closer together and shorter in duration and erractic. It's almost like the progesterone put me into full blown peri and speeding towards meno.

NiteOwl are you taking any form of hormones or going a la naturale like I'm trying to do now??

Rox

Hi Rox - After researching studies & reading everything I could the last couple years I was actually more afraid of the effects on my body without estrogen than I was of the possible risks in taking it! Even having a younger sister with breast cancer did not worry me as much as the cardiovascular and bone risks women can face when they lose their estrogen. I was started on medication for hypertension when peri hit full steam, my total cholesterol skyrocketed from 139 to 228 in a matter of months once my periods stopped, my DEXA scan showed osteopenia already when I reached menopause....so, after weighing all the risks I decided I was more willing to live without a breast or uterus than I was with heart damage or a disabling hip &/or spinal fracture down the line. I started on bioidentical estrogen, progesterone and testosterone this past summer after passing my one year mark. I don't think there is any right or wrong decision, it is all a matter of educating yourself, understanding the risks & benefits and making a decision based on your own comfort level.