I'm glad to know I'm not the only person who goes through this '(alothought
my symptoms aren't normally near this bad)....I was doing some thinking my endrochonologist did say that I have in imbalence of male hormone in addition to the bipolar and that I needed to be on the birth control pill to help balence it out. I should proably have a talk with him about it and see what he haas to say.... I'm thinking this is more my cycle and a horomanoal problem than it is bipolar because my moods are diffrent than typical bp moodswings. So hopefully this should all be over in a few days. thanks for the support, alex
HI there,
I experience the same things as you describe. My period and the days leading up to it, can be a big trigger for me for some reason as well. In the past two years I've been hospitalized three times, and each time I was admitted was on the first day of my period. after the third time it was kind of clear it wasn't a coincidence.
Just being cognizant of the fact that pms really effects me, so that I can remind myself that I'm probably feeling a certain way because of symptoms, not because I really need to be extra irritated helps. I really recommend you check out this site www.bipolarhappens.com if you haven't already. Julie Fast has some great all around info, and strategies to help monitor and relieve symptoms. When I was sick my family bought a couple of her books and the info is very straightforward and helpful...she is bipolar as well...
For relieving actions some great ones to try are (and these might seem obvious, but they really do help) stretching or yoga, hot mineral bath, lavender or chamomile tea and other things that you find relaxing throughout the day, charting your moods and menstral cycle for 2 or 3 months and see if you notice a pattern that you can then start to watch for. The more you make yourself aware of what to watch for, the easier it is to recognize certain things you say or do, and ask is if that is how you really feel, or if you are reacting emotionally, or irrationally.
Also pick someone, a friend or your boyfriend who you can just vent to. Tell them the combo of bipolar and pms is really hard lately, and you just might need someone to let all your frustrations out on...sometimes this is hard as I find I might not realize that it was even that time of the month until after I've already been snappy, but if you can, then apologize and try and be better prepared the next month. Then they'll have some advance warning not to take your comments too personally...it will also prevent them from over-reacting to your over-reaction, which can cause a pretty quick downward spiral that is easily preventable.
If that doesn't seem to help, try talking with your doctor or pharmacist and see if there could be some vitamin, mineral or other supplement that you might be lacking that might help balance out the hormones. It might even help to talk to a nutritionist--or research online for foods that are supposed to be more calming to the body, as opposed to spicy foods which might increase irritable symptoms.
Hope some of this helps!