Ptsd And Menstruation

[Gs172003]

My usual cycle, since I was 13 yrs old, used to be every 24 days.... But ever since the major trau...

Well that explains me. I used to be every 26 days. No more.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

Yes! Stress causes all sorts of issues with your cycle. Many women's stop or slow. Im the opposite. I have PCOS so i generally dont have a cycle but when major stress hits i will bleed badly. So yeah, stress will effect it in all sorts of ways.

 

[Panda Bear]

Mine was also clockwork as well.

Only major issues? The pms is horrendous and I bleed like you wouldn't believe.

 

[EmmaOwl]

try a low hormone birth control, which would help regulate it. They have some decent low estrogen and low hormone birth control for people that are older than their 20's but need regulation. Though it does carry risk.

I would recommend you NOT try this. I used a low-estrogen birth control pill to regulate endometriosis. After 8 years of use, I almost died, no kidding. There are all these class-action lawsuits against the low-estrogen pills? I had not known this. And I developed "double massive pulmonary emboli", or PE's, for short.

In normal English that is "blood clots in your lungs with little pieces coming off and killing you by ending up in bad places like your heart and brain."
I spent almost an entire December in the ICU/monitoring in the hospital, on complete bedrest. (I was spared the indignity of bedpans, had a commode but somehow my vital signs always showed when I moved and I'd get someone on an intercom asking me if I was all right.) I was in the heart-disease wing and I was hooked up the whole time and I'd get the dreaded intercom when I simply used the damn commode next to my bed. Or if I rolled over too vigorously, or something.

I will say, I felt very safe one day when I almost-choked on some pills and suddenly 6 people crowded around my bedside ready to help! But.

Please use low-estrogen birth control pills only as an absolutely absolutely last resort.

Pulmonary Emboli aka PE's can cause a stroke or a heart attack. I was 30 and female and the only risk factor I had was taking those birth control pills. BE CAREFUL. I almost died. My doctors have called this a third trauma. I was fine in the hospital - weird mood changes - but mentally collapsed when I got home and realized how close I was to dying, and how I went to the doctor just fainting two days in a row, warning me to get checked out. I mean, I went to my doctor and there was something so wrong that they brought an ambulance and took me right to the hospital. It took about 20 hours to diagnose me because I didn't have the "common" risk factors: over 35, smoker, and staying still for long periods of time like a long airplane ride or something. I had none of those. The ONLY risk factor I had was those pills.

After being released from the hospital, I then had to spend 18 months on a blood thinner, Coumadin, which has its own side effects and requires blood tests twice a week. I had to wear a medical alert tag so as not to bleed to death in an accident or whatever.

I'm going on so long because I want to emphasize the seriousness of this. I have terrible PMS now (I didn't used to think PMS was a real thing!) for a week, and then I have 6 or 7 days a week of heavy bleeding, but at least, presumably I've rid that "side effect" chance of blood clots killing me. These things, they do not say how dangerous even the low-estrogen pills can be. They pour money into these ad campaigns, and people do not realize how deadly this is.

I sympathize, I do. I don't know WHAT to do about this week-long PMS causing worsening depression and anxiety, and the heaviness and pain in the bleeding. But I'm scared as all hell of those pills. Please think & discuss this VERY carefully with your doctor before going this route for any health concern - up to and including contraception.

End of rant.

 

[EmmaOwl]

I'm gonna fight, and gain some kind of control over the flashbacks and disassociation...I haven't felt this positive in years :)

This is excellent! Do watch out for any downturns, though... getting into a manic/depressive cycle, sometimes I find unavoidable. When I'm feeling more positive, I try to leave little reminders for myself (like posts like these!).. it can be SO difficult to remember what it's like to be happy, or that it is even possible, on a 'down' day.

 

[Yahserah]

Anyone else starts menstruating every time they get stressed?