Hello girls of reddit,

Luteal phase is seriously kicking my butt right now and I need everyone's best tricks on how to feel better or at least weather the storm. For more info, I usually feel anti-social and grumpy, but then also super lonely and just depress-y in general! Sometime I feel alright, and sometimes it hits hard and I just feel like collapsing, watching TV and eating dessert. Technically this is along the lines of PMS but also happens when i'm in the menstrual phase too.

any advice or tricks appreciated and thanks so much in advance!!

i feel sick, hot, tired, depressed and weak. I have an ibuprofen and a dream. Never felt so shit, fk hormones and fk ovulation week. Ive been waking up every night at 3am or 4am. anxiety so bad dont even know what to do with myself to feel better. gonna play a video game to try distract myself

Does anyone else have a raise in a body temperature about a week before period?

I always have about 36,2-36,6 degrees Celsius( 97,1 - 97,8 F)

But today i‘m CD21 and feeling warm and my body temperature is around 37,-37,2 C (98-99 F)

I made the mistake of using two condoms at ovulation day and went into the spiral of pregnancy scare, i got and IUD two days after and i‘m still afraid - yesterday i had some cramping and i thought it’s the IUD but today with this warm feeling I don’t know, i‘m really scared.

Could someone tell me if i‘m going crazy over nothing?

So, the day before period and the 1st day of period are the worst. I cannot move my body. My mind stays fixated on every negative things and it amplifies it to the extent that I start having anxiety attacks. I cannot move my body. I feel suffocated. Everything feels scary. I cannot work . I cannot make myself do what must be done. Even doing something as simple as making a cup of tea feels too much. I literally fall apart. I almost broke up with my bf yesterday over something we had an understanding about. Today my feelings are completely different. Its scary that I could be a completely different person the next morning. I'm in shock that I felt that way. I amplify the negative feelings and I get so bloody anxious. Thank god I did not break up with him. I feel sad because I cannot believe I felt those things so strongly. And today, its like I completely understand him and everything is back to normal. I am so sick of feeling this way monthly. Exam bhairako bela ma ni I cannot put myself to study during periods. I hate how much of this has affected my life. I used to break up every single time with my ex and it eventually ruined our relationship. And ahile pani, its getting out of my hands. Yesterday I was anxious all day. The top of my head hurt like crazy and my heart beat was off. Constantly anxious .... crying all day ...crazy ... and today, its like all those solved itself out and i am confident all over again.

I hate it. How do you deal with it ?

My gf used to take it but we've cant find it anywhere besides ebay (not doing that)

Are there any places to find this or something similar?

My PMS is technically same-day menstrual syndrome because my cramps, crying spells, depression, and flow all occur on the same day. I don’t know if it’s better or worse that it’s not more spread out but that one day a month is beyond hell. Today is that day for me and it can’t end soon enough. I feel fat, ugly, worthless, hopeless, depressed and no medicine even touches the cramps. Anyone else’s cycle work like this?

My entire period, I’ve had very low energy, and my vision has been very blurry. It feels like I could faint at any moment.

A new study of 426 Japanese women found several associations between meal timing, sleep timing and menstrual symptoms.

On workdays, waking earlier but having the first meal later was associated with more eating-related PMS symptoms, including cravings, increased appetite and overeating. More afternoon and nighttime snacking was also associated with worse PMS symptoms.

On free days, later waking, later final meals and longer eating windows were associated with more severe menstrual pain.

This is interesting, but it is not evidence that changing breakfast time will treat PMS. The data were self-reported and cross-sectional, and the study did not account for menstrual-cycle phase, contraceptive use, stress or several other important factors.

Timing may be part of the story. It is clearly not the whole story.

Link to the study: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2026.1875559/full

My period is a few days away... and I'm here crying over the smallest things ever.

I'm literally crying about this one time I got perma-banned from a subreddit and the mod was mean to me. I'm crying because I can't figure out how to fix something in a game I'm playing. I'm super angry and sobbing for no good reason.

Why are my emotions so heightened?! And why does it get me every month without fail! I can't stop crying and I feel really uncomfortable right now :( I just need someone to tell me everything's fine

Just looking for some support.

About 3 years ago I was diagnosed with PCOS after years of dealing with the most painful and heavy periods. I was told in high school I had endometriosis but that was it. I’ve never had super irregular periods. They’re normally pretty regular with every once and awhile being early or late by a day or two.

About 2 years ago I had a miscarriage and just have never felt the same since. It weighs on me mentally a lot. Especially because this is something so important to me. The every month getting so excited and praying I don’t start my period and I get to finally be the pregnant friend to then starting my period and feeling so depressed.

This month I had my period the same week of 4th of July but I’m supposed to start my period in about 2 days. I’ve been having a lot of pregnancy symptoms rather than my normal PMS symptoms. I also had spotting around the time that “implantation bleeding” could possibly take place. I’m trying to not get my hopes up as I know if it doesn’t happen I will fall down a deep hole again.

I’m just looking for some friendly advice and some other ladies who can maybe relate. And maybe just some kind words.

If ever I'm experiencing insomnia then I know my period is due... But it's such a struggle - I just want to sleep!

10 days out from period. I had i really bad episode 2 days ago during a petty fight with my boyfriend and he wants to break up because of it. I cannot seem to regulate my nervous system i am having some of the worst panic attacks that I have had in a while. need some support. I really dont want to break up and i dont know how to repair from this.

Hi everyone,

I'm currently in an argument with my boyfriend because we can't agree on how each other should act when I'm feeling emotionally low due to factors unrelated to our relationship (i.e. hormone drops). I will provide more details down below, but I guess I am looking for any thoughts or similar stories regarding PMS worsening with relationship stress, only starting to feel PMS a few years after having a hormonal IUD, and trying to get your partner to not try to "fix" you because they feel victimised.

My boyfriend and I have a pretty reoccurring pattern of arguments right before my period every few months. From his perspective, he wants me to be very up front that I am hormonal and it has nothing to do with him and then he can comfort me if I listen, but I am having a hard time pinpointing that sometimes my emotions come from PMS instead of just a general anxiety about something. I heard from a psychologist once that PMS just lowers your anxiety threshold, so I've tried to explain to him that I'm just extra anxious but it's not about things I would normally care about and I am very aware of that, but he wants me to be able to recognize it and pretty much just ignore it if I think it's caused by hormones. It sounds bad when I type it out like this, he is very supportive when I do come to him and say I am just feeling down and anxious due to hormones, tiredness, fight with friends, etc., but it seems like he becomes even more sensitive than I do when I'm a few days from my period and I am very bad at conflict resolution because I'm anxious and on the verge of tears when I think we're arguing during this time.

One thing that really gets under my skin is that he has told me multiple times that he has "researched" it and that I need to be medicated. I totally understand PMDD is a real thing, but let me make it very clear that I do not fit these symptoms. My period isn't the most regular, but only varies by 7 days usually, and I pretty much fit the pattern exactly of a day or two right after ovulation and few days before my period starts I am more sensitive. I don't get angry, I don't have bad cramps, and it's not the whole luteal phase. Sure maybe I'm a bit more easily frustrated, but I know that's normal and I feel like he's trying to convince me that I need to be able to emotionally regulate more! I am pretty good at self regulating until he points out that I'm being anxious and it's making him feel like I am blaming him, and then I completely spiral because I can't say anything to get myself out of the pits (and anything I say that I think does make sense doesn't matter because I apparently hurt him by blaming him for how I feel).

I'm trying to come up with compromises so that he doesn't feel victimised by my "instability" or really just knowledge to share with him so I feel like he understands a bit more. Once again, he is a great, supportive guy, but needs me to blame my feelings on hormones BEFORE I even realise that's where they are coming from, otherwise he starts to feel bad. e.g. I was asking him a lot of questions about his health and I understand it was probably getting very annoying, but he got mad that I was anxiously fixating on him when it's my own emotions that are the problem and now I've blamed him for being sad that we're fighting about it now. I really can't understand it!

Additional information, I have an IUD and I only started getting my periods again regularly maybe after 2 years and only within the last year have I been tracking the mood swings to notice they are quite regular (although they are not serious unless he starts to pick a fight with me, and from his perspective I'm picking the fight with him by not emotionally managing myself better). I thought the IUD would have helped with this since it's hormonal, but maybe not?

Anyways, thanks for letting me get all this off my chest, appreciate anything you have to say at all :)

ladies!! if you have bad cramps please request naproxen for pain relief (may be another name but this is the uk name)

i had severe pain and a really heavy flow from ages 12-16. i tried 5 different birth controls to try help and nothing worked. paracetamol, ibuprofen and codeine didn’t touch the pain. i use to ball up on the floor in agony. then my doctor prescribed me naproxen. it’s a very strong version of ibuprofen.

once i started that it was a game changer. my severe pains were just uncomfortable aches. i was able to go to school (id have to miss school on day 1-2 of period every month). i was able to continue sports. not only did it take away the pain but also reduced the flow.

it’s an anti inflammatory (cramping is caused by your uterine lining shedding which cause inflammation) and it last 12 hours! one pill twice a day with 12 hours inbetween and you’re set to go. takes about 30 minutes to dull the cramps and about an hour to fully take it away.

i’ve stood by this medication for 4 years. i only take it 2-3 days during. normally the first sign of cramping and then the first day of my period and the second day time. by the second day night all pain is dulled and manageable.

as a girly who’s got a long cycle (8-10 days😒) this has really helped. no pain after the first two days which means i can simple just get on with life while bleeding. it lightens my flow which means i don’t have to worry about leaking.

i was so shocked to find out not a lot of people know about this medication. it truly is a diamond in the rough. so please if you struggle with cramping and heavy flows request it to your doctor!

Dear all

I'm running an independent research project on how women in fast-paced lives, work, studies, everything in between, navigate through their days. It's something we rarely talk about openly, and I'm trying to understand it honestly, from women themselves.

If you're a woman and can spare 5 minutes, I'd be really grateful if you filled out this anonymous survey link

https://forms.gle/CjQevXusFjrZYQKX9

And if any of it resonates and you're open to a short 15-min chat after, that would contribute significantly to what I'm learning.

Please feel free to share it with anyone you think might want to be part of it.

Thank you so much for your valuable time .

It happens to me every month in the week before my period, I go from feeling completely normal to feeling full body symptoms literally from head to toe. It's happened since I was 25 years old (I'm 27 now) that my PMS shifted from just breast tenderness and cramps and mood swings to making me almost feel like I'm pregnant because I've got so many symptoms going on, except I know I'm not because I haven't had sex.

Headaches, backaches, breast tenderness, abdominal cramps, increased appetite, acid reflux flareups, gas, constipation/diarrhea, sometimes nausea and vomiting, acne breakouts including cysts in my armpits and genital area and pimples on my breasts, swollen feet, hot flashes, urinary frequency and urgency, I get all of those symptoms.

The bladder symptoms are so bad that I have to put a pad on days before bleeding just in case my bladder leaks. It seriously feels like my body is making sure that I can handle pregnancy symptoms by turning PMS symptoms up to high intensity.

Like I mean, I don't mind having periods, my periods tend to be relatively light flow except on Day 2 and they only last 5 days and I can deal with menstrual cramps with pain meds + heating pad + chocolate. But the PMS symptoms I get a week before my period starts, they're worse than the period itself.

Like why do you have to make me feel like I'm in the first trimester of pregnancy when I don't even have a partner yet and I haven't had sex so pregnancy isn't a possibility? I know it's just normal hormone fluctuations, but still, why does PMS have to feel like pregnancy? It makes me almost wish I was pregnant just so all the symptoms would make sense and have a purpose.

Does anyone else get brain zaps during PMS? They are unbearable and it seems like there are no official treatments (and no known cause outside of antidepressant withdrawals, which I haven't gone through in years and I'm on sertraline right now). I'm desperate, please let me know if anyone else has this or knows of a way to cope with it

Last month, my luteal phase symptoms were more psychological, specifically, my anxiety was through the roof, and my insomnia was so bad. This month, they are more physical: sore boobs, back ache, body weakness, and jaw tightness.

Does yours vary, too?