PMS / vitamins / exercise

I'm heading into that PMS time of the month, so I thought I would write a little about that.

I used to be pretty unaware of how much PMS affects my anxiety, but over the past year, I've come to see how my anxiety always spikes at this time. I'll be doing really well, and suddenly it will feel like I've lost control over my emotions again. Last night I didn't feel well after eating dinner, and I became convinced that I was going to throw up, even though I really think this episode of "not feeling well" was no worse than usual. After I calmed down, I was kind of shocked that my anxiety had escalated so quickly. All signs pointing to "oh yeah, PMS." It's back, wreaking its havoc.

But even though it's still a tough time for me, it's not as bad as it was several months ago when I first started noticing the pattern.

For one thing, that in itself - being aware of it - has been a huge help. Now I am prepared for it every month, and when my anxiety starts to get worse inexplicably, or when I start feeling really upset/depressed or frustrated about my anxiety, I know that is most likely the cause. That knowledge helps me stay calm, because I can remind myself that it's temporary. I've started training myself to avoid thinking about certain topics, high-anxiety topics, during PMS. For example, my wife and I are planning a vacation for Thanksgiving. I am excited, but the thought of it also stresses me out a lot. During PMS, if I think about this trip, I usually feel none of the excitement and about ten times more overwhelmed than I do at other times. I start to worry and worry about every little facet of it, and it only ends up making me feel like it's going to be a disaster. So now, if I start to think about it during PMS, I just tell myself "you don't need to think about that right now" and move on to something else.

I also started taking a 100mg B6 vitamin every day in addition to the standard multivitamin I was already taking. This extra B6 has helped so much. I would say it's almost miraculous. Not only does it reduce my general PMS symptoms (including the intensity of my emotions, it seems), but it has made my menstrual cramps less painful. Cramps have always triggered emetophobic anxiety for me, and the more pain I felt, the more anxiety I felt. So that is a huge relief.

Yoga and/or exercise are also supposed to be amazing for helping with PMS. I have seen a little evidence personally, because I was doing yoga almost every day for a couple weeks, and that month I felt a lot better than normal during my period. I would love to be able to say more about this, but I have yet to maintain a regular yoga or exercise schedule. This is something I have been wanting to do for months, and I have made several attempts, but they always die out. Apparently the only exercise I truly enjoy is playing tennis, and for some reason, there are no free open-to-the-public courts in our area.

Anyway, even though I am not currently exercising, I firmly believe in its power to make things significantly better. For anxiety in general, not just PMS-related anxiety. I'm still hoping I'll someday motivate myself to start exercising again and to actually stick with it so that I can enjoy the (many) benefits of it.