Advice/Support on PMS Self-care
Hello All,
Days leading up to and then the first two days of my period are often difficult. I don't believe I'm experiencing anything out of the norm other than the usual shift in hormones and physical/mental/emotional effects.
However, particularly the few days before and first two days, I start to fee like like I actually HATE my husband. He is acting totally normal and to be frank, we have a typically great relationship aside from the usually misunderstandings and frustrations and such on both sides.
I've been vulnerable, expressed how hard this time is for me and he is very supportive and even tracks my cycle with me and when it is coming up, is helpfully and kindly reminding me to take midol, baths, take it easy, have some tea, etc. As supportive as this is, it's not really stopping the feelings. To me, my reactivity during that time of my cycle is definitely On My Page, though I am grateful he tried to be so supportive.
But for real, this morning he was just talking about what he has to do to day, totally neutral, just list of the tasks he plans to get done and they are all beneficial to me and the family but I swear, I wanted to scream at him to shut up and go die....I didn't. But just inside I was screaming and wanting him to just STFU and go away forever. At least in that moment how I felt.
I'm reaching out to see if any of you ladies have experienced similar and maybe can offer perspective on how to utilize the skills or maybe just approach it differently or just a mindset shift.
I'm not opposed to medication, but so far the things I've tried for this specific thing (birth control pills, antidepressants) have worse side effects than being highly annoyed by everything for 5 days a month.
As I write this, maybe it's just a RC thing. Maybe I am doing as much as I can and I can just release trying to control my inner world. My inner world can be wanting to scream and I don't need to control those inner thoughts and feelings that pop up. It's just how my body works.
Or maybe it's a desire? I have the desire to scream during this time of the month. I'm currently rereading the book and really like how she talks about acknowledging desires is important. Even if you won't ever act on them or they are contradictory, etc.
I am very grateful for my health and the fact that this is the biggest challenge when it comes to my physical and mental wellbeing is an absolute blessing. Maybe I can lean a bit more into gratitude.
If you go through all this, thank you for reading. To be frank, if you have some input or experience, I'd appreciate it. But just writing it all out and sharing was helpful and nice. Thank you! And thank you so much for this community! I've been practicing the skills on and off for 4 years but really committed this year. And I am so so so grateful for all of you.