Women's hormonal roller-coaster

Thank you so much! That’s very true, I would often have a significant binge and then wake up to my period the next day.

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Saw this today and thought it was interesting.

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Yes very interesting :grinning:

Me too, it took me a long time to realize the correlation. When you have an eye on it you can prepare for this special craving pattern. That helped me a lot :pray:

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Alcohol isn’t my DOC, so in that sense idk. BUT, I’ve noticed that after I turned 30 and again after 35, my periods have been changing. Less bleeding (which was never much to begin with), worse cramps that last longer and OMG the diarrhea. The diarrhea… :woman_facepalming:t2:

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Yeah everything with my body is a mess :joy: removing the alcohol will help me figure out what’s me vs the alcohol. I’m 39 so I’m sure my hormones are changing some regardless!

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My moods were the most significant positive change for me regarding sobriety. With Flo’s (same tracking app) help I now know why I feel a little weepy or jealous or angry. Before I was a ball of emotions who reached for the bottle when things got, well anything, I reached often.

This site is a really big help and my hormonal swings were a HUGE trigger for my drinking. Please use us a resource especially as you start a new cycle. The link between the two is real. :heart:

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Thanks to being sober I could learn and accept that there is a link between my cycle and how I feel. And also other recurrent side symptoms like Olivia said. Not a fan. But it’s easier when I see the cycle instead of only being in it. I only have cramps in 2nd day (most of the times) and they are okay with some ibuprofen.

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Thank you, I will! Grateful for this forum and hearing about all of your experiences as well. We’re all different but there’s so much we have in common too

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Since quitting my mood medication, which had the side affect of making my body produce prolactin, and so I lactated and had few periods, my cycle has come back regular and short. It is every three weeks, so I feel crazy spinning between pms and my period and just a few days of sanity in-between. It has only been a couple of months so I hope it settl s down.

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Oh Lordy. I am chiming in with gratitude for this thread! I believe I am starting the change, and it’s hit me like a wrecking ball. I tried telling my (male) doctor last summer, and he said I was too young, and what I was feeling was unrelated. Here’s what I was feeling: changes in skin and hair texture, muscle tone loss, irregular periods, digestive issues, and GENERAL DESPAIR. He advised I talk to a nutritionist. FOR REAL. I am in the throes of woe over a relapse this weekend, and guess what I got the morning I woke up in shame and horror- that’s right, my period that I hadn’t had for over 5 months. I am not blaming my period for my relapse- that is all on me. But I am going to start thinking more about how I need to take into account how these body changes and hormones play into the completely powerful mind games I make myself endure relating to my sober life. My addict voice was already strong, telling me I could control my drinking, just have 1 blah blah blah. But now realizing my addict voice is hopped up on massive surges of hormones???!!! I need better plans.

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Knowledge is power here. Once I was able to link the two (my drinking surges and my hormone surges) I felt more sane. Welcome!

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I second @TrustyBird . It took me soooooo long to link my suicidal thoughts to my cycle as it is irregular. Well, it is not as irregular when I track it and when I link these thoughts to my hormones. I can now convince myself that these thoughts and feelings are transient and that I don’t have to act on them. It’s hard work to convince myself of this once I am in my dark hole.

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Yup. I always request a female doctor when it’s about my lady bits. Surely, not all male doctors are incompetent, but just in general: no uterus, no opinion.

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Today finally my period started. That means that my mood will improve drastically in the next days. I will start seeing the light instead of the dark again and chances to relapse will go down.
This up and down is so draining :face_with_spiral_eyes:

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Ahhh, this is great! I wanted to mention something about my cycle in another post, and didn’t feel comfortable for the men reading.
Did you guys know that alcohol influences your hormones too? And it takes a while after quitting to balance that out? I had terrible acne for a while after quitting, when I thought my skin would get better. That sucked, but was better to handle when I knew what it was.
Right now I am really tired, dizzy, and headachy, and don’t know if it is PMS or withdrawal from marihuana (day three), or maybe both. I wish I had a bathtub. I had a mobile one, but it tipped over once and flooded my whole studio apartment so I am not using that anymore. I also wish I had a man to cuddle me. Definitely blaming that wish on the hormones :rofl:

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Hormones, so tiny stuff with such a power right?
Sending a hug your way :hugs::blush:

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I hope your mood will lighten up soon. I know all about the really dark place hormones can take you. It has been a while that I was really almost suicidal when PMS’ing. But I also regularly just keep taking my contraceptives. Also because I think I am getting perimenopausal and without it it was sometimes a three week cycle, and ovulation was so painful, I would even get nauseous around that time and everything. Should go to the doctor, but he’s a man. And I am not one to ask for help a lot.
I heard a glass of soy milk is good for oestregen. Going to give it a try.

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:rofl::rofl::rofl: the mandala​:rofl:

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The “almost suicidal” is a thing here too. And so much anger, it is hard for me to stay calm if someone bothers me.
Today I started to take chaste tree capsules, I forgot I had them :woman_facepalming:t2:
Ovulation this time was so painful omg :sob:
It’s not every month that I go down that rabbit hole, but this month? I feel like I’m my demonic twin :smile:

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