Sleep disturbances/nightmares before period?

[supercrook.livejournal.com]

Hey, everybody, I'm sorry to make a post about this when it's not exclusively related to reproductive or sexual health, but it's really freaking me out.

When I was younger, all I had for a few days before or the immediate first day of my period was gas and cramps. Now that I'm older, my depression seems to be worst before my period, and sometimes that's the only thing that reminds me it's on its way. (My period's usually somewhat irregular, I'm not on any kind of HBC yet, and I have a hard time remembering to keep a calendar of it or something. On a side note, are there any kind of free sites or programs for keeping track of menstruation/ovulation that don't assume you're doing so for the purposes of conception? I'm triggered by some pregnancy/fertility-related topics, and just keeping an ordinary calendar in my notebook hasn't helped much.)

I'm just about due to start my period, and the past week has been moderately bad depression-wise -- but more than anything else, I've had a ton of nightmares. No difficulty getting to sleep (which is new, though I've been using a lightbox to get my sleep patterns back in order) but I've been having really emotional, awful dreams that wake me up in the middle of the night. There's no extra/new stress in my life, is it possible these nightmares are a new feature of my cycle or are they just a side effect of the depression spike? Has anyone else had experiences like this? Or is this exclusively a sleep problem?

Comments

[bloobottle.livejournal.com]

Monthlyinfo.com is a great site, and not at all pregnancyish. It's quite basic, but perfect for my needs (and yours by the sound of things).

I tend to get restless the week before my period. I thrash about and talk in my sleep, so I guess I must be at least having different kinds of dreams.

Hormones can affect all sorts of seemingly unrelated things, I wouldn't be surprised if that's what it turned out to be.

[supercrook.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for the tip about MonthlyInfo! The site seems pretty easy to use, and I really like the design scheme/reminder texts idea.

That would make sense! I've been a restless sleeper lately, though I usually am, but crying out/talking in my sleep is rare and it's been happening a lot this week. Glad I'm not alone, at least!

[fee-parisienne.livejournal.com]

It could be related to depression, but I could see it being related to pre-menstrual hormones too. I usually don't sleep very much for a night or two before my period starts.

On the topic of keeping track of your cycle, two free sites that I know about are monthlyinfo.com and mymonthlycycles.com . Monthlyinfo.com is the one that I use, and I find it uncomplicated and easy to use. I haven't used the other one, maybe somebody else can chime in about how they like it. I believe Fertility Friend is also free, but that one is focused on fertility and getting pregnant, and besides that it is not always accurate about calculating ovulation dates.

[supercrook.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links! I've signed up at MonthyInfo, I really like the way their calendar works and (this is shallow, but) the site looks pretty awesome.

[kurainokoori.livejournal.com]

A group of people in my class at uni did some research on nightmares and they quoted this article (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1054452/Why-women-scariest-nightmares.html), which deals with nightmares in general. It's got a tiny bit related to the monthly cycle: "Psychologists say changes in a woman's body temperature - caused by her monthly cycle - are responsible for increasing the number of vivid and disturbing dreams."

[supercrook.livejournal.com]

That's really interesting! I know some people keep track of their basal body temperature for fertility reasons, and it makes sense that those fluctuations would have an effect, but I had no idea. Still sucks, but it's good to know there's a few probable reasons.

[archangelbeth]

I started my first period with a nightmare, and while it may be observer bias, if I start my period during the night? I tend to have a dream that is somehow uncomfortable/disturbing that wakes me up.

My depressive PMS got a lot better when I started taking a daily B-complex. You may want to get checked for your B levels, though, since some people add B and become more irritable/anxious.

iPeriod, on the Apple app store, will note your (estimated) fertile window, but seems to be pretty much neutral on whether you're using it to try to chart for conception, or if you're trying to avoid doing anything risky during that time.

...I hope that's at least interesting anecdata...

[kuradi8.livejournal.com]

Catnip (yeah, the stuff for cats) tea is supposed to ward off nightmares.

I also get hot flashes with those hormonal nightmares -- and at their peak, I'll have 3-4-5 in a row each night. Such FRUSTRATING and VIOLENT dreams! I fend them off with Black Cohosh. Two birds with one stone. Once I have a bad night, I'll take a Black Cohosh capsule before bed for the next several nights. And then I'll usually be fine until next month.

[sabishii-kirito.livejournal.com]

I think I asked this same question a year or so ago because the same thing happened to me for quite a few months in a row.

It's definitely not unheard of, though it's not one of the more typical PMS symptoms. I tend to get PMS nightmares much more often when my depression is really bad, though I have nightmares and vivid dreams more often then anyway. I only connected it to my period during those months because it was happening almost every night for 3-4 days before my period. Not good.

[fleurlur.livejournal.com]

One of my PMS symptoms is freaky dreams/nightmares and my anxiety gets worse. I just attributed it to the hormones at that time. And I'm on HBC! Dread to think what I'd be like au natural.

[dkwgdk.livejournal.com]

Yep, definitely get nightmares (and sometimes just more vivid dreams) right before my period. Honestly, I used to have terrifying dreams that I was pregnant and didn't know it. It happened like clockwork every month the night before I got my period. (I know that for some people pregnancy would be a good, happy thing, but for me in the dream I was always really scared.)

I use a sub-feature of the mood website that tracks my depression symptoms in order to track my mood. DOH, no, edited to track my period.

Plus, woot light boxes! I've been using mine, too. :)