BPD During Your Menstrual Cycle

 Hiya, baddies! Today, I'm going to be talking about what happens and goes through the mind of a borderline during their menstrual cycle and when they have their period. As we know, periods make our hormones a little off, and with BPD, that's an even bigger mess. But let's get into it a little deeper. 

To start off, let's do a quick overview of the menstrual cycle in general. The menstrual cycle consists of four phases: menstrual phase, follicular phase, ovulation, and the luteal phase. Before and during menses, our emotions are unstable because of our hormones changing. So imagine what it's like to have already unstable emotions plus BPD? BPD is all about emotions, so it is perfectly normal and very likely for you to have a BPD meltdown before and during your period. Another thing that you may experience during your menstrual phase is increased suicidal and harmful thoughts that may even lead to actions. The symptoms of BPD are extremely exacerbated before and during menstruation. According to a study in Psychological Medicine, symptoms of BPD worsened by at least 30% before and during mestruation. This is like going from moderate to extreme depression. However, during ovulation, BPD symptoms are way less extreme, because you have higher levels of systemic estradiol. During menstruation, the levels of these hormones drop and fluctuate, which is why your actions and thoughts may be all over the place. 

So what do you do now? First things first: remind yourself that your actions and thoughts during this time are not fully in your control. You are not a bad person. You may be more irritated and aggressive during this time, which many affect how you interact with others, but it is alright; you and those around you should know this is because of your BPD plus menstruation. Second of all, you should use the coping mechanisms and management skills you have learned. You should use them in general, but especially during this time. I will make a post dedicated to some coping mechanisms and management skills. Make sure your loved ones and those you interact with regularly know that your BPD affects your actions heavily, especially when you're mesntruating. Knowing this will help them be more understanding towards you and your actions. 

Having a period in general is very hard, and having one while also having BPD is like hell, but you are so strong for handling either one. You are strong and resilient. Do not give up; we all know you can keep going and you can do it. You are loved and worth more than you think. I hope this article was somewhat helpful; I'm currently too tired and going through a bad state to put too much effort into my posts but I don't want to give up completely so I'll try to upload every few days. Best of luck, baddies!