My dysphoria gets worse on a period?

[Jorden]

Is it natural for dyphoria to get worse when on your period? because it always happens to me 2-3 weeks before it starts.

[Guest]

During my period, yes. It could be the hormones or the imbalance increasing your dysphoria, at least that's what I think.

[babybluesnowpants]

Definitely. That happens a lot. If I'm unlucky, I'll have my period land on one of my non-female days (as a genderfluid individual). Dysphoria is very annoying.

[Scottthespy]

Heck, I don't even have dysphoria and I sometimes hate my body on period days. I can easily see it making pre existing issues worse.

[Lennie]

Yes. Periods and dysphoria are annoying.

[Emery.]

Even if youre a cis woman it may make you want to (brutal, not for people with weak nerves, TW)

take a kitchen knife and rip your uterus out.

If your period is unpleasant enough, of course (by unpleasant, I mean painful, blood-rich, etc in physical terms, and long-lasting in those "pleasures")

[Desmister]

Yes. That's definitely the time when my dysphoria is at its worst. Stupid biologically female body <_<

[cherryxcardium]

Oh my god yes because my body is doing something that is completely not associated with my target gender like uterus can u not

[Heart]

Definitely. That happens a lot. If I'm unlucky, I'll have my period land on one of my non-female days (as a genderfluid individual). Dysphoria is very annoying.

Amen. For me, it's worse the week before, because these things on my chest often swell and make themselves more known. Seriously, it's bad enough the people around me actually subtly change their behaviour, and my bra no longer fits quite right, and the binder is useless if I'm in man mode. The worst if I'm in man mode, or neutrois mode. Random luck of the draw, I guess :P

Even if youre a cis woman it may make you want to (brutal, not for people with weak nerves, TW)

take a kitchen knife and rip your uterus out.

If your period is unpleasant enough, of course (by unpleasant, I mean painful, blood-rich, etc in physical terms, and long-lasting in those "pleasures")

Wait, did I accidentally leave my thoughts lieing around? Oh, you meant you fantasize about that too sometimes?

I guess that makes two of us.

[LadyErzsebet]

Definitely. That happens a lot. If I'm unlucky, I'll have my period land on one of my non-female days (as a genderfluid individual). Dysphoria is very annoying.

Amen. For me, it's worse the week before, because these things on my chest often swell and make themselves more known. Seriously, it's bad enough the people around me actually subtly change their behaviour, and my bra no longer fits quite right, and the binder is useless if I'm in man mode. The worst if I'm in man mode, or neutrois mode. Random luck of the draw, I guess :P

Even if youre a cis woman it may make you want to (brutal, not for people with weak nerves, TW)

take a kitchen knife and rip your uterus out.

If your period is unpleasant enough, of course (by unpleasant, I mean painful, blood-rich, etc in physical terms, and long-lasting in those "pleasures")

Wait, did I accidentally leave my thoughts lieing around? Oh, you meant you fantasize about that too sometimes?

I guess that makes two of us.

I kind of suspect that all menstruating people at least sometimes (if not every single time) have those thoughts. It isn't a dysphoria issue for me (I don't think)-- its just that it HURTS and I don't like looking like a crime scene...

[Anthracite_Impreza]

For me it's like a battle to soldier on through. I refuse to let it beat me, but it's knocked me down a few times (metaphorically *and* physically).

[littlepersonparadox]

big YES from me. It's right when i'm on my period gets worse. Like it makes a huge gender-confusion feeling clouding my brain. I constantly forget that i'm on it or about to get it.

And like heart my chest becomes more noticable but in a different way. It will actually give me a few moments of pain reminding me that I have breasts and that becomes really irritating becasue breasts are my bigger source of dysphoria. Bottom half i'm fine with if i didn't get periods. Top half is free to leave ASAP.

[WhenSummersGone]

I used to experience this. I would get in such a bad mood over having to go to the bathroom just to deal with periods. It's gotten better but I still have moments where I don't want to deal with this.

[Heart]

For the record, my favourite way of dealing specifically with the dysphoria side of periods is to imagine that it's my uterus falling out. Not just "the lining" or whatever the heck they teach you, but the whole stupid thing. It doesn't help with the pain (in fact, the pain kinda helps with this narrative if anything ;) ) and it doesn't help with the weird body proportions that happen at that time of the month. But since the uterus is the biggest source of my dysphoria, it's the only thing that has ever put a small smug smile on my face, despite all the pain in the world :D

[cherryxcardium]

big YES from me. It's right when i'm on my period gets worse. Like it makes a huge gender-confusion feeling clouding my brain. I constantly forget that i'm on it or about to get it.

And like heart my chest becomes more noticable but in a different way. It will actually give me a few moments of pain reminding me that I have breasts and that becomes really irritating becasue breasts are my bigger source of dysphoria. Bottom half i'm fine with if i didn't get periods. Top half is free to leave ASAP.

If my top half could just grab its stuff and leave that would be gr9

[Mezzo Forte]

Even as someone who isn't dysphoric about periods, I would still say yes, dysphoria gets way worse around periods.

I get ridiculous levels of cyclical breast pain, and I'm very dysphoric about my chest. The pain prohibits me from using my typical coping method of distracting myself until I can afford surgery, putting me in a much darker place than I would care to remind myself of.

I've gone to several different doctors and had several ultrasounds because of the pain, and I'm sick of them telling me that this much pain comes from "perfectly healthy breasts." I don't do caffeine at all. I've been trying primrose oil for months. I'm vegetarian and eat pretty healthy. I'm consistently getting solid sleep. I'm the lightest I've been in maybe 10 years. My last physical basically reads as "[Musette] is super healthy." I can't think of another reason beyond genetic predisposition for this pain, which really goddamn sucks.

There are times when I almost feel like it'd be less painful to just take a cleaver and cut them off myself, and they tend to coincide with the period. Thankfully, I'm not into self-harm and I know that it wouldn't accomplish anything, so I just have to somehow get the money for surgery.

[Member95252]

I would say that my dysphoria can be triggered during the time I have my period but then again, I just avoid looking at my body at all during it. It's just, I feel so tired and fatigued and I don't want to reminded that the way my body looks is the reason why people assume my gender or place gender roles/expectations on me.... It's just very tiring. I'm already at my emotional breaking point so it will take little to just fall.

[Lixt]

Period dysphoria is definitely a thing. And even if it wasn't, it makes sense, periods, vaginas, uteri, they are so heavily gender-coded that it makes sense that, when they manifest, dysphoria get worse.

I really struggled with that in my teens. Hated it with a passion. Tended to starve myself hoping for amenorrhea (and now, 10 years later, it's been years I take daily medication for anemia and the occasional IV - 3 this year). Which, by the way, is ridiculously unnecessary, and an advice I would give my teen self would be: go to a doctor, get the pill, take it without a break. Infinitely safer than not eating.

It got better, though. I sort of distanced myself from the socialisation and stigmatisation of periods. Periods happen to anyone checking a list of conditions. Being a woman isn't one of the condition. It's just an organ bleeding. Now, my periods mean my body way to get children is functioning pretty "normally". I'd prefer not to have a week every month of making special arrangements (seriously, that's 1/4 of my adult life dealing with stuff I have no wish to deal with, it would make anyone annoyed/pissed to have to eat lemon after lemon) but at least it got well enough that I'm not in an open war with my body.

[nerdperson777]

Definitely. That happens a lot. If I'm unlucky, I'll have my period land on one of my non-female days (as a genderfluid individual). Dysphoria is very annoying.

Amen. For me, it's worse the week before, because these things on my chest often swell and make themselves more known. Seriously, it's bad enough the people around me actually subtly change their behaviour, and my bra no longer fits quite right, and the binder is useless if I'm in man mode. The worst if I'm in man mode, or neutrois mode. Random luck of the draw, I guess :P

Even if youre a cis woman it may make you want to (brutal, not for people with weak nerves, TW)

take a kitchen knife and rip your uterus out.

If your period is unpleasant enough, of course (by unpleasant, I mean painful, blood-rich, etc in physical terms, and long-lasting in those "pleasures")

Wait, did I accidentally leave my thoughts lieing around? Oh, you meant you fantasize about that too sometimes?

I guess that makes two of us.

I kind of suspect that all menstruating people at least sometimes (if not every single time) have those thoughts. It isn't a dysphoria issue for me (I don't think)-- its just that it HURTS and I don't like looking like a crime scene...

My mom would always tell me about how it looks like a crime scene in the bathroom. For so many years I didn't know why I hated hearing that. Since my mom tends to do everything for me, sometimes I find the crime scene cleaned for me. It's nice that I don't have to deal with it, but I hate it when she just shoves it in my face, like the investigator going back to the same house to search. She doesn't really care if I don't like anything and sees me as incompetent no matter what I do anyway.

But for the longest time, I felt pretty hopeless. I basically just neglected my feelings and locked them up. It was a long time before I mentioned to anyone about how much I hated it since I didn't know anyone who would understand. Right before I realized my gender, I was actually going to make an effort to become a girl. I was going to try having long hair for the first time in my life. My hair got to shoulder length before I realized that I was meant to have short hair. With periods, I kind of numbed myself to the idea when it happens. I want to just take T and make it go away still but in a way, I got used to it happening and I forgot about the pains of having it. I feel incredibly more dysphoric when I have to deal with the crime scene part of it. The uncomfortable random oozing makes me feel bad for not knowing what's going on with my body. Another big thing is that I hate the paranoia of when it will start. That little bit of liquid I felt was probably blood, or the leftover stuff Just go away, I don't need you.

[theAineveryacronym]

Gods, yes. Periods + dysphoria = hellishly bad dysphoria. Literally the only good thing about being an anorexic teenager (and probably the thing that motivated the disorder to begin with) is the fact that I didn't develop curves or periods for years. Not that I'm advising that - the rest of that experience was awful. Don't do it.

(possibly TMI)

There are devices, commonly know as a mooncup or a menstrual cup, that you can insert and leave for 24+ hours or until full without the chance of Toxic Shock Syndrome, have about 3 times the capacity of a "super" tampon, and are less likely to leak. Maybe these could help, as you wouldn't have to deal with the actual physical evidence of a period as often? I use one, and it's the best.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstrual_cup

[SleepyFox]

I'd definitely say it's possible!

I'm agender; I generally feel pretty neutral about my body or only feel slight chest dysphoria. But any dysphoria I do feel seems to get a lot worse around that time of month. Like, I'll get really uncomfortable with my chest size (even though they're not that big) and start wondering if I could/should look into medical transition things.

then a week later it'll be all "...oh. That explains it."

Usually by the time my cycle is over the dysphoria has gone back to its normal nor-quite-aware-of-it level.

I totally agree with others though - that it's an unwelcome reminder of your body's gender vs what you'd like it to be.

It sucks.

[zoom]

Of course it is possible, I am cis female and still I hated my body, my life and myself (for being too weak and eating too much so the period actually appeared) whenever I got a period.

I am blocking it with hormones, but I am still afraid that it might come back in some situation (like when I can't get the hormones) so I am trying to get a hysterectomy or at least endometrial ablation, but it seems pretty hopeless, apparently the only choice is places like India and Thailand where they care only about your credit card.

[Nylocke]

My iron levels are actually low because when I first started my period I used to bleed heavy. I'm also a new vegetarian which also contributes to my iron being somewhat low. So yea, I am significantly weakened by my low iron lvls especially during my period. One time I was weakened so bad to the point where I almost passed out in the shower.

[Heart]

My iron levels are actually low because when I first started my period I used to bleed heavy. I'm also a new vegetarian which also contributes to my iron being somewhat low. So yea, I am significantly weakened by my low iron lvls especially during my period. One time I was weakened so bad to the point where I almost passed out in the shower.

I actually did pass out in the shower one day due to low iron levels. I didn't know at the time, but my iron was low enough to be damaging my internal organs. Now I take iron supplements every day. That is dangerous. If you haven't already, I'd strongly suggest having a doctor supervise you, especially with the new diet. I usually get blood tests done for iron once every few months, and a doctor that keeps tabs on that. Don't screw around with your health, you only get one body!

[UncommonNonsense]

I always loathed my period, because it made me even more aware that my body had a gender that I didn't feel fit me at all. The period forced me to be far more aware than usual of my body's unwanted femaleness.

Most of the time, I could at least kind of ignore my hated female chest, but when I was ovulating or having the period, my chest would get sensitive and sore, and I could not ignore it.

Most of the time, I could ignore the fact that I had a uterus and ovaries, until the hateful period forced me to deal with the grotesque, unwanted, awful monthly reminder.

I'd had what my doctor euphemistically called 'female troubles' from a pretty early age. I started my period at 14, and was starting to have unusually heavy bleeding, lengthy periods, and severe pain by 16. Finally, it got so bad that a period could last 25 days, I'd bleed so heavily that I had to layer multiple overnight-style pads into an incontinence brief in order to ensure I'd not stain my clothing or my office chair with blood, the pain would sometimes be so bad that I'd have to miss 3-4 days of work in a row and needed painkillers just to function, and I ended up anaemic due to constant heavy blood loss. Had to get iron injections... which hurt like a sonofabitch. Some days, I could barely make it from my bed to my bathroom.

Unfortunately, my doctor was one of those baby-rabid types who wouldn't even entertain the idea of sending me to an ob/gyn to see what was going on. I asked, then demanded, every time I had to see her. I even told her I didn't want kids, would never be sexually active, and if I were to end up pregnant, I'd abort it, but she still refused. So I finally ended up losing my temper, threatened to report her and sue her for malpractice, and told her that unless she referred me on to someone who knew what they were doing I'd make sure she never practiced medicine again. I'm not a confrontational, yelly kind of person, but I'd been driven beyond my endurance at that point.
When I went to the ob/gyn, I was shocked at how professional, knowledgeable, kind, attentive, and open she was. She sent me for a few tests that my family doctor had refused to do, and lo and behold, I had endometriosis, fibroids, a cyst on my left ovary, and early uterine cancer. Cancer. Within 6 weeks, I'd had a hysterectomy.

Best decision of my LIFE! Not only did it totally remove the cancer (though I still get checked every year), it also ended the dysphoria-inducing periods! I still have my right ovary, but it doesn't seem to do much.

And I fired that family doctor.

[Nylocke]

My iron levels are actually low because when I first started my period I used to bleed heavy. I'm also a new vegetarian which also contributes to my iron being somewhat low. So yea, I am significantly weakened by my low iron lvls especially during my period. One time I was weakened so bad to the point where I almost passed out in the shower.

I actually did pass out in the shower one day due to low iron levels. I didn't know at the time, but my iron was low enough to be damaging my internal organs. Now I take iron supplements every day. That is dangerous. If you haven't already, I'd strongly suggest having a doctor supervise you, especially with the new diet. I usually get blood tests done for iron once every few months, and a doctor that keeps tabs on that. Don't screw around with your health, you only get one body!

Dang o_o That only happened to me once and I take iron supplements everyday x-x I have to take the highest form of iron(the most you can take) and even taking one of those once a day is probably not enough. I have a doctors appointment today so I'll probably have the blood work done some time during this week to check out my insides.

[Heart]

That's always a good idea! Good luck

[Nylocke]

Soo just got my period this morning ... the friggin crap hopped on me like a dirty cold. I will probably wait till after my period to get the blood work because if I do it now it'll probably have my iron levels coming up non existent literally x-x

[Heart]

*hugs*

[zoom]

I remember how I went to a general practitioner shortly after I started taking hormonal b/c, and she mentioned that "I don't have that anemia anymore".

I was not even aware that I have anemia (before I was underage, so they maybe told my mother, but not me). And no one has ever asked me about having heavy periods... like if it was "something that just happens" and "yeah, anemia because of periods is fine and get used to it".