Destressting Advice

You are doing great just admitting you are feeling hormonal and stressed! If you can, hit the gym and hit it hard. Cardio helps me burn of the stress hormones and yoga will help quiet your negative emotions. I am sure with 3 kids it is hard to make time for yourself but maybe you could splurge on a sitter or ask a friend to stay with them while you have a mommy's night out. Even treating yourself to a nice dinner and quiet time may help. Good luck.

Hi! You may want to immediately make an appointment with your gyne. Your hormones seem to be all out of whack, based on your description of symptoms. In the mean time, try to arrange to have family or friends give you a hand with the children, perhaps an hour or two away from the commotion doing something you want to do. Depending on their ages, and if they're in school, use resources in your home, create small projects for each child to do, give them their own space to create in. Set rules and consequences for breaking them. Your children are feeding off of your emotional aura. Most importantly, you must take care of you in order to `mama' them! I'm a single mom of three teenagers. I experienced instant menopause in 2002. My world turned upside down and it wasn't monthly! I was a wreck and so was my home. I discussed options with my gyne, read books, and Googled hormone remedies. I had to take HRT's. I did so for four years. Now I take Macafem, a natural replacement that has done wonders for me. (macafem.com) It does get better. Make that appointment asap! God Bless

Being a single mom with three kids is stressful, whether one has a blissful life or not!

You are taking out your stress on the kids, and it's going to affect them in the long run. There is a good medicine for this -- called Sarafem, that exactly address this issue. See your doctor, who can prescribe this medicine to help control your emotions.

Other ways to destress: exercise daily (get Turbo Jam workout videos -- tons of fun and stress-relieving kickboxing!), get family/friends to help take care of kids, get part time job to keep your mind away from home, find a hobby like reading after they all go to bed, etc. Good luck!

R. -- I was going to recommend the st. john's wart. I also heard that Rosehips helps.

I too am a single mom and I have tried to talk to my son about being part of a family and how important it is ( he doesn't need to know it is my time of the month) to contribute and that we all have days when we need extra love and care. Although you are the mom it is okay for your kids to know that sometimes you need a little extra encouragement and less energy (negative) from them. I am not sure how old your kids are, but it has worked with my son and carried over into how he treats his friends when they are having bad days.

R....I think we have lost track of any folk wisdom dealing with "that time of month". I bet if you think of it, you are also tired as well as angry. Of course. You have 3 kids and are single. Even married, that's exhausting.

There's a form of PMS related depression that manifests briefly, then goes away, and it can be pretty serious. Some cry, others rant. I find that intentionally taking more time to rest (if possible) is very helpful. As I started to pay attention, I noticed that my anger and agitation actually fueled my lack of rest, since I "pushed thru" being tired and actually went to bed later than usual.

If rest and improved nutrition-hydration don't help, give yourself permission to talk to a counselor or to a doctor and maybe get some medication to take off the edge before you scare the heck out of your kids like I did.

Please tell your kids - at their level of understanding - what's going on with you. Otherwise it's inevitable that they will internalize it and blame themselves. While still driving you nuts.

Betsy

I feel your hormonal pain, I was quite psychotic before I started on Lexapro. My GYN recommended it, saying she had seen a lot of success with people who have PMS. Hormones are just such powerful chemicals, I felt like I need a chemical to battle back. You could also look into more homeopathic meds (like St John's Wort) or even seeing if Midol takes the edge off.