Mommy Mood Swings

Hell yeah- I experience this often in my life. I go to a therapist regularly and I'm on antidepressants. Most often my life is good and happy. But I've learned as I've gotten older that I can't get rid of these funks in life. I think they happen less the older I get but there seems to be no way out. Just my saying. I have neices that I watch going through the same thing. Don't know if it's just women or what. If you find an answer, please let me know. Women are just overwhelmed with life and all they have to take care of. Can't everyone have a funk once in awhile? We deserve them but they are hard to handle. Good Luck to you. Kari

Nope. The rest of the world is even keel and pretty much always happy. We cook dinner from scratch in our exceptionally clean gourmet kitchen in our fabulous model-quality home every single night and then we have amazing sex to show off our amazing bodies that we maintain because we have time to go workout with a personal trainer every single day while our children are excelling at their top notch private school. During our amazing sex our children are sleeping soundly because they are so well behaved.

Oh, wait...... I think I'm dreaming again.

OF COURSE we are all like that. It's the real world.

Make a list of all the things for which you are grateful and then when you feel the snap coming on.... go into your bathroom and read them into the mirror while you channel your inner Stuart Smally.

Or - grab a girlfriend and go have a martini.

Wickerparkgirl--you are fabulous! ;)

Usually my husband notices something is up before I even realize that I am in a funk. He is so wonderful. He will usually suggest that I make a playdate (grab an old best friend and spend the day lunching, shopping, sipping wine, shopping, gossiping, whatever-ing...). He deals with the kids and the house and dinner. I usually leave around 11 a.m and when I get home (around midnight) everyone else is long since asleep. :)

"Snapping out of it" usually requires doing something totally outside of your normal routine. You just heard how I snap out of it. :))

Yes. But I am 1 day from my due date and I feel (and look) like a chicken stuffed with a turkey. It is hard to be comfy in my own skin when it is stretched so thin to begin with. This too shall pass. Have some chocolate, a nap, and a good book. I am going to turn on pbs for my son and have a half doze on the couch while blissfully neglecting my floors :)

If the mood swings are cyclical in pattern, then most likely it is PMS.

Now, if men had PMS (and some say they do) and they took it out on us women... it really would not be very tolerable.

I hate pms.

Research PMS online.
It can really affect/damage relationships too.

Oh hell yes! Don't know of anyone who doesn't - and I don't think it'll subside for me until someone figures out how to clone me.

I have noticed a sharper mood swings in the last couple of years. Don't know if it was having kids or turning thirty, both, or neither! I can count on being crabby and in a funk about 9 days before my period starts. Lasts a couple of days. Also notice good mood swings around ovulation.

When I'm crabby with my husband, I try to just be honest and take responsibility. I say, "Hey, I'm pretty crabby today," or "sorry I snapped at you" depending on what's warranted :)

For what it's worth, I've found that exercise and yoga really make me feel better. Not always easy for busy mamas, and by no means am I an exercise fanatic or anything. If I'm in a really bad mood, sometimes that's the only thing that can snap me out of it (which usually puts me in a worse mood -- to feel bad about not exercising!). Good luck! Mood swings stink.

On the one hand, we all experience this and you should just try to hang in there and do some things that others suggested. On the other hand, when my moodiness got really bad last year, I finally talked to a nutritionist. She put me on a low carb diet which essentially includes meat/eggs, beans (lots of dried beans like pinto, black, kidney, etc) and lots of vegetables. I cut out all sugar and carbs (other than beans) and radically cut down my caffeine. After a two week "detox" period when I had a constant throbbing headache, I felt better than I'd felt in years and was so much more emotionally level. It was an incredible and radical difference. Remember not to discount dietary changes if you find yourself on a mood roller coaster. Good luck!

Of course.
A good walk in the fresh air. A good cup of strong coffee. A talk with a friend....Or reading in our bed by myself or a good TV show sometimes can help me snap out of it. And definitely chocolate!