how hormones affect your mood and influence your behavior
Hormon-nonono-nal
“Are you about to get your period or something?” At moments where we feel just a tiny bit more out of sorts than usual, the comments start getting thrown around. And joke or not, it gets tiring not to be taken seriously. Especially when it’s really right before that time of the month.
Fluctuations in your hormonal balance around the time of your period actually do make you more sensitive to moments of tension and negative stimulation. This greatly affects your mood of course. Research shows that estrogen - aka the female hormone - directly affects serotonin levels. Serotonin is more commonly known as the happiness hormone. So you can imagine that, when there are fluctuations in your estrogen levels, there are fluctuations in your serotonin levels as well. This pretty much makes you feel crappy or just generally unhappy, which is unpleasant, but nothing to worry about as long as these symptoms tend to disappear as soon as your period starts.
Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
Does ‘cranky’ not even begin to describe your feelings before your period starts, or are you dealing with more serious symptoms in general? You might be looking at a case of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Worst case scenario, it could be PMDD.
PMS, a mouthful, yes, but what does it even mean? It’s an umbrella term for a plethora of physical and emotional symptoms people struggle with right before their period starts. The symptoms are different from person to person, but what they do share is that they disappear as soon as you hit your period and then crawl back into your life a week or two after your period. These symptoms before your period are related to an imbalance in your progesterone levels. Your body produces this hormone after ovulation. Progesterone is also known as the calming or feel-good hormone. If your body doesn’t produce enough progesterone, it will show in your mood as well as through physical symptoms like tender breasts. Diet is extremely important, because this will create the necessary building blocks to produce enough progesterone. Stress is one of the most important interrupters. For the production of the stress hormone cortisol, the hormone progesterone is used. And so if you are very stressed, a disruption in the hormones in the cycle is created.
Target audience and symptoms of PMS
About five percent of people between 15 and 45 who menstruate struggle with PMS. The symptoms are most common among people who’ve given birth before and with people who’ve already hit 30. Why some people have it and others don’t is unclear. But you do have higher chances of having PMS if your family members have it as well.
Almost everyone who menstruates struggles with hormone-related problems at least once or twice in their lives, but how do you know when to contact your doctor over it? There are so many different symptoms related to PMS. One struggles with crying fits and feelings of depression, while the other deals with a deep sense of unhappiness and feelings of aggression or anger. Aside from the psychological symptoms, someone who has PMS can also struggle with physical symptoms such as tender breasts, back aches, muscle aches or water retention.
Do I have PMS?
Unfortunately, it’s not easy to diagnose PMS. It’s no use taking blood, because it’s not related to having more or less hormones than people without PMS. Your GP will probably ask you to track your symptoms, to see whether there’s a pattern. There are special PMS calendars that make it easier to track symptoms. Your doctor will conclude whether you have PMS based on that calendar.
Would you like to know more about PMS and what to do about it? You can read our article on it here.
It also helps to keep track of your diet. Keeping track of all the vitamins, minerals and fats you need to keep your hormones in a healthy balance is often overlooked, but important nonetheless. If your diet causes a hormonal imbalance, it naturally leads to (worsened) PMS symptoms.
Pill blues
Lots of people get the pill in their early teens without much extra thought. And to be fair, for the majority it works just fine. However, a lot of people are unaware of the negative side effects of the pill, especially in relation to your general state of mind and mood. It appears that teens who use the pill deal with feelings of depression more often than teens who don’t use the pill. This is caused by the influence of hormones on certain parts of the brain that are in charge of processing emotions. Unlike adults, for teens this part of the brain is not fully developed yet, which increases the chances of feelings of depression while using the pill all the more.
Besides estrogen, the pill also contains a type of progesterone, progestin. People who are more sensitive to depression, already have a lower level of serotonin. The progestin worsens this. There’s a good chance those bottled feelings of depression will come out in the pill-free week.
Some people are more sensitive to certain pill compositions than others. It can be quite the search to find the right pill for you. There's a good reason behind the fact that there are so many different types of contraception pills. It’s also good to note that the liver breaks down the pill after you take it. In order to do this, the liver uses vitamins and minerals. So, some symptoms aren’t caused by the type of pill, but by a lack of these vitamins and minerals. With the help of your GP you could find a complementary therapist who can give insights on the specific issues your body is dealing with and help form a plan on how to assist you and your body.
One in ten people will suffer from this
The contraceptive pill is one of the most used forms of birth control out there. That number is slowly dropping, especially among young adults. They are more inclined to be critical towards what they’re putting in their bodies and focused on living healthily. Not just young-adults suffer from feelings of depression because of the pill, adults suffer from this as well. In fact: one in ten people will suffer from this. It must be said that not enough research has been done to draw any firm conclusions.
Alternatives to the pill
People who want to stop using the pill are often looking for the perfect alternative. Lots of people switch from the pill to a hormonal IUD, such as the Mirena or the Kyleena IUD. The Mirena IUD is a plastic T-shaped device of about 3 cm that is inserted into the uterus by a doctor or gynecologist. The IUD releases small amounts of progestin, which prevents sperm cells from fertilizing an egg. The Mirena IUD works for five years until it needs to be replaced. People who are more sensitive to depression usually respond better to the Mirena IUD, even though this IUD also reports to have side effects of mood swings and depressive moods.
Want to learn more about the IUD? Read all about it here.
implant and mood swings
The Implanon is a small plastic rod of a few centimeters long, containing progestin. It’s placed under the skin by a doctor on the inside of your arm. The progestin makes sure that eggs can’t leave the ovaries, preventing pregnancy. Implanon protects against pregnancy for up to three years. Unfortunately, Implanon also lists mood swings and low moods as side effects, but more research has to be done to state this definitively.
Copper IUD
The copper IUD is similar to the Mirena IUD, but without hormones. Opinions on this form of contraception are divided, because your menstruation sometimes gets worse (at the start) and the insertion feels quite uncomfortable. The upside is that this form of birth control doesn’t have any hormones.
when in doubt…
Do you feel depressed or extremely down with or without contraception, or do you at least suspect that’s the case? It’s completely okay to contact your GP over this. These feelings are nothing to be ashamed of and GP’s are more and more equipped nowadays to help you (or to help you get the help you need) with issues related to mental health. They even included the effects of the pill on your mental health in the guidelines for GP’s recently.
Would you like to read more about contraception in order to choose the best one for you? Cycle has an informative list of all forms of birth control. You can find it here.
Do you want to read more about PMS? Suzan shares her personal experience with PMS here. We’re in this together!
Cycle is trying to gather more personal experiences with the use of birth control. We want to be able to help young people make better informed decisions on what birth control to use. Not all side effects are listed on the packaging after all! Would you like to help? Fill out our survey and try to answer as honestly as possible. You’ll help others make the decisions we all had to learn through trial and error. We’re in this together!
