This morning and right now I have been dealing with this out of the blue panic attacks. I have been dealing with them off and on for about two weeks and I am not sure if it is part of my BP or just part of my anxiety issues. Now I was given 10 mg of Valium a day to take along with an upping of my Buspar from 60 to 90 mgs a day.
Does anyone know if menstrual cycles tweeks the brain chemical balance just enough to cause this to happen?
Thanks!

Oh Honey, yeah. PMS isn't for wuseys. Anxiety, depression, mania-whatever, it can get tipped by hormones.

They do a number on me like you wouldn't believe. (just ask these kind people who hold my hand through it once a month.)

Sigh. Are you still on birth control? I can't take it. Worse. So much worse on it.

No I stopped taking birth control on the advice of my gyn. He said with all the meds I am on right now, the best thing for me to do is use condoms. I'm up right now because I am a tad anxious. I took my nightly meds and hopefully they kick in soon so I can go back to sleep.
Speaking of sleep I wish I could have slept through this week and woke up when it was all over. This is the first cycle I have had where my anxiety and my mood swings are all over the place since being diagnosed with BP.
Does this happen every month now? If so I am going to have to have an air raid shelter built with a cell phone, cable TV, a computer, a week or two worth of food, a nice bathroom and comfy bed and hide in there. I wouldn't want to expose myself to anyone feeling like this.
Its a good thing I don't work anymore or else I would be a mess. Not like I am already.

Well now it is officially morning and I still have the anxiety. This is just getting silly. It only happens in the morning and just before bed or late at night.
I thought that dealing with this stuff was helped with my meds but this time it just doesn't seem to be happening.
What gives?

I am not sure. My theory is that our hormones mess with the meds and we just break through their therapudic dose.

A year ago, my pdoc and I were trying to up the dose of anti-depressants a week before and during the cycle and then dropping back down after. But my stress levels were so high then that we just left the dose at the higher level.

And I still break through.

Not sleeping is bad enough for bipolars but even worse with the fibro.

Call the pdoc. There has to be something else. Maybe the benes aren't the right ones for you. There's Zanex and Clonopin. Valuim just might not be the right chemical to squash the panic.

Birth control is supossed to help. And the fact that you have stopped taking it (was it recently?) may be contributing to the intensity that you are now experiencing.

Hi - What about Klonapin instead of Valium? Klonapin helps me with my panic/anxiety. Or maybe Xanax?

Just a thought.

Hope you are feeling better........Hugs, Nikko

Didn't like how I felt on xanax or the others. Valium seems to work best for me....just not today or this week.
I guess I am just a mess until I can get my equilibrium back in a couple of days.
I'm not all nuts about it, just trying to figure out how to get through it. This is the first time I have felt this way. I have been of the BCs for about 2 years now so this cycle crap is new too. Then again I am about to turn 35 in a couple of weeks and somehow my body is changing.
Who knows.
Thanks everyone. Just talking about it helps tons.