NOt sure if right board but anxiety, adhd and hormonal problems

[TravelingChris]

My 15 yo dd has horrible pre-menstrual and beginning of period problems. She is always adhd and has some anxiety issues but nothing becomes severe unless she is either about a week or a little more before her start or the first two days of it, It drives me batty at times but I think my older age now is a help since I have mellowed a bit. Anyway, since so many of you have children with similar original problems, I was wondering if anyone else has great escalations of problems due to the cycle. IF so, what, if anything, has been done for the girl in question? I am starting with a ob/gyn who assured me that she would not do an exam on the first visit and would just talk to her about her problems. (One of her anxieties relates to modesty, even in medical settings). ANy other ideas?

[Laurie4b]

My 15 yo dd has horrible pre-menstrual and beginning of period problems. She is always adhd and has some anxiety issues but nothing becomes severe unless she is either about a week or a little more before her start or the first two days of it, It drives me batty at times but I think my older age now is a help since I have mellowed a bit. Anyway, since so many of you have children with similar original problems, I was wondering if anyone else has great escalations of problems due to the cycle. IF so, what, if anything, has been done for the girl in question? I am starting with a ob/gyn who assured me that she would not do an exam on the first visit and would just talk to her about her problems. (One of her anxieties relates to modesty, even in medical settings). ANy other ideas?

 

How much exercise does your dd get? Exercise is the very best treatment for any kind of mood issue. For some people, medication may also be needed, but for many people, regular 30 min of biking, swimming, brisk walking, will be sufficient.

[Orthodox6]

This probably is related to exercise (a good point, btw). When I would get bad cramps during high school, I would practice extra on my french horn. Never failed !

[Dobela]

I struggled with hormone problems and I didn't have anxiety or ADHD problems. The hormone problems themselves were horrible. One of the first treatments the doctors want to do is birth control pills. While they help, they do have other side effects and can take some time to take effect. One thing I would encourage is that the doctor actually run hormone level tests to see what they are before moving thru assorted BCPs. Is something too high or is she weak in another area? How does this change with her cycle? I would be ok for part of the month then one of my levels would drop to almost nothing. Then, I would have such heavy flows that I would be anemic.

 

Ask what other things may help - like diet. One great ob/gyn encouraged me to increase calcium and vitamin D to large levels (like 1500mg daily for calcium and double the DRA for vit D). Just doing that and adding iron during my flow really helped take the edge off. It also stopped the nausea I was experiencing during flows. Caffiene made my problems worse in all directions- emotions, cramps, fatigue.

[TravelingChris]

She gets a lot of exercise. She is my most athletic inclined kid. SHe does diving every day, WII almost every day, and jogging on the treadmill about every other day. Until this week, she was playing two hours of soccer games a week too. IF anything, she has to exercise less in this period because of her severe cramps and also her anxiety is tied to her tachycardia in some instances. That is, she will exercise, get tachycardia, and then develop anxiety. It isn't the other way around. She has been evaluated by two different pediatric cardiologists about her heart issues and neither thinks they are significant but just that she needs to be evaluated on a yearly basis.

[Dobela]

Severe cramps can be caused by endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome. I had both and both were evident by her age. They may not be connected to her other issues at all. Exercise didn't help me with either as well.

[TravelingChris]

Dd had a good visit with the gynecolologist and she believes she has PMDD. SHe may also have something else but we will try this first. She will double her dose of lexapro on her PMDD days (she takes 10mg lexapro for headache prevention). SHe was given fiorocet for the pain of her severe cramps. SHe said that some of the non-medication treatments were not applicable since she already exercises a lot and she doesn't drink any caffeine products except during the very occasional visit to a Chinese or Japanese restaurant. SHe also is already taking supplemental vit d and calcium because of very strong familial history of osteoporosis.

We discussed putting her on bc pills but decided to try this way first since those stop growth and she may be still growing and also because of her headache history. Now the gynecologist told me that the bc pills I took which caused my basilar artery migrianes were probably 9 times more potent and they don't even make those kind anymore. If she has to go on those, they will be a tiny dose so as to not trigger more headache problems. AS it is, she has bad migraines during that time already.

[PollyOR]

Christina, THANK YOU for this thread. My dd does not have cramps, but she does have anxiety, depression, nausea, lack of energy, off balance, near fainting spells, etc. I have tried to tell her pediatrician I feel strongly that this is tied to her hormones. I feel he has given up. :confused: He refuses to have her hormone levels tested. I took her to an OB/GYN physician's assistant and she was put on BCP. We've been at this for over a year. I'm a frustrated mama!

 

What you posted has given me some things to think on. Thank you!

[Dobela]

Christina, I am glad that you have found some answers. II hope that you are better able to treat her in the future. I had severe migraines with cycles that would make me want to stay in a dark closet. It wasn't until I had a hysterectomy that mine went away.