Your cycle and AS,SPD symptoms

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Do you see patterns of your sensory stuff or AS functionality related to your monthly cycle? I just started cycling again after two years off from pregnancy and breastfeeding. I noticed a couple days before my period, to a couple days into it, that my senses got really raw and I felt the need to try to find some sensory therapies to help me (still looking, will probably read some SPD books). And I felt very emotionally fragile. And now I'm entering my fertile time and I feel really strong and together, very emotionally stable, and I could sense this was a time to have a difficult but important conversation with my spouse that I've been putting off. And I did so this morning, and I did good -- no crying, freaking out, or clamming up. I said what I needed to say.

I'm really glad that I figured this out. PMS is such a vague (and UNhelpful) concept. Now I feel that I can honor the different parts of my cycle. When I have my SPD issues, I know it's time to 'baby' myself and do some sensory therapies, and avoid too much social interaction. And during the stronger parts of my cycle, it's time to go out, open up, and do stuff that's harder for me. There's a time for me to turn inward, and a time for me to turn outward. I think I am going to try to come up with some meaningful rituals just for myself to honor these changes.

I keep track of my cycle on fertilityfriend.com It's for women who are trying to conceive, which I am NOT, but I did use it when I was trying to get pregnant, and I like all the charts and calendars and places to take notes, so I am still using it.

well not persay to my "cycle" because i dont have a "cycle" ( my periods are very irregular)but i do notice that about a week or two before my period my sensory issues do tend to get much worse

A day or two right around ovulation and the week before my period where my mind and body more or less do whatever they darn well please. I cannot guarantee a level mood or ability to tolerate certain stimuli as I would any other time of the month.

Going through it right now, since being on "the pill" (for cists) things are better or at least predictable but I find my AS symptoms get worse toward the end of the pill pack. I get stressed out and/or depressed much easier and tend to avoid or resent social interaction when I normally don't mind it or even enjoy it on occassion. Normally I'm happy by myself but during that time of the month I'm not happy alone but I don't want to be with people either... I rely on my concerta to keep me stable during the day and it works well but it never last the 12 hours that it is suposed to it usually wears off after about 8 hours and leaves me with no support until I finally go to bed and wake up happier (because I'm a morning person) and take my meds that keep me happy. Hormones suck on their own but hormones plus Aspergers can be downright crappy.

yup. ^-^
my periods have been mucked up because of the pill (which i'm taking for the perscribed use) and I have them every week on a monday til thursday. lol
tis quite crap. least i'm free on the weekends!! XD
My aspies doesn't get that much worse, instead my mood goes crazy when i'm not on my peiriod, because my body is going insane and reapplying the layer to bleed it out again. I go insane and hit out.

So I came up with my rituals to help define my mood cycles. I picked up two different river stones from a nearby river. One is gray, almost perfectly round but flattened, and a little bigger than the palm of my hand. This stone is for when I need to protect myself from sensory input (the PMS part of my cycle). I call it my moon stone, because it kind of looks like the moon. (The moon also represents femininity and the menstrual cycle.) The other is a little bigger, oddly shaped but smooth, and mottled black and white. This stone represents when I feel vibrant and open (the rest of my cycle).

These stones give me a concrete symbol for the unseen things that Aspies have such a hard time comprehending (moods, emotions, change). I feel that the stones ground me. I have a specific thing to visualize or touch that reminds me of how I feel, and the feelings, thus defined, are no longer confusing, but empowering.

I actually picked up these stones on a whim, and within the next couple of days came up with their meaning. Then I remembered that some people believe in crystals as a tool for healing or whatnot, so I spent some time reading online about crystals (the 'magical' stuff). Pretty interesting. I think both of my stones are granite, I know the mottled one is for sure. I could choose to think of my moon stone as protecting me, and I do in a way, but not because I believe the stone is really magical. But it gives me a way to visualize a 'blocking out' of overwhelming sensory input, and it helps. I can visualize the moon stone like a shield that I can hold up and block out things that hurt me (like a video game character defending from attacks LOL). Is it really the rock protecting me? No. But I am intentionally using the placebo effect to my advantage.

Right now I have both of the stones sitting together on my bedroom floor. I still need to find a way to 'use' them. Like elevate one stone onto a shelf during its turn to help me.

I am also going to celebrate the first day of blood each cycle by taking a long soak in the tub. My body is amazing, and it is worth celebrating. Our culture has been too negative and dismissive about the menstrual cycle, and so have I in the past. Now I am reclaiming my body and my cycle in a positive light.

I also want to add that after my first post I kept thinking of that scene in the movie My Girl when Veda gets her first period. Her friend, a boy, comes to her door and asks her to come out and she shoves him away and shouts, "Go away! And don't come back for five to seven days!" And he is perplexed. LOL it makes me laugh.

when I'm PMSing, I feel like there are two types of PMS I go through. The first stage, I'm happy happy joy joy, full of energy, productive like crazy, etc. Then, I hit my threshold for how much I can handle. From there, I enter my 2nd phase. I get mood swings beyond belief, want to only be left alone, don't want to be touched, and my sensory goes into overload, especially my hearing. Everything I swear is like 10 times louder than it is elsewhere on my cycle. It's irritating. But once I hit my period I mellow out somewhat and get fatigued, I'm more likely to drink a cup of tea and fall asleep in the recliner in the couch throw.