I keep coming back to these boards with all these trivial problems and I feel bad because I know so many of you have real problems you have to deal with, but I was just wondering if anyone had any info on anxiety having some relation to hormones, for example as a female, I tend to feel more 'down' just before and during my period, which is something that can come on very suddenly no matter how good I felt before. It could be just my imagination but I seem to feel quite anxious and constantly worried not long after this dies off, like I can't stop worrying that I or someone I care about will be killed in an accident and stupid stuff like that. It doesn't take over my life but it's not pleasant, but if it is directly related to hormones and my menstrual cycle then that could mean that there is either a relatively simple way of dealing with it, or that I could maybe 'train' myself to be less irrational...I am generally quite an anxious person, not to the point of disorder but it just seems heightened at certain times and although I haven't kept accurate records of this there does seem to be some sort of pattern to it, so if anyone else has any similar experiences I would be grateful to hear about them :)

By the way I am not on the pill at the moment, if anyone asks

again, I realise that this isn't the end of the world and I am sorry for making a fuss, but I'm at a stage in my life where I genuinely want to be able to live life as fully and as successfully as possible. I am also slowly moving towards something that has always stressed me out (travelling), and I don't want to ruin that experience for myself by spending my whole time trying to keep myself together so I can actually enjoy myself!

Hormones play a big part! During my time and about a week before I am at my worst.

If you feel that anxiety is taking a hold then you see a professional to discuss these issues. They can provide you with coping skills and such to help relieve some of your anxiety.

I have thought about seeing someone but I've never felt totally justified, I have had the odd panic attack before but they really are very few and far between and probably no more than the average person suffers from. I don't want to start any kind of dedicated treatment for something that I could probably handle on my own once I understood it properly. I'm also just kind of worried that if I manage to get my act together and go travelling next year I will spend the entire time checking my bags and stuff over and over to make sure I have everything and so on, and worrying what is safe to eat in some places and what isn't, which isn't a normal day to day worry I know but there you go. Day to day I mainly just worry that people I care about will have something awful happen to them, but as I said it's never debilitating but gets worse some times more than others.

i'm waffling, thanks for your reply :)