Anyone else here go a little mad with the full moon ?

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I have had some sort of mood change roughly monthly for a very long time. It was only about 2-3 years ago, I by chance discovered it usually occurs when moon is in growing stage and anywhere from one quarter to full. There have been a few occasions when it was not in sync, but I would guess it is in sync about 10-11 out of 12 times a year.

The changes in me I have noted are:

- Dramatically increased energy level
- Dramatically increased irritability
- Easily angered
- More likely to criticise others
- Distorted thinking... loss of perspective... blowing things out of proportion

It was kind of a weird discovery (possibly being a Lunatic). After doing some reading up on it, I find the Scientific community says their is no evidence that the moon can affect people, and all but a few suspect studies could find no factual correlation. On the other hand, many people, and in particular people who work in jobs that handle the public (Cops, Bartenders, Emergency Room workers), swear by it. In a very few cases such organizations have adjusted staffing, etc, during full moon periods.

I really don't know what is going on. It may simply be a mood disorder that occurs roughly monthly, but because it is not clockwork, I would think that over time it would drift and be as often during no moon as well as full. That it has remained in sync is perplexing and leads me to suspect a unknown connection. I have learned with some success how to detect it's onset and essentially to not trust myself during this 2-4 day phase. I limit contact (even more) with people and try to stop myself from getting carried away/negative. I have joked with my family about wearing a Werewolf mask when it starts, to warn them as well.

Does anybody else have mood changes when the moon is full or growing ?

What changes occur in you ?

I haven't noticed many changes in me, but I do find it harder to fall asleep and even when I do, I toss and turn more than usual. I'm a bit more irritable I think, but that might be because of the lack of normal sleep.

However, I do work with socially vulnerable people and I can assure that full moon has it's influence. There's always more people coming in, they are more irritable and aggressive. There's also more mentally unstable people showing up.

I've not noticed any changes in myself that I can relate to the moon. However, I used to work in mental health services. One of my jobs was to manage a rota of mental health officers, who had to write reports on people who had been detained in a psychiatric hospital, under legislation ('sectioned' we say here). Whenever someone was detained, I'd get a fax alerting me (this was 6 or so years ago). I could predict my workload, depending on the cycles of the moon. Just after a full moon, the faxes would start appearing on my desk, in high numbers. I'd perhaps get 4 or 5 per day, for a few days, whereas I'd normally only get 1 or 2 per day. When I first went into the job, my colleague warned me about it and I was sceptical, but he was right.

One thing mentioned in scientific discussions is the possibility of there being some connection in the past, before electric lights. They surmise that the added light at night might have contributed to sleep disorders and increased activity. But they say with the stimuli gone the effect is gone. I think that may be incorrect. We have had electric lights barely 100 years, and even candles, lamps and such only a few thousand. We however, going by current evolutionary theory, developed and lived over something like 2 million years without artificial lights and under the full exposure of the moon. So I think it very feasible that some inner programming so-to-speak may have occurred.

I would spectulate (using natural selection theory this time) that what would develop would be behaviors that gave some advantage during the full moon period. What would be the actual connection/trigger I don't know. Is it the light or some other yet unknown lunar effect ? What behaviors would have given advantage during a full moon/additional light period ?

The behaviors noted in Lunatics (as in effected by moon, not insanity) might give some clues:

Restlessness/Sleep disorder could be tied to increased activity to take advantage of the extra light (ie. work, hunting, food gathering)

Irritability/Agressiveness could be tied to Warfare/Raiding/Theft occurring during full moons, because increased light permits movement at night. People could either take advantage of the light to attack/raid or would have to be on extra guard because of such possibilitys.

Since both of you are female, it also brought to mind the question if there would be a difference in Male and Female Lunacy.

A while ago, I found that it was hard for me to sleep with a full moon outside, even if it is completely dark in my room.

Yeah, it's a real pain every full moon needing to shave my entire face.

Hmm, could just be your hormonal cycle (yes, men can have that) that coincidently peaks around the same time the moon is in its growing stage.

I go crazy when there's a full moon. Anything sets me off. I'm even more sensitive than I already am and that's a pretty scary thing.

About the coincidence, I assumed that must be the case at first. But after three years of monitoring I can only remember about 3 times my manic phase (for lack of a better word) was not in sync with the growing or full moon. That seems too syncronized for too long to be coincidence.

I had read in passing that men have a hormonal cycle, but admit ignorrance of what it is supposed to feel like. I am very familiar with this moon-madness however. I have been in it for 3 days already and can give some raw data.

Petty annoyances that I normally shrug off, instead trigger anger and fuming (as I attempt to control myself) . I voice criticisms things I normally would not. I am restless and have impulsest to go outside and howl. If I am slighted or insulted, even in a minor way, I see red. Bloody red. I do not want to injure, I want to slay and mount their heads on poles. I want to put funny glasses on them and laugh hysterically.

And tommorrow or in a few days I will come out of it and be ashamed of these thoughts and wonder how I could have entertained them. And I will be sorry for any anger or angry words I expressed and maybe be in the doghouse for a few nights.

The full moon does seem to affect me somewhat. The full moon was a couple of nights ago, and I have been experiencing volatile mood swings, and just feeling more intense emotions and autistic symptoms than usual. It's not PMS because I already had a period earlier this month, so I don't know what else could be "wrong" with me.

It's not my menstrual cycle because my period is always late anywhere from several days to more than a week.

For the ladies: the hormonal peak does not have to come during or right before the period, during ovulation some women might feel more emotional or irritable, too. The ovulation generally occurs two weeks after the period, but it can vary from person to person.

For the wolfman : hormonal cycles are rarely ever completely regular, what you explain does definitely sound like you might have an extreme form of a natural thing that happens to all people. Maybe seeing your doctor about this is a good idea, what you describe sounds highly unpleasant for both you and those around you.

Maybe it is possible that one person or a few have their hormonal cycles coincide with the moon, but I don't think that that explanation covers enough. I have no idea how to explain moon's influence on people, but after working for more than 4 years with public, I've learnt to accept that as a fact. Really, when I'm at work, I don't even have to look at the calendar to know it's full moon.

That makes sense. I have actually been suspecting that I've been ovulating lately, so that would probably explain my emotional issues.

Um, not quite for me. I find moonlit nights more calming to me.

Back when I had a friday night social life, me and my ex-BF used to notice an increase in odd or anti-social behavior once every few weeks or so. We used to look at each other then look to the sky; "yep, full moon"