Is Britney Spears Not Only Possibly Bipolar, But Hormonal As Well?
It’s a question that I believe needs to be asked, in light of the events of the past couple of weeks in the life of Britney Spears. A few weeks ago, during her frenetic shopping trip to Kitson in the middle of the night, she was faced with the accident so many women of child-bearing years fear…being caught out in public at “that time” and not being prepared beforehand.
While many bloggers chose to take this opportunity to laugh, point fingers, and make fun, my brain works in a different way. I immediately began thinking of the days previous to this embarrassing event, when Britney’s behavior had become increasingly more erratic day by day. I also remembered back to when she gave birth to her children, and their being born a year apart. She has stated in the past that she experienced postpartum depression after the birth of her children.  I started to wonder…could Britney’s hormones and menstrual cycle be having an effect on her alleged bipolar disorder? And could her cycle be affecting her actions over the past couple of weeks, including her hospital stay?
Now, stick with me. I first posted this theory back on January 21, and at that time I assumed that her menstrual cycle had begun early Thursday morning, the 17th (I don’t believe I am off by more than two days). Using this theory, I created calendars for January and February 2008, and charted a typical 28-day menstrual cycle, using the generally recognized 5 days for blood flow. I marked the 14th day as the suspected ovulation day, with a buffer of two days before and two days after, for a total of five days on which possible ovulation could occur. I called these the “no-no days” because of the possibility of pregnancy during them. It is usually around this time in a woman’s cycle that hormonal symptoms begin.
The idea behind my theory is to see whether or not Brit’s menstrual cycle makes her alleged bipolar symptoms worse. I was going to observe her public behavior over the assumed 28-day cycle, starting January 21, and go through to February 13, the estimated date of the beginning of her next cycle. However, her hospitalization early in the morning on January 31 changed my plans a bit. It is interesting to me to note that her latest downward spiral began on January 27 or 28 and culminated in the hospitalization on the 31st, which was right in the middle of her ovulation cycle. In fact, the 30th, the day of her manic shopping and driving around LA, was the assumed 14th day of her cycle. The night she was sitting on the curb crying after arguing with Sam Lutfi was the assumed 12th day. Again, I could be off by a day or two.
We are now at February 8, and according to my calendar we are at approximately Day 23 of her cycle. It is during the last two weeks of the cycle where, if a woman is going to undergo symptoms and changes in behavior due to hormonal problems, typically this is the time frame it is most likely to happen. According to my calendar, her next cycle should begin approximately around February 13, so for the rest of this week and most of next week it is my theory that we will see increasingly erratic public behavior from Britney, ending about the time her next cycle would begin.
However, since she has been in the hospital under a doctor’s care, she is presumably now on medication which might alter her moods and mood swings. Also, her father Jamie is keeping a close eye on her, which has not been there in the past, so his presence should also be taken into account. Both her father’s influence on her life and any medication she is taking would definitely influence any public behavior we see. Of course, this depends greatly on whether or not she takes her medication and whether or not her father can control her, so there are many variables to take into account.
Another interesting point to consider…if you count backwards from the assumed January 17th cycle beginning, you will see that her first visit to the hospital on January 3 coincides with the ovulation time of her previous cycle.
It’s my opinion that if she does suffer from hormonal swings, that this should be taken into account in determining her course of treatment. Having two babies a year apart does strange things to a woman’s body and hormones, and if she is suffering from a postpartum hormonal psychosis or some sort of hormonal irregularity, then she should be treated for that as well as the alleged bipolarity. Look at Andrea Yates, the Texas mother who drowned her children…she suffered from mental illness for years, made worse by the hormonal issues brought about by having so many children so close together. I’m not saying I believe Britney is a danger to her children, but I am saying that unchecked mental illness and hormonal swings, if left untreated for years, make people do strange things, and that perhaps she needs to be checked for this before it escalates to the point of becoming a danger to others around her.
I don’t personally believe that the possible hormonal swings could be the source of her problems…I believe that her mental illness began a long time ago, and has thus far been masked as something else or mistaken for something else, and that it’s only been recently that her behavior has been seen as a mental illness. But I do believe that if she does have hormonal problems, that they could be making a bad matter worse, since hormones that are completely out of sync can negatively affect someone with bipolar disorder. And don’t forget, we’ve had over two years for this possible problem to worsen since the birth of Sean Preston. While I am not saying that she is at the level of an Andrea Yates, her hormonal levels as they relate to her bipolar symptoms could be worth taking a look at.
I sincerely hope that her doctors and family can work together to remove the bad influences from her life and help guide her on the road to recovery.
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Very true.
I’d also have to add that most women go through hormonal changes not related to their monthly cycle beginning roughly around age 30. I know that as we age our bodies change, and our hormone levels drop at certain rates over the years. If you’re on birth control pills, the synthetic hormones tend to level things out and keep you on an even keel, so to speak.
But if you’re not…
And I’d be willing to go out on a limb and say that I don’t think Brit Brit is on birth control pills. Mostly because I think she’s so messed up right now that she’d probably think they were making her fat and so she’d probably have stopped taking them if she had been on them previously.
Either that, or Sam replaced her BC pills with valium or extasy or something just to f*ck with her.
Comment by crazymom — February 8, 2008 @ 10:54 am
k, that was brilliantly stated and astute (as usual). I really think you are on to something here.
Keep us posted on your theory, and let’s hope the power that be take this into consideration when applying a course of treatment for Britney.
Comment by D — February 8, 2008 @ 12:47 pm
K you read my mind, I hate to admit I was thinking about this in the shower this morning. I have always thought before they start just handing out psychotropic drugs it should go without saying these women should be given a complete hormonal workup, pituitary, cortisol and thyroid levels as well as the other normal hormones…
Remember Marie Osmond DID have the work ups and it did turn out to be her hormone levels. IMO Britney needs to be treated “whole”istically…. with good, HEALTHY diet, Chinese massage therapy, the aforementioned hormone tests, a normal sleep schedule and more.
Comment by Rappy — February 8, 2008 @ 1:33 pm
You know Rappy, I feel that’s the trend of medicine these days — throw a pill at it and hope for the best — because most doctors don’t even have time to learn their patient’s names, much less do a full medical workup. It’s sad, really.
Though I would think someone of Britney’s status would be able to afford the type of quality medical care where all tests would be done, hormone levels checked, every angle examined. But that would mean having her willing and available for a complete battery of medical tests.
Unfortunately, the wild card in Britney’s ongoing mental health issues has always been Britney herself.
Comment by crazymom — February 8, 2008 @ 2:04 pm
p/s - it will be interesting over the next few days (weeks?) to see what happens to her behavior now that Oslimey is no longer in the picture(?). Given his “publicist’s” presser yesterday, Dr. Asshatma was the one who messed with her meds and dosages — the guy willingly admits that.
Now that they are more controlled (and she actually takes them) perhaps her behavior will stabilize somewhat.
Oh well, as is always the case with Britney, the world is watching (…and waiting).
Comment by crazymom — February 8, 2008 @ 2:07 pm
Reading this article from Pagesix and the comments from her hairdresser (who spent four hours with Britney yesterday) it almost sounds (to me) that she has a split personality disorder.
http://www.pagesix.com/story/brit+attempts+inside+out+makeover
Comment by Rappy — February 8, 2008 @ 4:22 pm
I think Britney has been a little messed up since she was a kid; often the ones with enough ambition to become famous ar a little crazy. I just saw this old book report she wrote when she was a kid at the Auction Network. It looked like there were crayon scribbles all over it, and it was wrinkled. What’s funnier is that she was reading “No Talent Kid” by Kurt Vonnegut. What kind of kid chooses to read Vonnegut? Anyways, who knows what’s going on in that head of hers. I found the report at http://www.auctionnetwork.com/?channelId=1&categoryId=21&clipId=491&autoStart=true&utm_source=bookmark&utm_medium=bookmark&utm_campaign=bookmark
Comment by Sarah — February 8, 2008 @ 6:42 pm
I think she has personality disorders instead of mental illness. read the rolling stone article, brit’s been a bitch and a terror for a while now, that’s not mental illness.
Comment by sally — February 8, 2008 @ 7:53 pm
Hey! Nice break on the Scientology vid. I’m interested in hearing more about you, maybe for a blog post? Wanna have a chat this weekend?
Comment by David Sarno — February 8, 2008 @ 7:55 pm
Interesting theory. Phrased in an intelligent and cogent fashion. However, Ms. S. does NOT seem to be afflicted by the cluster of symptoms of post-part. depression.
Comment by thedoc — February 14, 2008 @ 9:48 am
I think your right on here. Very well thought out and presented. I to hope Britney and her family are allowed some privacy time for her recovery.
Comment by Wiz — February 15, 2008 @ 3:59 pm
[...] she’s been photographed in jeans, which is what I would wear if I were at the beginning of my cycle. It’s only been the past day or two that she’s been pictured in dresses, minus [...]
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