Is it possible to have anxiety while going through menopause?
Hi Catherine,
I was diagnosed last year with anxiety and have been taking Effexor. After the maximum dosage didn’t work, I have recently discovered that I have been going through menopause for the last year and my body had no estrogen and progesterone. A doctor has prescribed a cream for me and I have been slowly weaning myself off the anxiety medication.
Is it possible to have anxiety while going through menopause (I still am battling anxiety even with the added estrogen/progesterone) or is it simply a matter of my body adjusting to the hormone replacements and eventually the “anxiety” will end? help….
Thank you,
Sheryl
Dear Sheryl,
The short answer is, “yes” hormone imbalance before and following menopause can result in black moods and pronounced agitation. And “yes’ a period of adjustment may be required before your body re-establishes ‘balance‘.
Depression and anxiety need to be taken very seriously, and in the context of your life and your hormones.
For example, women experience depression at roughly twice the rate of men. One in five women can expect to develop clinical depression during their lifetime. Regardless of age, race, or income clinical depression can occur in any woman, and can be serious enough to lead to suicide.
The symptoms of clinical depression include:
- Persistent sad, anxious, or “empty” mood
- Sleeping too little, early morning awakening, or sleeping too much
- Reduced appetite and/or weight loss, or increased appetite and weight gain
- Loss of interest in activities once enjoyed, including sex
- Restlessness, irritability
- Persistent physical symptoms that don’t respond to treatment (such as headaches, chronic pain or digestive disorders)
- Difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions
- Fatigue or loss of energy
- Feeling guilty, hopeless or worthless
- Thoughts of suicide or death
If we were to compare this list above with that of estrogen dominance (and, for that matter, thyroid dysfunction), we’d see a distinct correlation.
We know that estrogen, which excites the brain cells, can cause mental confusion and agitation in excess, whereas an estrogen deficiency can cause depression.
Progesterone reduces brain cell excitability. At normal levels, this allows people to focus or concentrate better. If, however, progesterone levels are higher than normal for an extended period of time, women become mentally lethargic and even depressed.
Progesterone promotes a feeling of calmness. When levels fall outside a healthy range women can experience the onset of anxiety that seems to go hand-in-hand with an inability to cope with ordinary, every-day situations.
Unrelenting stress can lead to adrenal exhaustion … which can lead to chronic hormone imbalance … which can manifest as emotional instability, insomnia and/or anxiety.
I personally believe there’s a time and place for professional counselling. Sometimes life IS ‘depressing’. In which case we ought to take better care of our spiritual and emotional health. Allow ourselves the ‘luxury’ of uncensored expression that, once worked through, allows us to feel more positive about ourselves at the end of it all.
Sheryl, I would recommend that you begin charting your progress on progesterone supplementation. Determine whether your bouts of depression are cyclic? If so, around what time of the month do they appear? How servere are they right now? Are you feeling any ‘better’? What symptoms are not responding to hormone replacement therapy? Are you experiencing a gradual sense of wellbeing? And so on …
If feel certain you’re in good hands and on the road to recovery. But if you need help, don’t be afraid to ask.
