Menopause and anxiety

[Dancergirl]

Can anxiety be associated with the onset of the menopause?

I saw my GP a few months ago as my periods were going a bit funny and she asked me if I had noticed an increase in anxiety. I have always been a worrier but I have definitely been feeling more anxious recently without any obvious cause.

Has anyone else experienced this and what did you do, if anything? Will it pass?

Yes but I also think it can be something that happens to us all as get older anyway- gone are the devil may care days of youth!

But yes it's recognised as a meno symptom. Treatment is HRT or things like yoga, meditation, CBT etc.

Yes - anxiety and insomnia were my worst menopause symptoms. I'm now on HRT which has helped enormously. Other things have helped me too: yoga, running, mindfulness, therapy. As well as various supplements - magnesium, hops, 5htp, valerian, passionflower, vit B. Alcohol is a trigger for me, so I now avoid it :( Although all these things help, it is to a limited extent, or so I found - the underlying cause is definitely hormonal in my case. Even prescription sleeping tablets didn't work for me! But HRT has eradicated the racing heart and the sleeplessness, thank goodness.

I'm on a low dose of paroxetine for this. It works for me 😊

Anxiety can certainly be a symptom of menopause.With experience of both depression and menopause, I'd say that there are similarities and differences.

For me, anxiety caused by mental ill-health is triggered by an event or a thought, and is accompanied by rumination, which inevitably makes it worse.

Anxiety caused by bonkers hormones has no trigger. I'm just suddenly, out-of-the-blue, anxious. And it can go as fast as it comes.

Because of the depression, and my previous experiences of depression-related anxiety, there is a tendency to over-think it. So now I try not to worry about feeling anxious. I ask myself whether something triggered the anxiety, and, if nothing did, then I say to myself "Ah, OK, it's just the hormones. It'll pass. Breathe slowly." and I look for something to do to distract myself until the spasm passes. Which it does.

HRT helps wonderfully, too.

Yes, oh my goodness, I can relate. Pre menopause, I was a tense being, so perimenopause threw me into a real spin of extreme and irrational anxieties. All the above helpful answers above should help soothe - you - and also, check adrenal function. ( I go to a kinesiologist, which has a cost, but much less than throwing tons of supplements down my neck and hoping they work). We women tend to run on empty sometimes, and coming into perimenopause many women are already tired. Adrenal exhaustion increases feelings of anxiety - and then the brain reads the 'feelings' and sends more adrenalin into the system, causing our body to never switch off. I've seen some great science backed evidence to support the use of Yoga and some forms of meditation - bit.ly/2nrPntV bit.ly/2nrPntV As a Yoga teacher, I'm chuffed... CBT is also recommended.

I am certain it can.

I have always been quite an anxious person but over the past year it has been very, very extreme....which coincided almost exactly with me beginning to miss periods and experiencing night sweats & hot flushes. Unlikely to be a coincidence.

I am far less anxious now than when I was a teen. I didn't even know I was anxious as a teen.

Yes - I had terrible anxiety issues around the peri menopause that just seemed to come from nowhere. Took a good couple of years to get back on an even keel. Exercise (lots), healthy diet and mindfulness worked for me - and now post menopause I am much much better.

Thank you so much, glad I'm normal! It's weird, some days I just feel like my heart is pounding and my breathing seems shallow.

Also - dizzy spells, another symptom?

Yes it definitely is. There area SO many symptoms of menopause that i would never have believed possible, but once you start researching it, it is unbelievable how many seemingly unrelated things make sense. Anxiety, racing heart, etc typical symptoms as are insomnia and depression. I am through it now more or less, but it's utterly shit.

Magnesium really helped me. Perimenopause has brought on an increase in anxiety + palpitations. Beta blockers, which had worked in the past, could not touch it. Magnesium does.

peony, how much magnesium do you take?
I have started taking a multivitamin and Black Cohosh and I feel a little better.

OP has your thyroid been tested? Might be worth having a health check. Hypothyroidism gave me palpitations and anxiety, and it is common in middle-aged women. Iron deficiency (also common) can cause palps and dizziness.

Actually I do get a few dizzy spells too...