Menopause once was referred to as “the change of life.” The reference was likely because of the cessation of the menses and end of fertility, but menopause changes women’s lives in many other ways.
While many women are aware of hot flashes, night sweats, and other menopause symptoms, they may not know about other common side effects once their estrogen levels drop or constantly fluctuate.
Anxiety due to the hormonal changes of menopause occurs frequently, and some women go through full-blown panic attacks. Hormonal anxiety treatment with bioidentical hormones can help dispel anxiety, depression and other negative emotional states.
While anxiety is usually viewed as synonymous with “worry,” symptoms go far beyond just nervousness and worrying. Women suffering from anxiety may experience various physical symptoms, include:
Have any chest pain checked out by a doctor in case there is a cardiac condition. If the heart seems fine, anxiety is the likely culprit.
Bioidentical hormones, designed for the individual patient in a compounding pharmacy, are similar to the woman’s natural hormones. Some women fear hormone replacement therapy because of results showing that females using synthetic hormones for treatment of menopausal symptoms had a higher risk of breast cancer or heart disease. Those synthetic hormones are made of conjugated equine estrogens – better known as pregnant mare’s urine. Bioidentical hormones do not come with the risk associated with synthetic hormones, and are created primarily from wild yam and soy sources.
Women taking bioidentical hormones, such as pregnenolone, magnesium and Sam E., not only experience anxiety relief, but they are helping to protect themselves from diabetes, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease and other maladies common in the aging population.
While there are numerous prescription anti-anxiety medications on the market, many of these have serious side effects. Commons side effects of anti-anxiety medications include weight gain, nausea, headaches, coordination problems and memory loss. Many anti-anxiety drugs are unsuitable for long-term use. In some people, anti-anxiety drugs actually make the patient more nervous or cause personality changes, such as irritability or rage. These side effects do not occur with bioidentical hormones. In fact, the use of bioidentical hormones can help patients lose the weight of anxiety metaphorically and the excess body weight literally.
A three-year University of Texas study examined the long-term effects of bioidentical hormone therapy on menopausal symptoms, including mood alterations such as anxiety.
Over this period, women taking bioidentical hormones did not experience any adverse effects. The women also scored well on standardized tests measuring anxiety and depression levels.
Some of the women took bioidentical estrogen and/or progesterone in oral form, while others received their hormones via a topical cream.
For many women going through menopause, anxiety is related to hot flashes. Some women can predict the onset of a hot flash by the sudden anxious or panicky feeling beforehand.
Bioidentical hormone therapy not only relieves anxiety, but also the hot flashes and other full blown menopausal symptoms. Women can once again enjoy a good night’s sleep and feel more emotionally balanced.
If you are suffering from anxiety and suspect hormones play a part, call Dr. Edward Jacobson’s office today and arrange a consultation. He may be able to offer you hormonal anxiety treatment to address your symptoms.
