Menopause and Mood Disturbances:

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Menopause and Mood Disturbances:

Your brain, your hormones and your mood

The relationship between your hormones and your brain is critical because the relationship is very vulnerable to the hormonal fluctuations of peri-menopause and menopause.

Estrogen is integral to your health and brain function. It influences the way your serotonin and other neurotransmitter pathways react to normal hormonal shifts. It is easy and common to experience mood variations related to these reproductive hormone fluctuations across your cycle and over the changing years.

Many women will develop mood and sleep difficulties during peri-menopause. Women who have had mood disturbances before in the form of anxiety or depression disturbances are especially vulnerable to the hormone brain dialogue changes during peri-menopause. The loss of estrogen can significantly worsen anxiety, depression, and other mood disorders. Some women are especially sensitive to the loss of estrogen and its effect on the brain.

You do not need to have hot flashes, night sweats, or significant changes in your menstrual periods to be in peri-menopause. Your brain may the first and the only manifestation of the changing hormonal levels in the form of mood or cognitive changes. Hormone fluctuations and mood changes

Estrogen fluctuations can alter neurotransmitter levels in the brain that may result in mood disturbances. The hormonal fluctuations in peri-menopause and its effects on the brain result in fatigue, loss of the feeling of subjective well being, difficulty sleeping, mood alterations, anxiety, poor concentration, depression, changes in thinking patterns and abilities, and problems with memory. Hormone replacement therapy will relieve night sweats and the loss of well being associated with peri-menopause but often it will not alleviate the symptoms that arise from depression.

It is not unusual for women with a history of mood disturbances to find that their moods become harder to manage as they enter peri-menopause. They may find it difficult to find a regime ? medication or otherwise - that stabilizes their moods and restores coping abilities. Women who have been taking antidepressants may find that when they enter peri-menopause these medications may not work as well and their symptoms may worsen. Those with mood disorders may destabilize despite adequate medication.

A woman’s mild or severe life long or occasional depression may worsen significantly under the influence of peri-menopausal hormonal fluctuations. A history of mood disturbances and depression indicates that a woman’s brain already requires precise management in self-regulation. Due to hormonal fluctuations, peri-menopause may further compromise the brain’s ability to self-regulate.

When a woman notices that "this feels hormonal," it is appropriate and advisable to look to management of the reproductive hormones to destabilize mood disturbances. Peri-menopausal hormonal fluctuations can greatly influence the brain and may cause something in the brain to shift thus overwhelming a woman’s normal coping mechanisms.

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