Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) If your mood changes are related to the perimenopause and menopause, evidence indicates that HRT is better at improving your mood and anxiety than antidepressants. It may be worth a try, even for a short period of time, to see if it helps.
HRT with Estrogen May Lower Fear Response & Anxiety
Both studies looked at fear response in relation to estrogen. They found that estrogen may have a calming effect on the fear response, including for women suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
It may take a few weeks to feel the effects of treatment and there may be some side effects at first. A GP will usually recommend trying treatment for 3 months to see if it helps. If it does not, they may suggest changing your dose, or changing the type of HRT you're taking.
The restoration of your testosterone levels to a healthy range can be achieved by TRT, often freeing you from the cycle and relieving you of the abnormal fatigue, depressed mood, and heightened anxiety you've been experiencing.
In fact, some studies have shown that HRT might improve and even prevent women's depression symptoms during menopause. Future, larger studies are needed to confirm these potential benefits of HRT for depression.
Taking the right type of oestrogen can really help improve this low mood and other symptoms related to the menopause. Many women find that they feel calmer, have more energy, are more motivated and generally much happier when they take HRT.
NICE guidance clearly states that for most women HRT should be considered as first line treatment for menopause symptoms – including anxiety and low mood. However, for women avoiding hormonal therapies, antidepressants from the family of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) can be very useful.
Being on HRT doesn't actually stop your own hormone levels from changing, it just puts extra quantities of sex hormones into your body. So your own oestrogen levels can fall and this causes anxiety.
Anxiety can be caused by an imbalance in two key hormones, serotonin and cortisol. Imbalances of these important chemical messengers disrupt the brain chemistry and nervous system which regulate our moods, stress levels, and emotions.
Feelings of anxiety, restlessness, irritability, and nervousness are common symptoms of an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism). On the other end of the spectrum, an underactive thyroid can cause symptoms like fatigue and feelings of depression.
Changes in your hormones during menopause can impact your mental health as well as your physical health. You may experience feelings of anxiety, stress or even depression. Menopausal symptoms may include: anger and irritability.
The drop in estrogen and progesterone that occurs at the end of a women's menstrual cycle may cause anxiety and other mood symptoms. This is similar to the drop experienced during perimenopause, the time during which your body makes the natural transition to menopause.
One of the common treatment options for menopausal symptoms is hormone replacement therapy (HRT), supplementing your hormone levels to rebalance your system. However, you may prefer to move through menopause without using hormone treatments. And, women with previous hormone-dependent cancer shouldn't use HRT.
So, the answer is yes. The anxiety can disappear as your hormones start to balance out, as you get towards the end of the menopause. But you need to be aware that, very often, if you had anxiety during the menopause, you need to take better care of your nervous system forever afterwards.
Progesterone acts as a natural antidepressant to lower anxiety, help with mood swings, and can even aid in relieving postpartum depression.
Oestrogen and progesterone usually work together to regulate mood. As these hormones drop off in midlife, women are more at risk of developing anxiety. If this is overwhelming or left untreated it can ramp up into panic attacks.
Common Side Effects in Men and Women
If you stop HRT cold turkey, you may experience increased anxiety, depression, and changes in mood. Women who discontinue Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT) will likely experience a return of menopausal symptoms, as well.
Research says yes. Many studies have consistently shown a benefit of HRT on sleep in women who have vasomotor symptoms, when the vasomotor symptoms are causing the sleep disturbance. The main part of HRT is estrogen, to treat symptoms caused by estrogen deficiency.
Occasional feelings of anxiety are normal for everyone, but women in menopause often find that their feelings of anxiety become much more severe as they transition through this phase of their lives.
It can give you more energy, elevate mood, and increase sex drive. It can make sex more comfortable and improve sleep in both men and women. All of these things may help you not only feel better and more confident, they can also spur you to stay active and take better care of yourself.
Over the last 15 years, these studies, and others, have found little or no evidence that HRT reduces the risk of heart disease. In fact, they have found evidence for an increased risk of blood clots and stroke. They also found an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer in women using HRT.
Combined HRT can be associated with a small increase in the risk of breast cancer. The increased risk is related to how long you take HRT, and it falls after you stop taking it. Because of the risk of breast cancer, it's especially important to attend all your breast cancer screening appointments if you're taking HRT.
Hormone Replacement Therapy
Thus, HRT may effectively treat fatigue and the symptoms that can exacerbate it. In particular, estrogen replacement is considered the most effective treatment for the vasomotor symptoms that tend to occur in concert with fatigue and can be instrumental in restoring energy levels.