How to Deal With Hormonal Anxiety

How do you deal with hormonal anxiety? One of the question’s burning in the minds of individual’s (especially women). Anxiety is one of the common symptoms of hormonal imbalance. While both sexes may be affected, research shows that females are more likely to experience hormone-related anxiety than males. Subsequently, women’s health and well-being are affected by different hormones. Hormone imbalances can cause or worsen mental health problems.

Consequently, hormonal imbalances have been linked to depression, anxiety, and other cognitive conditions. When a hormonal imbalance is the root cause of a mental condition, traditional therapy or medication may not help in any way.

Oftentimes a person won’t find out about a hormonal imbalance until years of traditional treatments have had no effect and a physical examination reveals the problem.

“Just disconnect. Once in a day sometime, sit silently and from all connections disconnect yourself.” — Yoda (Star Wars Quotes)

Hormonal Causes

Thyroid disorders are one of the leading causes of undiagnosed mental health issues. All in all, overactive thyroids can have major effects on a person’s well-being, sometimes leading to mental health issues. Therefore, thyroid disorders affect depression and anxiety because thyroid hormones play an important role in regulating mood and emotions.

Feelings of depression or anxiety may be one of the first signs that your thyroid (a gland in your neck that produces a hormone crucial for growth, development, and everyday function) is not working properly. Hence, an overactive thyroid can lead to anxiety and panic attacks, while an underactive thyroid can make you depressed. In fact, very minor reductions in thyroid hormone that don’t have any important effect on your physical health may make you depressed. As a result, taking medication that regulates your thyroid can eliminate these problems.

Hormonal Anxiety Symptoms

Knowing the symptoms and learning how do you deal with hormonal anxiety will help you combat it. Altogether, anxiety is one of the common symptoms of hormonal imbalance. While both sexes may be affected, research shows that females are more likely to experience hormone-related anxiety than males.

Different hormones affect women’s health and well-being. Therefore, hormone imbalances can cause or worsen mental health problems.

Signs of Hormone Imbalance

Women

Firstly, inability to focus and remember things
Mood swings, anxiety, and depression
Stubborn belly fat, weight gain, bloating, and food cravings
Muscle loss and weakness
Cold hands and feet
Saggy, dry, aging skin
Loss of libido, difficulty achieving arousal and orgasm
Infrequent menstrual cycles
Lastly, lack of menstrual cycle – prior to menopause

Men

Firstly, a decline in general well-being
Feeling burned out and past your prime
Loss of muscle strength
Muscle aches, joint pain, as well as longer recovery time from injuries
Frequent illnesses
Excessive sweating
Loss of libido and inability to achieve or maintain an erection
Lastly, fewer morning erections

Estrogen and Anxiety

Estrogen can have an effect on how you deal with hormonal anxiety. Basically, it’s clear that estrogen is closely linked with women’s emotional well-being. As a matter of fact, depression and anxiety affect women in their estrogen-producing years more often than men or postmenopausal women. Therefore, linking estrogen to mood disruptions that occur only in women. Exactly how estrogen affects emotion is much less straightforward. Is it too much estrogen? Not enough? It turns out estrogen’s emotional effects are nearly as mysterious as moods themselves.

That’s not to say estrogen isn’t a major player in regulating moods. Estrogen acts everywhere in the body, including the parts of the brain that control emotion.

Therefore, some of estrogen’s effects include:

Increasing serotonin, and the number of serotonin receptors in the brain.
Modifying the production and the effects of endorphins, the “feel-good” chemicals in the brain.
Protecting nerves from damage, and possibly stimulating nerve growth.

Some experts believe that some women are more vulnerable to the menstrual cycle’s normal changes in estrogen. Comparatively, they suggest it’s the roller coaster of hormones during the reproductive years that create mood disturbances.

Adrenaline Causes Anxiety

Also, adrenaline can decide how you deal with hormonal anxiety. At length, an adrenaline rush is a phrase used to describe a rapid hormonal release in the body. When the adrenal glands release adrenaline, the body prepares to protect itself from either real or perceived danger.

If the adrenals produce adrenaline without the threat of danger, an adrenaline rush has the potential to ramp up the sympathetic nervous system and make you feel anxious.

You can generally self-manage an overactive sympathetic nervous system through deep breathing or other stress-reducing activities. However, some people may require medical intervention to help their adrenals return to baseline functioning.

Anxiety Progesterone

Research suggests that progesterone can stimulate the amygdala, potentially leading to a glum mood and anxiety. Moreover, high progesterone levels have been linked to symptoms like irritability and frustration due to its influence on mood.

Progesterone is a hormone in both men and women. In women, progesterone levels rise during ovulation and pregnancy. Therefore, this hormone regulates the menstrual cycle and prepares the body for pregnancy. When progesterone levels are too low, it can lead to anxiety and other issues like depression, irritability, and difficulty sleeping.

Hormonal Anxiety Treatment

Here are some treatments on how to deal with hormonal anxiety. Possible treatments for menopause-related anxiety can include hormones, hormone therapy, antidepressants, psychotherapy, or supplements for better mood. Also, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) has been shown to be effective as a treatment for menopause. This therapy helps women examine the connections between their feelings, thoughts, and behavior. Hence, by using Cognitive Behavior Therapy, women can learn how to modify their behavior to help reduce the severity of menopausal symptoms.

Other Coping Methods For Menopause and Anxiety

Watching your diet – Caffeine and alcohol can worsen symptoms while complex carbohydrates act as a mild tranquilizer and steady your emotions.
Getting some exercise – This can help your body relax and serve as a stress-reliever.
Relaxation techniques – Simply doing things that relax you such as listening to music or going for strolls through the park can have a dramatic impact on any anxiety you might experience.
Getting enough sleep – Deep sleep is a natural relaxer.
Maintaining a positive attitude – Focusing on negative thoughts only makes anxiety and depression worse. On the other hand, focusing on the positive can keep anxiety and depression at bay.

Conclusion

Hormone therapy for anxiety can show you how to deal with hormonal anxiety. Probably what’s most exciting is the potential role for hormone therapies in mental conditions not usually associated with hormone imbalances. Emphatically, the fact that hormone therapies work for some of these problems suggests that there is an as-yet-unknown role for hormones in other mental or emotional problems.

Hormone treatments might also help anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Here, so-called ‘stress’ hormones are the targets of treatment. At the same time, these hormones are released when the body is under physical or emotional duress such as as physical illness or a fight with your spouse.

At the ISPNE conference, Michael Kellner, MD, presented results of his research with a hormone called ANP (for atrial natriuretic peptide). ANP is produced naturally by the body during a panic attack.

‘It’s a strange phenomenon that during a panic attack you do not have any activation of stress hormones,’ says Kellner. ‘At this point, nobody knows why panic attacks last only a couple of minutes and then subside spontaneously.