3 lesser-known emotional symptoms of menopause

Today's topic:

Today on A.Vogel Talks Menopause, I'm going to be talking about three lesser-known emotional symptoms of menopause.

We do know that many women experience emotional symptoms during menopause, such as mood swings, anxiety, worry, stress. But there are lesser-known ones that many women may not realise are being caused by menopause and it can cause a great deal of distress.

I have many women contacting me saying, "Why is this happening? I don't understand." And when we look at everything that's going on, you can see that it's part and parcel of menopause.

So, let's have a look at 3 of these lesser-known emotional symptoms and what causes these:

1. Intrusive thoughts

This is quite a difficult one to pinpoint because it covers a whole load of situations. It can be unwanted thoughts just popping into your head. It can be impulses. You suddenly want to do something that you think is maybe out of character.

It can be mental images that suddenly pop up that start to cause you anxiety and stress. It can be fear issues. It could be fear of you doing something inappropriate or embarrassing. It could be fear of illnesses.

It could also be flashbacks from situations that maybe happened in your long distant past that you do not want to deal with again. It can also be obsessive behaviour, such as obsessive-compulsive behaviour.

2. Heightened fears

Feeling fearful is an emotion that so many women tell me they experience. They get intense fear of what's going to happen to their loved ones. They start to worry every time you think about any situation. It's the worst-case scenario that pops into your head.

You may find that you can't see anything positive happening. So, it can be anything to do with your family. It can be to do with your friends. It can be to do with what's happening in the world just now. I know a lot more women are certainly stressed at this moment in time.

It could be phobias. So, it may well be that you had a slight fear of spiders, or going to new places, or fear of flying, or fear of failure. And these things suddenly become heightened. You become much more fearful and jumpy of things that in the past, you could maybe have coped with.

It could also be new fears. I know a lot of women have said to me that they start to fear driving. They find that they just can't cope. They get terrified when they're in really busy traffic or on motorways.

It could be fear of meeting new people, of being in social settings. You just think you don't want to go out. You don't want to meet people. You don't want to socialise.

It could be fear of new things that you've never done before or maybe even things like you used to go to the same place on holiday every year and now, you feel that you don't want to travel. You don't want to step out of your particular environment.

You may also find that you start to get much more fearful about your job, your capabilities, and your ability to do the job that maybe you've done for many years with plenty of confidence.

3. Loss of humour

This, again, is quite a strange one. But I think, all of us, at some point, maybe just get fed up with people who tend to joke all the time. You may find that you no longer find a certain person's jokes funny anymore. You might get irritable about their personality, about their jocularity.

You may be more sensitive to sarcastic humour, too. A lot of women tell me that people can say things and they take completely the wrong angle of it. They start to get very upset and they think that that person is maybe having it in for them, when in fact, they mean no such thing at all. So, you can get much more sensitive to comments from other people.

You can also find that you don't find things as fun anymore. Maybe, you'd go out with a group of people and have a great night. And one time, you just sit there thinking, "Why am I here? These people are annoying me. I don't find any of this good fun. I just want to go home and be on my own."

What can cause or worsen emotional symptoms during menopause?

So, what can cause these situations?

Hormonal changes

It's mainly due to our hormone levels changing. Oestrogen is our happy hormone. It's almost like a really gentle anti-depressant. When we've got plenty of oestrogen, it keeps our mood up. It keeps our mood level and it keeps us feeling happy. When our oestrogen starts to fall, that benefit of oestrogen goes and we can become much more susceptible to any kind of negative thought, be it a big one or even just a tiny, little thought.

Poor sleep

We know so many women have problems sleeping in menopause and you only need to have one or two bad nights and your mood will dip quite substantially the next day. So, if you're getting continual bad sleep, it's no wonder you feel low, and down, and just quite unhappy.

Poor diet & blood sugar dips

It could be not eating well. Your nutritional needs go sky-high during menopause. You need more of absolutely everything. And if you're not eating, if you're skipping meals, then this is going to have a big impact on your mood, one way or another.

It could be to do with blood sugar levels. Again, if you're not eating the right foods or you're not eating regularly, your blood sugar can dip very, very quickly, and that can then trigger a sudden dip in your mood. So if you find that you're reasonably stable during the day but suddenly, at a certain time of the day, your mood just hits rock bottom, then very often, it's just the fact that you've not eaten enough at the right time, so just go over your diet and see if you can stabilise things that way.

Bottling up your feelings

Menopause is such a strange experience to go through. It can be very difficult to voice how you feel because you don't understand it yourself. Som if you don't understand it, how can you explain what you feel to your nearest and dearest? And if you keep bottling these feelings up, especially if other people are not supporting you enough, then again, that can then compound all the negative thoughts that you may be feeling.

Dehydration

Your brain needs a lot of water to function well. So, if you're dehydrated that will affect brain function which can have a knock-on effect on your mood very, very quickly.

What can help your emotional wellbeing during the menopause

So, what can you do in these situations?

Helpful herbs

One of the nice herbs to use is called St. John's wort. It's known to help with low mood and mild anxiety. The only thing I would say with this one is there are contraindications with other prescribed medication, so this is one if you want to try it, you do need to double-check before you start taking it as it may interfere with certain medications that you may be on.

It also takes maybe three weeks to kick in, so it's not going to make you feel better instantly but, certainly, it's a nice one that I tend to recommend quite a lot during menopause.

You could look at other calming and soothing herbs, such as Valerian and Passiflora. I recommend our Passiflora Complex range, including tablets and spray.

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Magnesium

This essential mineral is vital for brain function and mood, and can help with many other menopause symptoms, so remember to take a magnesium supplement daily.

Drink water

Remember your water, it does help in so many ways. So, make sure you are drinking plenty of plain water, over and above other drinks such as tea and coffee.

Seek help if you need it

The other thing here is that if any of these emotional situations are impacting your life, if you feel that you can't cope with them, if you can't pick yourself up, please, please, please seek some professional advice. There is no reason for anybody to be suffering emotionally during menopause. These things can be sorted.

You can look at self-treatments such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) or Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). You could also look at Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). These are all therapies that you can learn to do yourself for self-treatment to help you. And they can be very helpful and very supportive.

If you find that these things don't work or you feel that you're really struggling, then please speak to your doctor. There is no shame in going to ask for help during menopause to help you through this particular phase.

So, I hope this has helped you. If any of you have experienced anything similar and you've managed to help yourself, then please share these in the comments section below.

Key points to take away from this blog:

• Emotional problems are very common during menopause and intrusive thoughts, heightened fears and phobias and loss of humour are three of the lesser-known emotional symptoms you can experience.
• Falling oestrogen, poor sleep, blood sugar dips and dehydration are some of the common causes of mood problems during menopause
• Helpful herbs such as St John's wort, calming herbs including Valerian and Passiflora and the mineral Magnesium can all help support your emotions. Staying well hydrated and seeking help from your doctor if you needed is also advised.

Until next week, take care

* Magnesium contributes to the normal functioning of the nervous system

** Zinc contributes to normal cognitive function and the protection of cells from oxidative stress.