How to Cope If Your Anxiety Is Making Menopause Feel So Much Worse

The years leading up to menopause can be full of changes. You’ve probably heard of some of the possible physical symptoms of this time of life, like hot flashes and vaginal dryness. But menopause, and the transition into it, can sometimes lead to some pretty intense mood-related symptoms, too.

“Mood is hormone-dependent, and the loss of hormones during menopause can trigger changes in mood,” Hugh Taylor, MD, chair of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at Yale New Haven Hospital, tells SELF. These shifts can have a “really huge quality of life impact that we should take very seriously,” he says.

Menopause can also overlap with big life changes—people might become empty nesters, for example—as well as professional or family-related stresses. It can also trigger fears about aging and stress about physical changes, Helen Bennett, a London-based psychotherapist who focuses on supporting people through menopause, tells SELF. “A lot of people say to me, ‘I just feel like I’m going mad,’” she says, citing irritability, insomnia, and even a sense of “grief and loss” as some of the worry-provoking aspects of this time of life.

Unfortunately, high anxiety levels can actually make some menopause symptoms even tougher to deal with.¹ One recent study in the Primary Care Companion to the Journal of Clinical Psychology found that somatic anxiety, which tends to involve physical symptoms like chest pain and shortness of breath, increased the risk of hot flashes by 71%. anxiety can also exacerbate symptoms like insomnia and brain fog, Stephanie S. Faubion, MD, the director of the office of women’s health at the Mayo Clinic and the medical director at the North American Menopause Society, tells SELF.

The good news is that there are lots of ways to treat anxiety during menopause—and often, these approaches can help with other aspects of life along the way.

Hormone treatment

Hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, is generally one of the first lines of defense for anyone struggling with menopause symptoms. In the transition to menopause, the body begins producing less estrogen and progesterone, and HRT is a common and effective way of treating the various issues that can stem from those hormonal changes, including anxiety and depression. In particular, physical issues like vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes and night sweats) and vaginal dryness, which can cause anxiety in people who suffer from them, “can be treated with hormone therapy,” Dr. Taylor says.

Therapy and medication

It’s always a good idea to talk to a mental health professional if you’re having issues with perimenopause, anxiety, or both. While each client is different, Bennett says the first thing she generally asks people struggling with anxiety to do is to figure out what exactly tends to cause flare-ups. “I look at what’s happening in somebody’s life and what’s causing the stress, and then at what changes they might be able to make, and then I support them to make those changes,” she says.

Bennett often does this by using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a type of therapy focused on rerouting unhelpful thought patterns.  For example, if someone’s anxiety often spikes when they’re having hot flashes in public, she focuses on challenging any shame or paranoia they might feel, reminding them that in all likelihood, no one will actually notice. “Often women are extremely judgmental when they feel anxious, particularly menopause,” she notes. “And so looking at those feelings from a cognitive behavioral model can be really helpful. ‘What are you saying to yourself?’” she often asks. “‘How could you shift that in order to not be having these negative judgments addressing the inner critic?’”

Medication can also help. According to Dr. Faubion, the solutions for anxiety during menopause are often bound up in addressing multiple physical symptoms, but if the problem is mostly the anxiety, “antidepressants and SSRIs can be very effective.”

Stress-relieving activities

Therapy, medication, and HRT are definitely good options for managing menopausal anxiety, particularly if you’re dealing with things like panic attacks and other debilitating symptoms, but there are also ways to treat everyday stress on your own time. Bennett says that one of the first things she tends to recommend are “breathing techniques and relaxation techniques.” Multiple studies have also found that mindfulness-based meditation can significantly help with anxiety.

Bennett also recommends that people get their bodies moving. “Weight-bearing exercise, fresh air walks, anything that involves being out and about moving—these are all regulating activities which are great for mood and great for your body overall,” she says. Sometimes menopause can mean that exercise might look different for you than it did before, Bennett notes, but stretching and relaxing movement can be great additions to any routine.

In general, self-care of any kind can be a helpful way to combat anxiety, whether that means spending time in nature or with animals, taking 10 minutes to read in bed, or following your bliss in any form it takes, according to Bennett. “Sometimes it’s just about just saying, what does self-care mean to you?” she says. No matter what, she adds, it’s important to “take time for yourself, and recognize that you have needs and your needs matter.”

Sleep

Finally, sleep is incredibly important for overall health and well-being, according to the CDC; better sleep may even directly improve mental health. But menopause can make it a lot harder to fall asleep because of symptoms like hot flashes and mood changes, Bennett says. Anxiety can also make insomnia much worse, and insomnia can make anxiety worse, creating a pretty frustrating cycle.

There are a variety of ways to try to get more—and better—sleep, however. You can start by improving your sleep hygiene, according to the CDC: Turn off all electronics an hour before bed, and trade in your late-night Netflix sessions for a bedtime routine, which could include journaling, meditation, or other relaxing habits. Going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day can also help, as can using your bed only for sleep and sex instead of for scrolling.

At the end of the day, menopause is a natural part of life, and it doesn’t have to involve suffering. Cynthia Steunkel, MD, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California who established one of America’s first menopause clinics in 1988, tells SELF that while people sometimes find themselves terrified of it, she wants them to know that there are lots of ways to smooth the menopausal transition, and new insights are emerging all the time. “People live through it,” she says. “It’s a little rougher for some than others, but there’s so much that can be done.” 

 

 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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