Fear & Anxiety... the angst factor is real.

The scary and uncomfortable truths

I remember it pretty clearly. I had just gotten off the chair lift and was ready to hit the slopes, a route we had taken over and over again, when my husband bombed past me literally yodelling down the slopes, a gust of strong wind caught me in the back and I froze. Like, frozen to the spot, unable to move.

Looking back, I can see a pattern of hesitation that started long before the mountain pass jitters. Sure, living in a different country where the learning curve has been one steep climb followed by insurmountable roller coaster loop de loops, it was hard to tease out one from the other. If you’ve felt this way and are wondering if you can add this lovely ditty to the list of perimenopause symptoms - join the club.

Fear and anxiety in perimenopause is a very real thing.

I have noticed something in my clinical practice over the years and it has to do with a heightened amount of fear and anxiety in those moving through the menopause transition.

On the one hand, the physical changes that occur in our bodies during this time can be enough to set us on fire or have us hiding from social situations. Our moods, depression and even fear can be related to the changes during menopause. Women suffer from anxiety at a rate twice that of men, and it has been found that the sexes respond differently, grounded in estrogen status.

A recent study from the Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive and Neuroimaging released last year noted that E2 (known as Estradiol and the estrogen that is mostly responsible for our cycles and then swan dives in menopause) has a protective effect against fear.

In this study, when E2 was lower, there was a higher expression of fear when presented with imagery and loud bursts of noise. It would seem that this hormone - that we know affects our whole body - could be to blame for the increase in sensation of fear when moving through menopause where E2 is decreasing. Hmm…interesting.

The nervous system driving sidekick to the hormones.

The sympathetic nervous system is the fight, flight or freeze response and one that helps us get out of bed in the morning, rushing everyone out the door while chugging a cup of coffee before we get into the morning rush hour. Without it we can’t get ourselves to do anything, too much of it and it wires us up and increases that “stressed out” feeling. Too much of this and we don’t feel like we ever get a break.

Not uncommon in clinic women nod with deep understanding when I mention that they must be feeling “wired and tired” - that state of always being “on” and never turning off while simultaneously feeling just exhausted wondering why our evening slumber just didn’t get us fuelled back up.

The opposite is the parasympathetic nervous system. It’s the rest and digest, let you read a book on the beach and relax nervous system. Equally important, it helps blood rush back into the central part of the body, settle the stress hormones and let us go about living peacefully.

We need both systems - not unlike the gas and brake peddle in the car - to function. So what can we do about this menopausal fear and anxiety?

Soo… great. What can we do about it?

Cognitive Behaviroual Therapy has been known to be highly beneficial for menopause symptoms, including anxiety, depression, vasomotor symptoms (hot flushes) and insomnia. What is it? Basically our minds have an amazing function over our bodies. The way you feel pain and discomfort is affected by your thoughts, beliefs and attitudes. Let me be clear - this is NOT me saying its all in your head. Nothing worse than you shaking in your boots wracked with pangs of anxiety and wondering if it is all in your heard. Having said this, learning how to tap into what we are thinking and recognizing patterns enables us to create coping mechanisms that help us mentally. When we do this, and can lower our stress factors, and help us to manage stressful (and fearful) situations better.

So too have breathing techniques been shown to relax us and help settle the nervous system that has us otherwise in fight or flight. These might align with meditation, yoga and mindfulness and visualization as well as self talk to get us out of that negative spiral.

If you are like me - a regular guided practice helps to keep the Squirrel moments at bay - another perimenopause symptoms…we’ll leave that for another day.

Medication can also help to cope and allow you to continue with what you love to do yet may recently feel anxious about.

Now that we know that estrogen also has a protective factor for fear and anxiety and that slowing down where we can helps to mitigate it - take stock for a minute…just how “wired” are you? Settling those gremlins just might make you feel better.

Not sure what works best for you? Drop me a line, ask a question below.

You’ve got this. I’m so proud of you.

Take up space. Stop playing small.

xo

Karin