Anxiety Attacks during Menopause

Anxiety attacks are due to complex combination of negative thoughts and emotions including extreme worry, extreme fear or apprehension and are accompanied with physical sensations such as shortness of breath, palpitations and/or chest pain; it also disturbs mood, behaviour, thoughts and many physiological activities. Anyone of any age can be prone to anxiety attacks and the statistics says that about 19 million Americans are afflicted with this. During menopause, these attacks are experienced by most women as a normal part of living but when these feelings get persistent, interfering with daily life and overwhelming then it can even terrify her. As its becoming common during menopause for women, understanding the causes and factors becomes necessary to deal with anxiety attacks effectively.

What can be the causes for anxiety attacks? The causes can be generally divided into two i.e. physical cause and psychological cause.

Psychological Causes: The reasons of anxiety attacks related to disorders, characterized by rare hereditary diseases because of chemical imbalances in the brain and daily stress, overwork or fatigue. A little bit will never cause trouble but when they get out of control, it can lead a person to lose emotional stability and affects a person’s emotional health. However, it stops with the end of stressful time and are temporary. Physical causes for anxiety attacks are hence more likely to happen.

Physical Causes: Hormonal imbalances are the main causes for anxiety attacks. Cortisol is the name of the hormone that is responsible for stress and anxiety and its level is regulated by oestrogen hormones. Cortisol cannot be controlled if oestrogen level is dropped in your body, thereby producing more anxiety and stress. Imbalance in the levels of hormone occurs during menopause, which is the most common cause for anxiety attacks.

Anxiety attacks can get worse if not treated on time; there are various effective and safe methods to control and cure these attacks. First of all, understanding whether the problem is psychological or physical is important. If it is psychological, then it should be treated by a psychiatrist and proper rest should be taken and proper schedule should be maintained to treat stress, fatigue and overwork.

If you can manage to integrate an exercise program along with these, you will get quicker relief from attacks. As for treatment in case of low hormonal levels hormonal balancing programs and drugs that helps in restoring the balance back in your body should be taken. There are certain therapies such as “lifestyle approaches” that are also an effective ways to treat anxiety attacks.