Menopause, mood swings and depression: how to control yourself * Diana Clinic in St. Petersburg

According to various studies, climacteric neurosis accompanies the onset of menopause in 30% to 60% of women. Hormonal changes associated with this process affect not only the body, but also the mental state of the woman. The menopausal period can last for years, and the longer the symptoms of the accompanying neurotic disorder are ignored, the stronger they become and the deeper they take root in the psyche. This disorder, despite its natural causes, requires the same serious treatment as other mental disorders.

What causes mood swings during menopause?

What causes mood swings in women is often unclear. This could be a character trait, the influence of circumstances, or even bad weather. However, women whose periodic irritability is associated with premenstrual syndrome (PMS) can be confident in the connection between hormone levels and emotions.

It has been proven that changes in hormone levels during the menstrual cycle depend on the interaction of the hypothalamus and pituitary gland - parts of the brain that interact with the woman’s reproductive system.

Communication between a woman's brain and reproductive organs during menopause can occur in different ways. While there is no precise understanding of how hormones affect mood, there are several theories, including those that examine how mood-enhancing mechanisms in the brain are related to hormone levels.

For example, women who use patches with female hormones - estrogen, produce more serotonin receptors, which improve mood. Hormones can also influence levels of endorphins, chemicals associated with a “high” feeling. Scientists hypothesize that a woman's decreased hormone levels may also change her overall well-being.

Two other common problems during menopause - insomnia and night sweats - are also associated with mood changes. Night sweats can make it difficult to get good sleep. Therefore, it is not surprising that poor sleep can make a person moody and irritable.

The study, conducted by psychosomatic medicine specialists, found that women aged 45 to 54 who reported severe symptoms of depression also reported more hot flashes, night sweats, trouble sleeping, mood swings and memory problems. Women who did not have depression did not experience such symptoms.

Symptoms of neurosis during menopause

The symptoms of menopausal neurosis are not much different from the symptoms of other types of neurosis. As a rule, among the manifestations of this disease, women note chronic fatigue and weakness, fatigue, irritability, and mood swings. In addition, vegetative-vascular disorders such as unstable blood pressure, cardiac arrhythmia, excessive sweating, and so on may develop. Of course, not all women experience menopause with pathology. The appearance of neurosis is also associated with the initial state of health of the patient’s body and psyche, as she felt before the onset of perimenopause. Thus, the possibility of developing climacteric neurosis can be detected even earlier than all the other symptoms of menopause appear.

We must not forget that a woman’s mental state can also be affected by the traumatic changes that occur to her body during menopause. Many women gain extra pounds during this period, which leads to changes in their figure, gray hair appears and skin elasticity decreases. All this is associated with changes in metabolism, but, of course, the woman sees these as signs of aging, which negatively affects her self-esteem. Changes also occur at the psychological level; a woman may become more sentimental, suspicious, emotionally unstable, her behavior sometimes becomes demonstrative and overly dramatic, and emotional reactions become inadequate.

How can you minimize mood swings?

Making some lifestyle changes can help minimize mood swings. If you have problems sleeping, the following basic rules, which experts call “sleep hygiene,” can help:

Don't drink alcohol or caffeine within four hours of bedtime. Alcohol may help you fall asleep faster, but it also wakes you up when its blood levels drop.
Try not to nap during the day because it makes it difficult to fall asleep in the evening.
Eating heavy, spicy or sweet foods can also affect sleep, so try not to eat at night. While there is no scientific evidence to support this claim, some women report that cutting back on spicy foods, alcohol, and caffeine reduces the number of hot flashes they experience, including night sweats. To see if this will help you or not, try experimenting with removing these foods and drinks from your diet.
Make your bedroom more comfortable for sleeping by setting the heat to a comfortable level, blocking out noise and light as much as possible, and avoid turning on your phone right before bed.
Many women say that yoga and meditation help improve their mood. Some sections offer yoga classes specifically for women experiencing menopause. Regular exercise also helps you feel better overall.

At what age does menopause occur?

Menopause occurs between 45 and 55 years. It is also possible to experience early menopause - from the age of 35.

Some women do not seek help from specialists for a long time to reduce the negative manifestations of menopausal syndrome on the body, because they believe that this is a common ailment.

Causes of early menopause

Early menopause can occur due to the following reasons:

Autoimmune disorders
. The body begins to perceive the ovaries as a foreign object, because of this they are destroyed.
Chemotherapy
. The appearance of menopause during these procedures is proven by the pathogenesis of the syndrome.
Stress
. Exhaustion of the body occurs with regular nervous breakdowns and tension.
Heredity
. Pathologies associated with genetic defects.
Surgical interventions
. If both ovaries had to be removed before the age of 40, then hormone replacement therapy must be used.

Early menopause also appears due to smoking and other bad habits.

At what age menopause occurs depends on lifestyle and previous gynecological diseases.

Gynecologists at the antenatal clinic will confirm the onset of menopause and help cope with its manifestations.

How common is depression during menopause?

Research shows that between 8 and 38 percent of women going through menopause experience mood changes. Premenopausal women are twice as likely to suffer from depression than women who have not yet entered perimenopause.

It is clear that a history of depression makes menopausal women more susceptible to developing it. Women who have experienced PMS or postpartum depression are at greater risk of depression during menopause than women who have not experienced postpartum depression.

It's not surprising that women with a particularly long transition to menopause find themselves more prone to depression than women with a shorter transition, especially if they also experience other unpleasant menopausal symptoms.

Treatment of neurosis

As with all other mental illnesses, treatment of menopausal neurosis should only occur under the guidance of a doctor, since in order to prescribe the most effective therapy, it is necessary to take into account all the features of the patient’s symptoms. First of all, hormonal drugs are prescribed, the purpose of which is to equalize a woman’s hormonal levels, which is achieved even with low estrogen levels. It is much more difficult to get rid of vegetative-vascular disorders; they can manifest themselves over several years. Working with the psycho-emotional state falls on the shoulders of a psychotherapist and psychologist, who can not only prescribe different types of therapy, but also prescribe treatment with pharmaceuticals. Often women with this neurosis are prescribed antidepressants or tranquilizers.

How to treat depression during menopause

Severe depression is defined as feeling depressed or losing interests and pleasures for two weeks or more. Signs of depression include: daily low mood for most of the day, significant changes in weight or appetite, changes in sleep patterns, feelings of hopelessness, loss of interest in previous activities, persistent thoughts of death or suicide, inability to concentrate, fatigue or loss of energy.

According to research, if you feel constantly depressed, exercise and talking to an endocrinologist who can prescribe hormone therapy can help.

Keep in mind that yoga and meditation may only reduce stress or anxiety if you have mild depression. If you have severe depression, consult an endocrinologist, as this may require medication.

Features of menopausal neurosis

Although all women go through the natural process of menopause, for most it is a tragedy. They feel that with the loss of the opportunity to bear and give birth to children, their very presence in the family becomes unnecessary or unwanted. At this stage, some women begin to try to compensate for this feeling by taking increased care of their appearance, trying to look as young as possible. Experts believe that this reaction is essentially a replacement or protest against the natural aging processes of the body.

The opposite side of the coin is apathy. When a woman thinks that changes in appearance are inevitable, she becomes passive, loses interest in herself, her appearance and interests, her social activity sharply decreases, and instead there is an unhealthy attention to her own illnesses and ailments.

Also among neurotic disorders during premenopause: nervous and hysterical disorders, headaches and migraines, low mood, even depressive states, decreased ability to work, feelings of anxiety, fear and depression.

Sometimes the symptoms of menopause at first glance have nothing to do with it, which forces women to turn to other doctors. One of these characteristic signs is pain in the heart area.

For quite a long time, it was believed that a special role during the perimenopause period is played by a violation of hormonal function, namely a decrease in estrogen levels. Nowadays, research shows that it is not only this, but also primary age-related changes associated with the function of the hypothalamic centers.

Studies in which about 500 patients took part showed that in 15% of them the development of climacteric neurosis occurred during an absolutely normal course of the menstrual cycle, in 50% neurosis appeared when the cycle was disrupted, and in 33% climacteric neurosis began to appear even after complete menstruation. the onset of menopause. It is worth noting that the symptoms of neurosis associated with premenopause are varied and can stretch over a very long period of time. Sometimes the disorder lasts only a few months, and sometimes more than 15 years.

Pathological menopause - causes

Fortunately, menopause does not always occur pathologically in a woman (in the form of the so-called “menopausal syndrome”). But if this is the case and there are mental disorders, then it is necessary to determine the probable causes of this condition.

Significant causes of psycho-emotional problems during menopause can be:

psychological trauma;
regular stress;
all sorts of unfavorable social factors;
low self-esteem and self-esteem;
dissatisfaction with life;
poor quality of intimate relationships (presence or absence of a sexual partner, problems in intimate life);
presence of a mental disorder.

The occurrence of psycho-emotional disorders during menopause can be significantly influenced by such traumatic factors as changes in appearance (the appearance of wrinkles, gray hair, fullness and changes in the proportions of the figure).

Types of “female” depression

According to statistics, a depressive period in life was observed in no less than 20-25% of the fairer sex. Signs of depression in women vary widely. Only a qualified specialist can understand their manifestations and types of depressive disorder.

The most common types of female depression are:

prenatal;
postpartum;
menopausal depression.

Symptoms of depression in women appear quite often. Moreover, depending on the type of disease and the age of the patient, they can be very diverse.

Treatment of menopause. Medicines for menopause

Of course, it is necessary that the woman be observed by gynecologists and psychotherapists during this period. If she cannot cope on her own, then she is prescribed treatment. During menopause

Such therapy involves only complex techniques developed jointly by both a gynecologist and a psychotherapist in Kazan.

Correction of neuropsychiatric disorders during menopause

(dizziness, headaches, increased excitability, frequent causeless mood swings, depression, sleep disturbances, etc.) can be carried out both with
drugs
usually used by therapists and neurologists (sedatives, etc.), and with special psychotherapeutic techniques, training in self-regulation methods.

Diagnosis of menopausal syndrome

To correctly assess the patient’s condition, consultations with an obstetrician-gynecologist, gynecologist-endocrinologist, gynecologist-mammologist, neurologist, ardiologist, etc. are needed.

If the physiological menopause passes smoothly, gradually, and does not cause noticeable disturbances, it does not need treatment and may only require psychotherapeutic correction.

Diagnosis of the pathological course of menopause is based on changes that appear at the age of approaching or approaching menopause. Concomitant diseases are aggravated, they complicate the diagnosis of menopausal syndrome during menopause, and aggravate its course and cause the development of atypical forms.

To diagnose the complicated course of menopause, the blood levels of follicle-stimulating and luteinizing hormones and estrogens are examined. To clarify the functional state of the ovaries, a histological analysis of scrapings of the endometrium of the uterus and cytological studies of vaginal smears over time are performed, and a graph of basal temperature is plotted.

Research needs to be done:

Ultrasound of the pelvic organs;
Ultrasound of the mammary glands and mammography;
cytological analysis of smears from the cervix and cervical canal;
biochemical study of blood test parameters and coagulation factors (coagulogram).
Ultrasound of the liver

The main problems for women during menopause

One of the most striking problems of this period is the violation of intimate life. A woman’s desire naturally decreases, discomfort appears during sex, and the amount of natural lubrication decreases. But this is not a reason to give up intimate life altogether!

It is important to discuss the problem with your doctor and select special products - lubricants (for example, with a warming effect) that will relieve discomfort. It is also necessary to replenish the balance of hormones, which we will discuss later in the article.

In some cases, uterine bleeding that is not menstrual is possible. In this case, it is necessary to consult a gynecologist as soon as possible to avoid the development of pathologies.

Also, during menopause in women, calcium is actively washed out of the bones, which causes the development of osteoporosis - fragility of bone tissue. Modern diagnostics make it possible to detect the development of osteoporosis in a timely manner. And prevention will be stable moderate physical activity, a nutritious and varied diet.