Ok, so I haven't written a blog for quite a while, since April actually but life has been really up and down, you know the ropes if you are in the throws of THE MENOPAUSE! I do think with writing you have to be in the right frame of mind too, so today is the first time I have felt like writing and i am going with the creative flow.
I want to focus on anxiety, overwhelm and fatigue this time as it played a big part in my own early peri-menopause without me realising why? So if I can help one person by educating them on symptoms, I will be a happy bunny. Its also the first theme for my Menopause Yoga Class on the 26th November. So, I only have rough dates but, I do know that my son was quite young when these symptoms started so they started to creep in around the age of 40-42. My son would have been about 6 years old. I have memories of worrying about all the little details, all the minor stuff which I made into huge deals in my own head. I can also recall moments of madness where I totally flipped my lid uncharacteristically. I had no tools to help me with anxiety, I just thought i was a failure because I was so happy with life one minute and so sad the next, laughing one minute and then crying, energized and then fatigued topped off by sleeping well one night and then hardly sleeping at all. Little did I know back then that is was probably due to the peri-menopause as I knew nothing about it. It wasn't spoken about by family, friends, doctors nobody mentioned it at all.
Now mood changes during the perimenopause are very natural as our hormone levels start to dwindle and come under the heading of psychological symptoms of which there are many. I have listed a few here:
*anger and aggression
*frustration
*irritability
*low self-esteem
*panic
*poor motivation/feeling disinterested
*tearfulness (Dr Louise Newson 2019)
The definition of anxiety is "a feeling of unease, such as worry or fear that can be mild or severe" (NHS UK 5/10/22).
These symptoms can appear in The Menopause due to the lack of serotonin (the feel good hormone). This hormone begins to reduce as your oestrogen does because oestrogen, amongst so many other things, helps to maintain levels of serotonin. You may have noticed during your monthly cycles through the years that your mood changed and fluctuated during the run up to your period, I know I certainly had a good week to a week and a half of varying moods. This was because as your oestrogen levels started to drop after ovulation, your serotonin would have been affected.
Serotonin is a really important neurotransmitter. It carries messages around your central nervous system and it promotes happiness, positivity and joyfulness. When it starts to deplete it can effect mood; emotions; energy and sleep in a negative way. Some examples are:
*Joyfullness to sadness
*Laughter to tears
*Bouncing around to stillness
*A full nights sleep to broken sleep
So as you can see, we do not have total control over the way we feel as a woman and it varies throughout a womans cycle. On top of the normal monthly fluctuations we experience, our perimenopause can heighten our feelings due to the lack of oestrogen which affects serotonin. This effectively means our moods can vary from moment to moment. Research also shows that if you have "suffered with postnatal depression or premenstrual syndrome, then it is more likely that you will experience mood change symptoms" (Dr Louise Newson, 2019, pg 22). In my own experience having PMT throughout my life certainly worsened during my own perimenopause.
Now mood changes are just that, changes in mood due to our hormones and what is going on in our lives, it is not depression. The definition of depression is "persistently feeling sad for weeks or months which in turn affects daily life" (NHS UK 1.6.21) and this is where the lines can become a little blurry if we are constantly up and down. I remember going to my doctor in my mid 40's feeling anxious and overwhelmed at times and tearful, explaining I didn't know why as I really had no reason to be. I had two beautiful children, a loving husband and a roof over my head? At that point I was offered anti-depressants! Now the NICE guidelines (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) state quite clearly that HRT should be considered "to alleviate low mood or anxiety that arise as a result of the menopause" (12.11.15, 1.4 Psychological symptoms). I now believe as I have educated myself, that my mood changes were because I was perimenopausal and all I needed was advice on how to help myself so that I could make an informed choice about how to proceed. NICE guidelines also recommend "People have the right to be involved in discussions and make informed decisions about their care" (12.11.15). This leads nicely into Menopause Yoga.
I took this Teacher Training in September as I had researched so much on Menopause and things like 'calming your nervous system.....rest more, do less.....eat well and exercise for heart health and bone health....try complementary therapies etc during the menopause' kept coming up. So I took a couple of Petra Coveney's (the founder of menopause yoga) classes and workshops and decided that I wanted to help other women through this time in their lives as on average we enter the perimenopause around 45 in the UK, we hit menopause around 51 on average and then we are post-menopausal for the rest of our lives and Menopause Yoga had all the elements that women need to know about, so that they can be informed and make decisions on their own menopausal care. Also the younger we have the knowledge, the better informed we are.
During a class/workshop Menopause Yoga displays itself like this:
*Medical Guidelines on a theme or symptom eg: anxiety or heart health or hrt etc
*Womens circle to discuss symptoms and the menopause and listen to other stories
*Yoga practice including Breathwork; movement; restorative pose; relaxation pose; poems;
meditations and journalling to help with symptoms
*Wellbeing advice on nutrition and exercise, complementary therapies and herbal remedies
etc
*Closing circle and signposting to other professionals, further classes/workshops
It really is a one stop shop for menopause. It educates, empowers and helps women embrace the wonderful ups and downs of this time of our lives. It gives Western Medical perspectives and Eastern Wellbeing perspectives so that you can decide which parts serve you best. It also creates a beautiful safe space for women to discuss their journey with the menopause and feel the warmth of other women going through theirs. It supports you afterwards so that you always feel you have somewhere to go, to share your feelings and gives you tools to use when symptoms arise. A simple breathing technique could help during a hot flush, a little movement to raise your mood, a restorative pose to calm your mind and body or some journalling to release your feelings and let go.
If this blog resonates with you and you would like to try a class please do hop on to my website and have a look at the classes I do. The Menopause Yoga Classes/Workshops normally happen at the weekend but also a zoom class will be added shortly mid-week so that you can do it from the comfort of your own home. In person classes are £15 for 90 minutes with herbal teas and a chat at the end and zoom classes will be £10 for 90 minutes. I also do gentle yoga classes and vinyasa flow yoga classes throughout the week. My dream is to also have a menopause cafe which will be free and open to all women to access.
I would love to hear from you if you have any questions or insights or would like to book onto a class. The first class is on the 26th November 1-2.30pm and will be based around the symptoms anxiety and overwhelm.
Love Debs xxx
References
Dr Louise Newson, Menopause, 2019
NICE Guidelines 12.11.2015
NHS UK online
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