Anxiety And Worry In Women – Causes, Symptoms And Natural Relief
Popular anti-anxiety medications like BuSpar, Ativan, Valium, and Xanax work on these neurotransmitters. Alcohol works in the same manner by raising levels of GABA. That’s why a drink helps you overcome your social discomfort and unwind, while more than a few causes slurred speech, slow reflexes, and a decrease in cognitive ability.
The fear–anxiety neural pathway is very easily influenced. This means that anti-anxiety medications (particularly benzodiazepines), caffeine, and alcohol are highly addictive. It makes sense that people who inherit or develop anxiety-sensitive brains also have a higher risk for addiction.
- The HPA axis and anxiety. Along with your neurotransmitters, your hormones play a crucial role in mediating anxiety. The hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis is the hormonal system that influences mood. Imbalances along this system can bring on panic attacks and chronic anxiety.
As part of the cascade of hormones in the fight-or-flight response, your hypothalamus releases a hormone called corticotropin–releasing factor (CRF), which jolts you into action. CRF flows through your pituitary gland, where it stimulates adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which in turn tells your adrenal glands to release cortisol. Cortisol opens the gates for a rush of glucose, fat, and protein to give your cells the energy and alertness they need.
In a healthy system, the hormonal flood recedes once the threat is disabled. But different factors can disrupt this pathway, causing the gates to stay open and running the adrenals to exhaustion. Levels of ACTH and cortisol stay elevated, causing anxiety, weight gain, accelerated aging, and metabolic imbalances.
CRF also seems to be a factor in anxiety. People with high anxiety generally have high levels of CRF — which indicates that the HPA axis is always on. Researchers think that early emotional trauma may trigger elevated levels of CRF, which the body then maintains through adulthood.
- Estrogen, menopause and anxiety. Clearly sex hormones like estrogen play a critical role in anxiety. Women are more than twice as likely as men to feel anxiety, especially during the hormonal ups and downs of PMS, perimenopause, and menopause. Anxiety is often the first sign of perimenopause. Many women experience rampant anxiety symptoms when they first wean off Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). For more information on HRT, please refer to our section, Bioidenticals and HRT.
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A recent study showed that anxious women are more likely to suffer uncomfortable hot flashes during perimenopause. In another study, baby rats of both sexes were deprived of maternal attention at birth. When they grew up, the female rats showed measurable signs of anxiety and stress when tested in a maze; the male rats did not.
Estrogen is almost certainly tied in to serotonin levels — as any woman who’s ever suffered a mood swing with their monthly cycle can attest. What you know instinctively, science is beginning to prove. It may be that estrogen has a soothing, calming effect on your system similar to or interdependent with serotonin — when levels fall so do our moods and energy levels. Estrogen and progesterone levels are directly influenced by the adrenals and cortisol overproduction.
But in my experience, menopause doesn’t actually cause anxiety — it simply amplifies what was already there. That’s why relief from menopausal anxiety and panic attacks is found only after restoring hormonal balance.
- Nutrition, digestion and anxiety. I saw a new patient, Sue, with digestive and bowel problems. She was in a very high-profile marriage, the mother of three kids, and — on the surface — a total go-getter. She eventually told me that her anxiety was so severe that she was on five different psychotropic drugs. She felt she had never been able to “do life.”
After a lengthy discussion, Sue went into therapy and began a course of treatment that included weaning slowly off her medication and supporting her system with supplements and good nutrition. She began to exercise regularly and examine some of the stress in her life. Little by little her anxiety decreased and then disappeared — and so did her bowel problems.
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