Can Hormonal Imbalance Cause Anxiety in Women?
Do you struggle with anxiety and wonder if it could be caused by a hormonal imbalance. Let’s explore how your hormones influence mood, emotional health and which imbalanced hormones are most often linked to feeling anxious.
Hello, I am so thrilled to be here.
For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Michelle Cooke, Period & Hormone Naturopath, Natural Fertility Educator (Menstrual Cycle Charting Educator) & Emotion Release Technique (ERT) Practitioner. I help women struggling with their menstrual cycles, have easy, pain-free periods, balanced hormones & emotional wellbeing. I’m the Founder and Director of Reproductive Wellness. I see patients online and face-to-face.
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The Hormone-Anxiety Connection
Many women feel anxious before their period, and wonder if it’s “just in their head”. If your anxiety is related to hormones being out of balance, then it will typically have a bit of a cyclical pattern to it being associated with your menstrual cycle. Typically, anxiety will often be worse in the late luteal phase (after ovulation 1 week approx., before your next period) & the early follicular phase (days 1-5 around the time when you have your period). It is also important to understand that girly hormones affect more than just our reproductive system it extends to other important roles in the body too. Our hormones impact brain function & the way we feel.
What sort of hormones result in feelings of anxiety?
Low Oestrogen –
Oestrogen is involved in regulating serotonin levels. Serotonin is a ‘feel good’ chemical messenger. Understandably then if you are to have low levels you would experience emotional instability and anxiety.
Low Progesterone –
Progesterone isn’t just a reproductive hormone it also has a calming effect on the brain, but it doesn’t work directly. The brain converts progesterone into allopregnanolone. Allopregnanolone is a cheer leader for GABA production in the brain, when GABA is produced say hello to feeling relaxed and calm.
Therefore, less progesterone > less allopregnanolone > GABA not supported > anxiety, restless, difficultly calming down.
Low Testosterone –
Poor testosterone is often left out of the equation when we speak of hormones and women. For women testosterone is still important, but of course we don’t have the same levels that men do. Testosterone is another friend of GABA, cheering on the action & production.
Low testosterone is found to be associated with affecting emotional wellbeing in women resulting in higher levels of panic, worry and anxiety. Conversely though a high testosterone level found in some women that have PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) can also result in anxiety.
High Cortisol –
Although this isn’t considered to be a girly hormone. It does have such a profound effect on our girly hormones and we can’t dismiss this aspect when anxiety is an issue. Cortisol is a stress hormone that is produced to help us adapt and cope with a stressful situation. It’s involved in the fight or flight response. When you are in a state of chronic stress initially cortisol will be elevated and this itself contributes to feelings of anxiety.
There is a bit of a loop scenario because chronic stress > high cortisol > anxiety but then also when you are feeling anxious this will trigger cortisol production because it is stressful. So it is never ending loop.
Thyroid Dysfunction –
Hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid), Hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid), Grave’s Disease & Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis can arise in feelings of anxiety.
Fascinatingly, T3 one of your active thyroid hormones actually impacts your levels of serotonin and noradrenaline. Remember serotonin is your ‘feel good’ chemical messenger. Noradrenaline is involved in the stress response ‘fight or flight’.
When is hormonal anxiety common?
PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome)
Any other high oestrogen states (because progesterone will be lower): Fibroids, Endometriosis
Thyroid Conditions
Perimenopause
Menopause
PMS
PMDD (Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder)
Post-partum
Natural ways to treat hormonal anxiety
As you can see there are many different types of hormone imbalances that can contribute to anxiety. Therefore, treatment is really going to have to be focussed on what is going on for you specifically. There are herbal medicines for anxiety like Passionflower, Magnolia & Withania for instance which are helpful & useful. However ultimately it is important to treat the underlying causes & contributing factors.
A Naturopath can help you with hormonal anxiety. I would typically be finding out the clues for your anxiety through testing:
Girly Hormones – a blood test performed at particular times through the cycle assessing things like oestrogen, progesterone, testosterone.
Cortisol – there is a blood test to assess morning cortisol. But if a more thorough understanding is necessary, I often prefer a salivary cortisol test which will measure your levels at 4 points throughout the day usually 6-8am, 12pm, 4pm and 8pm.
Thyroid – a blood test looking at your complete thyroid profile not just looking at TSH, but looking at the whole story including TSH, T4, T3, Thyroid Antibodies: TgAb, TPOAb, and a wee test to look at your iodine levels.
Gut Health -you really can’t address hormones, without looking into this, considering that your gut has a special family of bacteria in the gut called the oestrobolome that regulates oestrogen. If you just focus on treating the hormones, it will be an uphill battle to fix them. Typically I like to do a gut microbiome test to check in to see what your beneficial bacteria is like, undesirable bacteria, if parasites have decided to join the party, if there is any inflammatory markers that suggest damage to the lining, leaky gut etc.
Nutrient Deficiencies – Certain nutrients are important for mood, emotional health & hormone balance e.g. Vitamin D, Zinc, Folate, B12, Iodine.
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