Dr Steven R. Goldstein is a Perimenopause Specialist NYC. As a Certified Menopause Practitioner in private practice for over 35 years and the Past President of both The Menopause Society and the International Menopause Society, Dr Goldstein has helped thousands of women navigate the Menopause and Perimenopause stages of life.
Dr Goldstein says Perimenopause can be the most confusing stage of a woman’s life. These are the years of hormonal upheaval before Menopause. One of the symptoms of Perimenopause is mood swings. Some women cope with perimenopausal mood swings by doing nothing. They realize why it’s happening, recognize the source, and knowing it’s not all in their heads, they manage. But it isn’t that clear cut for a lot of women. Don’t feel bad if everything you’ve tried, it seems as if your well-worn coping mechanisms have disappeared. It doesn’t mean you’re weak.
Jacklyn, forty-four, was a woman none of her acquaintances would describe as weak. Still, she found that her mood swings were having an effect on the thing she cared about the most – her successful career in advertising. She would be the first to tell you that no one lasts long in advertising without nerves of steel.
In one of her weekly meetings, Jacklyn had an outburst with one of her staff members and threw a draft of a document at him with the words “what is this mess?”. And then she did something she had never done at work much less in a room full of people. She burst into tears and left the meeting.
The episode lasted two minutes. It might have been overlooked at some other company, but in that corporate culture she would spend the next six months reestablishing her credibility.
Jacklyn shook her head, remembering “I’d gone through worse than that and never ended up in tears. It made me realize: “There’s something wrong. I wasn’t myself. My resilience was gone. I had to do something about it.”
What women like Jaclyn are experiencing is the loss of a feeling steadiness or equilibrium. She’d felt touches of it for the past year. The trouble was, just as she decided she would see a doctor, it would disappear.
Her menstrual calendar revealed a history of anovulatory cycles. Although Jaclyn could have chosen to try low dose birth control pills to eliminate her ups and downs, she decided to try other strategies first and reassess in several months. She felt better after her visit. Just knowing what was happening to her body dispelled quite a bit of the angst. But when the mood swings continued to interfere with her life despite all of her self help measures, she asked for that prescription. “I don’t love being on medication”, she told Dr Goldstein, “but I can’t afford half a month of a roller coaster ride. I need some balance.”
These perimenopausal mood swings occur because of wildly fluctuating hormones estrogen and progesterone. This fluctuation disrupts neurotransmitters in the brain that regulate mood.
During perimenopause, levels of progesterone—often referred to as the body’s natural calming hormone—begin to decline. Progesterone plays an important role in supporting the brain’s balance of neurotransmitters, particularly those involved in promoting relaxation and stable mood. As its levels drop, this calming influence weakens, which can make the nervous system more reactive. As a result, many women experience increased anxiety, mood swings, irritability, difficulty sleeping, and a general sense of restlessness during this transitional phase.
There are other reasons for moodiness also. Sometimes it can be bloating. A woman who feels bloated and uncomfortable – or frankly fat when water retention shows up as five or more pounds on the scale – often feels moody. Perimenopause may be the first time you experience the monthly bloating and weight gain your friends have dealt with for years. No one knows the reason why.
Constipation can be the culprit. The movement of your intestines is affected by your sex hormones. Progesterone can slow the movement of the bowel so that stools become small, hard and difficult to pass. It’s been said that estrogen speeds up the movement of the bowel, so if you’re lacking in estrogen, you may have symptoms in your digestive tract. There isn’t a lot of scientific evidence to prove either point, but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence.
If you experience the types of behaviour or mood swings noted in this article and are female in the mid forties to mid fifties age then you may have Perimenopause. These are symptoms that should be examined by a medical professional to determine if you are perimenopausal. You may want to schedule a consultation with Dr Steven R. Goldstein, a Perimenopause Specialist in NYC .
This article is for information purposes only and not meant to render a diagnosis or treatment. Consult a healthcare provider for any medical conditions you may have.
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