I see women all of the time who say throughout their entire adult lives, they have had a stable/upbeat mood, optimistic outlook, great sleep and no anxiety until they hit menopause. The women say their personal lives are stable and these changes seemed to start for no good reason after menopause. When they reached out to their physician most were told that all hormones everywhere, used in any form, are dangerous and should be avoided (which we know is not true).
They were often offered sleeping pills like Ambien and anxiety medicine like Xanax (both of which usually lead to dependence) and an antidepressant like Prozac or Effexor. Some try these for 1-2 months and then realize they feel like a ‘zombie’ so they stop. Others receive the sleeping, anxiety and anti-depressant prescriptions, promptly throw them in the trash and then come to see me to treat the hormone deficiencies that are the true cause of these new symptoms.
Women Do Not develop Ambien, Xanax and Effexor deficiencies, they develop estrogen and progesterone deficiencies. Almost universally, treating their hormone deficiencies makes their insomnia, anxiety and depressed mood improve and/or resolve. The scary part to me is the group of women (who are very common) take all 3 of these medicines day-in and day-out. Their symptoms might be controlled but they are dependent on these habit forming medicines and take them daily for several years. This treatment is risky and does NOTHING to address the underlying deficiencies that are causing these symptoms in the first place…..a hormonal imbalance of estrogen and progesterone.
– Dr. Rich Sinda