Sometimes, it’s easy to overlook hormone imbalance as a cause for anxiety or depression. I have begun to take an “estrogen dominance ” survey of women who present with anxiety or depression because too much estrogen is associated with anxiety and depression as well as symptoms including weight gain around the middle that won’t go away, irritability, memory problems, hair loss and many other symptoms. As discussed before, in our culture, it’s all too common for a woman to suffer from a relative absence of progesterone creating an estrogen dominance effect due to many reasons including the following; 1. she stops ovulating ( and therefore stops making progesterone) even though she continues to have menstrual periods, 2. she is chronically exposed to toxins in the air and in her food that act like estrogen making the situation worse, 3. she is overweight and the fat cells make estrogen, 4. she is stressed and this condition impairs her progesterone receptors from functioning properly. When we suspect this, I recommend a saliva test for a more accurate reading of the situation ( as recommended by Dr John Lee).
When we find and treat this problem with herbs or bio-identical hormones, I have seen many women improve and feel relief.
Good Health!