The physical symptoms of anxiety

Anxiety can make us feel nervous and jumpy, but what effects can it have on the physical body? Today I explain what happens in the body when we get anxious, and what physical symptoms this can trigger, from digestion problems to hot flushes.

Read the full video transcript below

Today's topic

Hello and welcome to my weekly video blog. And today on A.Vogel Talks Menopause, I'm going to be discussing the physical symptoms of anxiety.

Now, anxiety for us is number 3 on the list of top 10 menopause symptoms. The majority of women going through the menopause will experience it at some point. It's a horrible one because it can just suddenly appear in your life seemingly with no reason at all. You can get the symptoms very quickly. They can go on and on and on as well. And it can start to affect your daily life.

So today, what I thought I would do is go over why this can happen. And sometimes when you understand why it's happening, it gives you a greater understanding of the symptoms. And also, it makes it easier for you to try and fix it yourself.

Flight or fight?

So, what exactly goes on here with anxiety? I'm sure all of you have heard of the flight-or-fight scenario. And unfortunately, when our hormones start to change in the menopause, our nervous system is basically dragged in, kicking and screaming, whether it likes it or not.

So, our nervous system becomes much more jumpy, much more edgy, much more reactive. And it will start this flight-or-fight scenario at the drop of a hat. It could be something simple, like you can't find your car keys and you can't find your socks or your shoes, or you're late for work, or you miss the bus, or somebody toots their horn at you while you're in the car. All these things which are seemingly unimportant can very quickly set your nervous system off. And that then leads to a cascade of symptoms.

So in the flight-or-fight scenario which our ancestors developed, if you like, to save our lives, so in the days of the cavemen, flight-or-fight scenario, that is exactly what it was. You were faced with severe danger that could threaten your life and the body would react very quickly to that. So, you would end up either having to fight or run away, or to hide, or do something to save your life.

The problem is today, that we still haven't got that under control. And in the menopause, this flight-or-fight scenario can be triggered very, very easily because our nervous system is that much more jumpy. And these are the things that happen.

What are the symptoms?

Once your nervous system is triggered, just by something simple like going, "I can't find my car keys," there is a whole cascade of symptoms.

Blood rush

Number one, the blood will rush to your brain, to your muscles, to your heart, and to your lungs, and it will disappear or nearly, it will move away from your digestive system. And that's very often you get that - your brain goes into overtime. You get all these thoughts. You can't stop thinking. And very often, this happens just as you're trying to get off to sleep. Your heart speeds up because the body thinks it's in this flight-or-fight situation that's going to affect your life.

Palpatations

So, you start to get the palpitations. Your heart will start to beat very, very fast. Your breathing will start to get fast. And very often, it will be shallow breathing.

Dizziness, brain fog, fatigue and sweating

And that's not good for you because if you do a lot of shallow breathing, you can end up getting dizziness and brain fog and fatigue. You start to sweat because the body is in this flight-or-fight situation. It doesn't want to heat up. So, the body will start to sweat in order to keep everything nice and cool. Your blood pressure goes up because all the blood is suddenly shifting away from the digestive system to the places in the body where it's needed.

So, you can see just these particular symptoms, they're very much like menopause symptoms, like the brain going into overtime, the palpitations, the sweating, blood pressure, which is really common in the menopause. But if you don't get your blood pressure checked, you don't actually realize that you got any particular problem. So, when you get to this scenario of these particular symptoms, it can be a combination of your nervous system going into overdrive and also menopausal symptoms as well. And it can be very difficult to differentiate between them, and this can make it a lot more difficult to treat or to deal with.

What can you do?

But what can you do to sort this? As I said before, it's not an easy one. This is something you have to work out because your nervous system is practically permanently in panic mode. And it takes quite a lot of work and effort to get everything to calm down.

Water

So, the most important things, number one, water. This is fabulous for these anxiety and panic attacks. And the problem here is that dehydration will stress your nervous system. It will make it worse. So, just dehydration on its own will create a real vicious cycle of stressed nervous system. You're getting more hot flushes or sweats which will lead to more dehydration and so on. So, drinking plenty of water during the day is a fabulous one.

And I know for me, there's been times if I felt an anxiety attack coming on, it's just to drink a big glass of water. And sometimes, that's enough just to calm everything down. I was really quite surprised the first time I tried that. I didn't think it would work quite so quickly.

Watch your diet

You must really try and avoid caffeine and your fizzy drinks, and your high salt and sugar foods because these rev your nervous system up even more. And this is the last thing you want to do. So, try and keep those really to a minimum, if you can.

Magnesium

You need loads of magnesium. And remember, magnesium is great for absolutely everything in the menopause. But your nervous system eats up magnesium when it's in this flight-or-fight situation. Have plenty of B vits as well because they're really calming and yet your adrenals love a nice dose of extra B vitamins.

AvenaCalm and Passiflora Complex

You could look at herbs such as our AvenaCalm and Passiflora Complex. These tend to work quite quickly at just helping to take the edge off anxiety. And the longer you take them, the more benefit you will get with both of them.

Deep breaths

You can learn to do deep, slow breathing. Again, if you find that you're getting sort of panic attacks or anxiety attacks, if you feel one coming on, if you get into the deep breathing, that can very often help to make you feel a bit more in control. Takes a little bit of practice but, eventually, it just becomes second nature. The minute you feel yourself agitated, take a good few deep breaths.

Acupuncture

You could look at acupuncture. This is a wonderful one for calming the nervous system. And I know for me, it was the thing at the end of the day that worked the best for when I had the anxiety.

Lifestyle

Look at your lifestyle. You know, I usually say as women today going through the menopause, we're always on the go. We're running around, probably, like idiots most of the time trying to do too much. And our nervous system just thinks this is us in another panic mode.

So, look at what you're doing in your lifestyle. Try and figure out if there's things you don't need to do. Try and figure out if you can add in a little bit of relaxation every day. That's wonderful for helping to calm the nervous system down. Just 30 minutes me time once a day can work wonders in helping to get this really under control.

Keep a diary

Do the diary. I love diaries because very often they can really throw up what's going on behind all this. So, if you're getting regular anxiety attacks or panic attacks, every day make sure that you're writing down what you're eating, what you're doing, how you're feeling. And you might find after a week or two that there's very specific things that are setting off the anxiety or panic attacks. And that could be worth its weight in gold because you then know where to start to try and fix it.

Go to your doctor

The other really important thing here is the anxiety and panic attacks can go very deep for some women. It can be extremely…you can just be really, really unhappy with it. It can cause an awful lot of issues. So, it's really important if you feel that your anxiety or your panic attacks is affecting your daily life to the point where you can't function, you might feel that you don't want to go out, that you can't cope at work, you can't cope with your relationships. If it gets to that stage, then please see your doctor because there are things that they can give you, maybe even just temporarily, just to help you through this.

And it's really important because if you don't fix it, then your nervous system starts to get weaker and weaker. And at that point, that can start to make your menopause symptoms worse. So, you can end up almost going into a downward spiral. So, it's really important that if you feel you're not coping, just go and see your doctor or a complementary therapist if you want to go down that route.

So, I hope that's given you a little bit of insight into physical symptoms of anxiety. And as I said at the beginning, this is one the majority of women will experience this at some point in the menopause. And if you can be prepared for it, then it's going to be much easier for you to cope with. So anyway, I will see you next week for another edition of "A.Vogel Talks Menopause."

46 Comments

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Claire — 29.08.2017 09:13
Hi Eileen, many times you mention taking magnesium. I've tried it twice but mag. citrate caused diahorrea & mag. oxide caused high anxiety & diahorrea. Have you got any other recommendations on what else to try? I suffer anxiety & it's much worse now during peri than it ever has been.
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- eileen — 29.08.2017 13:04
  Hi Claire You may find a magnesium skin spray much better for you, you can get this from most health shops. Other wise you may find a herb called Maca can be beneficial, go for tablets, tincture or capsules, powder won't be strong enough. Acupuncture can often be really good for this so worth looking into as well.
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Cath — 20.08.2017 19:43
Thank you Eileen, I have had anxiety in the past but nothing like the surges I've experienced since periods stopped 18 months ago. I can't take HRT and find my moods all over place. Have started taking Magnesium 375mg and Vit B, C, D and Omega 3 Fish Oils as I've read in your blogs that supplements help. I find the night sweats interfere with my sleep and I struggle to get a restful nights sleep. Do you have any recommendations for sleep?
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- eileen — 22.08.2017 10:29
  Hi Cath There are a couple of remedies that may be of benefit. Sage is known to help with hot flushes and night sweats so you could take one of the Menopause Support tablets with your evening meal. If you ease the night sweats then you should sleep better. Or, you could take the Dormeasan which is for aiding a good night's sleep. You take this just before bed. You could take both but then you wouldn't know which is helping! Either of these are fine with your other supplements. https://www.avogel.co.uk/herbal-remedies/sage-tablets-menoforce/index.php https://www.avogel.co.uk/herbal-remedies/valerian-hops-dormeasan/index.php
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Julie aldred — 16.08.2017 21:08
Thank you for this advice with the menopause on hrt high dose.
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- eileen — 17.08.2017 08:17
  Hi Julie You're welcome!
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Helen Lee — 16.08.2017 16:50
Love for you to mention the benefits of Homeopathy with the treatment of all things menopausal. I have many patients who have felt the benefits of homeopathy (I am a homeopathic practitioner)
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- eileen — 17.08.2017 08:17
  Hi Helen Will do! I try to mention different therapies when I can as I know they can play huge part in the menopause. Is there any specific symptoms/symptoms that you find really respond well and the next time I am doing a topic on them I can mention homeopathy as a support.
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Ila Sterling — 15.08.2017 20:47
This was a great article. I experienced anxiety a few years ago, and I had so many of the symptoms that you mentioned. I had to incorporate magnesium in my daily routine as well as other things you mentioned such as deep breathing. It was a very difficult time in my life. I thank you for addressing this matter, as I do believe that many people will be helped by your insight.
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- eileen — 16.08.2017 12:41
  Hi Ila Thank you!
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Mary — 15.08.2017 20:11
Wonderful video, just knowing I am not alone is so helpful in it self. Thank you, always informative!
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- eileen — 16.08.2017 12:41
  Hi Mary You're welcome, thank you!
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Jeanne Ashworth — 15.08.2017 13:18
Eileen, I think your blog is wonderful, I read it as soon as it arrives in my inbox. Your advice is most helpful and wonderful.. However Doctor's on the NHS in England are not that helpful when it comes to fully understanding menopause (I am sure a male came up with the name menopause) . An example as he did NOT under any circumstances put me onto HRT, but to tell me all about Black Cohoss and other various herbal tablets for menopause. I explained that I had tried them all but nothing worked. I had been on HRT and was doing well on it.. However when my menopause started, I had anxiety and panic attacks, also it affected my bowels which I am sure started the anxiety and panic attacks which meant I rarely left the house 24/7. An example of what I looked like.. my sister in law came over to visit and when she saw me she thought I would die soon and that is why she had been asked to come and visit with us. I have since discovered for myself that menopause does not last for 5 years as the so called medical profession tells us.. But it lasts much much longer, and to this day I have hot flushes, but I shall try your drinking a huge glass of water, but I already do the breathing deeply and concentrating on my breathing, and that does help.. I am now in my late 60's and started menopause at 54 years of age. I went to see the doctor as I was having *flash diarrahea* and that caused my anxiety and panic attacks as far as I was concerned.. I wish all the ladies out there a very good health as they surf the life of menopause. A special thanks to you Eileen and the rest of the team for your help all the way.. I look forward to reading each of your blogs to give me even more insight into what to do re my health.. Kind Regards
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- eileen — 15.08.2017 14:34
  Hi Jeanne Thank you so much for your lovely comments, glad to be of help. Have you tried our sage for the flushes and remember to have lots of magnesium in your diet too!
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anita. — 15.08.2017 11:35
thank you so much, always very good advice,
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- eileen — 15.08.2017 14:34
  Hi Anita Glad to be of help!
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Angela N — 15.08.2017 10:36
This is a great blog as there is nothing much out there. Biggest issue is coping with anxiety at work as no one wants to admit or share it's a bit of a stigma. I find I get that dreadful lump in the throat feeling and a great de stressor for me is swimming and walking as it kills some of that tension.
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- Jenny — 15.08.2017 13:21
  Me too! I am hating the changes I'm going through.. I make myself go for half an hour's walk in my lunch break and if force myself to have an easy cycle (luckily I'm near the sea) it really helps.
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- eileen — 15.08.2017 14:34
  Hi Angela You are right, there is so little talk about the menopause, especially in the work place. Exercise is great for anxiety so keep it up!
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- eileen — 15.08.2017 14:34
  Hi Jenny Sounds great!
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Ann Davis — 15.08.2017 08:45
Just wanted to say am loving your blog on the menopause the blog on anxiety was most helpful thanks
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- eileen — 15.08.2017 14:34
  Hi Ann You're welcome!
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philomena — 15.08.2017 08:33
hi eileen i have been going through menopause for the last 3 years but the last year have suffered from anxiety which i have never suffered from before and is hard sometimes to get through its great to know i am not the only one going through this and that its another thing we have to suffer with going through this menopause i just hope it ends soon .i dont know what i and other ladies would do without your information every week you have been a god send thank you eileen .its great to read how other ladies are dealing with the menopause.
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- eileen — 15.08.2017 14:34
  Hi Philomena Glad to be of help and thanks for watching!
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debbie casey — 15.08.2017 07:10
have suffered from anxiety most of my life as it runs in my family but the menopause has really sent it into overdrive. Yoga has really helped me. I would rather not take medication so this reallty helps. You only need to do 10 minutes a day,
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- eileen — 15.08.2017 14:34
  Hi Debbie I totally agree, I would have been lost without my yoga!
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