Our female hormones can have us going on a roller coaster ride, have you feeling like you are dealing with a midlife crisis, or becoming a crazy lunatic.
It’s easy to dismiss your feelings but don’t if you start experiencing hallucinations, outbursts, the feeling of being paranoid, or hearing voices.
If you do, seek immediate help from a health professional because there are many overlapping symptoms of depression and perimenopause that can be easily overlooked such as low energy, impaired concentration, weight changes, libido changes, insomnia or hypersomnia, homicidal or suicidal plans that can be an underlining health issue.
Hormonal changes can really impact how you perceive yourself and life stressors can contribute to you being at risk for perimenopausal depression.
Mental Health and Family Medicine published an article in 2016 stating that hormonal changes and schizophrenia “can be the catalyst in women with an underlying risk for schizophrenia,” and this due to estrogen deficiency. Some doctors suggest patients who are dealing with both conditions supplement the loss of estrogen with hormone replacement therapy and antipsychotic medication.
Within a 2011 analysis done by MJH Begemann, estrogen was found to decrease psychotic symptoms in younger premenopausal women with schizophrenia. However, it also discovered that 50% of women who were prescribed antipsychotic medication could mimic menopause by increasing their prolactin levels which could lead to amenorrhea, which is the loss of your cycle.
Dr. Mary Seeman a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada said, “In many women, psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions worsen at the time of menopause, when estrogen levels fall.
Higher doses of antipsychotics are often required, and this can result in greater severity of adverse effects of the drugs. What also happens in some women is that oral drugs appear to lose their effect, so long-acting intramuscular drugs are required.”