I picked a fight with my husband today because he had the audacity to reprimand me about leaving the back door open for 5 seconds while the air was on!
Never mind that I was bringing in 2 buckets of beans and a basket of zucchini I just picked from the garden.
The reprimand teleported me back to being a kid trying to scrounge up a snack on a hot August afternoon.
“What are you doing? Refrigerating the entire neighborhood?” Would often be conveniently yelled from my parents or Grandma who appeared out of thin air when I left the fridge open for over 2 seconds while contemplating a tapioca pudding or strawberry jell-o snack pack.
Today my claws came out in a big way.
He probably didn’t realize how his voice sounded to me as I heard it way differently than how he said it.
I went from my usual self to a total B-word faster than you can flip a light switch.
Of course it ended in us yelling back and forth with me going in and out of the door to say one more thing just because.
It’s not his fault I don’t like to be reminded of all the things I do wrong that trigger me from my childhood.
Telling this story makes me laugh now but earlier I saw red like a bull reacting to a matador.
After I cooled down from the entire episode I looked at the calendar, one week before my period.
Go figure.
In the week before the period progesterone typically drops which can turn mild mannered women into witches.
Unfortunately, during perimenopause there may be multiple dips in progesterone, like right after ovulation or the entire 2nd half of the cycle, while estrogen goes on a roller coaster.
The difference between the two?
Low progesterone causes anger, irritability, the desire to isolate or pick a fight and snarky comments to fly out of the mouth as the filter is lost.
You may find yourself getting fired up easily and raging while driving.
Estrogen dips on the other hand can have you engulfing a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia crying at nothing, like a commercial, well at least in the old days when there were ASPCA commercials with Sarah McLachlan belting out “In the arms of an angel”.
If you’re crying at Mounjaro, Candy Crush or “Blue Chew” commercials, I’m not sure what to say.
I digress.
Spikes in estrogen can have you feeling super social and happy because estradiol is in the pathway to make serotonin and the next hour a dip will have you feeling depressed.
It’s not fair is it?
Just because you’re postmenopausal you’re not immune from the hormone roller coasters.
The moods are clues as to which hormone is out of balance.
And depending on the predominant mood or behavior you may have neurochemicals that are deficient as well, especially if you haven’t been taking care of your adrenal glands aka part of your kidney qi or your body battery.
The adrenal glands take over for making hormones once you hit menopause.
Adrenal glands are also in charge of serotonin, dopamine, and cortisol release.
Mood swings are also a sign that you are in need of some body battery recharging.
The summer is an easy time to deplete yourself with the longer days, the desire to spend as much time outside, the weeding of gardens, and picking all the harvest, it’s a job on top of your regular 9 to 5.
So if you’ve been finding yourself a bit snippy lately, you’re not alone.
If you’re already taking progesterone, make sure you’re being consistent with it and consider the need for a little adrenal gland chilling from ashwagandha, holy basil, lemon balm or L-theanine.
Not on progesterone, test don’t guess and consider micro-dosing a little topical at bedtime with ProAdapt by Biomatrix paired with some topical magnesium.
Living The Good Life Naturally Magnesium Muscle Creme (code: thehealthfix or healthfix for 10% off) or Sahale Botanicals Magnesium and Bergamot cream (DOCJ15 for 15% off) are my two faves.
Tried all of those? Consider a little B vitamins, especially B6, 12 and folate to help with hormone and neurochemical production and pair with L-tryptophan or L-tyrosine at 500-1500 mg.
Here’s to keeping yourself out of trouble,
Dr. J
