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Does depression get worse as women enter the years of menopause?

sciencesaviorExternal User
Just want to know if I should expect changes in the coming years.
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973741 tn?1342342773
It definitely can.  Hormones during the menopausal years can be all over the place.  Some women feel crazy for lack of a better word and others feel like they get mad at the drop of the hat and some feel blue and depressed.  definitely all intertwined with those hormonal changes.  Losing estrogen is a rough gig!!  talk to your doctor if you are asking for yourself.  It's very common and you are not alone!  I think exercise, eating well and proper rest all help.  good luck
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But be wary of the drugs the doctor will throw at you -- they can be worse than the problem.  
Be wary of a woman going through menopause.  LOL  There is a direct and proven link between menopause and depression and often medication is indeed necessary.  One should not be afraid to treat their depression just because it's correlated with menopause.  My opinion.  
Mine is, there are many ways to balance hormones without resorting to drugs that increase greatly the chances of breast and ovarian cancer, especially in older folks.  If nothing else works, of course, then yes, drugs might be the only solution, but not the first one.  Depression caused by hormonal imbalance will go away when the hormones balance, and there are many foods and plant medicines that might do this more safely than the drugs.  Sometimes exercise and sex alone does it.  But in this case, the poster already has depression and is wondering if it will get worse upon menopause, and the answer is, there's no way to tell in advance.  There are a lot of people who've been on here over the years who got put on antidepressants or hormone drugs for PMS and it didn't work out well.  You have to consider the cost as well as the benefit, because antidepressants don't treat hormonal problems and the drugs they have that do can cause cancer, a pretty hard bargain.  I agree, sometimes this is the best course, but there are alternatives that can be tried if you see the proper professionals, and often those aren't doctors.  Peace, Mom.
Avatar universal
People aren't generalizations.  Different people react differently.  I wouldn't "expect" anything but hope for the best.  Some women's best years come after menopause because it gets rid of a lot of hassle.  Others have a hard time with hormonal changes.  It has nothing to do with depression.
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