Treating Menopausal Anxiety Naturally

by Deborah Maragopoulos FNP | Apr 24, 2018 | Menopause | 0 comments

Do you want to know how to treat menopausal anxiety and depression?

If you follow these three easy Hormone Healing tips, you’re going to balance your menopausal moods naturally.

#1: Consider BHRT

Your Hypothalamus controls your moods by directing amino acids into your brain. Amino acids are the precursors to neurotransmitters. The biochemical messengers communicate joy, hope, anger, and fear. Consequently, all of your emotions. Your hormones affect which neurotransmitters your hypothalamus makes.

Think of depression and menopausal anxiety on a scale from one to ten. With couch potato, sleepy, unmotivated, sad, and depressive on one side. And a hyperactive, irritable, nervous, insomniac, anxious person on the other. Both ends of the mood spectrum are managed by serotonin and dopamine.

Estrogen is the joy hormone. Estrogen influences how much serotonin and dopamine your brain makes. Low levels of serotonin and dopamine are responsible for depression and anxiety. When your estrogen levels drop during menopause, your serotonin and dopamine levels are affected. You become sad and joyless. Bioidentical estrogen can help with depression. In fact, I have used estrogen for postpartum depression with excellent results. If you suffered from postpartum depression, you are at risk for perimenopausal and post-menopausal depression.

Progesterone is the calm hormone. Progesterone affects GABA production in the brain. GABA calms your hyperactive, overly stimulated brain. Bioidentical progesterone can help with anxiety.

Testosterone is the motivating hormone. Testosterone stimulates dopamine production and its conversion to norepinephrine which is brain adrenaline.

Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy or BHRT is a safe alternative to synthetic hormone replacement. However, I always recommend avoiding oral hormones to prevent blood clots. BHRT can be delivered transdermally (through the skin) or sublingually (under the tongue).

#2: Try Plant-Based Foods

Certain herbs have Hormonal effects. They may help quell menopausal anxiety and depression.

Firstly, Black cohosh is estrogenic. Meaning it creates an estrogen-like effect in the body and brain.

Secondly, Chasteberry is progestational. Meaning it creates a progesterone-like effect in the body and the brain.

Thirdly, Maca is androgenic. Meaning it creates a testosterone-like effect in the body and the brain.

Black cohosh root was first used by Native Americans and introduced to European colonists. Black cohosh can cause some mild side effects. Such as stomach upset, cramping, headache, rash, a feeling of heaviness, vaginal spotting or bleeding, and weight gain. High doses of black cohosh taken over a year may cause liver damage.

Chasteberry, also known as Vitex, is a shrub that is native to the Mediterranean and Central Asia. The fruit and seed are used to make medicine. Uncommon side effects include upset stomach, nausea, itching, rash, headaches, acne, trouble sleeping, and weight gain.

Maca is a plant that grows in central Peru in the high plateaus of the Andes Mountains. It has been cultivated as a vegetable crop in this area for at least 3000 years. Most importantly, its root is used to make medicine. Maca seems to be well tolerated by most people.

The doses for the herbs differ for each woman. According to how many endogenous hormones she’s still making from her adrenals. Therefore, be careful to get pure extracts of the herbs from reputable sources.

#3: Food is Medicine

In addition, you can help balance your hormones and your moods with food. Organic Whole Foods can help detoxify your body and allow the hormones still made by your adrenals to positively affect your moods. Too much sugar creates stress on the body, lowers the effectiveness of your hormones, and creates mood imbalances. Therefore, getting adequate protein and healthy fat is crucial for hormone and brain balance.

Mood elevating foods include complex carbohydrates. Like winter squash and whole grains like quinoa and oats. Serotonin-boosting proteins rich in tryptophan like turkey, tuna, soybeans, and yogurt help calm your anxiety. Protein found in meat, poultry, and fish also increases dopamine levels. Which helps alleviate depression. A wide variety of colorful fruits and vegetables provides the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and cofactors to help balance your brain chemistry and improve your moods.

But, even if you eat an organic locally grown balanced diet, it can be hard to get everything your hypothalamus needs to balance your hormones and your brain chemistry. Supplementing your diet with 3gm of Genesis Gold® for every fifty pounds of body weight provides the amino acids and phytonutrients needed to optimize Hypothalamic function.

Now you know how to elevate your moods naturally. But, it’s not easy going through menopause when the rest of your hormones are out of balance. So, I created the Hormone Reboot Training for you to discover how to balance all your hormones naturally. It’s free!

Frequently Asked Questions:

Can your hypothalamus cause weight gain?

Yes. The hypothalamus is the master regulator of metabolism, controlling how your body stores and burns energy through its signaling to the thyroid, adrenals, and pancreas. When the hypothalamus becomes dysregulated by chronic stress, poor sleep, inflammation, or blood sugar instability, it defends a higher weight "set point" — causing the body to hold onto fat regardless of diet or exercise. This makes hypothalamic dysfunction an upstream root cause of stubborn weight gain.

What is a weight set point and why won't mine move?

A weight set point is the body weight your hypothalamus works to defend, calibrated over time by stress, sleep, hormones, and inflammation. When you diet, the hypothalamus perceives scarcity and responds by slowing metabolism, increasing hunger hormones, and suppressing satiety signals to return you to that set point. This is why most people regain lost weight within two to five years of conventional dieting — the set point itself was never recalibrated, only temporarily overridden.

Why do I gain weight under stress even when I'm not eating more?

Chronic stress raises cortisol, which disrupts blood sugar regulation, promotes abdominal fat storage, and signals the hypothalamus that the body is under threat. In survival mode, the hypothalamus defends fat stores and slows metabolism — so weight can increase even without any change in calorie intake. The stress chemistry, not the food, is driving the weight gain, which is why stress reduction is essential to any lasting metabolic reset.

Why do I regain weight after stopping GLP-1 medications?

GLP-1 medications work peripherally on appetite and gastric signaling, but they do not address the underlying hypothalamic dysregulation that sets your defended weight. Because the hypothalamic set point is never recalibrated, the body resumes defending its original weight once the medication stops — leading to significant regain. Long-term success requires restoring hypothalamic regulation so the set point itself lowers, rather than relying on appetite suppression alone.

How long does it take to reset your metabolism?

Genuine metabolic recalibration takes a minimum of 90 days, because the hypothalamus needs consistent signals of safety and sufficiency before it will lower its defended set point. This differs from a diet, which produces temporary suppression the body quickly corrects. A 90-day reset typically moves through three phases: stabilizing stress chemistry (days 1–30), rebuilding metabolic efficiency (days 31–60), and lowering the weight set point (days 61–90).

Why does my thyroid feel slow even though my labs are "normal"?

Under chronic stress, the body converts thyroid hormone into reverse T3, which blocks active thyroid receptors and slows metabolism at the cellular level — even when standard lab values appear normal. This means you can experience genuine symptoms of slow metabolism, such as fatigue, cold intolerance, and brain fog, while your thyroid panel looks unremarkable. Addressing the upstream hypothalamic and stress signaling often improves thyroid conversion and symptoms.

Is stubborn weight gain a willpower problem?

No. Stubborn weight gain is a signaling problem, not a willpower problem. The hypothalamus governs weight through survival mechanisms that operate below conscious control — defending its set point by slowing metabolism and increasing hunger when it perceives threat. No amount of discipline can override this system; lasting change comes from restoring hypothalamic regulation through reduced stress, balanced blood sugar, restorative sleep, and targeted nutritional support.

About the Author - Deborah Maragopoulos FNP

Known as the Hormone Queen®️, I’ve made it my mission to help everyone - no matter their age - balance their hormones, and live the energy and joy their DNA and true destiny desires. See more about me my story here...

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Last Updated: April 7, 2022