When a Mood Swing isn't a Mood Swing

What if I told you one day, around 50-ish, you would start to feel like your mental world was falling apart, you would have no control over events consuming your body, and your body would – literally – have a mind of its own? Think you might feel a little depressed? A little down? Weepy?

Well, duh!

Mood Swings are not uncommon during menopause. Hormones fluctuating, sleep evasion, weight gain in odd places, a general feeling of yuckiness, all contribute to a woman being a little more irritable than during a normal day. But when is a mood swing NOT a mood swing?  When do you start to worry about the labile alterations in your affect being more than a little hormone flux? More than just the need for some extra Zzzzz’s? When do you start to worry that it’s really depression?

Everyone who watches television or reads a magazine knows that depression is a hot button topic right now. There are a dozen new medications to treat all kinds of depression, and for all age groups – children on up to the elderly. More are currently in the research phase because we live in a society where the belief that a pill can cure every ailment and symptom known is fostered and exploited.

And just as there are a myriad of medications to choose from to treat depressive states, there are also numerous kinds of depression to be treated. The mild, expected and natural depression that coincides with menopause and all of its body changes, requires no more treatment than understanding family members, some meditation exercises and maybe a little chocolate.

Okay, a lot of chocolate.

But if this sadness turns into a state of hopelessness, physical and mental inertia, and even asceticism, then medical treatment becomes necessary. So, if you or someone close to you, feels that your emotional and/or mental status is not as stable as it was say a few months ago, you need to take some steps to figure out what to do about it.

Then first thing that has to be ascertained is the extent of the so-called depression and to do that you must differentiate between three different states.

1. A depressed mood, or Dysphoria, is a normal, brief period of feeling sad that is common and seldom requires any kind of medical or pharmacological treatment. This can occur from something as simple as a fight with a loved one, or having a really bad day at work, where everything that could go wrong conspired to do so. This state has an endpoint and no residual effects.

2. When depression is a symptom, sometimes called an adjustment reaction, it may be due to a wide variety of medical or psychological problems, an intense reaction to stressful events like the death of a spouse, or a divorce. It is usually short term and may not require treatment, although it can progress to a deeper depressive state. This can be caused by grief from a death, or separation anxiety when you go away to college, or you child does and you fall into empty nest syndrome. When you “snap out of it”, IT being whatever caused you to be sad, there are usually no long term side effects. If you can’t snap out of it and your sadness and altered mood decline, this can lead to the next state: Clinical Depression.

3. Clinical depression is a disorder that is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. It can be precipitated by events such as those mentioned above where the person looses the ability to cope and function, or it can grow from an existing imbalance. This type of depression needs medical intervention and treatment, such as medication, therapy and perhaps even hospitalization. Residual effects can and do occur.

If you’re going through a prolonged season of the doldrums, feeling sad, or as if you were inert and just plain tired all the time, you might want to consider first getting a check up that includes some blood work, and talking to a professional. Menopause is a certainly a time of change, and we don’t want that change to include anything negative from occurring.