Most people think that being emotional, teary or anxious is nothing to worry about.

The standard Australian lifestyle is a busy one. We have heaps going on. Work deadlines, school drop offs, housework, and in between it all, we have to get dinner and homework done.

If you were to go back in time, our great grandparents would feel like we do in a day what they did in a week, or for some of us, a month.

And this takes a toll on the body.

So when do you know if your increased teary-ness, anxiety, or emotions could be a biochemical imbalance?

Today, I wanted to do something a bit different to help you.

We’re going to investigate some of the reasons you may tell yourself and whether or not this could be a hormone imbalance.

Reason: It’s that time of the month.

A normal, healthy period isn’t one filled with sadness, crying, anger, irritability, cravings and bloating. We have patients who have shut themselves in their rooms for a few days because before their period they changed into this person they didn’t want to be.

Oestrogen does kick in, but if you find yourself overly emotional or anxious it could be a combination of too much oestrogen, a sudden drop in your progesterone or other hormone imbalances.

These compound with time.

There’s even a diagnosis for the compounding of a type of really bad PMS known as PMDD.

When your hormones are in balance, your mood is pretty stable before your menses. In fact if you are really in balance you should have very little premenstrual symptoms at all. Even feeling a bit teary or a bit off is the start of hormonal imbalance and many women feel their “blood boil” have strong physical symptoms and feel really sad or blue.

Reason: Work is a bit more full on than normal.

There are times in life when work is busy and we have to put in more elbow grease. But if you are feeling on edge most of the times with your work, hunting for a coffee or sugar hit around 2pm to 3pm, or feeling anxious after work, this can be a sign of hormone imbalances.

For instance, even a slight decrease in thyroid hormone, can set off sugar cravings and can affect your energy levels and frame of mind.

High oestrogen levels can create waves of emotions through the day. Think about pregnant women or when you were pregnant. For me, I remember crying over the stove top because my husband said thank you for cooking.

Disrupted sleep and fatigue are tell-tail signs that something isn’t quite right. Lack of sleep and fatigue lead to rolling emotions.

Many of our patients that struggle with sleep have high cortisol levels at the wrong times. Many of them complain about irritability, anger, and anxiety through the day.

It’s very common for people to have a combination of hormone imbalances and feelings of overwhelm, anxiety, irritability, and teary-ness. Women especially feel these emotions just before their menstrual cycles as a result of their hormone imbalance.

Reason: More sensitive now after having children.

Many women wait to come in and get their hormones balanced because they think it’s normal to be more emotional after having children.

I find that loads of new mums and mums of toddlers are experiencing a variety of hormone imbalance symptoms that they just think they have to live with. The first sign of hormone imbalances is often the post natal depression, or weepiness even into toddlerhood.

When you pacify it, or assume it’s normal, it can compound with time, and show up in other ways like weight gain, mood swings, brain fog, fatigue, sugar cravings, or trouble sleeping.

Nutritional and nutrient support can offer amazing relief for more subtle emotional discomfort right through to the highs and lows of the hormonal rollercoaster.

“I feel like I’m a better mum to my 4.5 year old and 6.5 year old because I got help early. I was really teary and couldn’t shift any weight at all. I feel so grateful that I got help early!” – Carrie

I share this with you because you may have downloaded one of our books and thought it was interesting to hear about hormone imbalances and their association with weight or fatigue.

As our bodies age, especially after a hormonal cycle, like pregnancy or puberty, it’s common to have a biochemical imbalances or nutrient deficiency.

A developing baby requires a lot of nutrients during pregnancy. If the mum to be isn’t consuming the right kinds of foods and didn’t have an ideal nutrient status at the time she became pregnant, then mum can be left nutrient deficient and can present with hormonal imbalances as a result of these nutrient deficiencies.

Conventional medicine is looking for dangerously high or dangerously low markers in your blood work, but slight declines or increases in hormone levels are often the ones that cause mood swings and symptoms we have been discussing.

We start to think it’s just part of getting old or it’s just part of our new normal. But in actuality, it’s the body’s little indication to you that something may not be right biochemically. And this is where we can really help you.

One of the things we hear all the time, is that our patients, especially the ones that are now on some kind of medication, wish they would have come to see us earlier.

They had the signs, the writing on the wall, and they pacified it thinking that it was just a part of getting old, particularly seeing their doctor said that their blood work was all normal.

Hence us sharing today.

If you or someone you love has shared that they aren’t feeling quite right, we encourage you to book in a Free Introductory Consultation with us here: https://calendly.com/sutherlandshirenaturopath/introductory-naturopathic-health-assessment

We look forward to connecting with you again soon.