I'm sorry to read about your mother's condition. I am not a medical practitioner, nor am I properly trained in physiology, so that's the disclaimer.
Your mother's symptoms don't sound like menopause. Menopause can bring on exacerbated anxieties, etc., but what you're describing sounds like symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Additionally, your mother is going to have to be the person to take control of her conditions, though I completely understand that you want to help her. It's very difficult to watch someone that we love in such extreme states.
The anxiety medications might assist in the short term - give your mother a respite from the panic attacks, so to speak. But, whatever is at the root of these episodes may be something more than a hormonal change, particularly if she's experienced ANY severe traumas during her lifetime.
Without more information, I would strongly suggest that she consider engaging with a counseling therapist and a well-recommended doctor who practices alternative approaches, as well as contemporary treatments. Treating anxiety symptoms is a snap. MANAGING the anxiety and digging up the roots of it is quite another matter. There's no medication or herbal remedy for trauma.
Best wishes to you and your mother
I am so grateful to read that she's seeking help in every direction.
Menopause can certainly cause various hormonal changes, absolutely. A lot of brain fog, some anxiety, etc., are "normal," but you rather confirmed that the symptoms are probably far more rooted in trauma than they are in menopause.
Zoloft is heavy-duty medication - was this prescribed by a general medical doctor, or a psychiatrist? There are a HOST of ramifications of taking any anti-depressants and/or anti-anxiety drugs. If your mother is taking the medication with a plan to reduce and stop it, in the future, that would be an option.
PTSD is such an insidious condition because it's never predictable when symptoms will surface. Some people can go YEARS without any symptoms - even nearly a lifetime. But, add childhood trauma to an abusive adult relationship and a bitter divorce, and it could kick in with a vengeance.
Most sincere blessings of strength, courage, and resolve to both you and your mother.
EDIT ADD: With reference to menopause symptoms, extreme symptoms aren't just hormonal. It is this time in most women's lives when their children have left home and their husbands have entered into their own issues that often result in separation and divorce. While additional supplements and protocols may help to manage the symptoms, they will not erase the roots of the extreme reactions.
I've been experimenting with Coconut oil during the last two weeks to see its effects on my hot flashes. I must say, the effects have been drastic! After first taking a tablsp., I went to bed....and slept thru the whole night. I did not have 1 flash that night. During the day, I noticed that I hadn't felt a flash. My body felt so comfortable and even. Then, a hot flash hit about 5:30p. A few more followed, but they weren't intense. I didn't become completely soaked. Instead, I had a mild sweat on my forehead and just felt warm (instead of feeling like I'm on fire).
If you decide to take Coconut oil for your hot flashes, take a high, pure grade of the oil. Also, start taking it in small doses so that your body can adjust to it. I have read that Coconut oil can help to bring hormonal balance. It's definitely getting me into 'balance', and I feel more energy and mental clarity. I highly recommend taking Coconut oil to alleviate hot flashes.
P S In the past, Vitamin D3 has helped to alleviate my hot flashes (when I began taking it), as well as Iodine. With both, the hot flashes subsided, then disappeared for months at a time. This is the third time they have revisited my body, and Coconut oil has been my line of defense.
What You Need to Know to Achieve Hormonal Balance
by Barbara Minton
See all TBYIL articles by Barbara Minton
(The Best Years in Life) Many women are so confused and frightened about their hormones they have decided to forget about them. This reaction is not surprising because almost daily there is a new scare headline about how hormones causes cancer or some other terrible condition. Women who were once told they could regain their health and lost sexuality by supporting their hormones are now being warned against it. All this confusion is a shame. As a result of it, women are losing out on feeling great during the best years of their lives.
When it comes to hormones, names mean very little
To understand hormone support and replacement requires the patience to look beyond the name. This is because hormones produced naturally by the body, hormone substitution drugs, natural plant hormones, and bioidentical hormones are all called hormones. Adding to this confusion, the names of the steroid hormones naturally produced by the body (estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone) have become generic terms. These terms are used freely and without regulation to describe the hormones produced by the body, hormone substitution drugs, natural plant hormones, and bioidentical hormones.
To further confuse matters, all hormone therapy, whether it involves hormone drug products, natural hormones or bioidentical hormones is referred to as HRT in most publications. Few physicians, journalists, and even researchers bother to make the distinction as to whether they are talking about hormone drug products, natural hormones or bioidentical hormones. Read More.
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