Mood swings can play havoc with women’s lives, not to mention their relationships. What about you? Are you experiencing any of the following?
- Low mood/mood swings to the point it is affecting your relationship
- Weepiness
- Lack of motivation
- Feeling tired
Perhaps you may even be experiencing some of these symptoms:
- Feeling breathless after little exercise
- Heart palpitations (the sensation of your heart beating abnormally fast or with an irregular rhythm)
- Looking pale
- Tinnitus (ringing in your ears)
- Altered sense of taste
- Brittle nails or ‘spoon nails’ where the middles of your nails are pushed inwards and the edges are raised
- Soreness at the edges of your mouth
- Poor concentration.
The first list of symptoms are commonly associated with depression for which your doctor may prescribe anti-depressant medication. But are you responding, are you feeling better?
Perhaps the culprit is an iron deficiency. Some practitioners nickname iron as the ‘divorce deficiency’ i.e. many of these associated symptoms being the ‘icing on the cake’ for relationship breakdowns.
Interestingly, iron is important in dopamine and noradrenaline synthesis, both important for happy, calm minds.
So before you start popping anti-depressant medication and handing your partner the divorce papers, ask your doctor or naturopath for a comprehensive iron blood test to rule out if this is the culprit!
Believe it or not, I have come across this to be the case for many of my patients over the years and once the deficiency has been corrected through diet and appropriate supplementation, these patients have become vibrant and happy women once more!
Of course, anxiety and depression may have other drivers such as a hormone imbalance, peri menopause/menopause, adrenal and thyroid disorders, blood sugar imbalances, sleep apnoea, neuro-degenerative conditions, grief, inflammation, methylation, pyrroluria, and low levels of monoamines. It is important to have the correct diagnosis before concomitant treatment begins.
If this information has touched a nerve, please feel free to contact me to book an appointment.