1. Document Your Symptoms
The simplest and most straightforward way to spot hormonal flux is to keep a record of your symptoms. Use a calendar or journal to note depression, insomnia, anxiety, loss of libido, headaches, appetite changes, cravings, bloating, breast soreness or bouts of crying and irritability. Mark a plus sign next to any symptom severe enough to interfere with your relationships at home or work. These details provide an objective record for your doctor. Your notes help to identify patterns linked to hormonal flux produced by seesawing estrogen and progesterone levels after childbirth or during the transition to menopause.
2. Baby Your Emotions
Be aware that hormonal flux occurs after childbirth, and recognize that days with your cherished newborn can be marked by fatigue and anxiety. High estrogen and progesterone levels that sustained the pregnancy plummet after the baby is born, causing fatigue and tearfulness for several days or weeks. Mild "baby blues" usually ease on their own, but be sure to note and report to your doctor any symptoms that signal postpartum depression due to hormonal flux: a sense of hopelessness or failure, indifference toward your baby, feelings of numbness or withdrawal, severe insomnia or extreme difficulty concentrating. Don't try to sort out differences between mild, transient baby blues or more serious postpartum depression on your own. If you're unsure, check with your doctor right away.
3. Monitor Menopausal Signs
Pay close attention to physical and emotional symptoms before your period during perimenopause, which usually begins in your 40s and lasts 5 to 7 years before you stop menstruating. As your body's estrogen and progesterone production wanes, be alert for shorter or longer cycles, heavier bleeding and worsening PMS symptoms. You may feel buffeted by anxiety or irritability, tearfulness, fatigue, headaches, mental fogginess and a drop in sex drive. Monthly symptoms of hormonal flux preceding menopause last longer than PMS: 10 days to 2 weeks before your period, compared with a few days of PMS. Hormonal flux indications generally feel more intense than PMS, too. Watch for greater-than-usual fatigue, tearful or angry outbursts, or sadness you can't shake.
