Could CBD Help with Menopause and Fatigue?
Fatigue describes a feeling of exhaustion.
If you are suffering from fatigue, you are more than just tired and even a
solid eight hours of sleep is likely not enough to alleviate your fatigue.
People who are fatigued might
feel mentally tired in addition to their bodies being tired. It is possible to
experience mental or emotional fatigue without physical fatigue and vice versa,
but these things often go together.
Fatigue can interfere with all
aspects of your life. It can make it difficult to focus and concentrate, it can
make it hard to perform your job duties, and it can make for rocky
relationships. It can also make you feel all-around bad because you feel too
tired to enjoy your life.
According to the National
Institute of Health, about 10 percent of Americans suffer from severe fatigue
and their condition interferes with everyday life. The risk of experiencing
fatigue increases during various times in life and menopause are one of those
times.
Women who are transitioning
through menopause often deal with mental and physical fatigue. As a matter of
fact, health experts estimate that as many as 80 percents of women going through
menopause will suffer fatigue at some point during the process and in varying
degrees. Some menopausal woman suffers so much they are unable to participate in
their lives and are forced to spend the majority of their time resting. A
normal day might wear them out so much they are unable to enjoy any activities
with their loved ones or participate in the recreation they once loved during their
time away from work.
Making matters worse, fatigue can
be worsened by other symptoms that are so often a part of the menopause
transition. For instance, if a woman experiences night sweats and has trouble
sleeping, it will make her even more tried than if she were experiencing fatigue
alone.
Women who are dealing with
menopause might also experience a condition known as “crashing fatigue.” If
you’ve ever experienced a late afternoon slump, maybe after eating a large
lunch, and you feel as if you have crashed, menopausal crashing fatigue is
somewhat similar to this. However, it is not necessarily linked to what you’ve
eaten or any other event occurring during the day. Some menopausal women simply
experience a sudden and overwhelming crashing exhaustion that strikes at any
time during the day.
Even if her day is otherwise
normal and she has over-exerted herself, menopause can cause a woman to
experience crashing fatigue. The symptoms of crashing fatigue include:
- Drowsiness
- Muscle fatigue and weakness
- Low energy levels, especially after eating
- Strong urge to sleep
- Lowered attention levels
- Difficult focusing
- Apathy
- Irritability
- Memory lapses
What Causes Menopausal Fatigue?
Experiencing fatigue during the
menopause can be related to two different things that can occur simultaneously.
Many of the symptoms of the menopause interfere with a woman’s ability to get
adequate sleep and cause fatigue indirectly. Night sweats, hot flashes, and
unpredictable and irregular periods can affect sleep.
It’s also possible for fatigue to
be caused directly by menopause because of the fluctuation in hormones.
Menopausal women experience a decrease of estrogen in their body which can
cause issues with sleep. A decrease in estrogen can make it difficult to fall asleep
or to stay asleep for a significant number of consecutive hours. Lower estrogen
can also trigger anxiety, which makes it difficult to get enough sleep.
Knowing that the fatigue you are
experiencing is linked to menopause can be an important part of treating it
properly. If you know menopause is what’s triggering fatigue you can choose
from a variety of treatment options, including CBD oil and other CBD products.
In some cases, fatigue might be caused by another health issue and it’s
important to rule out anything else before treating fatigue as menopause
related.
The best way to connect menopause
and fatigue after ruling out any other serious health concerns is to look for
other signs of menopause. If a woman is experiencing mood shifts, night sweats,
and hot flashes and her periods have become irregular, there’s a good chance
her fatigue is linked to menopause.
Using CBD Oil to Treat Menopausal Fatigue
CBD oil can help treat a variety
of symptoms linked to menopause, including fatigue. Though many women assume
they can live with the fatigue caused by menopause, they often find that after
some time it becomes debilitating. In some cases, they assume a lack of sleep
in later life is no different than when they were in college or after they had
a baby.
Unfortunately, their lives and
bodies are much different now and sleep deprivation can be much different for
them, too. Fatigue can increase a menopausal woman’s risk for anxiety and
depression, creating a scenario in which it is impossible to live a full and
enriching life. It’s always better to seek treatment, especially natural
treatment like CBD oil, to help with menopausal fatigue.
CBD has not been officially
approved for treating fatigue, whether it is linked to menopause or not, but
there is a great deal of anecdotal evidence available for its ability to help
with this phase of life. Many women have used the oil to ease a variety of the
symptoms linked with menopause, including depression, anxiety, and fatigue.
CBD oil is used by many to help
with tension and getting a better night of sleep. Not only does sleeping well
combat fatigue, but it also helps to reduce the risk for other complications
related to menopause. Furthermore, CBD oil appears to have very few negative
side effects. People are able to use it without any of the side effects of
powerful sleep medications and don’t leave them feeling groggy or half-awake
in the morning.
It’s important to understand
that, while CBD is linked to cannabis and medical marijuana as it comes from
the cannabis plant, it will not make you high. People who use CBD oil to treat fatigue, as well as chronic pain, mood swings, and other menopausal symptoms do
not experience any psychoactive symptoms (as it does not contain THC) and do
not need to worry about the compound interfering with other medications—though
it is important to speak to a doctor before using it or any other treatment.
This article by Madeleine Taylor
is originally published at SundayScaries.