Anxiety 101: What I Wish I Knew Before I Hit Perimenopause + How I Got My Life Back

Menopause anxiety and mood changes can creep up so slowly you don't even notice. You're avoiding things you used to do, snapping at people you love, waking at 3 a.m. with your heart racing. It's not in your head, and it often starts years before a single hot flash.

This episode is part of Tamsen's series breaking down the topics from her New York Times bestselling book How to Menopause, one conversation at a time.

This week it's anxiety and mood. Tamsen starts with the moment she caught herself avoiding driving in LA, a city she used to drive without a second thought. When she posted about it, the floodgates opened. She breaks down what the top doctors she's interviewed have taught her about why this happens and what actually helps, including the hormonal piece almost every doctor skips.

She's not a doctor. She's a journalist who has lived this, including a panic attack on a live news set that started her down this whole path.

Inside the episode:

• The two hormones behind your mood, and why the calming one disappears first
• Why anxiety here so often shows up as avoidance or rage instead of obvious panic
• The reason so many women get handed an antidepressant before anyone checks their hormones
• What actually helps, from body identical progesterone to the therapy approaches with real evidence behind them
• How Tamsen got back behind the wheel, and why facing the fear gradually breaks the loop
• The single shift that helped her more than any pill

The first step is recognizing this has a name and you're not making it up.