Mood changes - Renew Medical HRT Clinic

What is mood changes?

Mood changes refer to shifts or fluctuations in a person's emotional state. Our moods are constantly changing in response to internal and external factors. Some mood changes are minor and fleeting, while others are more dramatic or long-lasting.

Some common causes of mood changes include:

• Hormone changes - Fluctuations in hormones like estrogen, testosterone, and cortisol can impact mood. Hormonal changes related to stress, menstrual cycles, pregnancy, and menopause are common triggers. Managing your hormones with personalized care from clinics like Renew Medical HRT Clinic can help stabilize mood.
• Sleep disruptions - Not getting enough sleep, or having poor quality sleep, is linked with irritability and moodiness. Lack of sleep affects mood-regulating brain chemicals like serotonin.
• Drug and alcohol use - Substances impact parts of the brain that regulate mood, often causing more extreme highs and lows emotionally. Withdrawal can also severely impact mood.
• Situational factors - Major life events like loss of a loved one, career changes, relationship issues, illness, financial stress, etc. can all affect our moods for better or worse.
• Mental health conditions - Disorders like depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, PTSD, and others involve significant mood symptoms as a core part of the illness. Appropriate mental health treatment is key.

How long do mood changes last?

Mood changes can range from lasting minutes or hours, like getting temporarily angry or sad about something, all the way to persisting for weeks, months, or longer in the case of an untreated mental health condition or long-term external factor like grief or stress.

In general, mood changes from situational factors tend to become less intense or frequent over time. Changes due to mental illness require specific treatment. Temporary shifts linked to hormone fluctuations may persist until the hormonal trigger stabilizes. Understanding your personal mood patterns is helpful.

When to seek help

See a doctor or mental health professional if your mood issues:

• Feel extreme or out-of-character
• Persist day after day
• Impact your daily life
• Include suicidal thoughts

With an integrative approach from Renew Medical HRT Clinic that addresses all potential causes - biological, environmental, and psychological - mood disturbances can often be greatly improved. Let us help you regain emotional balance and stability.