Today's Topic
A lot of women have been asking me about this lately. They feel that they're sort of trembling; there are internal vibrational feelings going on, such as buzzing, shaking, or quivering sensations; and they are wondering if this is normal or not in perimenopause and menopause.
So, today I am going to explain about the sensations that can occur at this time, what causes them, and what you can do to help yourself.
Menopause and strange sensations
During perimenopause and menopause, many women experience strange sensations and they're not quite sure if it's the menopause or if there's something else going on. This can include things like electric shocks, pins and needles, and getting a crawling feeling up and down the inside of their skin. But many women are also experiencing other strange sensations such as internal trembling, vibrations, and shaking that can just happen out of the blue.
What can this feel like?
These internal trembling sensations can include:
- All-over body vibrations, or vibrations in specific areas such as the groin area (women tell me that it feels like a mobile phone going off inside of you!)
- A buzzing type of feeling
- Uncontrollable and relentless quivering and shaking
As I mentioned, these sensations may be felt all over or they may just be in very specific areas of the body.
What can cause these sensations in perimenopause and menopause?
It can be caused by falling oestrogen. We know that falling oestrogen can interfere with nerve function so, sometimes, the nerves are just misfiring. Something is triggering it but we don't know what. And that misfiring is then causing all these nerve actions - the trembling, the buzzing, and the shaking.
Nutritional deficiencies and other health conditions can cause these sensations too. So, it can also be due to low iron, as well as vitamin B12, and vitamin D deficiencies. It could also be due to diabetes, so the first thing to do if you're getting these trembling, shaking, or vibration feelings, is to get them checked by your doctor just to rule out these possible causes.
If all is well, then it's possibly just due to fluctuating oestrogen levels. For those of you in perimenopause who are still getting periods of some kind, you may find that this happens maybe in the week to a fortnight before your period and doesn't appear at any other time of the month. This is a really good indication that it's just fluctuating oestrogen that's triggering nerve misfunction.
What else can help?
Supporting your nervous system is important. You want to calm the nerves so that they're not revved up the whole time, because they're going to misfire more if your nervous system is on constant alert.
Look at decreasing your caffeine intake. This is a major one that can really get your nervous system. And, I do admit, I like a cup of coffee! But I find that within about half an hour of a cup of coffee, especially if it's really strong, I end up with palpitations; so, my nervous system can go into complete overdrive really quite quickly after one cup of coffee.
My advice is, if you can, reduce your caffeine intake. Other things that can help here are having it with food instead of on an empty stomach. Also, try to avoid having a cup of coffee the moment you get up, because that's just going to create a downward spiral for your nervous system. Instead, make sure that you have something to eat first before you have that first cup of coffee.
We know too that high salt and sugar foods can rev up your nervous system. The sensations can therefore be after a biscuit, a cake, a bar of chocolate, or even a bag of crisps. If you're getting these vibrating sensations reasonably regularly, maybe do a food diary and just check what you're eating at what time of the day, and what time these symptoms are appearing. You may find that there is a very specific trigger, in which case that's something you can then avoid and see how you get on.
If you're getting a lot of stress and anxiety, then that can be a big trigger and overstimulate your nervous system quickly. It's therefore important to minimise stress and anxiety as much as possible.
If you're a little bit low in B12, then a vitamin B complex supplement, maybe a 50-milligram one, could be helpful. You can get sprays now which are really good. Just a couple of sprays in the mouth first thing in the morning can be really helpful for this.
Magnesium can also help to calm the nerves down on a daily basis. You could also look at our Menopause Support tablets. These contain magnesium in a nice little dose, which may help with nerve issues.
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Rest and relaxation are important too. If your nervous system is this jangly, it's needing a lot of help and support; so, introducing a daily 30-minute "me" time to relax is really vital here.
Dehydration can be a big trigger and affect your nervous system, so stay well-hydrated by drinking plenty of plain water every day.
Exercise is great because that's going to improve your circulation, and for some women, poor circulation can affect nerve function as well.
Acupuncture could be another really good one for calming these symptoms down, so it's certainly worth looking into.
And the other thing which I find really interesting, and I have looked at this before, is that old injuries and muscle and joint problems that you had maybe years ago (for example, if you fell off your bike and hurt your shoulder when you were 12 years old), these long-forgotten injuries may not have completely resolved, and we know that these can suddenly appear again in the menopause.
So, if you're getting this trembling and vibrating but you're also getting aches and pains somewhere where you had an injury or an accident, then it could be due to this old injury re-emerging, affecting nerve function. In that case, something like acupuncture or maybe a craniosacral practitioner or a chiropractor can be really helpful. They can look into it and find out if there's anything physical or structural going on that's causing the trembling or the vibration.
I hope you found this one helpful. It does seem to be getting more common for some reason. So, if any of you have experienced this and you've found something that's really helped, then please share it with us.
And until then, I will see you next week for another edition of A.Vogel Talks Menopause.
You may also find these topics helpful:
6 strange sensations during menopause
Signs your nervous system is struggling & how to support it better during menopause
