Menopause and Panic Attacks: What’s the Connection?

Your hands tremble, your chest heaves, you're sweating and clammy and feel like you're having nervous breakdown or a heart attack. You feel out of control and detached from the world.

That sudden and intense sense of doom could be a panic attack—especially if you're going through menopause. And you're not alone. Plenty of women, around their menopausal years, are along for the (unpleasant) ride on that bumpy roller coaster chock full of emotion. (Keep in mind that chest pain from a panic attack usually feels like a sharp or stabbing, localized pain in the mid-chest area, while pain from a heart attack is usually a pressure or squeezing sensation that can radiate outward to the jaw, shoulder blades or arm.)