Symptoms of severe vitamin B1 (thiamine) and B6 deficiencies may include irritability.
Deficiencies in B vitamins, including Thiamine (B1), Riboflavin (B2), and B12, can lead to depression, anxiety, fearfulness, and irritability. B12 and folate (B9) are important vitamins for maintaining a healthy nervous system. Vitamin B12 and folate are needed for producing norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine.
Irritability can be caused by physical and mental health conditions, including: depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety. post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) dementia.
Irritability is common with medications, substances, and medical conditions that affect the central nervous system. It can also be associated with conditions that can deprive the brain of nutrients and oxygen, or a variety of other diseases that affect how well one feels.
Serotonin is the brain chemical responsible for modulating mood. If serotonin levels are high, so are our moods. If levels are low, mood drops.
Lithium stands out for its preventative effects in bipolar disorder, but it also has important benefits outside of the manic-depressive symptom lists. It is the only mood stabilizer that significantly reduces the risk of suicide, and it reduces mortality in other ways as well.
“If you're always down the second half of the month or are irritable right before you start a period, this could be associated with hormones,” says Dr. Daniel A. Skora, a reproductive endocrinologist with Fertility Specialists of Texas.
Irritability is listed as a descriptor of numerous and varied disorders in the DSM-IV. These include Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Nicotine Withdrawal, Pathological Gambling, and Schizoaffective Disorder [1,9,10].
Irritability is a feeling of agitation. Although, some describe “agitation” as a more severe form of irritability. Regardless of the term you use, when you're irritable, you're likely to become frustrated or upset easily. You might experience it in response to stressful situations.
Magnesium might help. If you find yourself irritable, stressed or downright depressed, this critical mineral may help you get out of your funk. Studies suggest adequate magnesium intake can calm stress, improve mood and enhance sleep.
One of the most effective mood-boosting supplements is 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP). 5-HTP is a natural amino acid that boosts production of serotonin. Low serotonin is associated with mood swings, depression, anxiety, and trouble sleeping.
Irritability is a symptom of anxiety
It is a common symptom of many types of anxiety disorder. With their body and mind overwhelmed with worry, the person can feel stressed and depleted of energy. This can make it difficult for them to shrug off or ignore things as they normally would be able to do.
Many things can trigger anger, including stress, family problems, and financial issues. For some people, anger is caused by an underlying disorder, such as alcoholism or depression. Anger itself isn't considered a disorder, but anger is a known symptom of several mental health conditions.
People with bipolar disorder often experience irritability. This emotion is common during manic episodes, but it can occur at other times too. A person who's irritable is easily upset and often bristles at others' attempts to help them. They may be easily annoyed or aggravated with someone's requests to talk.
The stress hormones, otherwise known as cortisol and adrenaline, are released when a person feels threatened or senses danger. These stress hormones initiate the fight-or-flight response to help cope with the threat and prepare the body to take action.
Lower levels of estrogen have links to irritability, fatigue, stress, forgetfulness, anxiety, and difficulty concentrating. The impact of these changing hormone levels may not only have a direct cause-and-effect relationship with depression, anger, and anxiety. Hormone shifts may also intensify these feelings.
Mood swings: The female sex hormone estrogen has an effect on neurotransmitters in the brain including serotonin (a chemical that boosts mood). Fluctuations in estrogen can cause premenstrual syndrome (PMS) or depressed mood during the perimenopause (the phase before periods stop completely) and the menopause.
Haloperidol and lorazepam are the most widely used agents for acute agitation, are effective in a wide diagnostic arena and can be used in medically compromised patients. Haloperidol can cause significant extrapyramidal symptoms, and has rarely been associated with cardiac arrhythmia and sudden death.
Natural mood stabilizers are nonprescription treatments for mood disorders such as bipolar disorder. Supplements and other methods like nutrition, exercise, meditation, and mindfulness are examples of natural mood stabilizers.
If you take magnesium as a supplement, studies that showed that magnesium can have anti-anxiety effects generally used dosages of between 75 and 360 mg a day, according to the 2017 review.
Based on the current data, magnesium taurate and magnesium glycinate are two of the better options that may help those with mental health conditions.
Supplementing with 248–305 mg of magnesium per day has been shown to improve mood in people with depression and low magnesium levels.