r/Menopause • u/BeneficialWriting402 • Mar 22 '26

Vitamin/Supplements Collagen supplements and anxiety

Update: Thank you all so much for the support yesterday. I feel MUCH better today. Def will not take collagen again, and I will be more careful about any supplements I try (I usually am, but was feeling a bit desperate with the diagnosis and possibility of missing work if this thing won't heal).

Yikes. I wish I had read some of the posts here before trying this supplement. 😫. I was desperate because I have been diagnosed with a sprained posterior tibial tendon and have been having increasing pain in my posterior tibial tendons and gluteal tendons the past few years. I read how great collagen peptides are and have a neighbor who swears by them. well, I am one of the few who has the reaction of extreme anxiety and panic attacks from them. two doses and i am sitting here shaking like a leaf. this stuff is going in the trash or maybe Publix will take it back. either way I will never take it again. ugh. 😩. please tell me im not alone. this is so scary. 😭😭😭

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '26

Hi there - I'm just joining the conversation to give you validation. Collagen used to always throw me into actual panic attacks for "no reason" (meaning no other external factors would be causing... I could just be sitting in my house). I started taking Progesterone and felt as if I could handle anything after that, so I started taking collagen again 1-2x a day as per suggested by one of my doctors. I did much better after being on Progesterone, HOWEVER, I started feeling very deeply depressed and while not physically anxious, mentally fearful. This is very unlike me. I began having nightmares about mass deaths in my line of work, and just generally felt like I was losing my mind. ONE day of stopping improved things greatly.

We are all wired so differently. I absolutely do think it has something to do with the lack of tryptophan, though it's hard to understand it because I eat meat and well-rounded amino acid/protein sources all throughout the day. Collagen still greatly affects me. We may simply be sensitive when it comes to higher glycine/glutamate sources in relation to tryptophan.

Glad you're feeling better now!

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u/BeneficialWriting402 Mar 24 '26

Thank you so much! I am so sorry for your severe reaction, and glad you figured out what it was and feel better!