Healing From Amenorrhea
Changing gears a little bit here and talking about amenorrhea. Which, believe it or not, is far more common among women than I think we ever talk about. I know for me, my story is very similar to a lot of women. Which is why I wanted to share with you what it took for me to heal from Amenorrhea and encourage you if you're struggling to have a regular cycle, or any for that matter.So a little background info on amenorrhea. Amenorrhea in the simplest of terms is the absence of having a period."A-" without"-menorrhea" flow of blood at menstruation
There's times when amenorrhea is normal.
This can be a totally normal part of life in some circumstances such as pre-puberty, pregnancy, or menopause. But the problem comes when none of these situations are the cause.I remember when I first lost my period. I really didn't think anything of it. Just one month I noticed it didn't come. Nor did it come the next month. Or the month after that.
Birth control only works as a bandaid, covering up what's really going on with amenorrhea.
I remember my mom getting really nervous when I told her it'd been a few months without my period. I definitely wasn't pregnant, and the obvious truth was that I was too thin to have normal reproductive function. I so badly wish I knew back then what I know now about female reproductive cycles, my own cycle for that matter. I wish I knew that not having a period was dangerous, that it was a clear sign that something was terribly wrong with how my body was functioning, and that slapping on a "birth control bandaid" would do more harm than good. My GYN brushed off the fact that I wasn't having a period and just said we'd think about trying to get it back after I finished nursing school because of all the stress that that was. She failed to recognize that nursing school was a breeze compared to the stress my body was experiencing from my under eating and over exercising.
If there's one thing I wish you'd take away from this post, it'd be that not having a period is not normal! And it's not something that should be taken lightly!
Amenorrhea is your body saying, "Something's not right here!"
Amenorrhea is a clinical sign that something is off with your hormones. The message to do what it needs to do to reproduce is just not making it to your reproductive organs. And like I mentioned above, this can be benign and simply be because you're pregnant (normal and natural to not have a period), or it can be because hormones aren't being regulated for a different reason.
In my experience, one of the most common reason among girls today for them losing their periods is from two lifestyle factors:
Not eating enough
Exercising too much
Not eating enough, being nutritionally lacking, is a major stressor on the body, as is too much exercise.What happens in this state (or either state individually) is that your body perceives a stress, which translates to danger, which kicks in your sympathetic nervous system ("fight or flight" system) to cope. Your sympathetic nervous system gives way to changes in your body to help you "get out of danger" (think running away from a bear). Your pupils dilate so you can see better, tear glands and salivation dry up momentarily, arteries constrict for more efficient blood flow, bronchioles dilate to promote easier breathing, and lastly, peristalsis and reproductive function stops because there's more important things to focus on in danger than digesting food.
Your body is really great at perceiving stress and making accommodations to help it deal with that stress! The problem lies when our stress lasts longer than an acute moment (i.e running from a bear...you'd hopefully get to safety pretty quick). When your body's at a state of chronic stress, in this case from not eating enough and exercising too much, things get fatigued. And, as you saw above, a normal response to stress is 1. not digesting food (whole 'nother topic) as well as 2. shutting down the reproductive cycle.
This is oftentimes why so many women develop amenorrhea, especially with a history of restricting food and fearing food and weight gain that leads to over exercise. And you don't have to have a diagnosed eating disorder or be an olympic athlete to stop having your period. Each of our bodies perceive stress differently and respond differently to different amounts of stress. Also, body size is not a factor with amenorrhea as the result of over exercise and not eating enough.
So with one of the main reasons for amenorrhea being over exercise and nutritional deficiency as a result of the stress it puts on your body, what do you think the first thing is that you should do to heal from amenorrhea?.....
Take the stress off of your body.
.....It was only when I decided to choose freedom over fear with food that I started to take care of my body and then gained my period back. The single best thing you can do right now if you're struggling to have a regular period or any period at all is to decrease your body's stress load. This can mean exercising less intensely, upping your calorie consumption and overall nutrition, and finding ways to cope with external stressors.If you've found yourself on a diet rollercoaster, or struggle with a healthy relationship with food, I'd encourage you to seek help in healing from the emotional and mental aspects of food. You're not alone in your struggles with amenorrhea. It was only when I was able to heal my relationship with food and my body that I got my period back and regular, and I'm now grateful for each month it comes because it helps confirm to me that my body is working properly and that it feels safe and healthy. Let's talk, because I know this topic is one we need to be more vocal about...