Are You Eating Enough to Get a Period?
Lost your period? You might just need to eat more. A lot more. Losing your period to undereating is called hypothalamic amenorrhea and is common, especially in women under thirty.
Hypothalamic amenorrhea is sometimes misdiagnosed as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) because both hypothalamic amenorrhea and PCOS can have “polycystic ovaries” on a pelvic ultrasound exam.
How Wheat or Gluten Affects Periods
For women with gluten sensitivity (celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity), even trace amounts of gluten can drive or worsen endometriosis, adenomyosis, amenorrhea, migraines, and thyroid disease.
For women with FODMAP sensitivity (as opposed to gluten sensitivity), a full serving of wheat or other FODMAP food can cause digestive bloating and potentially worsen premenstrual mood symptoms and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Small amounts of wheat are usually fine.
A Safer Type of Hormone Therapy
If you’re going to take hormone therapy, it’s safer to take hormones that are identical to human hormones. In other words, hormones that are body-identical or bioidentical. The concept of bioidentical used to be controversial but is now conventional and mainstream.
In episode five of my podcast/YouTube video, I discuss hormone therapy including why the concept of bioidentical was controversial when it didn’t need to be; oral micronized progesterone for heavy periods, mood, sleep, and perimenopausal migraines; and some facts about body-identical estrogen.
Why Pill Bleeds Are Not Periods
The pill is commonly prescribed to “regulate periods,” but it can’t actually do that because withdrawal bleeds from contraceptive drugs are not real menstrual cycles.
In episode one of my podcast/YouTube video, I discuss real periods versus pill bleeds and why there’s no medical reason to bleed monthly on the pill.
I also look at the difference between contraceptive drugs and real hormones.
Natural Treatment of Heavy Periods
In a normal period, you should not lose more than about 80 mL of menstrual fluid over all the days of the bleed. That’s equivalent to about five tablespoons spread over all the days of the bleed.
In episode two of my podcast/YouTube video, I discuss heavy periods including the role of hormone imbalance, mast cell activation, and insulin resistance; simple period-lightening strategies such as iron, zinc, and a dairy-free diet; and using body-identical progesterone to lighten periods.
What If You Have Both PCOS and Endometriosis?
PCOS is the hormonal condition of having high androgens or male hormones. Endometriosis is an inflammatory disease that can cause severe pelvic pain. They’re two very different conditions but also both quite common. That’s why it’s possible to have both PCOS and endometriosis at the same time.
Here’s how to differentiate the symptoms of PCOS from the symptoms of endometriosis and where to start if you have both conditions.