Lara Briden - The Period Revolutionary
Leading the change to better periods
A low carb diet can be helpful for reversing insulin resistance but can have unexpected effects on women’s health including anovulatory cycles and amenorrhea.
This is my open letter to every clinician, personal trainer, and blogger who offers health advice without thinking about the importance of ovulation and natural ovulatory menstrual cycles.
Dear Sir,
Your restrictive dietary advice may cause young women to stop ovulating which is a problem because ovulation is how women make hormones.
That makes ovulation an essential part of human physiology and not just for making babies. Ovulation is not optional. Thank you.
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.
What is the difference between polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and hypothalamic amenorrhea?
PCOS is the condition of androgen excess when all other causes of androgen excess have been ruled out. It can also cause irregular periods.
Hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA) is the loss of periods due to undereating. It can also present with mild acne, facial hair, and polycystic ovaries.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) cannot be diagnosed by ultrasound because polycystic ovaries are not cysts. They’re follicles or eggs which are normal for the ovary.
It’s normal for all women to sometimes have a higher number of follicles. It’s normal for young women to always have a higher number of follicles because young women have more eggs. That’s why PCOS cannot be diagnosed by ultrasound. At the same time, PCOS cannot be ruled out by ultrasound because it’s possible to have normal-appearing ovaries on ultrasound and still have the hormonal condition PCOS.