“The menstrual cycle isn't just about having babies, your menstrual cycle is a vital sign just as your pulse, temperature, respiratory rate, and blood pressure — and it provides your with essential information about your health.” | Lisa Hendrickson-Jack
Two weeks ago, I published an article about, What you didn't know about the pill. The idea of writing this came to me after I read a book named «The Fifth Vital Sign: Master your cycles and optimize your fertility» Honestly, I think this book should be translated in others languages and introduced to young women and women all over the world. I'll try to resume it, but I already know I cannot write all I've learned, and encourage you to purchase the book. Today we talk about period, we talk about fertility and health in general. Stay until the end, because you will learn a lot!
I. Understand the menstrual cycle: Why it can be more complicated than you think?
In their overall life, women will spend an average of 2300 days menstruating. First, I want us to break the myth about the 28 days cycle. We have been taught since our early age that a normal menstrual cycle should be like this:
28 days cycle: 4 to 5 days of menstruation, ovulation on day 14, and a fertile window 2 days after and 2 days before ovulation. But did you know that only 1/8 women have a 28 days cycle?
Note that true period results from a process happening inside your body. During the first half of your cycle, your ovaries release estrogen, which causes your endometrial (uterine) lining to thicken and grow. During the second half of your cycle, your ovaries produce progesterone, which causes your uterine lining to mature as it prepares for a fertilized egg to implant. A true menstrual bleeding can only happen after ovulation. If you ovulate during your cycle, your period will arrive approximately 12 to 14 days later.
A normal period lasts from 3 to 7 days (4 to 5 days on average) and has a flow pattern that starts heavy and gradually tapers off. Some women can experience as little as 2 days of bleeding, while others can experience 9 or more, but these situations fall outside the normal range. The total bleeding in a normal period ranges from 25 to 80 mL and normal period color is a variant of red — bright red to a deep burgundy. In a normal period, you should experience either no cramping or very mild cramping or discomfort. Moderate to severe pain with menstruation isn't normal nor healthy. Pain that requires the use of painkillers — or is so severe that you’re unable to go about your normal daily activities — is a sign that something is wrong. In the picture below, you can see some parameters of a 'normal' menstrual cycle:
II. Your cycle as 4 seasons:
“If only people communicated with each other, women won't have to come up with lame excuses when what we want to say is, "Our body feels like shit today. Can we please take a day off and catch up tomorrow?” | Binati Sheth
Think of your the four phases of your menstrual cycle roughly, as corresponding with the four seasons each phase is characterized by changes in mood, energy, and creativity. Where your follicular phase is the Spring of your menstrual cycle. Ovulation the Summer, your luteal phase as Autumn and your period as the end or the beginning Winter.
As women, we’re expected to be the same every day, but the reality is different. Some days we’re full of energy, others we’re not. Some days we want to be sociable and surround ourselves with people, other days we’d rather be alone. Often spring and summer, between the end of menstruation and ovulation, is a time of high energy when we’re into doing lots of doing. This can often be a super productive time, a sociable time when we can feel great. After ovulation, we often get the inner call to draw inwards and gradually start to withdraw, slow down and draw in, much like Fall out in the world before the entire cycle begins all over again. Each cycle is therefore an opportunity to connect with your inner wisdom and giving yourself permission to retreat for as long as you need to when you have your period. See.
III. What is Fertility Awareness?
Fertility Awareness (FA) is a natural method based on the observation of your body changing throughout your cycle, to determine which day you're fertile, which day you're supposed to ovulate and detect any cycle irregularities. FA is based on the observation of your BBT (Basal Body Temperature); your CM (Cervical Mucus) and your cervical position. See Fertility Awareness Mastery.
BBT: Since the fluctuations of your hormones level highly influenced your BBT, carefully tracking your basal body temperature with a basal body thermometer will help you know when ovulation has occurred, but won't predict when it will happen in the future. BBT can be used in combination with cervical mucus changes to determine when fertility is highest. There are 3 ways to take your BBT (an oral, vaginal, or rectal).
CM: CM is a hydrogel comprising mucus molecules, water, a variety of enzymes, protein chains, and other biochemical compounds including sodium, chloride, and potassium. CM is critical for fertility because sperm depend on it for survival and it can keep sperm alive for 5 days. Your CM change throughout your cycle as you approach your fertile window.
Cervical Position: During ovulation, the cervix rises to a higher level in the vagina. It will be lower in the vagina around the time of menstruation. If you've conceived, the cervix will remain in a higher position. To check your cervix: find a comfortable position, reach your finger inside of your vagina. Use the index or middle finger and slowly slide your finger in as far as you can reach, in a sort of upward motion.
Fertility Awareness can be used also as a birth control method and is up to 99.4 percent effective in preventing pregnancy and it has no impact on your natural fertility. By observing your body changes, you can take your whether you plan to convince or avoid pregnancy. Chart your observations for a minimum of three full cycles before using fertility awareness (FA) for birth control or one full cycle with an instructor.
IV. Some cycle irregularities
If your house is burning, what will you do? Will you grad your headphones, sitting on and add on the music volume or will you grab your fire extinguisher and put out the fire? I think as JP Panguin -La question est vite répondue- lol. But when women experience cycle irregularities, painful period or abnormal bleeding, instead of looking at what's going inside the body and try to find the genuine cause of the problem, most doctor use the 'grad headphones' approach. You don't have regular periods? You have painful periods? A 28-day cycle is what you want? Take the pill, et Voila! Many women ended up taking pill, not even knowing that they don't actually get real period and misbelieving that this has magically solved their problem.
The disillusion comes generally when they want to conceive and decide to coming off the pill. Some actually get their period back right away, but for the others, they find themselves with a bigger issue. As we say, there is no smoke, without fire. So, here are the three (3) most commons cause of cycle irregularities:
Thyroid dysfunction Thyroid disorders are often at the root of menstrual cycle irregularities because the menstrual cycle is extremely sensitive to subtle fluctuations in thyroid function. With hypothyroidism, your thyroid gland doesn't produce enough of certain important hormones. Low levels of thyroid hormone can interfere with the release of an egg from your ovary (ovulation), which impairs fertility.
PCOS: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common disorder that causes menstrual cycle disruptions, including abnormal patterns of ovulation and irregular cycles. It affects anywhere from 6 to 15 percent of women in developed countries, and over 100 million women worldwide, making it the single most common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age and the first cause of women's infertility.
HA: Hypothalamic Amenorrhea is a commonly occurring medical condition in women of childbearing age. The body enters survival mode, periods stop, and women will not be able to reproduce. For many women, the cause of irregular or absent menstruation is functional hypothalamic amenorrhea (FHA). FHA is a hormonal imbalance related to stress, exercising too much or consuming too few calories (like with an eating disorder).
Note that your nutrition or your lifestyle choices highly influence your cycle health. Try to pay attention to what you eat, practice mindfulness or any physical activity to release stress and maintain a good body. Get the correct information about how your body is functioning and try to put in practice what corresponds to you. Here are a few books recommendations if you're interested in learning more about vaginas, period, female body and fertility in general:
«Vaginas & Period 101» (for girls from age 7 to 11) by Christian Hoeger & Kristen Lilla;
«Period Power» by Maisie Hill;
«Red moon gang» by Tara Costello;
«Period repair Manual» by Dr Lara Briden;
«Hormone repair manual» (for women over 40 years) by Dr. Lara Briden;
«Sweetening the pill» by Holly Grigg-Spall.
Sources:
I have been really interested in reading this book in particular since I know what it is to have cycle irregularities and all the stress of gynecological errancy. «The Fifth Vital Sign» helps me a lot in reconnecting with my body and got to understand how it works. I hope you've got some precious information here that will help you on this journey, too. Thank you for reading. May God bless you. Take care!
Good article ! I learned many things about women period! Thank you very much !