Has your period gone missing? READ THIS.
You were expecting Aunt Flo to arrive before Halloween, but now it’s nearly Christmas and there’s still no sign of her!? It’s time to figure what may have caused this.
The science behind a missing period:
The technical term for a period that has gone vamoose for 3 months or more is called amenorrhoea, of which there are two types:
Primary amenorrhoea. If you’ve never had your period when you probably should have - i.e. You’re 16 years or older and still haven’t had your first bleed.
Secondary amenorrhoea. You’ve had your period before but it’s since set sail.
Here, we will be focusing on the latter and exploring WHY your periods may have fled the scene. It may be more calculated than you initially thought.
Question: Do we need periods?
Answer: Yes. Having a regular, ovulatory cycle is a sign of good health!
If you are within reproductive years (post-puberty and pre-menopausal), then you can think of a regular period as a sign that everything is in working order. It indicates that you’re producing your own natural and necessary hormones like estradiol and progesterone. We need these hormones to regulate our immune system, metabolism, hair health, skin health, mood, sex drive and to sustain a pregnancy. They’re also protective against cardiovascular, brain, bone, muscle and mental health disorders in the long term, too!
There is absolutely a reason to raise a red flag of concern if your periods go MIA for months at a time, out of the blue. It could be a health concern and calls for further investigation. Let’s explore reasons why a period may go missing.
*Note: Your natural hormones unfortunately do not include synthetic estrogen and progestins in the oral contraceptive pill (OCP) or other forms of hormonal birth control.
Common reasons why you’re not getting your period:
Pregnancy or breastfeeding
I know, it seems obvious but is surprisingly overlooked. If you’re ever unsure if you’re pregnant or not, take a pregnancy test or visit your doctor. For some breastfeeding mumma’s out there, your period may not be present because of a hormone called prolactin manufacturing the all-important baby boob food.
Your age
If you’re a teenager who is a few years post-puberty or are in perimenopause (the few months/years before menopause), your body will be going through a natural shift in hormone production where it can be normal to have amenorrhoea.
Hormonal birth control
Here’s the thing; if you’re on a certain type of hormonal birth control, then no bleed could be normal. The Depo Provera (the ‘jab’), the Mirena hormonal intrauterine device (IUD), contraceptive implants and some types of the OCP can cause very light spotting or no bleeds at all. This is a result of how these drugs function - either it switches off the communication between the brain and the ovaries, or it thins the lining of the uterus to a point where there is little to no blood to be shed!
*Note: By the way, the bleed you have while on the OCP is NOT a real period bleed. It’s called a ‘withdrawal bleed’ that results from taking the placebo or sugar pills. If you’re on any hormonal birth control (with the possible exception of the hormonal IUD), you won’t be ovulating or having a real cycle.
You’ve recently come off hormonal birth control
If you’ve recently stopped the pill or other hormonal contraceptives, it may take a few (or more) months for your periods to return. This is because hormonal birth control turns off the communication between your brain and the ovaries to suppress ovulation, which is what it’s designed to do in order to prevent pregnancy. If this is the case for you, it may take some time for that connection between your brain and ovaries to turn back on. During this time, you may or may not be given a medical diagnosis like polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) or Hypothalamic Amenorrhoea (HA). This can be incredibly confusing, so it’s important to work with your holistic practitioner for the best care.
You aren’t eating enough
Repeat after me: coffee is not a meal. If you’re guilty of skipping meals, it could be the reason why your periods aren’t showing up. It’s not necessarily about the amount of food you eat, but rather the amount of nutrients in the food you eat. You could be hitting your energy requirements every day, but if you’re filling yourself up with low nutrient-dense calories, you could still have severe nutritional deficiencies leading to missing periods. Females require around 20% body fat and a regular intake of starchy carbohydrates to have a period. This is simply because if a pregnancy were achieved, those energy reserves are required to help grow a small human. If you don’t eat enough of the right foods, your body will see that as a sign of deprivation and will hold off on ovulating until you can maintain a pregnancy.
*Note: Being vegetarian or vegan could also be a factor here. Don’t worry, you can certainly have healthy cycles without eating animal products, but it requires knowledge of nutrition to make sure you are eating the right foods, in the right quantities. If you’re unsure about your diet, whether you are plant-based or not, chat to your holistic nutritionist about how to eat best, for you.
You’re over-exercising
If you’re thinking “I exercise often but it’s not like I’m an athlete”, then consider this: it’s all about the ratio between energy expenditure (a.k.a exercise) and energy intake (a.k.a nourishing food). Are you eating enough to keep up with your physical activity? If you are constantly pushing yourself at the gym or going for multiple runs per week, then I commend you! BUT if you are not following it up with enough nutrients in your diet then it can lead to a similar deprivation effect (as explained above) which causes your periods to disappear. In a world of 8-week HIIT challenges in combination with restrictive, low-carb fad diets, that ratio can easily be thrown, so here is your sign to re-consider if you may be over-exercising.
You are very stressed or ill
When you are very, very stressed or very, very sick, your brain sends warning messages to your ovaries to say “This environment is not healthy enough to grow a baby right now, so let’s stop that from happening”. Ovulation stops and so does your period. Your brain is clever, right? If you are overly stressed, consider taking a magnesium supplement and incorporating some management techniques like mindfulness meditation or breathing exercises.
*Note: You may not want a baby, but ovulating regularly and being fertile is a sign of good health.
A diagnosed condition
Don’t forget that there are many other conditions that could affect the regularity of your period. The most common of which (aside from PCOS or HA) is thyroid disease or a genetic disorder of your pituitary or adrenal glands which you will need specific treatment for from your holistic health practitioner.
As you can see, your very clever brain can shut off communication to your ovaries to stop a menstrual cycle in response to certain medications, natural hormonal transitions, and your diet and lifestyle circumstances. It may simply require some adjusting for Aunt Flo to return, or it may require specialised treatment through your health practitioner.
If your periods missing, working with a trained practitioner is your best way to help figure out why they disappeared and to support your body to bring them back. If you would like some guidance, get in touch for a FREE 15-minute discovery call to see how we can help you.
