Is your period painful? Is it so painful you cannot function for hours or even days? Are you sometimes sick or faint with pain? Do you bleed so heavily that you are constantly worrying about leaking, and so you don’t want to make any plans to leave the house? Are you constantly tired around your period? Are you bloated and have terrible headaches and backache? Does it last for days on end, so much longer than your friends? Do you have to take ridiculous amounts of painkillers, sit with a hot water bottle and curl up on the sofa? Are you really grumpy and depressed by how debilitating your period is? Do you have to take time off work or cancel invitations to go and do things? Do you find you do not plan things around your period? Do you sometimes just want to curl up and die with the pain?
If this is you then your hormones or some other system in your body is seriously imbalanced, or you have Endometriosis.
This was me for a very long time. I didn’t always feel all of these emotions each period, but I have gone through these at one time or another. I remember when at their worst, I was bleeding for two weeks whenever I got my period – not to mention then bleeding for another week between my periods. I had to try to work from home when this happened or take the time off sick, as I was so tired. I hated going off sick as that further stressed me out with work. I had so much to do, and this just meant having more work in less time, and more late nights to catch up. If I had to go to work, I kept a hot water bottle in my drawer in the office, along with a large stash of painkillers. Oh and the funny thing was, I never really mentioned this to anyone as I thought it was normal, and also embarrassing!
I don’t think I need to tell you that this is really shit – I think that is obvious.
I get asked all the time, “is it normal to bleed through my pads?”, “is it normal to be in so much pain I cannot go to work?” and “aren’t big clots normal?”
The question is, did you know that this is not normal? You really do not have to put up with this pain, level of bleeding and other symptoms you get with your period anymore. You can improve the situation dramatically, and you won’t believe why you didn’t do it earlier.
Importantly, if you think about it, why would you get pregnant if you had an awful period? How does having a bad period show you are healthy and fertile? Obvious question when your attention is brought to it – but not otherwise. I certainly never linked the two.
Is Your Body is Trying to Tell You Something?
If you are feeling like this then your body is trying to tell you something. You have an imbalance in your body. Did you know that your period is like your ‘Monthly Report Card’? I first heard this term by Dr Lara Briden from Nicole Jardim – The Period Girl. When I did, I couldn’t believe it. It is such a great way of thinking about your period. I have gone through life having the most awful periods from when I first started them at 11, but sometimes they are horrendous and sometimes they are manageable. Now I know what I know, I can see that my lifestyle and my health condition at the time perfectly matched how my period was.
I can say this as I now have almost painless periods, sometimes they just surprise me, sometimes I have a little pain, but I have no need to take pills or use a hot water bottle. I now do not need to plan around my period, no checking the calendar and thinking I cannot book a holiday then as my period will ruin it. If I have not been tracking my cycle, then sometimes I have found it has literally sneaked up on me – which isn’t convenient but as I do not ‘gush’ (sorry – horrid word!) anymore then it’s not such a problem.
Did I ever think this was possible…No. Especially, after being diagnosed with Endometriosis (read more about my diagnosis), where the penny finally clicked as to why my periods had been terrible for so many years, and why I was struggling to get pregnant.
Do you want to be able to stop the pain?
Did you know you could stop your period pain? To quote Lisa Hendrickson-Jack, from her amazing book The Fifth Vital Sign:
“you menstrual cycle is a vital sign, just like your heart rate, body temperature, respiratory rate, and blood pressure. Your menstrual cycle is such a central part of who you that if your body isn’t functioning normally, neither will your cycle”.
Lisa goes on to say that apparently the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) report that menstruation should be monitored as a vital sign in adolescent girls (1).
This is so incredibly true if you think about it. If you are experiencing pain, then there is an imbalance in your body of some kind. If you knew this and you were given the choice of:
- Carrying on with the pain, or
- Saying goodbye to the pain without taking the pill.
Which option would you go for??!
Would you like to learn how to understand your body and what was wrong? Would you be prepared to work at fixing and healing your body, so then the pain and other horrid period symptoms would go away.
Could you love your period?
Your period can be something you grow to love, as it is a sign of your health. It is NOT something you need to be ashamed of, or think that it is dirty or unclean.
Many cultures believe this. In the UK, this thought started around the Victorian era, before that it was seen as a sign of fertility. Today, we are just starting to recognise our periods as a sign of health, but this is only still a small movement. I want to help raise awareness amongst girls and women. We can love our periods – will you?
Having a menstrual cycle is part of being a woman. It is something we should really be celebrating, as it is a sign of our health and fertility. If you are struggling to get pregnant, then the first thing to question, is do you have the good or bad monthly report cards?
Hormonal Treatment / Contraceptive Pill
Just a small mention about the contraceptive pill. If women go to the doctor with excessive period pain and bleeding, the doctor almost always prescribes the pill. They are taught that this will help to reduce the pain, as well as the bleeding, and is one of the only things to help with Endometriosis – symptomatic of painful periods. What they are doing, is artificially stopping your menstrual cycle, as they are stopping ovulation, which is the most important part of the cycle and then determines the status of your period.
I was on the pill for years. I thought my regular and relatively pain managed ‘period’ (it is actually a ‘bleed’ as it is not a period unless you ovulate) was the way forward. I now understand that it was just masking the problem. As soon as you come off the pill, the problem is still there. In fact, it could be worse as the pill depletes our bodies of so much, so it stresses our health even further. It can take quite some time to rebalance your hormones after being on the pill, so if you are trying to get pregnant, then it is a good idea to come off as soon as possible.
If you are on the pill, seriously consider what effect it is having on your body. There are other contraceptive methods that are as effective.
What does a Poor Monthly Report Card look like?
So how do you know you have a poor monthly report card? Well here are some of the signs (if you didn’t already know these):
- Heavy, dark, clotted and clumpy blood or thin, too little, light in colour
- Periods longer than 5 or 6 days or shorter than 4 days
- Brown stale blood at the beginning
- Cramps all around the pelvis
- Breast tenderness
- Stubborn weight
- Bloating
- Acne
- Headaches
- Menstrual migraines
- Spotting
- Cravings
- Emotional PMS e.g. crying, anger, depression
These symptoms do not mean you are broken, it is just your body’s way of communicating with you. If you are not listening then you might find your body screams for a very long time!
Why might your period be like this? Well there are a myriad of reasons, but here are a few of them:
- Excess stress
- Lack of nutrients
- Poor sleep
- Exposure to environmental toxins
- Pregnancy, miscarriage or abortion
- Underlying health condition
- Lifestyle choices
- Genetics
- Aging
What does a Healthy Menstrual Cycle Look Like?
What do you want your period to look like? Firstly, it depends where on life’s journey you are. There are three phases to a woman’s menstrual life, you are either:
- Postmenarch (menarch – your first period – this is the first 5 to 7 years of cycles),
- Middle life, or
- Premenopause (the 10 years before menopause – i.e. your last period).
The average cycle length and range differs depending on the phase you are in.
Just so you know, there is no such thing as a perfect period. We are all different, and we all react differently to life’s stressors, and so our cycle will reflect this. There are however ‘boundaries’ that give us an indication of what is healthy and what is not.
- Length: 25 to 35 days
- Follicular phase (1st half of cycle): starts on Day 1 of period and can vary, but should be a minimum of 11 days for it to be a fertile cycle.
- Ovulation: this is the ‘big deal’. It can occur from days 12 to 17 depending on your follicular phase.
- Luteal phase: post ovulation and this ideally needs to be about 14 days for it to be considered an optimal fertile cycle.
- Period: you want it to be about 4-5 days long. You want nice red fresh vibrant blood – the colour of cranberry juice and consistency of maple syrup.
What should I do next?
The first step is to track your cycle – here is a great post by Green Papaya Health on some of the apps available to record your cycle. After some time you will be able to see where there are changes depending on what you eat, drink, how you sleep, how much stress you are under, workload, illness and travel.
There are also some really good books out there that explain all about the menstrual cycle, periods, and hormones. Two of my favourites are:
- The Fifth Vital Sign by Lisa Hendrickson-Jack – I love this book and people I have shared this with have also been amazed by it!
- Fix Your Period by Nicole Jardim – this has just gone on sale, but I have had the opportunity to see a PDF version and it’s AMAZING!! In celebration of her book launch, Nicole is doing a free Period Workshop on the 7th May at 8pm EST – 5 Simple Steps to Break Free from Period Problems and Take Back Control of Your Life.
I hope this article has helped you see that you don’t have to live in pain from your periods anymore.
What if I need more help?
Are you really worried about your period and Endometriosis? Would you like some help understanding what is wrong with your cycle, particularly if you are trying to get pregnant? Do you want to leave this pain and bleeding behind? Do you want to stop searching the internet for solutions or why your cycle might be unhealthy? Do you want to understand why you might not be ovulating and you cannot get pregnant?
If so, I am a Women’s Nutrition and Health Coach and can help you find your way from a painful poor period to a healthy fertile period. I can help identify what the root causes could be and what you might need to do through 1-to-1 coaching. Just send me a message and we can arrange a 15 minute free Clarity Call and determine whether working with me would be a good fit for you.
If you prefer join either or both my newsletter and private Face Book Group “Thrive and Conceive with Endometriosis”.
Most importantly, if you know someone that might benefit from this article, please do share it with them and on your social media (links below).
We need more women to understand that unhealthy periods should not be the norm.
References
(1) ACOG Committee on Adolescent Health Care. “ACOG Committee Opinion No. 349, November 2006: Menstruation in girls and adolescents: using the menstrual cycle as a vital sign.” Obstetrics & Gynecology 108, no 5 (2006): 1323-1328; American Academy of Pediatrics and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “Menstruation in girls and adolescents: using the menstrual cycle as a vital sign”. Pediatrics 118, no 5 (2006): 2245-2250.