Why Your Period May Not Be Normal (Even If You Think It Is)… and What You Can Do About it
Gents: Heads up, As you can probably tell from the title of this post, it’s all about periods. So if that’s something that grosses you out, I caution you to stop reading here. If you’re interested in this info to help a woman in your life, then read on!
As women, I think we’re used to suffering with our periods. We see so many ads for period products to help with PMS and period symptoms and we hear so many people talk about periods like they are a time of suffering and are something to “get through.” Newsflash, THIS IS NOT NORMAL.
Did You Know Your Period Shouldn’t Be Painful?
Are you shocked by this? I was when I heard it. I always had INCREDIBLY painful periods, from the very first one. Think surviving off MIDOL because that made the pain slightly more bearable. But still not being able to do anything the first two days other than laying in bed holding my stomach or sitting in a bathtub doing the same thing because my cramps were so excruciating. The sucky thing about period cramps is that they are unrelenting, you can feel them coming on, they might start out lighter, but then they continually build, until in my case, you’re screaming in the bathtub. No breaks. No relief. Not a fun time. And this is ABNORMAL. WHAT?!
How many girlfriends, aunts, cousins etc. do you have that you commiserate with about period pain? Like all of your friends? Me too. Who sails through periods pain free? No one that I know of. Think about this for a second, is pain in any other area of your life or anyone else’s life considered normal, and no big deal and something to just suffer through? NO!! Pain is a sign that something is WRONG! This is also the case here. I’ll just give you a second to think about that.
PMS and Other Period Symptoms
Those other intense PMS and period symptoms that you have been led to believe are normal, are also NOT. Here’s what I experienced until recently, let’s see if you can relate to any of this. A few days before my period, usually about 4, I would have a day where I thought my boyfriend at the time (now husband) was going to leave me, for sure. He didn’t love me anymore, and surely he would walk out the door and never come back. I either felt that, or I hated him for a day, everything he did annoyed me at a severe level, he couldn’t do anything right. And even if he was trying to be nice to me, I would think in my head something along the lines of “What are you doing, you idiot?” If you know me, you know this isn’t normally who I am. But my hormones were raging so intensely at an abnormal level, that this was the result. My poor husband of course didn’t understand what was going on. As this would come out of the blue, and I was so enraged by my hormones that this absolutely seemed to be my reality, and I couldn’t be objective at this time and realize it was my hormones, not me. Usually I would wake up the next day and think, “OMG I was terrible yesterday, or was acting crazy,“ and could tell at this point, that it had been my hormones. A little late at this point, right? But when you’re in a hormone fog, you don’t know what’s happening in the moment!
Other feelings during my mood swings could be that everything was a problem, and nothing could be worked out or have a solution. It usually involved frequent tears, and meltdowns, and laying on the floor or sitting in the shower for long periods of time.
Night Sweats
Has anyone else a few days before your period or during your period woken up completely drenched in sweat, like soaking through all your clothes and through part of your bedsheets? Disgusting right? What a terrible way to wake up. You just instantly think, GROSS! That used to happen to me during PMS or during my period, probably 6ish times per year.
Bloating/Breast Tenderness/Fatigue
I used to have all of these as well, my stomach would start to get big and puffy about a week before my period, and wouldn’t go down until after my period. And a few days to a week before my period my breasts would be very sore and feel so full compared to normal. Not to mention generic fatigue.
Heavy or Light Bleeding
If you have very heavy bleeding and are getting lots of clots. This is a sign that something needs to be addressed for your period. Very light bleeding is also a sign that something is up. There is definitely a range of normal for period bleeding, and every woman is different. However, many women are still bleeding too much or too little. To learn more about this topic, I recommend reading the book, the Fifth Vital Sign by Lisa Hendrickson-Jack. Chapter 2, What Does a Normal Period look like? is for you. I highly recommend this book in general. It has a great amount of insight into women’s health.
Other period symptoms
Besides the cramps, during my period I would also experience feeling like I was going to faint if I stood up, a serious headache on day 4, low back pain (note low back pain at the same time as cramps, not a pleasant experience) and insomnia. Like not sleeping for the first 2 days.
If you experience any of these symptoms or other ones I didn’t list, you shouldn’t have these symptoms. Your body is trying to give you a sign that something is wrong. Our bodies are actually extremely intelligent, and are working tirelessly to keep us as healthy as they can. But they do give us signs and symptoms when something is wrong to try to clue us in that we need to change something to fix an issue or it will lead to bigger health problems later.
To fix these issues, we need to fix the source of the problem, not just treat the symptoms. How many times have you taken pain killers for your period? Has it ever improved your period the next month? If you have severe pain like I had I know you likely need to take these to even get through the day, I totally get it, that was absolutely me. However, there are lots of things you can do to make it so you won’t need to take those painkillers anymore.
So What Does a Normal Period Look Like?
A normal menstrual period lasts about 4 to 5 days, with an overall length of 3 to 7 days. You can expect to have 90% of your blood loss in the first 3 days of your period. For how much you should bleed, read the Fifth Vital Sign. It is not normal for you to have moderate to severe pain during menstruation. You shouldn’t require the use of painkillers or not be able to go about your normal daily activities. You only experience a true menstrual period after ovulation, so if you are taking hormonal contraceptives that partially or completely suppress ovulation, you aren’t having a true menstrual bleed. And all those PMS symptoms and period symptoms I mentioned, you should not be having either. Your body does change throughout the month as you go through the different phases of your cycle, so you can expect changes. But you shouldn’t have these violent changes and symptoms.
What Can You Do To Fix it??
There are lots of things you can do to fix this! And the more you learn about your body, how it works, and how to fix it, my guess is the more empowered you will feel!
The DUTCH TEST (Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones)
If you have many of the symptoms that I mentioned, my first recommendation would be to talk to me about getting a DUTCH test done. This test is AWESOME!! We have a chat and figure out which test is best for you, I order it for you, it gets shipped to your home. You take the test from the comfort of your own home. Which test you do, determines how many urine samples you take. They are very easy, your kit comes with the test strips. You just unfold them, pee on it at the correct time and then let it dry for 24 hours. Then once all your test strips are done, you mail it in. And a few weeks later we go over your results.
This test provides a TON of information about your hormones and how they are functioning in your body. It’s an extremely useful tool to see what is happening in your body, and allows me to determine what next steps we need to take to fix any issues that show up. I’m going to do a whole blog post on the DUTCH sometime soon to go into more detail. But feel free to contact me about it if you’re interested or have any questions! And gents if any of you made it this far, there are DUTCH tests for male hormone issues as well. Contact me if you’d like to know more!
Seed Cycling
This is a super easy thing that you can do at home! Seed Cycling is the practice of eating eating specific seeds during the two phases of your menstrual cycle (follicular and luteal) to help promote the healthy balance of estrogen and progesterone levels. This is a gentle and natural way to decrease PMS symptoms, boost fertility, can help stimulate menstruation if it’s absent and can help to reduce other symptoms that are resulting from hormone imbalance.
Here’s all that you have to do:
During the follicular phase of your cycle (from Day 1 of your period until Ovulation) you eat the following each day:
1 Tablespoon of Pumpkin Seeds & 1 Tablespoon of Flax Seeds
During the Luteal phase of your cycle (from Ovulation until Menstruation) you eat the following each day:
1 Tablespoon of Sunflower Seeds & 1 Tablespoon of Sesame Seeds
That’s it for seed cycling!! How easy is that? You can add the seeds to anything you’re eating that day, you can grind them up add them to things like shakes/smoothies, yogurt, put them on salads or soups, right on top of whatever you’re eating, or just eat them plain! You just need to eat them somehow.
Will you notice results immediately when doing seed cycling? Or any other natural thing you do to help regulate your hormones? No, as with many things that are worth while in life, it takes a while to notice a difference. You may start to notice an improvement sooner than later though! I would give seed cycling 6 months to start and keep track of how you feel.
Decrease Stress
I feel like we hear about how important it is to decrease stress in our lives, but we don’t often do much about it. De-stressing is unique to each person, so you have to find what works best for you. If you’re able to avoid stressors that is a good start. I.e. if there is an activity you hate, that you can stop doing, that will help. Or if there is a person who always makes you feel worse about yourself, maybe don’t see them anymore.
Focus on things you can control. I think often we stress about things that are way out of our control i.e. the weather, the news, other people’s political views, actions of other people etc. The only thing you can control is your own actions. Think about that for a second. Only what you do, not what your spouse does, not what your boss does, not what you kids or parents or family does. JUST YOU. So let a lot of that other stuff go… because it’s not up to you!
Do things you love! Is there something you love that you haven’t done in ages? For me that answer would be horseback riding, go do it! If there’s an activity that instantly lowers your stress, start incorporating those more often.
Do little things everyday to lower stress. Again these are so individual, for me it would be yoga/meditation, some deep breathing, listening to some fun music, eating a good meal with a loved one. Talking to a friend/family on the phone. Having a deep conversation. Playing with my dogs. Taking a shower. Having a cup of tea.
There are so many more things!
There are loads of ways to help improve your period and decrease/get rid of symptoms. This topic is pretty individual depending on your health/life/stressors etc. So for more specific recommendations, contact me! I can help you! I just need to know more about your story!
If You’re Wondering, “Why Should I Bother?”
Maybe you’re thinking, yes it would be nice to have better periods, but mine aren’t THAT bad, and I don’t really want to change a bunch of things in my lifestyle to work on it. Yes you can just deal with your period symptoms every month, however; if you’d like to get pregnant sometime in the future, did you know if you’re experiencing period symptoms it can make it harder for you to get pregnant? And because it takes a while to get your hormones functioning like they are supposed to and to decrease your symptoms, starting to work on this issue sooner than later is beneficial for you if you’d like to get pregnant at some point. If you wait until you want to get pregnant, and you want to get pregnant RIGHT AWAY when trying, it’s going to take longer than you want to get your body balanced and ready to have a viable pregnancy.
And for ladies not trying to get pregnant, having a normal period without symptoms is so much easier than the alternative. The changes aren’t that hard to implement and the result is so worth it!
Questions? Contact Me!
Do you have any questions about what you read here? Contact me! I’d love to help you out! I also have a free 30 minute coaching call for new coaching clients if you’d like to start out that way.
