Ep. 32: 5 teen cycle issues you shouldn’t ignore
Welcome back to the Woven Well Podcast! Today’s episode is specially for the teens and younger women in our audience. I was recently asked to be a guest contributor for the blog of a restorative health clinic, and I chose to share something for the younger women out there looking for answers to their cycle issues.
That’s because it’s not just grown women who suffer from cycle issues! Teens can experience the same concerns as an adult woman, but they have more uncertainty about whether what they’re experiencing is abnormal or not, since they’re still adjusting to their fertility. They may have even been told that their issues would resolve once they became an adult, or that the only way to reduce their symptoms was through hormonal suppression like hormonal contraception.
But teens deserve to have their concerns addressed and their wellness prioritized right now. They shouldn’t have to wait until they’re an adult. And choosing to suppress their hormones at this stage could have last effects.
Hormones in puberty are critical to the final development of female reproductive organs like the cervix. Suppressing or hindering this development leaves these women more vulnerable to disease and infection the rest of their lives.
So in the spirit of empowering women, including teenage women - let’s get to it:
5 Teen Menstrual Cycle Issues that shouldn’t be ignored!
Painful periods
While painful periods seem common, they are not normal. Sometimes parents, teachers, etc may even wonder if a teen is being overly dramatic or exaggerating her pain, and sure - who hasn’t used their period as an excuse at some point in high school to get out of gym? But, severe cramps should always be taken seriously. They can be a sign of an underlying condition that can be resolved when you get the right treatment.
Otherwise, period pain really can be debilitating and can prevent teens from listening in class or participating in sports, clubs, . However, when you get to the root cause of the issue and address it there, she’s free to flourish - all while allowing her hormones to continue to develop naturally.
2. Absence of a period
Menstrual cycles don’t start off being regular. When a girl has her first period, known as menarche, her body has just reached the point where her estrogen rise was significant enough to produce a spike in LH which led to actual ovulation. Before that, she probably saw signs of puberty because her hormones were beginning to function, but weren’t yet sufficient. Still, puberty is a long journey and it takes a good while to go from pre-pubescent girl to woman with full reproductive capabilities. And for good reason - it was hard enough going through it slowly! Imagine if it just happened overnight!
So when a girl does begin menstruating, they’re not automatically regular. It’s normal for it to take a year or two before she can anticipate a consistent ovulation and period start date.
But if it’s been longer than 2 years, and things still aren’t regular, it’s time to investigate why. At this point, it’s no longer about “letting things run their course,” but about identifying what it is that’s hindering her body from functioning normally.
Cycles that are very irregular or not happening at all (called amenorrhea) can be caused by a variety of things - for instance, she could be dealing with a hormone deficiency caused by thyroid issues. Or her body composition could be impeding her health - maybe she doesn’t have enough healthy fat on her body from being a student athlete or not consuming enough calories.
The best course of action is to identify why her cycles aren’t regular and address the issue at its source.
And here I should clarify the importance of having an actual period, and not just a monthly bleed. Hormonal contraception, which I’ve already said is not good for teens (who are not fully developed) to take, will cause her to bleed monthly, but it won’t be an actual period - it will simply be a withdrawal bleed from the change in hormones.
It feels normal now, but nothing has actually changed. Whether it’s the thyroid, exercise, or something else that’s hindering her body from functioning fully, that issue will still be there when the hormones stop. Instead, working with a women’s health team with a restorative focus is the best way to go - they’ll get to the root of the issue and help improve not only her cycles, but her overall health.
3. PMS/PMDD
Unlike what all tv shows may lead you to believe, pre menstrual syndrome (PMS) is not normal, even for teens with lots of newfound hormones. We have an entire episode on PMS that you can listen to, but you may be familiar with it already. It’s symptoms are breast tenderness, headaches, fatigue, bloating, insomnia, increased irritability, crying easily, cravings, or being more likely to feel depressed. It can even develop into more extreme depression and/or anxiety leading up to the start of the period, which is known as PMDD (pre menstrual dysphoric disorder).
It can be difficult for teens who are experiencing this to realize that these symptoms are happening right before their periods start. It can be hard to distinguish the emotional aspects of the condition from emotions they’re feeling as they navigate the ups and downs of this stage of life. And it’s almost completely impossible for them to know that there’s a treatment for this condition - unless, they work with someone who will ask them these questions, help them identify the timing, and offer them a natural treatment.
PMS or PMDD are usually the body’s sign that there’s a hormone deficiency. Which means that once this deficiency is addressed, the problem can be resolved, and the teen gets the benefit of having balanced, healthy hormones - which affect her overall health, too! Don’t just ignore this one or brush it off as teenage angst - if things are getting worse right before her period, her body is giving important signs of hormone deficiency, and that can be easily supported through the help of a restorative focused medical professional.
4. Very heavy periods
Maybe it would seem natural to think that a teens first periods should be extremely heavy, since it’s the first time she’s ever bled, but that’s not the case. Very heavy periods, ones where a pad or tampon is being soaked in less than 2 hours, can have causes that are reproductive in nature or not. That means that it could be hormones or uterine fibroids, for instance, that are causing the bleed, but it could also be an issue related to the blood itself, like a platelet disorder, von willebrand disease, or being a hemophilia carrier.
So even if a teen’s mother or grandmother or aunts or sisters also have heavy periods, it doesn’t make the heavy bleeding normal - it makes it genetic.
It’s possible that getting to the underlying condition can help not only the teen girl, but her female family members, as well. Or even male family members! Periods are not the only scenarios when blood matters - dental procedures, surgeries, and more are all affected by our body’s ability to bleed and clot.
And lastly, we come to the 5th cycle issue teens shouldn’t ignore:
5. Discharge
But this one shouldn’t be ignored for a different reason.
Teens can feel concerned when they start noticing vaginal discharge or cervical mucus: 'What is this stuff? Is this a UTI or a yeast infection? Do I need to see my doctor?'
Without understanding what this discharge is and why the body creates it, it’s natural to have these questions and even to be concerned!
Instead, we recommend that teens learn exactly what this discharge is. It shouldn’t be ignored, because it’s actually a healthy sign of fertility and can tell you a lot about your hormone health when you learn to understand it.
That way teens aren’t unnecessarily going to the doctor, or worrying that their body is gross or not working correctly.
When you understand it, you know that it’s not bad at all. Unlike a yeast infection, which is accompanied by itching, burning, or irritation, vaginal discharge and cervical mucus have no side effects but simply produce an observable fluid. This fluid reveals incredible information about where a woman is in her reproductive cycle (if it’s cervical mucus) and how her body is staying healthy and balanced (if it’s vaginal discharge)!
Whether you’re a parent of a teen, a school educator, or a teen yourself, I hope today’s episode has been helpful and eye opening as you consider the options you have for treatment for these common teen cycle issues. I hope the main take away is that our bodies are capable of giving signs of health or hurt, even as a teenager, and that teenagers deserve to be treated holistically and restoratively, to set them up for overall health moving forward.
If you’re interested in working with a restorative health or napro doctor, you can reach out to me at caitlin@wovenfertility.com and I’d be happy to find one in your area for you.
You can also find lots of free resources about common cycle health issues and more at our website at wovenfertility.com/resources.
As always, thanks for listening as we continue to explore together what it means to be woven well.