Ep. 75: What is your Period telling you?
Caitlin:
Welcome to the Woven Well Podcast. I'm your host, Caitlin Estes. I'm a certified fertility care practitioner with a Master of Divinity degree. Each episode will cover a topic that helps educate and empower you in your fertility while honoring the deep connection your fertility has with your faith. Let's get started.
Caitlin:
Welcome back to the Woven Well podcast. Any woman with a period can tell you that one important thing about her period is knowing when it's going to show up. A late period is often a woman's first sign that she may be pregnant, but is that all periods are good for telling us if we're pregnant or not? Absolutely not. And that's what we're going to talk about today. What can the menstrual period tell us about what's going on within our body and our reproductive health? You see, menstrual periods are an active part of a healthy reproductive system. They are important, whether you're trying to get pregnant or have no pregnancy intentions whatsoever. They matter whether you are 15 or 25 or 45. They matter and they give helpful information and it's because it's a sign of a healthy reproductive system that the quality of your period can provide so much insight.
Caitlin:
Today's episode is going to talk about some of these things that the period can reveal to us, but let's start with a brief review of what a period actually is. At the start of each reproductive cycle in a woman's body, the ovaries select a few eggs for possible ovulation. These eggs have nourishing follicles around them that grow larger and larger over the next few weeks before ovulation. And as they grow, they produce the hormone estrogen. Estrogen has whole body effects. It increases breast tissue, forms healthy bones, dilates blood vessels, stimulates brain cells, and could really improve the quality of life for a female as long as they're at normal levels. If it's too high, if it's too low, you may notice some side effects. But estrogen is also the primary driver behind the thickening of the uterine lining. What that means is that as your estrogen rises, it causes the lining of your uterus to get thicker and thicker with blood and tissue.
Caitlin:
Now, after ovulation, that major reproductive hormone is going to shift from estrogen to progesterone, and progesterone is going to do something a little bit different to the lining. The lining is still thick, but now it begins secreting critical nourishment that makes this uterine lining a possible home for a budding pregnancy. So yes, the lining is important for pregnancy, but if pregnancy doesn't occur, then at the end of the cycle, the lining gradually slips away from the uterus and leaves the body in what we all know as the menstrual period. Now, we often think about the period as being the beginning of a cycle, but now we know that it's also the end of a reproductive cycle. This means that our periods can give us really helpful insight into a previous cycle's health or health concerns. If we know how to interpret what we're seeing, the volume, color, length, and texture can all give us information that may be beneficial for diagnosing and treating issues that affect our overall quality of life and our reproductive health.
Caitlin:
And here we thought our period was just an annoying part of being a woman. No. Instead, it reveals so much information. I like to think of it as a report card of sorts for your previous cycle. So what could your period be telling you about your last cycle? We're going to talk about some of the most common things that a period can reveal. Think about your own period as we go through them and see what comes up for you. Let's start with your period's volume. Now, everyone's period does not need to be exactly the same. We are not using a very small margin here, but there are some pretty large categories that if you fit into one of them, it could be a helpful sign of an underlying issue. Great examples of this when it comes to volume is if your period is too heavy or too light.
Caitlin:
So if you're going through a tampon or a pad every hour or maybe even less, or if you have to double up on menstrual products to try to prevent a leak, this is considered a very heavy period, or the fancy technical term is menorrhagia. You may also notice that your period doesn't slow down at night, that you're passing quarter sized or larger blood clots, or you have symptoms of anemia like fatigue, shortness of breath, or sleepiness. None of these things are a sign of a normal period. It could be letting you know that something's going on. Maybe you have fibroids, uterine polyps, estrogen dominance, adenomyosis, cancer. There are lots of different possibilities, but noticing that the volume is too heavy is the first thing. Now, even if you have an IUD in and you're bleeding this much, this is still not normal.
Caitlin:
I've had ladies over the years that say, yeah, but I'm having this kind of bleeding, but it's because I have an IUD in. Something is causing the excess volume, and figuring that out with a restorative approach doctor could completely revolutionize your quality of life. Because it is no fun to be changing out a tampon every 45 minutes hoping that you don't have an accident, never wearing white pants. You know what I'm talking about if this is you. So what if you're the opposite and your period is super light? If you're not having at least one day of what we'll call a moderate flow. So that would be the changing of a full tampon or pad every four to six hours. Then what you experience as your period may not actually be one. There are lots of hormone imbalances that can cause ovulation difficulty or cause significant hormone fluctuations, and these can cause unusual bleeding that may even show up on a routine basis.
Caitlin:
So just because you're spotting for a few days every 30 days does not mean that you're having a healthy period. So a light flow can give us great insight into what could be going on. What about the color of our blood? Can that tell us anything? Absolutely, bright red or even pink blood is active healthy blood flow. We want this to be what your body produces throughout the majority of your period. If your blood turns brown or black for a couple days, whether that's before or after your period really gets going, this is also a helpful signal for attention. You'll often hear that brown blood just means it's old, right? But let's switch out the word old for stagnant and stagnant blood isn't really a good thing. What's causing that blood to stagnate? What's going on with the breakdown of the lining of the uterus?
Caitlin:
Is it too slow? Is it premature? Is it ineffective? This could point to things like low progesterone, chronic endometritis, or lots of other possibilities. The first step to figuring out what that is is simply noticing the color of your menstrual blood. So again, paying attention makes a huge difference. The same thing goes with the length of your menstruation. Bleeding can last anywhere between three to seven days. So if you're seeing bleeding that lasts longer than that, for instance, it's likely more than just your period. There could be some hormonal imbalances or even anatomical issues that are causing unusual bleeding to overlap with your period. A normal period does not last nine or 12 or 15 days. There is something else going on. And if your period only lasts a couple of days or is only light, as we just mentioned, it's likely that you're not having a period at all.
Caitlin:
Again, this is likely even if it happens every month or so. When our bodies give us these signs, it's because something's going on. So if I sound like a broken record, constantly talking about looking at the underlying cause, it's because I like to think of these things as the body giving these little flags of, Hey, pay attention to me. Look over here. It's trying to get our attention, but a lot of times we just haven't been listening. So a condition like PCOS or something else that's causing difficulty ovulating, there are lots of reasons why you could have spotting, but those things could be going on instead of an actual period. I've worked with many ladies who assume they're having a period because they have any bleeding at all, but not all bleeding is period blood. So charting your cycles to identify that bleeding and paying attention to those differences really allows you to take your first step in listening to your body.
Caitlin:
And it's only after listening and paying attention to what it's trying to tell us, that we can start moving towards that root cause. Learning to spot important details about our menstrual flow can certainly be a new experience, but the great news is it doesn't take a lot of information in order to do it. You don't have to be experienced at all in order to start paying attention to what your body is telling you. Even noticing things like blood clots or mucus during your period could be helpful. The period flow should be nice, beautiful ribbons of red. I bet that's the only time you've ever heard it described like that. But I think it's helpful. And it doesn't mean that tiny clots or mucus are signs of real concern, but they may be the missing piece of information that your NaPro or functional medicine doctor need in order to improve your quality of life.
Caitlin:
It's often suggested that our periods are only important when we're trying to conceive, but they have valuable information to provide to us right now. Periods are important for pregnancy, but they're also important for our overall quality of life. They give us insight into our cycle health, hormone balance, anatomical changes, and more. I hope that this episode has given you a little sneak peek about that. Now, each of my clients begins to pay more attention to their periods without even realizing it at first. But when you begin to chart your menstrual cycles with a system like Creighton, you automatically have more information like what we just reviewed, volume, color, length, and more. Now, our clients have the benefit of working with a certified fertility care practitioner who can also point out inconsistencies or areas of concern. So we can quickly spot things like tail end brown bleeding, unusual spotting or bleeding, and other changes that may be important to note.
Caitlin:
So if you're working with a practitioner like us, then you may have a little bit of a quicker insight, but again, you don't have to have any knowledge in order to get started with this. You could listen to today's episode and start learning things about your body. It's all a process of listening maybe for the first time. So as you approach your next menstrual cycle, pay close attention. What information is it letting you in on? What does it have to say about your health and your hormones? And if this sparks something for you, maybe you notice some of the things we talked about today, or you're curious about learning how to understand even more about what your body is telling you. We would love to be part of that journey with you at Woven Natural Fertility Care. We believe that every woman deserves to understand how her body functions.
Caitlin:
We believe she deserves to understand when she's fertile and infertile, and how to listen to her body for signs of health, regardless of whether she wants to get pregnant. We would love to be that guide for you teaching you how to listen and understand your body, to advocate for your health, and be confident in how God made your unique self. You can do that lots of ways. We recommend our introductory session, which explains the Creighton system and how to start paying attention to the body or by scheduling a consultation to meet with Caitlin. This is a unique opportunity to just share your story, talk about your next steps for improving your quality of life when it comes to reproductive health. We'll have links to both of those things in our show notes. I hope this episode has been helpful and that you've learned something new about your menstrual period. As always, thanks for listening as we continue to explore together what it means to be Woven Well.