5 things I wish women were taught about their menstrual cycle
Some of these shocked me when I was learning about my menstrual cycle! Let’s see if any of these 5 things I wish women were taught about their menstrual cycle shock you!
There’s so much to be discussed about a women’s menstrual cycle. Just like blood pressure, respiration rate, pulse rate, and body temperature, your menstrual cycle can be considered the 5th vital sign. The menstrual cycle holds such wisdom and insight into your health. We’ve been taught over the years to hold shame around the menstrual cycle or how the menstrual cycle can “get in the way” – you know when you’ve booked a beach vacation, and your period decides to show up.
Have you ever heard you can get pregnant anytime of the month and we should fear our fertility, or worse off, stuck on the birth control pill to prevent pregnancy due to the belief that we can get pregnant anytime? I’m blown away by the number of myths out there surrounding the menstrual cycle.
Or maybe you’ve gone to the doctors because you had a little extra discharge at a certain time of the month and were put on antibiotics for a possible yeast infection? Or how we were taught in school that ovulation happens at day 14 every month, or condoms and birth control were the only option to prevent conception, that symptoms of pain, cramping, and headaches are normal throughout the menstrual cycle? And let’s not forget, getting a prescription for birth control because of PCOS or painful periods and were told that’ll be the “fix”.
Let’s jump into 5 things I wish women were taught about their menstrual cycle, even though I could mention hundreds!
Your menstrual cycle isn’t 28 days.
You may have been taught that your cycle lasts 28 days and sure some women may have a menstrual cycle that’s 28 days long. But we were taught with the belief that anything other than a 28-day cycle was considered abnormal. A normal menstrual cycle can range anywhere between 24 to 35 days long.
Your menstrual cycle may vary from cycle to cycle, your diet, over or under exercising, working night shift, birth control pill, hormone imbalances, medication, your thyroid, and more can all contribute to a change in cycle length.
2. Ovulation doesn’t happen the same day every month.
Women were taught with the belief that ovulation occurs on day 14 of every menstrual cycle, which isn’t true at all. For some, ovulation may occur on day 14 but ovulation usually occurs around day 10 to 23! The belief that ovulation happens on day 14 of every cycle can be harmful especially if trying to conceive.
Many factors play into when ovulation occurs, stress is a big one. Stress may not be what you think too, it could involve an upcoming vacation, holiday parties, work, over exercising, undereating, poor nourishment, hormone imbalance, PCOS, endometriosis, and more. All of which can fluctuate hormones and therefore ovulation.
A few markers to tell if ovulation is around the corner in your menstrual cycle is your basal body temperature (BBT) increases following ovulation due to progesterone rising right after ovulation, changes in cervical mucus and a change in cervix positioning.
3. You do not have a period if you’re on the birth control pill.
You know how you bleed every cycle while on the birth control pill and you’ve been told that’s your period? Nope! It’s called a withdrawal bleed. Really, you don’t have a period at all when you’re on the pill.
Another shocker is how most women aren’t even ovulating while on the pill. To ovulate your hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and ovaries are always chatting to each other. The hypothalamus releases a hormone called gonadotropin-releasing hormone which signals to your pituitary gland to release follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) which then signals your ovaries to prepare eggs for ovulation. The sneaky thing about the birth control pill is it messes with the communication between the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and ovaries and ovulation doesn’t happen.
4. You are only fertile for one day.
The idea behind the birth control pill is to prevent conception, right? It’s led to believe it’s the only way to prevent conception. But what if I told you that women are only fertile for 1 day, not even, typically 12-24 hours when the egg is released (ovulation).
But sperm can be kept alive up to 5 days from the help of your cervical mucus. So, you can be fertile for up to 6 days due to your cervical mucus keeping sperm alive till your egg makes its entrance being like “hello, come for me sperm”. Maybe it’s time to rethink the birth control pill and educate other options like fertility awareness method, known as “FAM”.
5. Pain is common but not normal.
Have you ever been dismissed for period pain? Have you ever called into work for a headache or painful cramping and felt bad afterwards? Or knees tucked lying in bed rocking back and forth because the pain is so bad throughout your menstrual cycle?
Pain is common, PMS is common, but neither are normal. If you’re experiencing pain throughout your menstrual cycle, it’s a sign your body is telling you something. The biggest takeaway from this is to never stop being an advocate for yourself. If something seems off, seek care, and continue to seek care until someone out there listens to you. If you’re experiencing moderate to severe pain leading up to your period, during your period or throughout your menstrual cycle please reach out, I’d love to support, listen, and validate your concerns.
Did any of the 5 things I wish women were taught about their menstrual cycle shock you? I’d love to find out in the comments, over on YouTube, or Instagram.
With gratitude,
Melissa
xx
