In today’s episode I delve into the intricacies of the menstrual cycle. It's something that often gets overlooked in our education, but understanding it can empower us with valuable insights into our bodies.
We're all familiar with the basics: a 28-day cycle, ovulation on day 14, followed by menstruation. But there's so much more to explore beyond these surface-level facts. To truly understand our bodies, we need to dig into what's happening during each phase of the cycle. It's about going beyond the calendar dates and getting to know the inner workings of our menstrual cycle.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
-Understanding the four phases of the menstrual cycle: the follicular phase, ovulation, luteal phase, and menstruation; each phase has its own unique characteristics and functions within the cycle.
-How these phases are not isolated events, but rather intricately connected and dependent on each other; the actions and changes in one phase often set the stage for the next, creating a seamless flow throughout the cycle.
-When your body produces key hormones such as estrogen and progesterone during each phase, and understanding these hormone fluctuations can provide insight into physical and emotional changes experienced throughout the cycle.
-What you may feel during each phase of the menstrual cycle, from energy levels and mood swings to physical symptoms, and why recognizing these fluctuations can help you better manage your well-being throughout the month.
-The difference between the fertility awareness method and the rhythm method, and how you can track biological signs like basal body temperature and cervical mucus to determine fertile and infertile days.
This episode is packed full of information that you don’t want to miss! By delving into your menstrual cycle, you'll gain a deeper understanding of why you experience certain emotions and physical sensations throughout the month. This knowledge will empower you to navigate hormonal shifts with ease and grasp a clearer picture of what's happening inside your body.
Resources:
Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Tony Weschler
Association of Fertility Awareness Professionals
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Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only. This may not be the best fit for you and your personal situation. It shall not be construed as medical advice. The information and education provided here is not intended or implied to supplement or replace professional medical treatment, advice, and/or diagnosis. Always check with your own physician or medical professional before trying or implementing any information read here.
Alyssa Chavez [00:00:00]:
Hello, my friend, and welcome back to the Endobelly Girl podcast. Today's episode is one that I'm actually really excited to record because I feel like this type of information is one of the reasons that I got into this health journey that I'm in in the first place. Because when I first got married, which was almost seven years ago now, and my husband and I started trying to have a family, I started to realize very quickly that I understood my menstrual cycle so much less than I thought I did. Okay. Because I had gone through the typical education that we get, at least in America. I'm not quite sure what it's like in other countries, so it may be a little bit different in other places. Who knows? I'm sure somebody out there does. But my experience, which I know is very common with pretty much everybody else I have talked to, had some sort of sexual education or health class along the way through school, maybe even a couple of times.
Alyssa Chavez [00:01:13]:
I remember doing some sort of education in elementary school, maybe in fourth or fifth grade, I can't remember, and then a little bit in middle school, and maybe a little bit in biology class in high school. So there was some education along the way where we learned the basics of what your menstrual cycle is. We learned about ovulation and menstruation and what that's all about and why that happens to our bodies. So I understood the basics of it. I understood the concept of how you get pregnant and how your menstrual cycle works and all of that. And of course, by that point in time, I was in my late 20s when we got married. So I'd been menstruating already for, I don't know, over ten years, however long, 1215, whatever, it doesn't matter. A long time.
Alyssa Chavez [00:02:03]:
And so I had had quite a bit of life experience already by that point in time as well. And as I started to really dig into all the information out there about our menstrual cycles, I started to realize how much I really don't know about what is actually going on in my body. For starters, we are really taught. I feel like growing up, at least this was my experience, that menstruation is kind of the grand event. Having your period is the grand event of your menstrual cycle, and the rest of it just kind of goes about its merry way. And then we have our period. And sure, that may be the thing that we feel impacts our life the most, especially when you're young, but at the end of the day, the true main event of our menstrual cycle is ovulation, right? So just little nuggets like that that I didn't understand, much less the actual signs of fertility that my body was telling me, the signs that my body was showing me all throughout the month of the changes in my hormones and where I was in my cycle as far as. Was I near ovulation? Was I near my period? Because I felt like it was a big old guessing game when I was going to be having my period, since I had a lot of irregularities when I was younger.
Alyssa Chavez [00:03:21]:
And then, of course, I was on birth control for many years and then came off of it and ended up having a lot of crazy things happen, which is what ended up with me getting my endometriosis diagnosis eventually. But my guess is that you probably learned something similar to what I did, that we all have a 28 day menstrual cycle. You ovulate on day 14, and then if you didn't get pregnant that cycle, you have your period. But there is so much more to it than that. And I think it's so important that we all know this. So this can be a great conversation, really, for anyone and everyone to listen to. I think if you are a woman or you menstruate, that this is a conversation that everybody needs to listen to and be aware of. So this could be even something that you share with teenagers in your life or women who are working on fertility, whatever is going on.
Alyssa Chavez [00:04:20]:
And definitely, I think when you have endometriosis, having an awareness of what your menstrual cycle really should be like, what is happening in your body, so that you can have an understanding as things start to shift and change in a positive or a negative way, that you can kind of have an understanding of what's going on and what your body is telling you. So this episode is intended to really lay the foundations of that. We actually are not going to even go into specifics of endometriosis today. I'm going to come back probably in a later episode and talk more about what is normal during your period, what is not, as well as common hormone imbalances that I see even specifically with endometriosis. So that will be coming at a later date. But really, what we're going to go over today is what actually happens during your entire menstrual cycle from beginning to end, the ins and outs that you may not have learned. Okay, so let's dive in, because I think it's about time that we as women, start connecting with our menstrual cycles and stop fighting it. It's such a huge part of who we are.
Alyssa Chavez [00:05:33]:
So I personally think it's about time that we honor that. Your menstrual cycle has four phases. Your follicular phase, your ovulatory phase, your luteal phase, and then menstruation. Right? And we're going to go into each of those phases and what happens, what's going on with your hormones, what's going on in your body? So, starting out with your follicular phase, which is your pre ovulatory phase, ovulatory refers, of course, to ovulation. Your luteal phase, which we'll talk about in a little bit, is your post ovulatory phase up through menstruation. So let's dive into the details of what actually happens during each phase. Your follicular phase is called this because follicles are developing within your ovaries. So follicles are like little sacs in the ovaries where the ovum, the egg, is coming into maturity.
Alyssa Chavez [00:06:40]:
So during each and every menstrual cycle, six to twelve of those follicles start developing at the beginning of the follicular phase until one dominant follicle is selected for ovulation. Now, your follicular phase is actually dependent on the luteal phase from the previous cycle as your corpus luteum, which we are going to talk more about later, so you'll have an understanding of what that is, breaks down progesterone and estrogen begin to decline, which triggers an increase in fsH, which is follicle stimulating hormone, and that stimulates the growth of new follicles, which begins the new cycle. So FSH levels are high during your early follicular phase, during the beginning of your cycle, and then decrease leading up to ovulation. Meanwhile, lH, which is luteinizing hormone, increases leading up to ovulation. It's really interesting, actually, if you take a quick second when you have a moment to google something like hormones during your menstrual cycle, and just look at the chart with all of it. Look at a chart that has estrogen, progesterone, FSH and LH and how those hormones fluctuate throughout your cycle. There is quite a roller coaster that happens in there. It's super interesting to look at visually, but I'm going to kind of talk you guys through that as best I can today.
Alyssa Chavez [00:08:18]:
Now, as that dominant follicle in your ovary is selected, it begins to secrete increasing amounts of estrogen and then the follicle with the most estrogen receptors is selected as the dominant follicle. The remaining follicles, well, they just die out now before the follicles even get to this point where they start to mature and become a dominant follicle and get ready for ovulation. Those follicles take about a year to develop before that time. And that's why it can be so important to begin to think about your fertility before you are actually ready to get pregnant, so that you can optimize the health of your follicles and your eggs during that year that they are developing, before those follicles even begin to mature. Just something to think about. So let's talk about ovulation. Your ovaries have two main functions. They release a mature egg each month, which travels down the fallopian tube to the uterus to prepare for fertilization.
Alyssa Chavez [00:09:31]:
And they also produce the sex hormones that we need for reproduction. Now, once that dominant follicle is selected during the follicular phase, estrogen begins to increase, and that causes the thickening of the uterine lining in preparation for the embryo implantation, should you get pregnant during that cycle. And that sharp spike in estrogen is actually a sign of healthy ovulation. So for those of us who have been taught that estrogen is bad and we want to get rid of it, think again. Estrogen is necessary for healthy ovulation, which means that estrogen is necessary for fertility. Again, like I talk about frequently, it's all about having your hormones in balance with each other, not necessarily just lowering the levels, because that can end up leaving you feeling worse, which is the case with so many of those estrogen blocking medications out there. But that's another story for another day. Now, in response to this increase in estrogen, your pituitary gland, which is in your brain, then releases a surge of lH, that luteinizing hormone, which triggers ovulation.
Alyssa Chavez [00:10:51]:
That surge occurs one to two days prior to ovulation. So for anybody who's ever taken those ovulation predictor kits where you pee on a stick and it tells you basically it's measuring the level of lH, because once that lh surge occurs, ovulation is coming in another one to two days. So that means it's time to start thinking about getting ready for pregnancy or even avoiding that, if that's your goal at the present moment. Now, once LH surges and ovulation is triggered, estrogen then begins to drop off quickly. There's some proteolytic enzymes that are released to break down the follicular wall. As that follicular wall is broken down, the ovum is released, and ovulation has occurred. Yay. That egg will now make its way through the fallopian tube towards your uterus and prepare for possible fertilization.
Alyssa Chavez [00:11:56]:
Now, after ovulation, that lh surge triggers the production of progesterone. And with that, we enter the luteal phase. And here's the really cool part. I find this to be so fascinating that our bodies are able to do this every single month. That follicle that released the egg that has broken down then becomes the corpus luteum. That corpus luteum actually becomes a transient estrogen gland, meaning during its short lifespan, because you get a new one each and every month, each new follicle that breaks down after releasing the egg becomes a new corpus luteum that produces progesterone during its lifespan. So that little entity, the corpus luteum, is the thing that actually produces progesterone. That progesterone then causes your uterine lining to thicken, anticipating the implantation of a fertilized egg.
Alyssa Chavez [00:13:05]:
And if that egg is fertilized, the embryo then begins to produce hcg, which is the hormone that's measured on a pregnancy test, which then communicates back to the corpus luteum to continue to produce progesterone. If fertilization does not occur, the corpus luteum does not receive that feedback, and instead, it begins to break down. It stops production of progesterone. The production of estrogen is stopped, and that triggers an increase in FSH, like we talked about earlier, and menstruation begins. So that's what's going on inside of your body. That was a relatively quick overview of that, but still, I think, a little more in depth than what so many of us learned. But what I'd like to dig into next is talking about some of the signs and symptoms that you will experience surrounding your menstrual cycle. So, during your follicular phase, that's that phase, when your body is preparing for ovulation, when those follicles are developing and estrogen is increasing, and your body is trying to come up with that dominant follicle in preparation for ovulation, that is, for many people, a time of increased energy, increased libido.
Alyssa Chavez [00:14:25]:
You might feel more creative, more spunky, more social during that time. So it can actually impact the way that we feel. That is a true fact, that the fluctuations in our hormones do impact the way that we feel now. As you get closer to ovulation. During that ovulatory phase, which lasts that few days leading up to ovulation, that tends to be the highest energy part of your cycle. That might be the time that you're putting on cuter clothes and wanting to go out and wanting to be closer to your partner. It's fun to kind of check in and notice those things, because, again, our bodies are very intuitive and know what we want during that time of our cycle. And if you pay attention, you might also notice some physical signs as your body gets closer to ovulation.
Alyssa Chavez [00:15:15]:
Let's talk even cervical mucus. So you may notice, when you go to the bathroom and you wipe, you might notice some mucus on the toilet paper or sometimes even in your underwear, you might notice that. So, yeah, we're going to talk about that today. It's basically like a discharge that comes out of your vagina. And I want you to start to pay attention to how that changes throughout the month because it does. That's something that I remember kind of noticing offhand when I was younger, but just didn't pay much attention to. It was like, okay, it's a little different today. Cool.
Alyssa Chavez [00:15:52]:
Whatever. Didn't really have any idea what that means, right? But that cervical fluid does actually change throughout the month. So, for example, after menstruation, you might have a few days of just dryness, where just everything feels a little dry. And then that cervical fluid starts to become kind of sticky and tacky. And then from there, as you progress through your follicular phase, it can turn into more like a lotion like consistency. And in those days leading up to ovulation, usually about four or five days leading up to ovulation, then that cervical fluid becomes wet and slippery. Might even have an egg white like consistency to it. And that right there, the quality of your cervical mucus, the cervical fluid that comes out, is actually a sign of where you are in your menstrual cycle.
Alyssa Chavez [00:16:49]:
It can be a sign of oncoming ovulation. And actually, there's a whole system around this called the fertility awareness based methods that help to predict ovulation. So looking at your cervical fluid, taking a look even at basal body temperature, so getting a temperature or a thermometer that measures down to the hundredth degree, like 98.2, right? So you have two numbers after that decimal point, which you can buy just a simple basal body temperature thermometer at a drugstore, or you can use something like a temp drop. That's actually what I use myself. It's a little band you wear on your arm overnight that measures your temperature, as well as even things like how open or closed your cervix is and what it feels like. So it's super interesting stuff and you can tell a lot about what's happening in your body and where you are in your cycle just based on those symptoms. Now, if you really want to dig in and learn more about that, I highly recommend the book taking charge of your fertility by Tony Weschler, and I will link to that in the show notes. If you're interested in really digging in and learning more about that, there are also practitioners out there who will educate you on using the fertility awareness based methods, which is always recommended, of course, if that's something that you really are wanting to explore.
Alyssa Chavez [00:18:21]:
There's even a database where you can search for fertility awareness based practitioners, which I can link to in the show notes as well if you're interested in learning more about that. But that can actually be a way of either helping to achieve pregnancy by timing things with ovulation, or even the opposite. You can use the same exact signs and symptoms to avoid pregnancy. And that can be a good way for people who don't want to be on birth control of any kind anymore. That can actually be, believe it or not, a very effective way to avoid pregnancy as well. And that is different, mind you, from rhythm method, which is basically just looking at what day you are in your cycle and timing intercourse around that. The fertility awareness based methods are different, right? You're actually using these signs and symptoms from your body. So you're looking at when you're ovulating, not when you should be ovulating based on a calendar, which are two very different things.
Alyssa Chavez [00:19:29]:
Now, some people might also feel certain symptoms around ovulation. You might feel a little bit of a pain or even a tinge around your ovaries, but others might not. That's one of those things that's very individual, how you feel those symptoms. Now, after ovulation, that cervical mucus often dries up again because now your cervix is actually plugged closed with mucus in case of pregnancy to protect everything going on within your uterus and your energy can begin to decline. Then during that luteal phase, especially as you get towards the late luteal phase, when your hormones begin to decline, when that estrogen and progesterone begin to drop off, that's when many people experience then lower energy levels, feeling less social, wanting to turn more inward. And again, that's normal as part of the fluctuation that goes on throughout our menstrual cycle. And then, of course, from there, that luteal phase finishes up. We head into menstruation, the hormones drop off, and so does your energy and your mood, et cetera.
Alyssa Chavez [00:20:34]:
But it shouldn't feel like a complete crash, right? It shouldn't feel like you just can't function, right? But it is normal to have a drop in energy and mood during menstruation because your hormones just kind of dropped off the cliff. But usually around day three or so, your hormones should start to pick up again, preparing for that next menstrual cycle, and your energy levels start to increase. So that's basically what happens within your menstrual cycle. Now, one thing that I really want to note, that I want you to pay attention to is the interdependence of one phase of the cycle to the next, right? Everything affects everything else, just like I talk about a lot within our bodies, how you can't think of the systems being independent from each other. It's very much the same with the phases of your cycle. In order for the luteal phase to be healthy, you have to have a healthy follicular phase. In order to have healthy ovulation, you have to have a healthy follicular phase and luteal phase. So, for example, we talked about earlier how FSH, the follicle stimulating hormone, is triggered by the decline of estrogen and progesterone from the previous cycle.
Alyssa Chavez [00:21:51]:
Right? Ovulation also is dependent on a healthy follicle development, also for the corpus luteum production, which then produces progesterone. So if one part goes wrong, if maybe there's an imbalance in your hormones or something is going on in your body that can impact the whole cycle, it becomes that big domino effect. So that's where I'm going to really leave it at that for today, just so you have a foundational understanding of this stuff. But I am actually going to go in and do a part two of this episode all about what is actually normal or not during your menstrual cycle, as well as some of those common hormone imbalances that I see, particularly with endometriosis. But it's important to know that there is not one specific hormone imbalance that you always see with endometriosis. That's a common misconception. People think that everyone is estrogen dominant if you have endometriosis, and that's not necessarily true, and also that there are different types of estrogen dominance. Anyway, I feel like I could go on a whole tangent on that, but I'm going to come back to this at a later date so that I can really take the time to dive in because it's such a huge topic in and of itself.
Alyssa Chavez [00:23:15]:
And it's so important to know because there are so many things that are normalized in our society that are not really normal in particular just having period pain in general. Guess what my friends, that is not normal. So be sure that you hit subscribe so that you don't miss that episode when it comes out. If you're subscribed to the podcast, you will get notifications or it will pop up in your podcast feed so that you don't miss out on future episodes s and I hope that you enjoy, my friend, maybe you can go into your next menstrual cycle with a little bit more awareness of what's happening in your body. Start paying attention to those signs and symptoms that your body is telling you about what is going on, and just become more in tune with yourself. All right, my friend, I hope you have a wonderful day and we'll talk soon.