Your Period and Hormones
Most women these days are not really taught about there periods and what it actually is and what is happening with your body. I remember my mom gave me a book about my body but that was it, you didn’t really talk about it, not with your mom or in public, it seemed to be a taboo subject like sex and money. I feel like we should break those historical chains on those subjects and lets talk to our kids and our friends and start educating women about them. I have learned a lot about my body in the last 4 years; the human body is a complex organism and the female body is even more complex. We have a lot of hormones that fluctuate with each passing minute and with different phases of our cycle along with complex organs like our ovaries.
What many woman do not know is that our cycle lasts all month, and there are 4 different phases; Menstration, Follicular, Ovulatory and Luteal.
Menstruation is the phase everyone knows as its the part where we bleed. It is the first day of our periods and the bleeding is the shedding of the lining of the uterus. If the egg that was released was not fertilized it is shed, the hormones Estrogen and progesterone drop and it is normal for it to last between 3-8 days. Due to the drop in hormones and the uterus shedding the lining this can cause some symptoms like cramps, headaches, backaches, nausea, bloating and even irritability.
The Follicular phase starts when your period starts, its what triggers your period to start. During this time the Hypothalamus gland signals the body to release FSH follicle stimulating hormones which tells the ovaries to release a couple immature eggs. Only one of these eggs will mature and the other will be reabsorbed. As the egg matures it signals the body to release more estrogen and the uterus lining thickens incase the egg is fertilized it will implant in this thick cushy nutrient dense lining. This phase will last 10-16 days and will end when you ovulate. During this phase your temperature will be lower.
The Ovulatory Phase is the next phase when they body signals for LH Luteinizing Hormone to be released and the ovaries release the mature egg. The release of the egg will also be indicated with a rise in your temperature. The mature egg when released travels through the ovaries down the fallopian tubes and into the uterus, during this journey the egg can be fertilized by sperm. This phase happens in the middle of your cycle and the egg can last 24 hours, if not fertilized within that time it will be dissolved. During ovulation you will notice a slight increase in temperature and a thick white discharge.
The Luteal Phase is the last phase of your cycle, the follicle morphs into a mass of cells called a corpus luteum which then releases progesterone to keep the uterus lining thick incase the egg was fertilized. If the egg was not fertilized the corpus luteum will dissolve and trigger estrogen and progesterone to drop and the uterus lining to start shedding which marks the beginning of the period.
During your cycle your hormones fluctuate and so does your temperature, both of these can be tracked to be used as contraception information. When I stopped using hormonal birth control pill 3 years ago I started learning more about my hormones and my cycle; I take my temperature each morning before I get out of bed, this will tell me where in my cycle I am at, when I get close to my ovulation phase I use LH testing strips to measure my urine. If it comes up positive I know I have ovulated and during my next cycle what day I will ovulate.
During these phases you have fertile days and non fertile days, tracking this you are able to either not get pregnant or plan a pregnancy so you don’t have to be dependent on hormonal birth control or other birth control methods. You are only pregnant for a 5 days leading up to ovulation, ovulation day so a total of only 6 fertile days in your 28-31 day cycle. If you are using this method its essential to figure out what days is ovulation day for a couple reasons; one is that the egg is released on ovulation day is only alive for 24 hours, two is sperm can live up to 5 days inside the female reproductive organs. So remember if your ovulation day is on say the 12th day than having unprotected sex 5 days up to the 12th you can still get pregnant.
I use this method of birth control and cycle tracking because I don’t need to take hormonal birth control anymore (you can read my post on that here in step 3), I can track my cycle so I know when I will start my period, when is the optimal time for conception and to understand my body and the phases it goes through.
Thank you for following my journey, please leave a comment below and share with your friends and family.
