Menstrual Problems, Balancing on Your Cycle

Menstruation can be viewed as your body’s monthly house cleaning. Each month, the body prepares the uterus while the ovaries are busy preparing an egg with the anticipation of attracting the best sperm and creating new life. If no lucky sperm make the grade, the lining of the uterus is shed and the process repeats again. There are three important stages during this cycle which include:

• Actual menstruation: This is the three to seven days of your period, when the uterus is shedding its lining. This is when all your hormone levels drop. You can use this time as a time of rest, for gentle exercise like walking, and clean eating (less fats and sugar) to help your entire body get the most from this cleansing time.
• The follicular phase: After your period is the time when your body is being prompted by hormones to produce eggs in the ovaries. At this time, estrogen levels begin to build and reach a peak. This is a time when your immune system strengthens in order to rid the body of germs and prepare for new life. (Note that some women become compelled to enthusiastically scrub their homes just before baby is due!) During the last part of this stage, is the time when most women feel their best and strongest (just before ovulation), skin tends to clear, and sexual urges rise. Nature designed this for the female to be better able to attract her mate just at the right time for fertility—isn’t that cool?
• The luteal phase: This is the time when the produced egg leaves the ovary on its journey to the uterus. This is the time when progesterone takes over to prep the lining of the uterus to support a growing fetus. At this time, the immune system drops so that the potential sperm and (hopefully) fertilized egg can do their thing without being attacked by the immune system. If no sperm happens to show, the body goes back to the next phase, menstruation, and the cycle continues.

Menstrual problems are frustrating and include all the symptoms of PMS, irregularity in the cycle, late periods or no periods (amenorrhea), periods that come too frequently (epimenorrhea), periods that are heavy and may last too long (menorrhagia), and painful periods (dysmenorrhea).
If you have any of these problems, you should get a check-up and find out what is causing the irregularities or pain. Endometriosis and other abnormal growths, pregnancy, and hormonal imbalances and anorexia can all be factors.