A question for the women out there. . .

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theplatypus
theplatypus Posts: 27
in Introduce Yourself
So this is kind of personal, but I just want to get it out there. So I started on MFP about a year and a half ago at 5'7 and 170 lbs. I lost 24 pounds in about 9 months. 4 months after I started, my periods stopped coming. I wasn't too worried because I had began to ramp up my workouts and tried eating even healthier than I did before. I've heard very active women can have this happen to them. This is also back when my goal was 1200 a day, but I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it. I continued this and still no period. 6 months later I was traveling all summer and ate whatever I wanted but was burning as many calories as an athlete running around all day. I did have one period about two months in, but since then I've had nothing. I went to the doctor and she said it might be PCOS but all my blood tests were normal and even my ultrasound was normal. I was even put on progresterone for 10 days and nothing happened after that. I'm supposed to go back soon to try to figure out what the heck is going on. I know the majority of you aren't doctors, and can't give actual medical advice, but I was just wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem. sorry for the lenghty post, this has just been bothering me a lot recently :(

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  • stubbynose
    stubbynose Posts: 21
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    Hmm…interesting…. I am wondering if your calorie intake and or fat intake has decreased too much especially with the amount of work outs you are doing that it is altering your cycles. I had a similar situation when I tried a weight loss program when I was in my late 20's that had me on 500 calories a day, they removed most of my fat from my diet and within 3 months of me being on this diet and loosing 24 lbs my cycles basically came to a halt. I stopped this program because I could not keep the program up,,,just too many restrictions and with my cycles being affected it was not a good match for me. I put milk(2%) milk back into my diet and increased my calories to where it was supposed to be at that time and before to long everything came back to normal. I talked to my Dr. about this and she said it was because I cut my fat intake way too much and not enough calories. So check your fat intake and up your calories to see if this makes a difference.
    It helped me so maybe it will for you too. I am just telling you about my experience and what worked for me to get back on track.
    Keep your Dr. up to date on everything,he/she will be able to guide you the best. Keep us posted as to how it all turns out!
    Congrats on your weight loss…you are so close now to your goal !! :)
  • campjl25
    campjl25 Posts: 2
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    Losing weight could have caused a drop in some of your hormones but it sounds like that was tested. Did you have your thyroid checked? That can cause issues. Are you on any medications? Besides contraceptives, lots of meds can cause an irregular period. Commonly are blood pressure and depression/anxiety meds. I had a similar issue but mine was due to stopping Depo shots and it just took my body a year to get rid of the hormones.

    So my advice is to get your thyroid levels checked and if you haven't, see a gyno, not a family doctor. And if they didn't check your estrogen levels, I'd get those checked as well.

    I'm not a doctor. Just a woman who has had similar work ups and reads lots of medical records for my job :)
  • HollyHobbitToes
    HollyHobbitToes Posts: 131 Member
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    Hi, I went through something similar....I started my weightloss/fitness program in Jan 2010....just basic calorie counting, cutting out junk....walking for exercise...in March my periods became VERY irregular....5 days late one month, a week early the next, that sort of thing....put up with it until September before I finally say a doctor about it and she put me on a hormone pill to even them out....do you find you are having mood swings? I thought I was losing my mind at one point....panic attacks and the whole nine yards! Weigth loss can definitely mess with your hormones! Oh and my hair was falling out like crazy!
  • HollyHobbitToes
    HollyHobbitToes Posts: 131 Member
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    Sorry I missed that the doc put you on progesterone....that worked for me but I had to take it like you would birth control, for 21 days then off for 7, then back on for 21, off again....took about 3 months for everything to go back to normal...

    How are your iron levels? Lack of iron can actually halt your periods as well...
  • Nicki_101
    Nicki_101 Posts: 73 Member
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    Maybe something to do with thyroid function, since this is the organ that regulate hormones to activate ovulation, hair growth, etc
  • DaughterOfTheMostHighKing
    DaughterOfTheMostHighKing Posts: 1,436 Member
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    women athletes often lose their periods because of intense training. a drop in body fat can cause it too. go see your obgyn to make sure it's not anything else. always check with a doctor you trust.
  • eyeshuh
    eyeshuh Posts: 333
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    Did you tell your doctor you were eating so little? Loss of both hair and menstruation seem to be common among people who eat 1200 calories plus exercise, netting super low numbers for too long a time.
  • TheDarlingOne
    TheDarlingOne Posts: 255 Member
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    My automatic 1st thought was PCOS --- but then i kept reading. i would definitely say keep up with the dr appts for sure and keep us posted friend :)
  • theplatypus
    theplatypus Posts: 27
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    Thanks for the support/thoughts guys. Since the summer i've def been eating more than 1200 a day and usually aim for 1600-1800 now. I could've really messed things up when I did Insanity for 2 months and still only ate 1200, and now I realize that i was pretty much starving myself back then. I have been on birth control for a month now and that's worked, but I'm just afraid that it treated the symptom and not the disease, if you get my point. But I'll be going back to my gyno and getting things checked out.
  • SeahorseDolphin
    SeahorseDolphin Posts: 131
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    I wouldn't panic just yet. When I was in high school I played basketball and one summer they decided they wanted us working out 3 hours a day plus weight training 3 days a week. It was ridiculous and even though my diet was a classic teenager crap diet and I didn't lose any weight, my period disappeared. I was glad at first after my doctor said it was normal but when the school year started and it didn't come back right away, I started to worry. Before the end of the school year it reappeared. I think it takes some time for your body to kinda trust that you are going to continue to eat enough to nourish it. And I was going to say you were probably starving yourself netting waaay less than 1000 cals a day but I see you mentioned it already. Glad you realized your mistake! Good luck.
  • Star_Basil
    Star_Basil Posts: 21
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    Well it's a good thing you've got your doctor on the case. Not everyone is into this but have you considered going on birthcontrol to manage your period? I was very active in highschool with a terrible diet and stopped having my period so a doctor put me on birthcontrol to regulate it (and they probably assumed I was having sex being that I was a teenager).

    As an adult I went off the birthcontrol for a year and had only one period that year.

    Not saying it's the same with you but that's my story as far as weird menstration cycles.
  • thatgurl374
    thatgurl374 Posts: 4
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    I too am on progestrone, every 3 months. I have had a "medically induced' period in over a year. My doctor has tested me for everything all negitive. For awhile I just felt like their pin cusion. Finally with no answers she said maybe its because I am overweight, currently 216 5'6. So I am trying to loose weight to see if that will finally jumpstart by body. Make sure you get tested for all the other possible causes too like daibetes and hormonal imbalances. Wish you luck hopefully you will figure it out soon

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