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Hey Guys! And welcome to my blog!
Wow, It felt very strange saying that... never in a million years would I have thought the day would come where I manage to structure enough words together to form a blog post about something! But then again, I never would have thought the topic of this blog post would have been such an important and transformational part of my life!
If you haven't guessed so already, it's all about PERIODS - well actually, the lack of! But before I dive deep into our female ecosystem and everything hormones, healing, balance and self love (all the good stuff!) I thought i'd do a little introduction of myself and my story, so here goes...
In 2014, I moved to New York for a year to intern in the glorious world of fashion and decided there was no need for me to continue taking the contraceptive pill. A year flew by and somewhere amongst the hustle, I realised I never came on my period. I put this down to lifestyle changes and the stress of living away. Another year passed without a period in my final year at university and again, it never really bothered me – it was actually pretty convenient.
Fast forward to my first full year of working in the big wide world and I thought it was probably best to seek some medical advice on the matter. After a few consultations at the doctors, no one was able to figure out why this was happening, and I kept on being delivered the same line of ‘let's give it a few more months and if not, we can put you back on the pill’.
In their eyes, I had a healthy BMI (but on the low side), I worked out and I ate healthily... no red flags there right? But little did I know that my stressful lifestyle, fuelled by countless cups of coffee a day, gruelling 5:30 am workouts, 300 kcal lunches and juices for dinner were having a detrimental effect on my health. I have always been someone to jump on the latest diet fad, whether it be gluten-free, vegan, intermittent fasting, juicing, etc, because hand on heart, I genuinely thought they would be good for me and my health.
It wasn’t until I was pushing myself through the last few kilometres of a hot evening run after a long day at work that I suddenly couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t see, my vision and my legs went and I was petrified something bad was happening to me. Looking back, I now realise I experienced my first panic attack, but unfortunately, that was only the start of it. For months after this, I carried on pushing myself. I would be so physically drained during the day, then totally wired at night that I couldn’t sleep. My heart would race, my brain just wouldn’t stop. I never thought it was due to over-exercising, or under fuelling. It would feel like I was just nodding off when that 5:30 alarm would sound the next morning, calling me to head to the gym so of course, I would drink a shot of espresso before even leaving my bed and the cycle started again. I was running myself into the ground, 7 days a week.
In 2018, my first set of blood tests taken from my doctor came back ‘normal- no action required’. It was recommended I have an ultrasound to check everything was functioning ok. The results came back to show cysts on one of my ovaries, and the other to be slightly enlarged, so from the systematic conclusion of western medicine... no period + polycystic ovaries = PCOS.
Consequently, I was hit with a diagnosis and labelled as having PCOS. I was told to get back on birth control, restrict my diet even further by cutting out gluten and dairy, and keep up the cardio/high-intensity exercise. I was devastated. This chronic syndrome felt so foreign to how I was actually feeling and I just couldn’t associate me with any of the common symptoms.
Through my research, I came across Hypothalamic Amenorrhea and I was instantly filled with dread. I ticked every single box, but admitting that felt like admitting I had a problem, or worse, I would have to make some serious changes in my life. I asked for a copy of my blood results from my doctor and I straight away noticed that my LH (Luteinising hormone) was very low in comparison with my FSH. This was the confirmation I needed that I was suffering from Hypothalamic Amenorrhea. I realised it was time to take matters into my own hands and started a holistic approach to healing my hormones and my period.
At first, I took things pretty slow. Making drastic changes in the life of someone who loved to control everything took time. I wasn’t ready to give up my running or what I deemed to be a ‘healthy’ way of eating, and the prospect of putting on weight petrified me, but nearly a year passed and I wasn’t seeing any results.
In April 2020, I decided it was time to go “all in”, and I put the goal of getting back my period at the forefront of ALL of my decisions. I quit all high-intensity/cardio exercise, focused on eating a surplus of food, which meant overcoming many food fears and breaking the imaginary food rules I'd fixate on in my head. I focused on slowing down, incorporating meditation and gentle yoga into my daily routine and giving my body the R&R it so desperately craved. Two months later, I GOT MY PERIOD BACK! A tearful day, full of relief of knowing the steps I'd been putting in place were working (even if the recovery time in itself was so difficult at times!).
Read more about the protocols I took to recover my period here!
I have now had 5 consecutive periods to date, and continue to live life with ease, flexibility and joy, which is something I can't speak to be true during my time with HA!
I hope you enjoy this blog space and find tools to help guide your experience with recovering your period - because yes my love, HA is absolutely reversible!
If you have any questions, or would like to chat about your journey, i'd love to hear from you!
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