Recovering From Hypothalamic Amenorrhea- My Story
Because having a regular menstrual cycle is one of your most important vital signs
If you are not familiar with the term Hypothalamic Amenorrhea, you will possibly have problems pronouncing it. It is a mouthful, and I’m going to shorten it to HA for the sake of an easier read.
To get to the core of it, and as explained wonderfully in Nicola Rinaldi’s book “No period, now what?”, amenorrhea is defined as a lack of period. This can be either primary or secondary, and it is normally caused by changes in the hypothalamus.
The hypothalamus regulates the menstrual cycle; this vital part of the brain releases GnRH (gonadotropin-releasing hormone), which stimulates the release of LH (luteinizing hormone) and FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone).
When a woman develops HA, the hypothalamus stops releasing enough GnRH, which in turn slows down LH and FSH production, ultimately preventing ovulation.
In simple words, it’s our body’s way to tell us than we are not ready to procreate.
HA was the reason why it took me so many bloody years to get pregnant. I was fit, “healthy,” I had plenty of energy, I was eating well, and all my blood tests were kind of ok. And that was part of the problem.
