You probably know something about estrogen and progesterone but what is actually going on with all your hormones and what does that have to do with your symptoms? In case no one has ever walked you through your monthly hormone rhythm, read on, loves!
So, day 1 of your cycle is the first day you bleed and begins the follicular phase of your cycle. That’s when follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) rises in order to start forming a mature follicle (containing an egg) in your ovary. The egg, inside the follicle begins releasing estrogen, which restarts the development of the endometrial lining of your uterus (which is much of what is shed each month when your bleed). As estrogen rises, so does luteinizing hormone (LH) and when it is high enough, LH stimulates the egg to be released at ovulation. Ovulation should happen around day 15, give or take a few days.
Once ovulation happens, you’re in the luteal phase of your cycle. The follicle that just released and egg becomes the corpus luteum, which is what produces progesterone. The endometrial lining of uterus responds to progesterone by preparing for implantation of the egg (increased blood vessels and such). The presence of progesterone is what increases basal body temp after ovulation. If no pregnancy occurs, LH drops, progesterone drops, and prostaglandins are released that end the life of the corpus luteum and stimulates bleeding, once again. If implantation occurs, human chorionic gonadatropin (hcg and what turns a pregnancy test positive) is released and tells your pituitary gland to continue producing LH, which goes on to tell the corpus luteum to keep producing progesterone for about 7 more weeks, until the placenta can take over.
And it’s as simple as that. You can see how uncovering where and why an imbalance is happening can take some detective work. Is it the ovary? The pituitary? None of this story even touches on how the thyroid, adrenal glands or liver play a role. And then there’s the physical and energetic circulation of the reproductive organs to make things a little more complicated.
If you’ve been trying to figure out why your cycle is a little cray and you’re not getting anywhere, it’s probably because there’s so much to consider and it can be hard to do on your own. And I promise, birth control is not going to fix it. Find a practitioner that will listen and understand the complex and beautiful creature you are.
If you’re interested in working with me, I’d love to help.
