Hot flashes are caused when estrogen drops suddenly (likely thanks to disregulation from the hypothalamus), which causes the body’s inner temperature to drop as well. The body’s response to this sudden cooling is to cause it to warm up rapidly, hence: a hot flash.
As I mentioned, this is normally caused by a sudden drop in estrogen. Normally they are seen in menopausal or premenopausal women. I am unsure if a hot flash can be a sign of an estrogen imbalance in a cycling woman outside of perimenopause.
Tag: women’s health
Can the state of your thyroid affect your fertility? My doctor thinks my thyroid isn’t making enough esteogen for me to ovulate right but I don’t want to take BC pills for it. Any thoughts or advice?
Yes, your thyroid has influence on your reproductive cycle. However, it doesn’t make estrogen: your ovaries do. The thyroid’s job is to manage your metabolic functions, including ovulation. If you have a dysfunctional thyroid, this could interfere with your reproductive hormonal process and going on BC won’t fix the issue at all. This is because it shuts down your own natural production of estrogen, and thus – the problem is never solved. In fact, research has shown connections between poor thyroid health and use of hormonal therapies such as BC and HRT.
I don’t know what your specific thyroid issue is, but you can learn more in the following:
The Period Repair Manual (You can find this book at your local library or through any bookstore). This book goes over the thyroid and specifically talks about how it affects period health.
The American Thyroid Association (here is their page on hypothyroidism, which is the most common thyroid-related disease that affects your reproductive health): https://www.thyroid.org/hypothyroidism/
This blog also shares a lot of resources on hypothyroidism: https://hypothyroidmom.com/
Info on Hashimito’s, another common culprit: https://www.thyroid.org/hashimotos-thyroiditis/
But in addition to the roles it plays regarding sex and procreation, estrogen is also responsible for at least three hundred other functions in your body.
“For instance, estrogen triggers the production of enzymes that support the connections between brain cells. It also affects your vision, hearing, taste, tough, and smell; your bones, heart, and skin; your mood; your sleep; your memory; your mental acuity and attention span; and your pain threshold. Estrogen doubtless plays many other roles that scientists have yet to discover.”
-A Woman’s Guide to Natural Hormones, Chapter Five: Hormones and Your Body
(via fertility-matters)
Fertility: Why Women Need Testosterone
Experts have long been aware of the role of testosterone for men, but few of us understand how testosterone fits into women’s health and fertility.
We receive many questions on testosterone for women. While women
produce much less testosterone than men, testosterone is a necessary
hormone for a woman’s sexuality, libdo and energy.
Tips to increase make and female fertility? There’s so many out there it’s hard to know what makes the biggest difference!
Hi! Thanks for sending in the question…there really is a behemoth amount of “information” out there that can confuse the typical layperson on reproductive health, and what I share here could potentially help others.
First and foremost, I always, ALWAYS encourage people to learn and apply fertility awareness if they wish to better understand their fertility. This lays the solid foundation needed for discerning what advice or tip is best suited in your situation. It can even be used in medical settings to properly time diagnostic tests and medications, as well as bypass invasive procedures concerning the state of one’s fertility health. Plus, when you learn fertility awareness from an instructor, they can lead you to resources designed to further educate or help you.
In my own personal experience and work as an NFP instructor, I find that the following three areas have the biggest impact on fertility: sleep, food, and chronic stress. Once those three areas are tackled, you can look at your fertility with a base palate, so to speak, and know that the essentials are taken care of. That way you can know for sure if there is a bigger issue that holistic health can not help with, and you need to see a professional.
As for actual resources to refer to, the following places are my favorite:
- naturalwomanhood.org – an organization that regularly advocates for fertility awareness and making it mainstream. They post a lot on how it can help fertility health and what medical and holistic options are out there to keep your fertility healthy.
- natural-fertility-info.com – this is a natural health website that is woo-free while staying true to the importance of holistic health. They also use fertility awareness to explain the importance of hormonal health and how to balance it.
- fertilitycare.org and femmhealth.org – both are medical fields that specialize in medical care and even surgery aimed at protecting fertility health. Each use their own method of fertility awareness as a medical tool for diagnosing and testing.
- I have some posts of my own that I refer to for general resources. My masterpost of resources can be found here for you to waft through. I also have a post on fertility awareness-friendly care providers, and a post on general help for maintaining a menstrual cycle naturally (the tips there can also be applied to men). For a post on men’s health, I have one here covering sperm facts for men, here.
I hope that helps! Fertility is practically it’s own field of study and it can feel a bit overwhelming when you first start. By learning fertility awareness, you can better understand and listen to your body and what it needs, helping you discern which bits of advice or help best fit for you. 🙂
Hi! Just asked this question to your blog and was directed here lol. I was wondering if you had any tips for headaches related to periods? (like is it normal, is there anything i can do aside from pain meds?) i just got the light, bright red bleeding today, and i know it’ll get worse tommorow with another headache to go alongside it. any tips/tricks?
So headaches can definitely be a sign of an imbalance. Here is what you should consider:
Hormonally-speaking, headaches can be triggered by too much estrogen (which stimulates the brain) or too little progesterone (which calms it). Some women have a sudden spike of estrogen at the start of their period, so if you have too much estrogen, you can remedy this long term by taking a Magnesium (300-400mg daily) and/or vitamin B12 supplement (200mg twice daily) Be sure to research into nutritional counseling and speak with a nutritionist, herbalist, or dietician familiar with menstrual health to know whether this is what you need.
Menstrual headaches can ALSO be caused by a sudden drop in estrogen. If that is the case for you, you can take estrogen-supporting foods or supplements like naturally fermented soy foods, or herbs. The supplements above will help as well. You can learn more about herbal remedies for menstrual issues at natural-fertility-info.com.
Non-hormonal reasons for a period headache include dehydration, or something like too much salt and sugar. You can deal with this by supplementing with healthier foods/avoiding junk foods, and by also drinking plenty of water before, during, and after your period. You should be drinking water a lot anyway, but if you must binge on junk food and drinks, avoid it around the time of your expected period.
I also hear that coffee/tea are fun ways to deal with headaches and migraines (due to caffeine), just be sure to skip on the sugar, and continue drinking lots of water to avoid dehydration it may cause!
My information on nutritional counseling comes from “The Period Repair Manual” by Dr. Lara Briden.
The Best Basal Thermometers of 2018 to Chart Your BBT
We selected the following basal thermometers to help you chart your way to pregnancy:
Digital Thermometers
1. Multi-Function Digital Basal Thermometer
2. Mabis Basal Thermometer
3. iBasal Digital Thermometer
4. iProven’s Clinical Basal (Top Pick)
5. Kindara by Wink
Glass Thermometers
6. Non-mercury Glass Basal Thermometer
7. Geratherm Basal Mercury Free Thermometer
Why Hormonal Birth Control Can Never ‘Regulate’ Periods
This goes into a short but detailed explanation of why the Pill can never normalize a woman’s cycle, specifically going over the hormones involved.
It “regulates” periods in the sense that it usually causes periods to come regularly. This is helpful for girls who don’t enjoy spontaneously waking up in a pool of their own blood.
Did you even read the article?
Pill bleeds aren’t periods.
There are ways to track your cycle so that you aren’t surprised when your period comes, even if it’s irregular.
Women deserve better than chemical sterilization. There are actual cases where hormonal birth control is the best available option, but it’s harmful to suggest being surprised by one’s period is bad enough to warrant medicating away a normal, healthy part of women’s bodies.
@im-not-an-object-ok Also, fertility awareness charting can help specially trained doctors to pinpoint and treat the underlying causes of irregular periods with the appropriate therapies, medications, or in more extreme cases, specialized surgery. It’s criminal that this knowledge is not taught in medical school and is instead something they must train for outside of school, but it is what it is. Hopefully that will change once fertility awareness becomes more accepted. You can learn more at naturalwomanhood.org or factsaboutfertility.org!
Chart your cycle, ladies. Even if you’re not practicing NFP, you’ll learn so much about your body. I’ve learned, for instance, that I have cravings around ovulation, that I likely have PMDD, and that my migraines tend to occur during times of hormonal change.
Found three cysts in my ovaries, two of which are bigger than my ovaries and another one that’s a bit bigger than a golfball, please pray that I’ll still be able to conceive once I’m married…
I will! And if you want medical help to address it now or to know where to go to for handling the issue, look into FEMM Health and Natural Procreative Technology.
Wide Spread Interests 