WHAT ARE PERIODS, REALLY?
Your first period, also called
menarche, is most likely to start when you are 12 or 13 years old. Some girls
get their periods as early as eight or nine, however, while some don't start
menstruating until they are 15 or 16 years old. Though most girls will have
been told that they will be experiencing periods — monthly episodeds of
bleeding — before menarche, fewer know all about what periods actually are.
So, what are periods, exactly?
Before we can answer that question, we have to talk about what the menstrual
cycle is. The menstrual cycle is a woman's reproductive cycle, the thing that
prepares her for pregnancy each month and cleanses the reproductive system when
she does not conceive a baby.
A cycle is counted from the first
day of your period to the day before the next period. The average menstrual
cycle is 28 days long, however girls’ cycles can range anywhere from 21 to 35
days and still be considered to fall within the normal range.
The first half of the menstrual
cycle is called the follicular phase. During this stage of your cycle, the
female hormone estrogen dominates. This hormone is responsible for a number of
different processes including contributing to bone health, but it also prepares
your body for pregnancy by thickening the lining of your uterus, the
endometrium. While that's happening, a number of follicles are also developing
in your ovaries. One will start to dominate, and once mature, that egg will be
released during ovulation. Young girls who recently started menstruating will
not always ovulate during their menstrual cycles, but when ovulation does
occur, pregnancy can happen. The so-called "fertile window" starts
about five days before ovulation does. Eggs will also be viable for 12 to 24
hours after ovulation.
The luteal phase starts after ovulation finishes. A lot
happens during this stage if an egg was fertilized. If it isn't, you're
basically just preparing forn menstruation. Menstruation is, simply said,
what occurs when pregnancy doesn’t.
In menstruation, the body gets rid
of the material it has been preparing for a potential pregnancy. The blood that
comes out comes from the uterus; it is the lining of the uterus (also called
endometrium) that was created during the follicular phase of your menstrual
cycle, so that the fertilized egg (female egg joined with male spermatozoa)
could attach to it and develop further into the fetus and grow into a
baby.
BODY ORGANS INVOLVED IN THE
MENSTRUAL CYCLE
The parts of the body involved in
the menstrual cycle include the brain, pituitary gland, uterus and cervix,
ovaries, fallopian tubes, and vagina.
The
reproductive organs involved are:
1. The vagina — the
muscular canal extending from the uterus to the exterior of the body, through
which menstrual blood flushes out.
2. The uterus — a
pear-shaped organ which, in its non-pregnant state, is collapsed and about the
size of your fist. It is located between the bladder and the lower intestines.
The lower third of the uterus is called the cervix. The cervix has an opening
called the os which opens into the vaginal canal and permits your menstruation
to flow out.
3. The fallopian tubes —
extend from each side of the uterus. Eggs move through them to get to the
uterus, and sperm travels up there to meet the egg if you are sexually active
and not using condoms.
4. The ovaries – placed near
the end of each fallopian tube, they are almond-sized organs which produce
eggs.
Hormones
Involved In The Menstrual Cycle
The ovaries make two important
female hormones, estrogen and progesterone, while the pituitary gland, situated
in the brain, makes follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone
or LH.
This
is how the whole cycle goes:
During the first half of the
menstrual cycle, estrogen levels rise to prepare the uterus for a possible
pregnancy by making the lining of the uterus (endometrium) grow and thicken.
The follicle-stimulating hormone makes an egg (ovum) from one of the ovaries
mature. At about day 14 of a typical 28-day cycle, in response to a surge of
luteinizing hormone, this egg leaves the ovary in a process called ovulation.
After leaving the ovary, the egg
begins to travel through the fallopian tube to the uterus. There is a rise in
progesterone levels, which helps prepare the uterine lining for pregnancy. If
the egg becomes fertilized by a sperm cell and attaches itself to the uterine
wall, the woman becomes pregnant. If not, the egg either dissolves or is
reabsorbed by the body. When doesn't happen, estrogen and progesterone levels
drop, and the thickened lining of the uterus (shown as bloody material) is shed
during a menstrual period.
HOW
LONG DO PERIODS LAST?
Women have an average of 500 periods
in their lifetime. Menopause, which marks the end of a woman's
reproductive life, occurs between the ages of 45 and 55, usually around age 50.
Because all girls are different, the
length of a period can vary from girl to girl. One girl might have a 3-day
period while another girl has a 7-day period. It can take several years for a
girl's period to become regular. One month the period might last 4 days,
whereas the next month it might be 6 days. Some women experience irregular
periods for several years, and others might not ever be "regular."
WHAT ARE THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF
MENSTRUATION?
Bleeding from the vagina is the
primary sign of menstruation, but that doesn't mean that you won't experience a
whole host of signs before your menstrual flow begins and during your period.
These symptoms can include:
Cramping, bloating, and sore breasts
Water retention
Pelvic pressure
Backache
Food cravings
Difficulty concentrating
Mood swings and irritability
Headache and fatigue
Around 85 percent of women report
some emotional or physical changes around the time their period occurs. If
these physical and emotional symptoms are severe, it might be a sign of
premenstrual syndrome (PMS). PMS usually begins one or two weeks before
menstruation and is brought on by rising and falling hormonal levels just
before the period begins.
Some women may also experience
positive sensations such as relief, release, euphoria, feelings of a new
beginning, invigoration, connection with nature, creative energy, exhilaration,
increased sex drive and more intense orgasms.
IS THERE A WAY TO RELIEVE MENSTRUAL
SYMPTOMS?
Uterine cramping is the most common
and the most annoying uncomfortable sensation women experience during
menstruation. There are two kinds of cramping.
Spasmodic cramping – believed to be caused by prostaglandins, chemicals that
affect muscle tension. Some prostaglandins cause relaxation while some cause
constriction. Foods such as vegetables and fish, high in linoleic and liblenic
acids, increases the prostaglandins for aiding muscle relaxation.
Congestive cramping — makes the body retain fluids and salt. To counter
congestive cramping, avoid wheat and dairy products, alcohol, caffeine, and
refined sugar.
To alleviate cramping, don’t turn to
pharmaceutical companies that target and create a market to treat this normal
part of a woman's cycle as a disease for their own financial benefits. There
are better, natural ways to do so.
Increase exercise to improve blood
and oxygen circulation throughout the body, including the pelvis.
Keep your abdomen warm. Use a
heating pad or hot water bottle to ease your cramping.
Avoid using tampons as well as IUD
(intrauterine device) as your birth control method because they are said to
increase cramping
Avoid eating red meat, refined
sugars (sweets), milk, and fatty foods.
Eat lots of fresh vegetables, whole
grains, nuts, seeds and fruit.
Avoid caffeine. It constricts blood
vessels and increases tension.
Meditate, get a massage.
Have an orgasm (alone or with a
partner).
Drink ginger root tea (especially if
you experience fatigue).
Put cayenne pepper on food. It is a
vasodilator and improves circulation.
Take time for yourself and reduce
stress by meditating, having a massage, or taking a bubble bath.
TWO TYPES OF PMS
The first type of PMS is
characterized by symptoms such as anxiety, irritability and mood swings, which
last until the beginning of the bleeding. This type is believed to be linked to
the balance between estrogen and progesterone. If there’s a surge of estrogen,
anxiety occurs while progesterone dominance often leads to depression.
The second type of PMS is
characterized by sugar cravings, fatigue and headaches. In addition to sugar,
women may crave chocolate, white bread, white rice, pastries, and noodles – in
one word refined carbohydrates. These cravings are probably caused by the
increased responsiveness to insulin related to increased hormone levels before
menstruation. Women experience symptoms of low blood sugar and their brains are
signaling a need for fuel. A consistent diet with complex carbohydrates will
enable a steady flow of energy to the brain and disable the ups and downs of
blood sugar variations.
IS IT PREGNANCY OR PMS?
Both of these conditions are
characterized by the rise of the two hormones – estrogen and progesterone, so
it happens often that the symptoms of these conditions overlap, which more than
often leads to panic due to possible pregnancy. I’m sure you’ve been there
because I have numerous times.
Symptoms overlapping are: light
cramping, backache, spotting for a day, food craving, breast tenderness, mood
swings, bloating, etc
The only way to know if it were a
period or pregnancy is to wait for the day you are supposed to get your period
or the day after and if missed, to get a pregnancy test done. Only this way,
you can tell for sure if it’s pregnancy or PMS symptoms you are
experiencing.