Your Period Report Card

Did you know that your period is like a monthly report card? 

I know many people dread “that time of the month” mainly because it might be painful, heavy, uncomfortable - and literally can negatively impact your day to day life. 

A way to flip that around is to make notes of what is happening during your “monthlys” to track what is going on and create your monthly report card.

Tracking things like: 

• How often your periods come (early, late, never…)

• Heaviness of the bleed 

• Clotting in blood 

• Bleeding between periods 

• Pain levels 

• Cervical mucus / vaginal discharge 

• Premenstrual symptoms such as irritability, headaches, acne, or food cravings
  
  
  

TIP:
Using an app like P-Tracker or Flo can be useful to track symptoms rather than trying to remember. We have so many other things going on in our lives these days that remembering every little details about our cycles can be exhausting. 

Now what do all of these tracking symptoms actually mean? 

Check out the list below to start putting some puzzle pieces together! 

Period Report Card Tracker

• No periods at all

  • Possibly: Pregnancy, menopause, stress, illness, thyroid disease, celiac disease, PCOS, low body weight, functional hypothalamic amenorrhea (FHA), high prolactin.

• Early periods

  • Possibly: Anovulatory cycle, short follicular phase, short luteal phase, low progesterone, PCOS, perimenopause, stress.
    
    
    
    

• Late periods

  • Possibly: Anovulatory cycle, long follicular phase, stress, illness, thyroid disease, PCOS, functional hypothalamic amenorrhea (FHA), high prolactin.

• Heavy periods

  • Possibly: Perimenopause, adolescence, anovulatory cycle, oestrogen excess, low progesterone, PCOS, copper IUD, thyroid disease, fibroids, endometriosis, adenomyosis, coagulation disorders, anaemia, low B12.

• Prolonged bleeding

  • Possibly: Anovulatory cycle, PCOS, fibroids. 

• Menstrual clots

  • Possibly: Heavy menstrual bleeding, low progesterone, perimenopause, thyroid disease, endometriosis, fibroids, anaemia. 

• Light periods

  • Possibly: Anovulatory cycle, oestrogen deficiency, PCOS, thyroid disease, excess phytoestrogens, perimenopause .

• Period pain

  • Possibly: Inflammation, zinc deficiency, oestrogen excess, low progesterone, copper IUD, endometriosis, adenomyosis, infection.
    
    
    
    

• Pain before periods

  • Possibly: Endometriosis, adenomyosis, ovarian cysts, fibroids, infection.

• Pain during sex

  • Possibly: Insufficiency arousal causing lack of lubrication, oestrogen deficiency, infection, fibroids, endometriosis, adenomyosis, perimenopause/menopause.

• Pain from infection

  • Possibly: Sexually transmitted disease, yeast infection, bacterial vaginosis.

• Mid-cycle ovarian pain

  • Possibly: Normal ovulation pain (mittelschmerz), temporarily worsened ovulation pain (during first few cycles off the pill), PCOS, infection, endometriosis, ovarian cysts.

• No fertile mucus

  • Possibly: No ovulation, oestrogen deficiency, yeast infection, bacterial vaginosis, perimenopause.

• Abnormal timing of fertile mucus

  • Possibly: Anovulatory cycle, long follicular phase, low progesterone.

• Yeast infections or bacterial vaginosis

  • Possibly: Birth control pill, problem with the gut microbiome, antibiotic use, excess sugar intake.

• Mid-cycle bleeding

  • Possibly: Normal ovulation spotting, anovulatory cycle, endometriosis, adenomyosis, uterine polyp, ovarian cysts, infection.

• Premenstrual bleeding

  • Possible significance: Anovulatory cycle, low progesterone, endometriosis, thyroid disease.

• Bleeding after sex

  • Possible significance: Inflammation of cervix, infection, endometriosis, fibroids.

• Premenstrual symptoms (PMS)

  • Possibly: Oestrogen excess, low progesterone, inflammation, stress.

• Post-menstrual symptoms

  • Possible significance: Anovulatory cycle, PCOS.

Remember - period problems can be COMMON but they are not NORMAL. 

There are many other options for treatment rather than just going on the pill or IUD etc. 

When to get further help for your periods: 

• No period or bleeding at all

• Cycles shorter than 21 days or longer than 35 days

• Bleeding for more than seven days

• Losing more than 80 mL of menstrual fluid in one period

• Period pain so bad that you cannot do your normal activities

• Pain between periods, especially if it is severe

• Bad-smelling vaginal discharge

• Bleeding between periods that is not ovulation spotting

Check out my other blogs for more information on hormones, acne, and things you can implement everyday for hormone treatment.