Female Question -- Interrupted Cycles/Amenorrhea & Lack of Moodiness

Thanks.  And thanks for the chuckle.   

Yeah, I don't want low body fat.  I have boobs and I want to keep them.  Ha!  But one wonders if lots of training would do it naturally and if it would help with the hormones.  I'll do some research. 

Danielle

I have had amenhorea for about 2 1/2 years ( i got it back one month when my training decreased due to injury. It used to be thought that it was caused by lack of body fat, but now i think it's also attributed to other things. my obgyn didn't see a problem with it as long as i am taking calcum supplements. he said that running produces testosterone or estrogen or somehting that causes you to not menstrate. my doctor also didn't see a big problem with it being that i am not overly thin (i weight about 128/17-19%bf).

 BUT, i am not moody (any more than normal )

In all honesty--i love it! i know it's not hurting me, so i don't see a problem with it...unless we decide to have another kiddo, then i'll have to change somehting!

Joblin, you truly are from the Land of Snow and Ice!  We're in North Dakota, but we had snow this morning, so while I must concede that you are from the Land of Greater Snowiness and Iciness, snow at the end of May qualifies us in my mind.    I absolutely love it here.  After 10 years of following my husband to the jungle and then the desert, it is so GOOD to feel cold, crisp air again. 

Goobergirl, love the handle, and thanks for the input.  Were you ever subject to hormonal mood swings? 

I guess that's the question:  Can amenorrhea be a partial cure for hormonal nuttiness? 

Magic, the same question to you -- was your wife ever a PMS nut case? 

Not everyone has this problem, and I didn't until our middle Viking came along.  Now I wish for the sake of our family that I could go live in a cave for a week every month.  LOL

I have problems with PMDD and have been trying to find a natural remedy to help with the moodiness and other symptoms.  I came across this web site that has a lot of good information.

HTH! 

http://www.womentowomen.com  

Mel 

From what I understand (which means just that, being that I have no formal knowledge of anything, except that I read Taking Charge of your Fertility):

1) Consistent amenorrhea due to exercise is pretty extreme. There might be something else contributing.

2) PMS is a little understood beast. For instance, since you don't truly menstruate on BCPs (you just have estrogen withdrawal bleeding), you would expect PMS to go away, but this is not the case.

3) In my experience these things vary greatly from woman to woman. I would expect that the experience some people might report here could be vastly different from what you experience. Or it could be exactly the same.

There's just so much going on that you never know what or how much you're affecting when you change one little piece of the puzzle. That said, I can't imagine that exercise could be bad for your PMS, so good luck trying to tame it!

And since this rambling was mostly useless, I'll add one recommendation. I (and my husband) find PMS easier to deal with when I know exactly when it's coming. I chart my cycles to avoid pregnancy and have found it super easy and insightful. Contrary to popular belief, charting is extremely useful for irregular cycles as it can demystify what's happening and let you know when/if Aunt Flo is finally visiting! Google Taking Charge of your Fertility for info.