When we learned about our periods as young women, many of us were taught that your “menstrual cycle” only refers to the days of your period. This understanding is an incomplete understanding of the complex rhythm that goes on behind the scenes in your body that eventually leads to your period. In order to have your period, your body must go through the three other menstrual phases that lead to the days of your period.
When we think of our menstrual cycle as only our period, we are missing a crucial understanding and appreciation for the three other significant cycle phases.
Myth #2: There is no way to know when your period is coming.
Your period only occurs after your body has ovulated, so in order to know when your period is coming, you need to confirm ovulation. While some women have regular cycles with periods that come every 28 days, it is common for things like stress, travel, and overexercise to delay ovulation, and then delay your period.
Because your period is linked to ovulation, if your ovulation is delayed because your body is in a state of stress, then your period will not come. In order to know exactly when your period is coming even if your cycles are irregular, you need to confirm your ovulation by tracking markers such as basal body temperature, cervical mucus, and cervical position, or by using ovulation test strips. Once your ovulation is confirmed, you can count on your period arriving 11-13 days later.
Myth #3: You still have a “real period” on hormonal birth control.
By its nature, hormonal birth control shuts off your body’s ovulation in order to prevent pregnancy (that’s what makes it work!) By shutting this off, your body stops going through the hormonal changes that create, release, and flush out an unfertilized egg. Because of this, the bleeding that occurs while on hormonal birth control is not a “real” period–it is instead what’s called “withdrawal” bleeding, or your body responding to the lack of hormones that happen when you take the placebo week.
What other menstrual cycle myths have you heard? What myths do you want to see debunked?
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