not just running that can be a problem. Any intensive exercise can have the same effect. Many women that I see are training like athletes, then running off to their full-time jobs, families and social commitments and it can be too much for their bodies to cope with. They can also be putting themselves in a calorie deficit if they’re not eating enough, which takes us back to dietary factors. All of this – and how to address it – is discussed further in Chapter 15.
Post-Pill amenorrhoea
After stopping the contraceptive Pill you will have your usual bleed, assuming you stopped at the end of the pack. But when is your next period going to come? That’s the million-dollar question. Some people will go back to having a regular cycle pretty much straight away. Others sit and wait … and wait … and wait some more. And in my experience, this is much more common than the textbooks say. But if the Pill is out of your system after a day or so, why does this happen? There is no single answer. It’s likely to be a combination of three factors:
The Pill essentially takes over your natural hormones, so it can take some time for them to get back into sync to the point where they can resume ‘business as usual’.
The triggers for hypothalamic amenorrhoea (see here), which I find to be very common.
The possibility of an underlying problem such as PCOS, which has been masked by the Pill.
Premature menopause
Also referred to as premature ovarian failure/insufficiency (POF/POI), premature menopause is actually a misnomer. You run out of eggs when you go through the menopause, whereas with POF/POI your ovaries stop responding, despite still having eggs on the shelf. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve had women come and cry in my clinic room, convinced this is happening to them when their period has gone AWOL. It takes a very simple blood test to confirm or refute the diagnosis (oestrogen levels will be low and FSH will be through the roof) and, thankfully, it’s pretty uncommon, affecting about 1 in 100 women before the age of forty, and 5 in 100 before forty-five (the average age in the UK for menopause being about fifty-one years). It tends to run in families, so asking your mum when she went through the menopause is helpful.
Hormonal diseases
PCOS is the most common hormonal disorder that can affect your periods and is discussed at length below. Diseases associated with hormones that seem unrelated to your ovaries can also have a dramatic impact due to the interconnection of the hormonal system as a whole. Thyroid disease (high or low levels) is particularly common in women, and changes in thyroid hormones have both a direct and indirect effect on female hormone levels, which can change the timing of your periods and also how heavy they are (see here). A thyroid blood test can be done by your GP, and this can reveal thyroid problems in many women. Type 1 diabetes (where your body is unable to make insulin) and type 2 diabetes (where your body becomes less responsive to insulin) are both associated with irregular cycles due to the interaction of insulin and female hormone production.9, 10 Type 2 diabetes can also be associated with PCOS, as described below. There are, of course, other hormonal diseases which, although less common, will be checked with blood tests.
Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)
This is the most common hormonal disorder seen in women, with some studies suggesting that up to 1 in 5 of us is affected. It is diagnosed based on the presence of two out of the following three characteristics known as the Rotterdam Criteria:
Irregular or absent periods
Signs of excess male hormones including excess body/facial hair or acne or high levels on a blood test
Polycystic ovaries seen on an ultrasound scan
PCOS does not typically cause pain. Polycystic ovaries are often seen on scans to investigate lower abdominal pain, but are not the cause of this pain.
What causes PCOS?
PCOS is a syndrome (i.e. a collection of symptoms), so it’s not the same cause in everyone. It is a complex mash-up of your in-built genetics, epigenetics (which is how genes are turned on and off) combined with environmental aspects of how we live our lives now.
One of the key features of PCOS is insulin-resistance, which is found in about 70 per cent of sufferers. This is when your body is able to make plenty of insulin (one of the key hormones responsible for keeping your blood sugar under control), but your tissues are less sensitive to it, and therefore you have to ramp up production to maintain the same response. The problem is that insulin forces your ovaries to convert oestrogen to the male hormone testosterone, which stops ovulation (goodbye regular periods) and gives you all the fun hormonal side effects (hello acne, excess hair, mood swings …). Blood tests and ultrasound scans are carried out to confirm it and rule out other causes of the symptoms.
So what causes PCOS in those who are not insulin resistant? The adrenal glands. As well as making cortisol, and the fight-or-flight hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline, they also make testosterone and its precursors, resulting in the same effect on your ovaries.
Management of PCOS
A lot of women are understandably disappointed to hear that there is no cure for PCOS. But there are plenty of ways to treat the symptoms, both through lifestyle changes and prescribed medication:
Lifestyle intervention
Every guideline I’ve ever come across for PCOS cites ‘lifestyle intervention’ as the first-line treatment, although doctors have not always been famed for giving the best lifestyle advice. Thankfully, times are changing and there is a new wave of doctors coming on to the scene, led by the likes of my friends Dr Rupy Aujla, Dr Hazel Wallace and Dr Rangan Chatterjee (see Resources), all of whom dish out great lifestyle tips via their social-media platforms and chart-topping podcasts, so check them out.
Several years ago, a hugely overweight twenty-two-year-old came to clinic for advice about PCOS as she was planning on getting pregnant in the next few years. I spent about fifteen minutes talking to her all about lifestyle interventions that she could undertake. I gave her so many in-depth, practical tips and tricks that she could use to improve her PCOS and, in turn, her long-term health in general, which is so important for anyone planning a pregnancy, with or without PCOS. My heart sank though when she looked at me and said, ‘But can’t you just prescribe me a tablet to sort it all out?’ Granted, these interventions are not easy, requiring some hard work and diligence at times, but you will reap the benefits in the long term because they can reduce the risk of the complications of PCOS, including type 2 diabetes and heart and vascular diseases, which are some of the major causes of death and chronic-health issues in the Western world.
Here is a summary of the advice that I give to my patients (see Part Five, here for more details).
Weight loss Many patients are surprised when I tell them I’m not going to ask them to lose weight. Weight loss is one of the most effective ways to help the symptoms of PCOS (reducing fat reduces insulin resistance, which is the main driver of the condition), making your cycles more regular, increasing the chance of a healthy pregnancy, improving acne and reducing the risk of diabetes and heart disease in the future.11
