How I Healed From Hypothalamic Amenorrhea

Hypothalamic Amenorrhea (cessation of menstrual cycle due to "stress") is something that I struggled with for years. At first it was hard for me to open up about, but I found that the more I did, the more I was able to connect with other women who were dealing with the exact same thing. I recovered my menstrual cycle on January 12, 2018. 🤗This is a topic that many women deal with - but IMO it's not discussed as much as it should be!!⠀To summarize my diagnosis: I was on the pill from ages 12/13-24ish for bad menstrual cramps. I went off the pill around 24 and did not get my cycle back. I went on/off the pill for a few more years before going off completely at age 27/28. I didn't get my menstrual cycle back and the only explanation my doc had was HA. I then decided to take matters in to my own hands & focus on healing my body MYSELF.⠀For more on my story - check out this post.At age 28 I read several 📚 and talked with many women who recovered. It seemed that eating more, stopping/reducing exercise & managing stress were 🔑. It was then that I also started studying for my Holistic Nutrition certifications and discovered even MORE -- why this was happening to me and why "just going back on the 💊" was not going to be helpful.⠀HA is caused quite literally by "stress", whether it be the stress from overexercising, undereating, mental/emotional etc. Most women have experienced a taste of this if your cycle has ever gone missing/been late due to a stressful life event.⠀Essentially, the Hypothalamus (a gland in your brain), senses that the environment is not safe enough to bear a child - thus ovulation & menstruation cease.⠀It took me just over 1 year to recover. There were times where I stopped exercise altogether, there were times where I exercised normally. There were times when I ate 2000-4,000+ calories/ day, there were times when I ate less. ⠀Being the spiritual person that I am, I found that for me - while eating more, putting on weight and managing stress were absolutely pillars of my recovery - what Ibelieved ULTIMATELY got me 2 heal is that I stopped trying 2 force myself into the "mold" of what recovery "should" look like - and instead I prioritized listeningtomy own intuition.               Please note that everyone's situation and everyone's recovery will look different. For me, I was able to recover while exercising - but this is not always the case. I encourage you to speak with your trusted health care practitioner (and do your own research) about what the best approach is for you.