Lara Briden - The Period Revolutionary
Leading the change to better periods and hormones
The role of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome in common menstrual problems such as PCOS, heavy periods, and perimenopause. Hyperinsulinemia or high insulin can impair ovulation and increase androgens in polycystic ovary syndrome. It can also cause progesterone deficiency, anovulatory cycles, and increase the thickness of the uterine lining contributing to heavy periods.
Every time I tweet my concern about women losing their periods to a low-carb or keto diet, I get a lot of angry responses.
“It’s purely anecdotal,” men explain to me. “There’s no known mechanism, so it can’t be happening.”
Except it is happening. Ask anyone who works with young menstruating women. Or not menstruating, as the case may be.
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Sometimes a patient tells me she had only a salad for dinner. Or, even more puzzling: A green smoothie.
I could never do that. I’m tired at the end of the day. I’m hungry. I need a substantial dinner such as roast chicken with potatoes, vegetables, and butter. I honestly cannot imagine sitting down with just a cold green salad.
I don’t think I’m different from other women. Women get hungry. Women need food.
The pill was an important step in our struggle to legalize contraception. I celebrate that, of course. Hormonal birth control can also be medicine for debilitating conditions such as severe endometriosis and very heavy periods. I celebrate that.
What I don’t celebrate is the distorted message that hormonal birth control is the only birth control. And I don’t celebrate its widespread prescription as “hormone balance” for any hormonal symptom that might arise in women and teenage girls.
I invite you to think differently about polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and the types of PCOS.
PCOS is not one thing. It is not one disease. Instead, PCOS is a set of symptoms, with the key symptom being impaired ovulation which leads to androgen excess or a high level of male hormones. Androgen excess then causes the common PCOS symptoms of hair loss, hirsutism, and acne.
To treat PCOS you must first ask: “Why, in your particular case, do you not ovulate?”