Unlock Your Cycle: Menstrual Mastery In Minutes

Summit Introduction 0:00

Hey, were your co-hosts of the Beyond Infertility Summit. Dr. Carrie and Dr. Aumatma. And we have an incredible lineup of speakers for you. In addition, Dr. Aumatma and I have created a mini crash course for.

Menstrual Cycle Basics 0:24

You know, every day you can expect a mini lecture from us covering foundational content, helping you gain context and insight before deep diving into the day's interviews. We hope that this will serve as a helpful context to get deeper understanding through the day's interviews. Hi, I'm your co-host, Dr. Carrie Jones. And today we are going to talk about all things menstrual cycle, ovulation, 101 and this is going to be quick because I really want you to understand the basics of how here menstrual cycle works.

So you maybe have noticed in social media or on online education

Follicular Phase and Ovulation 1:01

that the menstrual cycle gets often divided up into two parts, sometimes four parts. So let's walk through how that goes. So the main parts are your period. This is in the follicular phase leading up to ovulation, still in the follicular phase. Then you ovulate, which is where you release the egg. Now that puts you in the luteal phase all the way up to when you get your period again. So let's pretend you have a 28 day cycle the first day that you get full bleeding, not the pre spotting but like oh my periods here bleeding that's considered day one.

Then all the way up to ovulation if you ovulate is the follicular phase. This is where we have follicles on our ovaries and the follicles are what are producing hormones, particularly the estrogen. So it's producing estradiol and estrogen, but estradiol E2 is our big potent one. It's what's doing all the heavy lifting. So then we get this big rise in estrogen we're supposed to, and then it starts to fall and then we get a big rise in this other hormone called luteinizing hormone or LH, where you maybe if you use the ovulation predictor kits or the LH strips, because when that goes up, coupled with the estrogen up and down, we get release of the egg, we get ovulation.

And when we kick out the egg,

Luteal Phase and Progesterone 2:25

the cells on the follicle that have been pumping out your hormones magically turn into this new thing called a corpus rhodium. That's why I refer to it in the second half is the luteal phase. So cells in the beginning are making lots of estrogen cells in the second half, making lots of progesterone. They still make estrogen, of course, but progesterone is the big guns there. So now we have the corpus luteum and that's pumping out all of your progesterone and you should be making MG worth of progesterone.

It's like climbing a super high mountain. That's how much progesterone you should make relative to estrogen at that time. If if you are not pregnant, then all the hormones start to come over the other side of the mountain and go down. That triggers the onset of your next cycle. So first stage is a follicular phase. Second stage is the luteal phase. You will commonly see it, maybe divide it up into four sections because there are some educators will take the period like when you get your when you get when you bleed separate from the section leading up to ovulation

PMS and Cycle Symptoms 3:34

and then ovulation and then after ovulation. So they will break it up into those four sections to just really help people understand what are your hormones doing traditionally? Traditionally, we just call it two things. You're either in your follicular phase, which include your period or you in your luteal phase, which is after ovulation. And so when you can understand this, you can understand how the hormones are shifting depending which phase you're in. So if you're feeling like B, more go getter, more motivated, more ready to lift heavy, more ready to run further, more ready to get things done, and you're in your follicular phase.

The first part makes sense. Estrogen does that in the luteal phase. That's your building phase that you're preparing phase. That's your like craving more carbs phase and that's your slow down phase because the potential is that you're pregnant. And so the body doesn't want to do anything to risk that. And it's building up the inside of the uterus so that you can be nice and fluffy if implant implantation is to occur. This is why you may feel different depending where you are in your cycle. It's also why leading up to your period, if you're not pregnant and those hormones come up and over the other side of the mountain, that you may feel PMS premenstrual syndrome.

It's why you might feel more irritable, which is why you may have water retention, why your breasts are soaring tender. You know, why maybe when you get your period, it's heavier. You have cramps because those hormones were high and now you've come down the other side and the body is reacting accordingly.

Wrap-Up and Summit Closing 5:00

So hopefully understanding this little 1 to 1 will give you and understanding where you are in your cycle, assuming you're turning your cycle and have a pretty good idea. And then which hormone is more dominant? Estrogens are more dominant in the follicular, progesterone is more dominant in the luteal. And then of course you get your period and we start all over again. So it's built out into these phases. So thank you so much for listening. Can't wait for you to enjoy the rest of the Summit.