This Is How My Last Menstrual Cycle Went! How Did Yours Go?

It is always interesting to me how our hormones fluctuate which in turn affects the way we feel physically and mentally. While everyone is different in how they respond to hormones, there seems to be many people who have similar experiences throughout their cycles.

I decided to keep track of how I feel each day of one of my cycles and I will be sharing that in this post.

First, what are our hormones doing day-to-day in our menstrual cycles?

There are general ideas of how and which hormones change during the days of our cycle. This cycle of events leads to the possibility of getting pregnant. We still have to deal with the feelings that can come with the changes even if we do not want to be pregnant.

Here is what our hormones do in a 28-day cycle-

• Days 1-7: This is the time in our cycles where women typically bleed. Estrogen rises during these days which may cause some relief in regards to PMS symptoms (if you get them). Some women still experience aches, pains, fatigue etc. throughout their bleed though.
• Days 8-14: On these days, estrogen keeps rising along with testosterone. For many women, this means that they are in a good mood and have a good amount of physical/mental energy. Some women are sensitive to high levels of estrogen though so they may experience things such as bloating, breast pain, headaches, mood swings and decreased sex drive.
• Days 15-22: These days are when progesterone rises. Testosterone and estrogen then drop with estrogen rising again towards the end of this time period. The higher progesterone level may make women feel calm and have an increase in hunger. It also causes us to burn more fat. If women are sensitive to progesterone they may experience rashes, hives, acne, nausea, bloating, fatigue, extreme hunger, anxiety, headaches and depression.
• Days 23-28: These are the days when estrogen and progesterone decrease. Many women feel varying intensity levels of PMS but also have a little more energy than days 15-22 because of the progesterone being down.

Everyone is different. While many women have a 28 day cycle, there are many women who do not. They can have shorter or longer cycles. Also, some women do not get their periods regularly due to medical conditions (PCOS!).

My last cycle

I documented the cycle I just finished up. Some of my cycles include pretty bad symptoms and other cycles are mild all around. This one was on the milder side.

Here is what my days were like:

Day 1: Period starts with a moderate flow. Felt like my organs were going to fall out of my vagina and my back felt achy. Happy mood with a good amount of energy.

Day 2-3: Moderate flow. Happy mood with a good amount of energy. Decreased appetite.

Day 4: Mild flow. Weepy for some reason.

Day 5-7: Period ended on day five. Sad and bloated these days.

Day 8: Gassy and irritated.

Day 9-13: Happy, self-confident, motivated and had lots of energy.

Day 14: Stabbing pain in my left ovary but still happy. I took 40 mg of hemp (watch out for a post on that!) to reduce the pain.

Day 15: Very nauseated.  

Day 16-18: Happy mood, appetite and energy increase.

Day 19-20: Insomnia, very motivated and happy.

Day 21: Really hungry and mellow.

Day 22-23: Quicker to irritation, chin zit showed up and felt really hungry.

Day 24-26: Insomnia, happy mood, lots of energy (mentally and physically) and bloated. Craving chips and orange chicken with basmati rice.

Day 27-28: Chills with no fever, random body aches, mild headache, happy, mellow and bloated.

In documenting this cycle, I can see that I had post-menstrual syndrome (days 5-8). This means that I did not ovulate the cycle before this one.

I always experience one day during the month where I feel really sick to my stomach. My documentation shows that it occurred on day 15 of my cycle. This is the day when a women’s progesterone rises. I am thinking that I am sensitive to this hormone rising sharply which triggers the nausea.

Also, day 27-28 may look as if I was getting sick (flu or COVID-19) but it is actually normal for me. Some other women have those kinds of “flu feelings” before they start bleeding too.

I plan on keeping track of each day during the cycle I am on now just out of curiosity and to see if there are any patterns.

This was really interesting to me

It was not very hard to mark down what I was experiencing each day and it was interesting looking back on everything. Hormones are crazy things!

I love to read about how hormones effect other women so do not hesitate to share!

Thanks for reading!

Good Sources-

https://iapmd.org/hormones-and-pmdd

https://www.pmscomfort.com/pms-pmdd-symptoms/

Hormonology Reference: A list of hormone and cycle studies

#hormones  #periodproblems  #womenshealth #menstrualcycles  #periods  #pms  #pmdd