My wife asked me to post this question. Inspite of being on an ocp she gets mid cycle bleeding especially after hard training weeks or races. Ultrasound is normal. Originally on Alesse now Marvelon but still having problems. Body fat is low 15% and she’s healthy. What to do?
Peter
Is her doctor concerned? If not, then I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s common for athletic women to have irregular menstrual cycles. Perhaps she should keep a log of when this happens so she can see if there’s a specific pattern.
Dawn
with body fat that low it is not uncommon for menstrual issues to develop. i have a friend that stopped getting her cycle at 19%. it is not uncommon for when women reach 15% or lower, the cycle stops or becomes irregular.
alesse has a low hormone content, and i don’t know about the other one. having one level of hormone is a way to prevent breakthroughs (in comparison to say orth tri-cyclen), but these pills are one level of hormone through the pack i think.
her doctor might suggest putting her on a higher level of estrogen, but there have been studies showing that as a woman gets older higher estrogen isn’t really beneficial. so, i’m stumped.
She does need to keep an eye on nutrition if that’s happening. Exercise-associated amenorrhea (no periods) is associated with a loss in bone density, so even if she’s having no other obvious health problems from it, she needs to increase her calcium consumption.
Lower bone density can cause both short term (more injuries) and long term (osteoperosis) problems so it is something you need to watch out for. Those Viactiv chews actually aren’t that bad as long as you don’t have an intensive hatred of tootsie rolls.