Keisha Shakespeare, Freelance Writer
FLETCHER
THOUGH MENSTRUATION can be quite annoying it is a normal and natural process that occurs in all healthy women (who have not reached menopause), starting from as early as age eight.
According to head of department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Child health at the University Hospital of the West Indies, Professor Horace Fletcher, menstruation is the effluent (material) from the uterus consisting of blood and tissue lining the inside of the uterus. This tissue is what supports pregnancy but if no pregnancy occurs it is shed and regenerated in the next cycle. As such, each month women experience a menstrual cycle.
A normal cycle varies from one woman to another. Some women may have their period ranging from 21 to 35 days. Some bleed for two or three days, some for seven or eight; all these and everything in between are normal. Women with cycles less than this range are regarded as having menses too frequently (polymenorrhoea) and those with cycles longer than this, have menses too infrequently (oligomenorrhoea).
In such cases the woman may have a hormonal imbalance and this is usually due to a problem upsetting the normal balance between the hormones produced in the brain and those produced in the ovary.
A DELICATE BALANCE
Professor Fletcher notes that a normal menstrual cycle is a delicate balance between the brain, the ovaries and the uterus (with important inputs from other organs such as the thyroid and adrenal glands and the fat content of the body). The brain produces hormones that are controlled by environmental factors such as stress. These hormones influence the ovaries to produce the female hormone oestrogen.
"The oestrogen causes the lining of the uterus to get thick and ready for the fertilised egg. If a woman does not get pregnant the cycle starts over after she sheds the lining of the uterus (menses). The ovary also produces progesterone. And in the last two weeks of the cycle progesterone prevents the lining of the uterus from becoming too thick and is also important to maintain pregnancy if this occurs," said Professor Fletcher.
BODY FAT
The ovary also produces testosterone (male hormone because it is higher in men). "These male hormones are important for hair growth and for sex drive. Body fat can change male hormones to oestrogen (female hormone) so fat women sometimes have too much oestrogen and as such they can get hormonal imbalance."
Hormonal imbalance does not only affect fat women but also thin women. In fact, thin women get hormone imbalance because their oestrogen is too low. Professor Fletcher explained that women (athletes, anorexic or very ill women) who do not have enough body fat sometimes do not have a menstrual period for a long time. Also if a woman is stressed she may not have a period.
Hormonal imbalance may be frightening but the good news is some types can be cured. If the imbalance is caused by hormone secreting tumours of the brain, the adrenals, the ovaries or the thyroid gland, then it can be cured. Surgery or radiotherapy can remove the tumour in some cases. However, when there is no tumour then the problem can sometimes be cured by lifestyle changes: reduction of stress, reduction of exercise where it is too much, eating properly, or weight loss by exercise.
Also a balanced diet is important. However, not a rigid one that causes you to lose too much body because the end result is not having a period as occurs in some long distance runners. A diet where you eat excessively and you gain too much body fat can result in having excessive periods. And when a woman gets older this can also cause cancer as excessive oestrogen causes cancer of the uterus.
Professor Fletcher advised that if you think you have a hormonal imbalance, see your doctor.
