The 5 Most Common Symptoms of Hypothalamic Amenorrhea
Hypothalamic amenorrhea is when you no longer have a menstrual cycle after having had one before. Skipping one or two periods once a year or two isn’t amenorrhea, it’s typically just a delay in your ovulation.
Once you’ve been missing a period for 3 months onwards and you’re not pregnant, it is classified as amenorrhea.
Some common symptoms of HA include:
1. Not having a period: This is an obvious one, but can often be misdiagnosed as PCOS. Read up on how to know if you have PCOS or HA here.
2. Cold hands and feet: Are you always cold? When your body doesn’t have enough energy/resources to function optimally it starts to down-regulate “nonessential” functions such as digestion, reproduction (your period), and keeping you warm. Instead, our body will prioritize things like our lungs and heart if its energy needs are not met. And so, lowering your body temperature is a mechanism the body uses to conserve energy in order to keep you alive.
3. Hair loss/Hair thinning: Have you noticed clumps of hair in the shower drain or in your hairbrush lately? Hair follicles require energy to maintain and produce healthy hair and are hypersensitive to stress. Just like keeping you warm is a “non-essential” function, so is hair growth and you might experience hair thinning.
4. Frequent urination: Are you making frequent trips to the bathroom, but you haven’t increased your water intake? Well, when we have HA, our hormone levels are extremely low, and chronically low levels of estrogen can increase your need to pee. This is because there are estrogen receptors in the bladder and the urethra, and when estrogen levels are low it can cause atrophy of the uterine lining. In other words, thinning of the bladder.
5. Low libido: This can look like being less interested in sex, having painful sex, or feeling less attractive. When the body perceives it’s under stress and is struggling to use its resources to simplify survival, then our sex drive will drop. This is because the body doesn’t have enough energy to spare to grow and support another life if you were to get pregnant.
How to start recovery:
Don’t worry all of the above symptoms are reversible, including your HA! The body just needs the resources and the right environment to function optimally again.
If you’re overwhelmed and don’t know where to start in HA recovery, don’t stress, I’ve got your back! I created a FREE 7 day challenge to help you tackle everything from nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, and mindset! Giving you all the tools you need to commit to recovery and get your period back.
If food is your fixation check out our FREE Mental Hunger Mindset Mastery Workshop! You’ll receive 5 days of recorded video sessions to help you master your hunger and have the tools to work through future challenges in HA recovery.
For additional support consider 1:1 coaching or join our community support group, The HA Society!
My team and I have worked with hundreds of women to help them restore their periods both as a part of our membership program and as 1:1 coaching clients.
