1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,840 Hey, I'm hyper mobile and if you're listening to this, I'm 2 00:00:02,840 --> 00:00:06,680 guessing you might be too. Hi, my name is Alex and I'm your 3 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:09,440 hyper mobile host and today on HELP I'm hyper mobile. 4 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:14,200 We are talking all about hyper mobility and your menstrual 5 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:17,280 cycle. So I work a lot with patient. 6 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:19,640 Obviously my my work is all with hyper mobile patients these 7 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:22,440 days, but I work a lot with hyper mobile patients and they 8 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:26,120 seem to more often than not have a variety of period issues. 9 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:28,400 I have patients who have irregular periods. 10 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:31,720 I have patients who have issues with excessive bleeding. 11 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:33,640 I have patients who have issues with excessive pain. 12 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:37,640 People with periods have a lot of issues with them. 13 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:39,800 And there was an article out today actually in the Guardian 14 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:44,800 talking about how often period issues are dismissed by GPS and 15 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:46,880 other medical providers. And this is a huge issue which 16 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:49,200 unfortunately I have to agree with based on what I see in my 17 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:52,880 patients in my work as auk registered osteopath, I'm often 18 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,080 telling my patients ghost. Have you told your doctor about 19 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:57,360 what you've just told me? And they say, yeah, I have. 20 00:00:57,360 --> 00:00:59,240 And they told me that it's normal. 21 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:02,440 Well, do I have news for you? Because it's not normal. 22 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:07,000 Having a lot of period pain and having it really negatively 23 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,400 affect your life. Because for some people it is 24 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:12,840 disabling. They live in fear every time 25 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:14,440 that they're going to have another period happen. 26 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:17,480 Their symptoms are so severe that they can't go to work or 27 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:21,080 school when they're having them. So this is serious stuff. 28 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:24,480 But the Physiology and some of the science here, I think it's 29 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:28,800 really cool and I'm so excited to get into it in detail as 30 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:30,320 well. Today I'll be talking a little 31 00:01:30,320 --> 00:01:33,640 bit about how you can literally read your body. 32 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:36,160 So if you're someone who has periods, you can use that 33 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:39,160 information to help you potentially be able to better 34 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:41,520 communicate with healthcare providers, or at the very least 35 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:44,280 so that you can understand more what's going on with your body. 36 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,240 And of course, throughout this episode, you're going to see me 37 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:51,160 coming back to this idea of test intervention retest. 38 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:54,960 And in my opinion, this is something which every healthcare 39 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:57,240 provider should be doing. I don't care if you're a top 40 00:01:57,240 --> 00:01:59,160 medical specialist. I don't care if you're like me. 41 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:00,800 Maybe you're an osteopath. It doesn't matter. 42 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:03,840 Every single healthcare provider needs to be doing some kind of 43 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:05,560 assessment. Patient comes in with a problem, 44 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:07,640 you assess, maybe it's blood work, if you're a medical 45 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:10,759 doctor, if you're like me, maybe it's a type of orthopaedic test 46 00:02:10,759 --> 00:02:13,240 or active resisted Muscle test or whatever. 47 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:14,600 Doesn't matter. You do some test. 48 00:02:14,920 --> 00:02:17,800 You then do an intervention of some kind, and you have 49 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:20,840 hopefully good reasoning for why you're doing that intervention. 50 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:25,600 And then within a set window of time, you schedule a retest. 51 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:28,520 Do you want to see, was my hypothesis correct? 52 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:31,360 Did my recommendation have a positive effect on that 53 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:35,320 patient's symptoms? So you do test intervention and 54 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:39,480 retest always. But before we go any further, I 55 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:41,560 do want to stress, as always, this podcast is for 56 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:44,240 informational purposes only. This is not medical advice in 57 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:47,120 any way, shape or form as I do not know you or your unique 58 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:49,960 medical history. So on that note, let's get 59 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:52,720 started talking about Physiology. 60 00:02:52,920 --> 00:02:55,440 So many patients who see me, they think they know what goes 61 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:57,040 on in their body when they have a period. 62 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:00,440 They think that all of their bleeds are periods, but they're 63 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:03,480 wrong. So when you have a period, there 64 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:06,320 is a very complex sequence of events that occurs. 65 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:09,840 And before we go any further, I want to clarify that a period as 66 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:13,800 is defined as a bleed following ovulation. 67 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:17,160 So if you're someone who's on hormonal birth control, you're 68 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:19,080 not having periods, you are having bleeds. 69 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:21,400 They're they're technically withdrawal bleeds probably or 70 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:23,920 breakthrough bleeds if you're taking it continuously, but they 71 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:27,760 are not technically periods because a period is defined as a 72 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:32,000 bleed following ovulation. Now, I do also want to say by 73 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:37,440 the way that I'm someone who is not anti a lot of things. 74 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:41,520 I guess I am pro good patient outcomes and I have patients who 75 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:44,040 are on hormonal birth control and that is absolutely the right 76 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:46,520 choice for that individual. I also have patients who are not 77 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:49,520 on hormonal birth control and for those individuals that's 78 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:52,240 often the right choice as well. So I'm just pro people doing 79 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:54,840 what's right for them. OK, because this stuff is all 80 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:56,800 very complicated. It might depend on where you 81 00:03:56,800 --> 00:03:58,680 live in the world, how you handle things or what you have 82 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:00,920 access to. So this is just me speaking 83 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:03,480 about Physiology here, and what you do with that information is 84 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:06,800 up to you. But when you have someone who 85 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:10,080 has a uterus and ovaries and who is not on hormonal birth 86 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:13,600 control, in theory they're going to be having ovulatory cycles. 87 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:16,839 And this happens. And we start the cycle by saying 88 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:18,000 they're going to have a period, right? 89 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:20,880 So they have that bleed. And that bleed will last 90 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:22,640 anywhere from about 3 days to a week. 91 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:25,240 If it's longer than that, that starts to be of some concern. 92 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:27,760 So if you're someone who's having a bleed that's lasting 10 93 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:32,200 days, that's not normal. Now they'll have that bleed and 94 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:36,240 the bleed will stop. And their little, like their 95 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:39,760 usite, their little egg, it will start to mature. 96 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:41,960 And this happens every cycle and they actually compete because 97 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:45,000 your body's trying to find the best one that's that it's going 98 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:47,240 to use in the event that you were to get pregnant. 99 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:50,480 So that little egg starts to grow and get bigger and bigger 100 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:52,960 and the egg is inside something called a follicle and it's like 101 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:54,720 a little home for the egg, a little house. 102 00:04:55,280 --> 00:04:58,920 So at a specific point in that cycle and in a in a textbook 103 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:01,120 normal cycle, it's gonna be cycle day 14. 104 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:06,000 Although people have cycles of varying lengths, that hormonal 105 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,080 threshold is going to be hit. So there will be the right 106 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:11,560 amount of estrogen and a few other things that happen, FSH, 107 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:14,320 follicle, stimulating hormone and so on that 'cause that 108 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:17,320 ovulatory event to happen, it's all or nothing. 109 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:22,480 So if that ovulation occurs, the little egg leaves its home so it 110 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:23,720 it it ruptures from the follicle. 111 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:27,520 And actually it's kind of like a physiologically violent event, 112 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:30,280 and that's why some people do have pain during ovulation. 113 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:33,000 The German word for that is middle middle schmertz, I 114 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:35,920 believe. But anyways, the egg goes on its 115 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:38,320 little journey down the Fallopian tubes to see if it's 116 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:44,280 going to end up becoming being encountering some sperm, to put 117 00:05:44,280 --> 00:05:49,120 it that way, And the follicle in the meantime, it does something 118 00:05:49,280 --> 00:05:53,600 incredible. The follicle within a 24 hour 119 00:05:53,600 --> 00:06:00,720 window turns into a hormone secreting tissue that is 2 to 5 120 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:04,480 centimeters in diameter. It builds its own blood vessels 121 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:07,360 and it starts to secrete progesterone. 122 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:09,480 So just think about this for a second. 123 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:12,800 Not only every time you have a menstrual cycle occur where 124 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:16,640 you've ovulated, Are you creating the potential, you 125 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:19,320 know, for technically, for, for life if you're going to, you 126 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:20,560 know, end up getting pregnant there, right? 127 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:23,920 Like we have that egg forming and that is it's the biggest 128 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:25,960 cell in the body. It's the size of a period of at 129 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:28,360 the end of a sentence. It's a metabolically expensive 130 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:30,640 process to ovulate. Like it's really cool. 131 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:36,120 But the follicle is forming into essentially an an organ almost. 132 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:39,360 It's a set of tissues with a dedicated function to produce 133 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:42,360 progesterone. So you're building like a a 134 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:45,480 little mini organ every month. Every, well, not necessarily 135 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:47,320 every month, 'cause people have cycles of different lengths, but 136 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:50,120 you're building a little mini organ that secrets Progesterone 137 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:53,760 isn't that cool, and in the event that you were to become 138 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:58,240 pregnant, that follicle will secrete progesterone until week 139 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:01,520 10 of the pregnancy, when the placenta can take over. 140 00:07:01,840 --> 00:07:05,440 That's how important that follicle is and it's actually 141 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:09,680 the quality of the the corpus luteum that determines the 142 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:12,920 length of the luteal phase. And that's important 'cause 143 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:15,120 we'll come back to that later. But sometimes people, when they 144 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:17,840 aren't super well, they might have shorter luteal phases 145 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:20,520 because they're not able to make the best corpus luteum. 146 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:24,040 So this is where the Physiology understanding is really, really 147 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:26,440 important. Anyways, the egg will go on its 148 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:29,480 journey and the progesterone that's being secreted from the 149 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:33,640 corpus luteum maintains the environment that is maintains 150 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:34,920 the endometrial lining essentially. 151 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:37,280 So it keeps it there, it keeps everything kind of like pause. 152 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:40,640 So the first part of the cycle, the follicular phase, that's 153 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:42,680 like grow, grow, grow. We're gonna thicken that uterine 154 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:44,400 lining, we're gonna get everything ready. 155 00:07:44,760 --> 00:07:49,320 And then when the when ovulation occurs, everything freezes and 156 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:51,400 that's the progesterone half of the cycle. 157 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:54,040 Now the egg's gonna hang out there. 158 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:57,080 And in the event obviously that it encounters sperm and is 159 00:07:57,080 --> 00:07:59,720 fertilized and we'll go on to have a pregnancy potentially. 160 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:03,360 But in the event that it does not encounter any sperm, it is 161 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:08,160 going to be shed as a period. And that's why that period is 162 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:12,720 defined as a bleed following ovulation, because otherwise you 163 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:14,520 might have something called a breakthrough bleed. 164 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:18,040 So let's say for example, that you're someone who has really 165 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:20,840 long cycles. I'm someone I've had 165 day 166 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:23,240 cycles. I've had 90 day cycles. 167 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:25,920 I now have like normal cycles, which is amazing and I'm really 168 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:28,480 proud of that. But let's say you're someone 169 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:31,680 with long cycles. You might be bleeding every 170 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:35,440 month, but it's possible that those bleeds are breakthrough 171 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:37,640 bleeds and are not actually periods. 172 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:40,440 And This is why you can have people who they're really 173 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:41,799 confused. They say that there's someone 174 00:08:41,799 --> 00:08:43,960 who's trying to become pregnant and they can't get pregnant. 175 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:48,200 It may be because they're not ovulating, because they're not 176 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:50,520 actually having periods, they're just having breakthrough bleeds 177 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:53,120 and they're kind of stuck in that follicular part of the 178 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:56,480 cycle, the pre ovulatory part. And this is another concept 179 00:08:56,480 --> 00:08:59,320 that's really important is that the pre ovulatory part of the 180 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:03,760 cycle can be any length of time. It could be hundreds of days 181 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:06,720 long. There is no limit on that length 182 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:12,360 of that first half of the cycle. However, the second part of the 183 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:14,320 cycle, I shouldn't say half because it's not always 1/2. 184 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:18,080 But the second part of the cycle, the luteal phase, there 185 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:21,200 is a limit on that and that limit is imposed because the 186 00:09:21,200 --> 00:09:23,760 corpus luteum can only survive for so long. 187 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:27,880 It can only do its job for so long and that's why you really 188 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:31,200 will not have a a luteal phase that's longer than 18 days 189 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:37,040 unless if a pregnancy occurs. Now in terms of progesterone, 190 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:40,160 it's a cool hormone and it interacts with your thyroid 191 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:43,640 gland and it starts to affect your metabolism. 192 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:47,400 And This is why females or anyone who has a uterus and 193 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:51,640 ovaries, they do experience a ever so slightly increased 194 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:55,240 metabolism and increased body temperature for that luteal 195 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:57,160 phase of the cycle. Now, to be clear, it's not 196 00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:00,160 enough that you can go eat like a million, you know, cakes or 197 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:03,880 desserts or whatever, but it's it's just enough that we can 198 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:06,120 actually really easily measure it. 199 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:10,280 And this is where we get to body literacy. 200 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:15,080 Now, body literacy is a term which was first used by a female 201 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:16,880 health advocate named Laura Worschler. 202 00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:22,000 And this person, she describes body literacy as being able to 203 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:25,560 not only read the signs of your body, but to derive meaning from 204 00:10:25,560 --> 00:10:26,880 those signs and to interpret them. 205 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:29,840 And it's something which has been present in the female or 206 00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:32,080 people with uteruses and ovaries, this type of health 207 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:35,680 sphere, since 2005. But it's a concept which I use a 208 00:10:35,680 --> 00:10:39,120 lot with my patients. That's why I'm so passionate 209 00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:41,840 about body literacy, because if you learn what's going on with 210 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:44,160 your shoulder, what's going on with your ankle, or why it's 211 00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:47,720 acting that way, it's really helpful for hypermobile people. 212 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:50,000 Because then you know what's happening and you know what's 213 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:51,040 happening. It's less scary. 214 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:55,920 But anyways, back to the female and uterus and ovaries, health 215 00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:59,120 specific stuff. So with body literacy in this 216 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:02,320 context, what you can do if you're someone who's not on 217 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:06,680 hormonal birth control is you can chart your cycle using two 218 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:09,800 easy and accessible. Let's say easy but relatively 219 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:14,520 easy, accessible and low cost biomarkers. 220 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:18,840 You can measure your temperature using a basal body thermometer 221 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:22,280 and you can buy one of those for like 8 pounds £10. 222 00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:25,640 Maybe there are more expensive devices, but it's something that 223 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:27,160 I was able to afford when I was a student. 224 00:11:27,680 --> 00:11:30,800 And the second biomarker, cervical fluid. 225 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:34,240 Some people call it cervical mucus, but being able to chart 226 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:37,600 that biomarker just requires a bit of loo roll as they say 227 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:41,000 here, or toilet paper and being able to assess it visually for 228 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:42,560 the most part, although some people will assess it in 229 00:11:42,560 --> 00:11:46,280 different ways. Anyways, what I have some 230 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:48,840 patients do who are keen to do this and and not it's not for 231 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:51,360 everyone and if it's not for you that's OK. 232 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:56,520 But what some people do is that they will use a method of 233 00:11:57,200 --> 00:11:59,960 charting the signs of their body called the symptothermal method. 234 00:11:59,960 --> 00:12:02,720 So symptom kind of refers to the cervical fluid component. 235 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:05,760 Thermal refers to obviously taking your temperature and they 236 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:08,680 will chart their temperature and cervical fluid findings and it 237 00:12:08,680 --> 00:12:12,440 ends up being a line graph with the temperature and a bar graph 238 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:15,040 with the cervical fluid. And remember how earlier I 239 00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:17,560 talked about how progesterone interacts with your thyroid 240 00:12:17,560 --> 00:12:20,360 gland and how it increases that body temperature? 241 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:22,440 I like, I like to think of it actually as like preheating the 242 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:24,040 oven. You know, bun bun in the oven 243 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:25,760 joke about being pregnant. It's like this is like you're 244 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:31,040 preheating the oven anyways, so by taking your temperature every 245 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:33,960 morning and to be clear, it's not a normal thermometer. 246 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:36,000 You cannot get a normal thermometer, it has to be a 247 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:39,840 basal body thermometer that's accurate to ±0.05 degrees 248 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:41,920 Celsius. If you need to find some, you 249 00:12:41,920 --> 00:12:45,200 can check my Amazon shop. But by charting your 250 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:47,440 temperature, what you will see is in the event that you 251 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:49,360 ovulate, there will be a sustained increase in 252 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:52,440 temperature of 0.2 degrees Celsius. 253 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:56,080 Now we are not robots, there will be some little ups and 254 00:12:56,080 --> 00:12:58,840 downs, but there are specific rules for charting that and for 255 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:01,160 interpreting that data. And again, I will include a link 256 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:04,920 in the description for this and you can of course work with I 257 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:08,560 hopefully your medical provider, your healthcare providers. 258 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:11,720 But if not them you can work with various kind of coaches out 259 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:14,360 there. There are there are actual like 260 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:17,520 certified institutions that exist to support people who wish 261 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:20,800 to do this. And in the UK actually you can 262 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:23,840 supposedly access support for learning this type of charming 263 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:26,120 through the NHS. Whether or not it's actually 264 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:28,040 available, given some of the stresses on the healthcare 265 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:31,440 system right now is I'm I'm not entirely sure of the situation, 266 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:34,760 but that's how scientifically valid this is. 267 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:36,800 And I will always be clear if I'm talking about something 268 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:38,880 holistic, if, if I'm talking about something a little bit out 269 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:42,400 there, I will tell you. But this is hard science. 270 00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:44,840 So you can chart your temperature and in the event 271 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:48,120 that you ovulate, you should see that sustained temperature rise. 272 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:52,680 Now with cervical fluid, what happens is that we start out 273 00:13:52,680 --> 00:13:55,120 with the period. We then have cervical fluid, 274 00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:57,800 which increasingly becomes more fertile and fertile. 275 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:01,440 Cervical fluid, it's clear, it's stretchy, it's lubricative. 276 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:05,240 The way that I have patients assess this is by taking a piece 277 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:09,920 of loo roll and wiping themselves before they go pee 278 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:13,360 when they're using the bathroom. And that way you can see what's 279 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:17,720 going on with your body and when that cervical fluid is looks 280 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:19,760 fertile and there are certain characteristics and certain ways 281 00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:21,840 of charting. And you can go learn more about 282 00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:23,280 this. There's there's a brilliant 283 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:25,480 website called the Cervical Mucus Library actually, if you 284 00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:30,160 need support on that. But what we see is a change 285 00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:32,760 throughout the cycle and the quality of that cervical fluid. 286 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:36,120 And once ovulation occurs it changes all of a sudden and it 287 00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:39,400 becomes kind of like dry and pasty and it's an entirely 288 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:42,800 different texture and it looks visually different as well. 289 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:46,760 Anyways, and I I get that maybe some of you might be squeamish 290 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:48,680 with me talking about this, but this is science like this, this 291 00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:49,920 is how it is. And you know what? 292 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:52,200 I was going to put a disclaimer, but why do we have to put 293 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:54,960 disclaimers on female bodies? Like this is the type of stuff 294 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:58,120 if I had a a 12 year old girl I'd be talking with her about 295 00:14:58,120 --> 00:15:00,680 it. So I think that we need to stop 296 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:02,720 feeling ashamed of how female bodies work. 297 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:07,640 But anyways, you will then have the rest of that post ovulatory, 298 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:10,240 cervical fluid which should have different characteristics and 299 00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:14,400 then eventually that cycle will end and a period will occur and 300 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:16,760 a period marks the beginning of that new cycle. 301 00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:20,680 So that becomes cycle day one. Now this type of charting, 302 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:24,320 what's so awesome about it is firstly it can save lives. 303 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:27,520 I've had patients who after doing this type of charting have 304 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:30,600 have gone on to say, hey, I'm having irregular bleeding. 305 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,120 And to be able to show that to their medical doctor and say 306 00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:35,760 this is not normal for me because these patients now know 307 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:38,800 their normal so well. And to be able to go to your 308 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:41,640 medical doctor and show that and say I'm really worried because 309 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:44,320 I'm concerned about maybe cervical cancer or whatever, 310 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:47,640 this bleeding is not normal. It helps people get listened to 311 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:50,960 sometimes it does seem to help patients be able to access care 312 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:54,280 and it helps to explain what's going on with their cycle again. 313 00:15:54,280 --> 00:16:00,680 Should patients have to be as like educated and as much doing 314 00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:03,160 as much like self advocating as they kind of have to these days? 315 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:04,560 No. Ideally, of course, that would 316 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:06,360 not be the situation. But that's the reality of the 317 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:09,760 situation right now. So it helps you to understand 318 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:11,080 your body. And because it helps you to 319 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:14,080 understand your body, it helps you to speak confidently about 320 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:16,920 your body As well. Though, remember that test 321 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:19,800 intervention, retest model we talked about at the beginning. 322 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:23,240 What I love about having people chart their cycles is we then 323 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:28,240 have a framework through which we can say like, hey, if we add 324 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:32,440 in this supplement, if you start taking myoinositol or whatever, 325 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:34,720 how does it affect your your cycles? 326 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:37,760 Do we start to get a bit of a healthier, longer luteal phase? 327 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:40,440 Do we potentially, you know, maybe are we going to start to 328 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:44,240 see ovulatory cycles like we have now have a way to challenge 329 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:46,200 things? For me personally, there was one 330 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:50,040 time where I was eating in a way that I wasn't getting enough fat 331 00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:53,880 in, and it was really helpful for me to be able to see in my 332 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:56,200 charts in my cycles that I stopped ovulating. 333 00:16:56,200 --> 00:16:59,760 And I said, well, I guess I need some more fat in my diet. 334 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:01,800 So I was literally just like having spoonfuls of peanut 335 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:03,880 butter or whatever it was at the time and that was how I fixed 336 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:06,359 that. So it it gives you a way to 337 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:09,960 check things. Also, I found it handy as well 338 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:13,480 during the pandemic I was able to see, hey, this is like a 339 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:16,599 weirdly high temperature for me. Something's not right here. 340 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:19,000 And so it kind of gave me a heads up in terms of how my 341 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:20,839 body's feeling. It's it's almost like a 342 00:17:20,839 --> 00:17:23,000 barometer. And there are a lot of things 343 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:26,800 that suck about having a uterus and ovaries and periods. 344 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:31,400 There are many things that suck. I do not recommend it, but this 345 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:33,840 is one of the few things that makes me feel bad for my 346 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,400 patients who are unable to do this kind of charting, which is 347 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:40,320 like physiologically not a thing that they can do because it 348 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:43,280 gives you so much information and it helps put you in control 349 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:46,040 of your body. As someone who charts my cycles, 350 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:47,840 I've been doing it for close to 10 years now. 351 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:51,640 I'm excited, like, in the event that I ever got pregnant, I know 352 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:54,840 when that happened because I know when I ovulated within a 353 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:57,000 margin of error of I think like three to five days. 354 00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:01,320 I know if in the future when I go through menopause, I'm going 355 00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:03,880 to see that coming through changes in my cycle, I'm going 356 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:07,120 to be able to chart that change in my body, which is just so 357 00:18:07,120 --> 00:18:09,480 incredible and so beautiful and so cool. 358 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:14,280 You know, I do want to say do not ever trust a machine to do 359 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:17,240 this kind of interpretation for you, especially if you're a 360 00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:19,680 hyper mobile person and especially for someone who has 361 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:24,160 polycystic ovarian syndrome. Because those devices out there, 362 00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:29,080 I don't know if I can name them. But the apps and the little like 363 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:32,320 electronic thingies that just magically tell you what you can 364 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:36,640 do on a given day or whatever, they do not work for people who 365 00:18:37,120 --> 00:18:40,120 are not within that like norm category. 366 00:18:40,120 --> 00:18:42,960 And if you're listening to this I hate to say, but that's 367 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:47,360 probably not you. So I I strongly, strongly 368 00:18:47,360 --> 00:18:50,000 recommend against all of those devices. 369 00:18:51,360 --> 00:18:53,880 The method that I recommend again is the symptothermal 370 00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:55,840 method and it's just using a thermometer. 371 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:59,040 It's using your own ability to interpret and examine your 372 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:02,880 cervical fluid, and it's the ability to make a line graph and 373 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:04,440 a bar graph. And quite frankly, I could have 374 00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:07,120 done this when I was 12. And supposedly they teach 375 00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:10,200 schoolgirls into a few different countries like this type of 376 00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:12,760 thing when they're doing their classes, you know, like their 377 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:15,200 sex Ed or whatever, like they're teaching them how to do this. 378 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:19,600 And it's something that I'm shocked and angry. 379 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:21,240 I was talking with another patient yesterday, and that 380 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:22,960 patient was angry that she never had anyone. 381 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:25,480 Explain this to her. And I you know what? 382 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:28,120 I've It's been a long time since I was angry about it, but I but 383 00:19:28,120 --> 00:19:31,040 I am angry because why are we not teaching this stuff when 384 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:35,880 it's so cool and so and so truly empowering? 385 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:42,320 So anyways, I hope that you've learned something interesting 386 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:46,080 about your body today. I hope that regardless of 387 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:49,280 whether or not you have a uterus or ovaries, maybe the corpus 388 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:52,200 luteum is now your favorite tissue in the human body like 389 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:54,240 mine, 'cause I think it's pretty darn cool. 390 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:58,360 And I hope that if you're someone who is not on hormonal 391 00:19:58,360 --> 00:20:00,920 birth control, or if you're someone who's considering coming 392 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:03,680 off it, of course, as always, please speak with your medical 393 00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:05,120 doctor and do what's right for you. 394 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:08,520 But I hope that maybe this has given you something that you 395 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:11,680 want to look into and learn more about because. 396 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:14,480 Expect for people who just don't know what's going on and things 397 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:17,160 are confusing or they're stopping their hormonal birth 398 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:20,000 control and they they don't really know how their body's 399 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:21,880 going to behave. This can be a nice way to kind 400 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:26,600 of make sense of the hormonal chaos that sometimes happens in 401 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:29,120 different bodies. So if you're looking to learn 402 00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:32,240 more, of course listen to future episodes again, we will talk 403 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,480 more about this and two books. I want to give a shout out to 404 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:37,680 The Period Repair Manual by Laura Bryden. 405 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:40,280 That was the first book I read on the subject and it was 406 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:44,920 hugely, hugely helpful to me. As well as The 5th Vital Sign by 407 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:47,720 Lisa Hendrickson Drax and she also has a podcast called 408 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:50,760 Fertility Friday. And I have listened to most of 409 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:54,400 those episodes and I really recommend especially the early 410 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:57,560 ones because she kind of goes through the details of charting 411 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:01,640 your cycle in those episodes. Anyways, thank you so much for 412 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:03,520 joining me today. This is truly one of my 413 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:07,000 favourite subjects and I look forward to having you join me 414 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:08,400 next time. Take care. 415 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:09,160 Bye.