Burnout Hormones

 A big piece of my life has to be put into the little efforts done here and there. Somehow what seemed like normal little steps as a kid or even a growing teen now feel like a chore to do. Somehow it suddenly takes energy to do things I'd have done so readily had it been just a little while ago. My own little explanation behind this personal tragedy is the pressure of college admissions sitting on my shoulder and maybe that's the one big boulder sitting right between me and my little smile. 

Now I don't necessarily come from the kind of family structure that supports you to be a hyper- creative free living human being and i don't necessarily like the idea of calling myself a depressed child who feels under-noticed or maybe unnoticed in her own home but somehow that seems to be exactly the scenario we're dealing with at the moment, so maybe let's dive a little deeper into my frustration but properly - by talking on the topic at a broader scale. But the problem seems to be that I don't want to seem like a bore who's only always talking about the differences and parenting levels involved with younger and elder siblings so I'm going to have to pick a different topic, or honestly the topic that really did cause the whole breakdown a lot more than a simple exam ever could. 

Somehow at the points of your life that you're high on pressure or running on strict and annoyingly inhumane deadline, my one very favorite visitor decides to drop by~ People call it a period for it causes you to be pretty horrible for some PERIOD of time. I rather like to think it causes you to be horrible every living day of your life until it goes away at mid-age, leaving you with a horrifying mid-life crisis that rather seems like a canon event to maturing as a woman. But that's not the point~ yet let me introduce you to the science in case just by some chance you're living in the 21st century without basic knowledge.

SO ~ Every woman bleeds for a period of 5-7 days (as per the average numbers) for a cycle of about 28-30 days, depending on their body and environment and all the multiple factors influencing it. But basically, for those 5 days the body is on an all-time low in terms of hormones, more properly so the feel good, uplifting~ or rather essential organs of the female body - estrogen and progesterone. The story starts way before but for simplicity the flow of blood is taken a s the first sign of the menstrual cycle, since that's how females really realize they've hit the hell-end of puberty. 

The first five days are considered the menstrual or bleeding phase when the body is at a horrifying all-time low on all four major hormones responsible for this cycle- namely FSH, LH, Estrogen and Progesterone. For those 4-5 days, the inner lining of the uterus (or womb) disintegrates and reintegrates itself back together like a darn wound of some sort other than this one's internal, professionally designed to hurt just a little (a lot) more. There's this thick layer of muscle underneath this lining that contracts rigorously in great attempt to push all that excess blood and dirt out. And that's what is happening inside a woman when she's complaining so badly about her cramps, and the utter fall in her cute little hormones estrogen and progesterone is what's responsible for those weird and outworldly cravings.

We'll just move to the better part of this cycle, both for the one experiencing it and the one reading this. It's the second phase of the cycle - also known as the follicular phase, and as the name would suggest, it's the phase when the follicle or rather ovum (layman language - egg) finally starts developing under the influence of FSH and LH, the Follicular Stimulating Hormone and the Luteinizing Hormone, and slowly as the follicle develops and matures, the body starts to feel better, more healed and it starts to really get better when a few days in, the growing follicle starts to release estrogen and progesterone (yep, the magic hormones) and then as if some kind of beautiful dream, your mood and the magic hormones peak at the 14th day, "Liberation Day" or ovulatory day when the ovum gets released from the ovary. 

Here's the third phase, which of my experience is truly the bad part, one for how long it lasts and two, for how tiring it is~ The Luteal Phase. The luteal phase is when the ovum is in your tracts and a few days in, the cute little egg eventually dies. That's when the body falls to miserable mode mini, when estrogen undergoes its second and final peak and this period somehow lasts 14 whole days, and fun little fact - it is the longest and only fixed period of the whole cycle, so while you can be robbed the joy of a long follicular phase~ baby you're living the 14 days of slow mood killing and horrifying mood swings very well. PMS or Pre-Menstrual Syndrome comprising of fatigue, mood swings, demotivation and an overall loss of energy is a very well described all commonly experienced part of the luteal phase.

Now that those 14 days do get over, the little bit of hope and progesterone present in your body finally fall too, leaving you with the pit of your despair and your very enjoyable 21st century elder daughter with internalized misogyny life. BOOM. 

P.S. Question for all my girls, just me or does it somehow feel like your intestines are bursting the day before your period arrives.

P.S. 2. It is, by the way, very normal for the body temperature to raise around the fourteenth day of the cycle, causing minor discomfort

P.S. 3. In more advanced studies, the cycle is divided into four phases (refer to provided image), this is merely the basic level I was taught at the moment.

Love Love,

Rashima <3