357. From Rock Bottom to Recovery: How Lucy Got Her Period Back After a Lifelong ED
The Hypothalamic Amenorrhea PodcastShow Notes
In this episode, I sit down with past client and HHAP graduate, Lucy C, to share her powerful recovery story from a long-standing eating disorder and hypothalamic amenorrhea. Lucy opens up about how her eating disorder began early in life as a response to bullying, and how it evolved into a severe coping mechanism that impacted both her physical and mental health for years. In this episode we cover: The reality of living with a severe eating disorder Navigating recovery while following a vegan lifestyle The moment Lucy surrendered to the recovery process and allowed her body to change How weight gain played a crucial role in both her mental and physical healing Being advised to go on HRT and how she navigated that decision What actually helped her restore her cycle after years of HA
Lucy also shares what it’s been like stepping into the role of a practitioner through the HHAP certification, and how she now supports other women on similar journeys. This episode is a reminder that no matter how long you’ve been struggling, you are not too far gone to heal.
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More from The Hypothalamic Amenorrhea Podcast
In this episode we answer listener questions that range from: - I used to menstruate at X weight, why not now? - Cycling going backward when REDUCING coffee, is this possible?! - How does BC affect lab work & more - and we address a listener comment from a past episode, explaining that honestly, having HA probably isn’t very feminist either.
If you’ve ever thought, “I’ll do what it takes to get my period back…I just really don’t want to gain THAT much weight,” you’re going to relate to Ali. Ali spent years in and out of recovery, sometimes bleeding, sometimes not, but never really letting go of the food control or trusting her body. And when she finally decided she wanted to become a mom, she had to face the thing she’d been afraid of since childhood...allowing her body to change without knowing exactly where it would land. We talk about her years of “quasi-recovery,” trying to find a way to recover while staying thin, the very real fear of weight gain, and what changed when she finally said, essentially, screw it, I’m doing this. Once Ali went all-in, she got her first period in about 50 days, ovulated, and eventually got pregnant on her third ovulation. If you’re currently trying to figure out how to recover without having to fully surrender to recovery…this episode is for you.
Mady thought she’d go all-in on HA recovery, get her period back in 3 months and move on with her life. Instead, recovery took about a year and forced her to completely rethink health, her identity as the “healthy girl,” weight gain and her need for control. Ironically, it wasn’t until she stopped making recovery the center of her life and started actually LIVING again that her period finally came back.
You've lost your period, you know you're not pregnant... the good news is it's probably just something called hypothalamic amenorrhea. Easy to understand and simple to resolve but surprisingly difficult to actually execute. In this episode we walk you through why you should be relieved that it's not something else like polycystic ovaries, premature ovarian insufficiency or early menopause and how to approach it!
You've gained weight, you've been eating more food consistently, you've even reduced or stopped working out. This isn't making SENSE! I get it and as a coach who works with many women with amenorrhea all of the time, this isn't an uncommon concern.