362: I Still Had a Period… So I Thought I Was Fine: Recovery Story w/Jasmine
The Hypothalamic Amenorrhea PodcastShow Notes
In today’s recovery story, Ashley sits down with Jasmine, a psychologist from the UK whose journey challenges the idea that you need to completely lose your period to struggle with Hypothalamic Amenorrhea. For over 10 years, Jasmine lived in the gray area: irregular cycles, delayed ovulation, low estrogen, intense exercise, chronic stress, and constant reassurance from doctors that everything was “fine.” Because she still got periods (sometimes), she convinced herself it couldn’t be HA. But beneath the surface was a body running on stress, control, perfectionism, and chronic under-fueling. In this conversation, Jasmine opens up about: Being dismissed by doctors for years despite obvious cycle irregularities The connection between chronic pain, perfectionism, control, and HA Going from 10 periods a year > 6 periods a year > 70-day cycles CrossFit, running, Hyrox training, and why exercise became emotionally complicated Extreme hunger, weight gain, and the fear of “losing control” Delayed ovulation, temping anxiety, and becoming obsessed with chart data Why recovery wasn’t a dramatic overnight transformation, but consistent forward movement Learning that your body doesn’t need to be your sole source of happiness Recovering physically while also healing your relationship with food, rest, and yourself
This episode is especially for the women who: Still get periods “sometimes” Have long or irregular cycles Feel stuck in denial because they don’t fit the stereotypical HA picture Are high-achieving, Type A, and used to pushing harder for results Know deep down something is off, even if labs come back “normal”
Jasmine’s story is a powerful reminder that you do not need to wait until your period disappears completely to start listening to your body. Sometimes recovery isn’t about one massive breakthrough. Sometimes it’s about consistently not going backwards.
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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.