354. I Always Thought I Had Time...Until I Didn't: HA to POI Story w/Laura
The Hypothalamic Amenorrhea PodcastShow Notes
For 17 years, Laura lived without a cycle. She was told not to worry. She wasn’t trying to get pregnant. So she assumed she had time.
She did have hypothalamic amenorrhea. And she believed she could recover whenever she was ready.
Laura joined the Holistic HA Practitioner (HHAP) Certification to better understand her own body. As she worked through the lab modules and we reviewed her bloodwork together, something became clear: Her HA had progressed into Primary Ovarian Insufficiency (POI).
In this episode, we talk about: • Being dismissed because you’re “not trying for kids” • Assuming HA is always reversible • The danger of waiting too long • The moment you realize your window may have closed • The grief, regret, and responsibility that comes with that
This is not a fear-based episode. It’s an honest one.
If you’re living in quasi-recovery, telling yourself you’ll address it “one day,” this conversation matters.
Laura joined HHAP to understand her own labs and that education is what revealed the shift.
Enrollment for the Holistic HA Practitioner Certification opens March 13-17th. Because understanding your hormones shouldn’t take 17 years.
Join The HHAP Program https://www.holistichapractitioner.com/
Join the Mastermind https://holistichapractitioner.com/mastermind
Get the Lab Guide https://thehasociety.com/labguide
Work 1:1 with us to get your period back http://thehasociety.com/coaching
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The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician.
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.