Stress of late periods

I have the copper IUD (99% efficacy), I know I miss my period when stressed (I’ve been stressed), I literally write about periods for a living… AND YET, last month when my period was late, I stressed tf out. 

Now, I know that if you’re wanting to get pregnant, it’s the other way around. And I know that some people are on certain contraception don’t have periods.  I even knew that I hadn’t had intercourse whilst ovulating too!!

We automatically, naturally, go to the “worse case scenario”. For many women, for a good part of our lives, the potential of pregnancy is a big extra stress to carry. 

Some men would carry that with us. But if I need to have an abortion (yes, this was going through my mind), it’s my body going through that. It’s my exhaustion, and my physical burden to carry, whether or not the emotional burden is shared.  

Personally, I know that I don’t want to get pregnant for a long while. And, despite having researched and written a lot about pregnancy, it still feels pretty terrifying to me. Perhaps because I feel that no one is honest about pregnancy and motherhood?? 

That’s a whole other topic altogether…

My point is: 

1. There are so many reasons our period could be late / missing: 

🩸you’re stressed

🩸you’ve lost or gained weight

🩸you’re exercising more frequently or intensely 

🩸changes in diet and environment 

🩸medical conditions, such as PCOS

2. Women simply do carry extra reproductive-health-related stress. 

It needs to be recognised, so we can start doing something about it! 

3. These things would be less stressful if we spoke about them.

So here’s me talking about them!