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Common Misconceptions About The Menstrual Cycle - Health - Nairaland

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The Menstrual Circle And How It Take Place / What Is The Effect Of An Unstable Menstrual Cycle? / Shortening The Menstrual Cycle (2) (3) (4)

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Common Misconceptions About The Menstrual Cycle by outseba(m): 5:24pm On Oct 24, 2014
I usually am not the writing type, but events have actually pushed me into writing this (especially on nairaland). I am a medical doctor and the event actually brought to the fore, a trend that actually is disturbing. A trend amongst ladies especially as it concerns there menstrual Cycle(s). I was sitting in my consulting room and in came this married lady with 2 children (the latest just 17 months old); wanting to know how she would naturally avoid pregnancy without recourse to pills (a form of contraception). In my quest to extract information about her menstrual cycle she popped out a pamphlet which she says she has been using to some extent to stay away and according to her works for her but when I took a look at this pamphlet I was amazed and astounded. My amazement prompted this write up.

The pamphlet was a 20-25 paged simply type written compendium, composed by someone who (if I would exclude financial reasons) wanted to really help ladies/women out there. But honestly and with all due respect to the author (if he/she really is a health care practitioner) it was absolutely misleading. I asked myself a lot of questions; was this write up scrutinized before been sold to the public? Did the author have it in mind the nature of his/her audience? (Especially the not too literate). I will not bore us with details but I am going to pick up some menstrual cycle misconceptions and try to see how much justice I can do to correcting them.

First and foremost before you ascribe your “period” or “flow” to be abnormal, it is important to establish what a normal flow pattern is like. Normal menstruation or menstrual periodic flow follows 2 patterns; a crescendo/decrescendo (L-H-M-L-VL) and a decrescendo[i][/i] (H-H-M-M-L) pattern (Medical and Surgical practice of NaProTECHNOLOGY). If your menses does not follow these 2 patterns then you may have an issue. (L=Light. H=Heavy. M=Moderate. VL=Very light).

Not all women have a perfect 28 day cycle;
In the pamphlet, the author always noted that most women would likely ovulate on the 14th day after they begin their periodic menstrual flow. Please that’s a fallacy. The author even went on to advise women who would like to have sex and still avoid pregnancy to count 14 days after their commencement of their flow and add a week to it. That is if a woman sees her period on the 1st of a month, she would ovulate on the 14th of that month and a week later she would be free to have sex without fear of pregnancy occurring. That to me was the peak of deception. No wonder then the increased rate of abortions because the above advice fails 100 percent. The author did not put into consideration the fact that some women have long cycles, others have short cycles. Also the author failed to note that it is absolutely normal to have a cycle length ranging from 21-35 days. The author also did not factor in this true fact too; that the pre-ovulatory phase of the cycle is actually variable compared to the post-ovulatory phase which is consistent. In fact It has been observed that a minority of women actually have a perfect 28 day cycle and as such the 28 day cycle theory should not be used for all women. The menstrual cycle is individualized and should be treated thus, in fact it is even said that a set of twin girls may not even menstruate on the same day despite sharing the same genetic coding. Also, it is rare to see a woman having exactly the same number of days in her menstrual cycle almost repeatedly in a year. In fact to sum this up, the menstrual cycle is the most regularly irregular occurrence.

No one knows when she ovulates;
This is another funny misconception and I do not attribute this to the author alone. I have come across a lot of women/ladies alike who say things like; “I know the date I ovulate”. “I Ovulate every 14th day after the first day of my flow”. And I take the pains to explain how horribly wrong they are. Most women often point to the whitish discharge (mucus), or the one sided abdominal pain they often elicit, or even a change in body temperature (basal body temperature) and what have you as sure signs that they have ovulated. Please note that these signs in as much as they are present, are not SURE SIGNS of ovulation. They are actually pointers suggesting that events leading to or that may lead to ovulation are taking place. In fact these signs could be seen and the woman in question may not even ovulate (as seen is ovulation defects). Please note that there are only 2 ways ovulation could be diagnosed; the first is by evidence of rupture which follows serial ultrasound scan monitoring showing follicular growth to maturity and subsequent rupture. The second way to diagnose ovulation is pregnancy. Also note that women can actually experience menstrual flow without actually ovulating (some women know this fact) while some women can ovulate and will not experience menstruation.

Once I see my "menses" twice in a month it spells trouble;
Says who? it is not absolutely true, it depends actually on the length of your cycle. We have been informed that a normal menstrual cycle length is between 21-35 days. Now supposing you see your menstruation on the 1st of day September and your cycle length (if you are the type who keeps records) is say between 24-29 days. You are likely to experience your menstrual flow twice in the month of September. Say from the 25th to 30th. Now some women would run into hands of quacks and would be deceived as if something was wrong whereas in actual fact they are fine.

I have not seen my menstrual flow and I think I may be pregnant;
Remember that some of you will experience long cycles. The key to all these misconceptions actually lie in the observation and documentation or rather periodic recording of one’s cycle. Many ladies have fallen into hands of miscreants in the name of performing one voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) whereas in actual fact they may not even be pregnant. If for a reason or the other you have indulged in genital contact you are advised to confirm pregnancy status first. And if for any reason also, your cycle length changes (which happens and its normal) one is advised to wait out the normal 21-35 days menstrual cycle range.

How many days am I supposed to flow?
This is another funny misconception. The normal flow days ranges from 2-7 in fact some school of thought even say 9 days. There are some women who believe anything from 5 days and beyond signifies trouble. The key here is to as much as possible inculcate in the young especially teenagers this periodic documentation. This allows one to be able to pinpoint any deviations.

Ladies should understand that they are actually the key to our (Doctors) understanding of their body language (with respect to the menstrual cycle) irrespective of what we may have read in our medical colleges. As such should always have ready answers and information concerning their menstrual cycles as it goes a long way in easing our efforts in attending to their fertility needs.

I do hope I have helped in a little way to correct one or two impressions. As time goes on if and when I do bump into more misconceptions, I will always let us know so we could take adequate actions.

You can read up this topic and other topics on iamfirm@.com Contributions and comments are most welcome,

thanks.

1 Like

Re: Common Misconceptions About The Menstrual Cycle by Nobody: 5:31pm On Oct 24, 2014
Hmm wat am i doin in dis thread?
Re: Common Misconceptions About The Menstrual Cycle by Abiagirl777(f): 5:38pm On Oct 24, 2014
@ op there is wot we call numbering and summary,it meks ur work less tiring for readers.
Btw,wot u said is all true.
Re: Common Misconceptions About The Menstrual Cycle by Infomizer(m): 6:27pm On Oct 24, 2014
What an edifying piece! About the quack author, the fault is not his/hers but that of the people that patronise them. Folks that fail to recognise authority in whatever endeavor they're pursuing. It's not everything that is printed that should be taken hook, line, and sinker without serious scrutiny, especially when health is concerned. People need to wise up mhen!
Re: Common Misconceptions About The Menstrual Cycle by InyinyaAgbaOku(m): 7:26pm On Oct 24, 2014
front page
Re: Common Misconceptions About The Menstrual Cycle by Funjosh(m): 5:42am On Oct 25, 2014
Am I menstrating
What am I doing here
Re: Common Misconceptions About The Menstrual Cycle by LizNaira: 7:05pm On Oct 29, 2014
She could avoid having sex 7 to 6 days before her period or use contraceptives, some times women with irregular periods will have to plan a week before or after their period also read http://littleladyhealth..com/2014/10/ovulation-and-determining-gender-of.html

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