Hormones and Regular Periods

My period is 6 weeks late. Ive had a pregnancy test (might have transferred things during outercourse) which was negative and Im waiting for some blood test results. I usually have a very regular period, but i thought id ask you ladies how regular your cycles are- as a kind of test of how 'normal' all our hormone levels are. Has anyone had their levels of testosterone and other sex hormones tested? I haven't done any research into the influence of hormones on this condition so I dont really know what Im talking about. I did read that female hormones affect joint pain because around ovulation they make the ligaments holding the pelvis and other bones together relax, which comes in handy for childbirth but can exacerbate conditions based on hypermobility or wonkyness of joints. Why do our bodies have to be so damned complicated? Anyway, fingers crossed god isnt playing cruel jokes on me and giving me forced celibacy for 5 years as well as an accidental pregnancy.

I wanted my hormones tested but the doctor refused, my periods have got alot closer together in the last 2 years but as my Mum was fully menopausal at 45 and I'm almost 38 now I suspect it's my hormones starting to decrease because of that. It's right before and during a period when the ligaments get looser, mine are loose all the time anyway but at that time my pelvic joints are alot worse and more prone to dislocation than at other times. Do you have hypermobile joints normally?

I feel like hormones might have some effect on my condition also, I notice the cyclic patterns, but my doctor seems skeptical. Think I'll ask again if I can get my hormone levels tested, I'd just like to be able to rule it out if nothing else. You'd think doctors would be willing to check up on and test everything when they don't know the cause of a condition, but too often they're resistant to ideas they didn't come up with.

In the book 'When Sex Hurts' by Dr. Goldstein(s) and a psychologist whose name I forget, he says there are three underlying causes of provoked vestibulodynia (VVS). The first is nerve-related, the second is pelvic-floor related and the third is hormonally related. The science behind the last one is pretty interesting. Apparently, when we are all tiny embryos, our vestibules develop from different tissue than the vaginal tissue (I think it's related to the urinary tract system). This different tissue actually relies on testosterone to remain healthy. If you have low levels of testosterone, it can throw the tissue into crisis. One major cause of this is the birth control pill which binds to active testosterone in the blood and deactivates it. Apparently those of us who started on the pill from a young age (I was 15) have an astronomically higher chance of developing VVS (something like 900 x more likely). I'm writing this from memory so don't quote me on it but that's the gist. The Dr. has had a lot of success with hormone modulating creams which increase testosterone in the vestibule but also supply estrogen in the surrounding vaginal tissue. Anyway it seems pretty conclusive that hormones affect V.

It's infuriating isn't it? I've seen quite a few posts from women who improved using testosterone and oestrogen cream mixed but they are all from the U.S and not a single one from the U.K. My doctor was very, very reluctant to give me even oestrogen cream and ended up giving me pessaries instead which didn't work. I know for a fact she'd never consider giving me testosterone cream! I also started on the pill at 15 but haven't been on it for about 6 years now. I've also seen alot of women who took Yasmin with V and VVS and that was the last pill I was on too.

Wow, I was on Yasmin too!!

Did a quick search for "low tesosterone in women" - this is the first result http://www.buzzle.com/articles/symptoms-of-low-testosterone-in-women.html

Pretty interesting, dryness and pain during sex are apparently symptoms of low tesosterone in women, but it sounds like the research is pretty cutting edge.

That book sounds really interesting Zazu, think I'll look into getting a copy.

My copy of that book is winging its way to me right now from Amazon! Another to add to the collection. Andrew Goldstein wrote the foreword in Amy Stein's Heal Pelvic Pain, I posted a link to it somewhere on here, can't remember where but if you find the link you can read what he thinks about treating V with physiotherapy. Or read it in Amy Stein's book of course if you have it!