Why Would I Start My Period EIGHT DAYS Early?

In the month of February, in the middle of my refined sugar detox, I started my period eight days early.

EIGHT DAYS, people. 

This is highly irregular for me. I am, like clockwork, a 25- to 27-day girl. On occasion, I get a 28- or 29-day month. You know how many times I’ve had an 18-DAY month? Never. Not in the past few years, anyway, since I’ve been diligently recording that data in my Life app. Trust me, I scrolled through. No signs of a period shorter than 24 days. In fact, one of the main reasons I didn’t like taking the high blood pressure medication my cardiologist prescribed was the shortened (24 day) cycle. So. An 18-day cycle is highly disconcerting.

Is it normal for my period to come eight days early?

Five to seven days of variation is normal, according to Dr. Anjali Kumar. 

She says if the variation is more than eight days and happens two or three times in one year, then it could be cause for investigation. Since this is the first time it’s happened to me, I won’t freak out yet. However, it’s worth looking into since it’s such an irregularity for me personally.

Can stress cause your period to come early?

Stress affects so many things in our lives. And recently, in my life, stress has upped a notch.

We’re in the middle of a global pandemic. We’ve been teaching our kids from home for almost a year now. Last week, my county was one of the first in Texas to confirm a UK variant of COVID-19. And then, this week, an ARCTIC FREEZE consumed our lives. Today is Friday, and for a week now we’ve been living through rolling blackouts and the fear of losing power completely during sub-freezing temperatures. In Austin. We’ve also feared running out of food, as people panicked and grocery store shelves were emptied, compounded by the fact that some stores had to throw out a lot of perishable items because of the rolling blackouts. Some stood in lines for hours to get into stores, in the snow and ice, only to find the shelves empty.  And now there’s talk of our water supply being affected.

So, lots to stress about.

Our family, specifically, has been very lucky throughout this time. We got an alert saying we were going to have SEVEN DAYS of winter weather. Which is a big deal in Texas. So we ordered an extra round of groceries before the crazy hoarding started. And my husband is retired military and from the Midwest, so his level of winterizing knowledge came in handy. We never lost power completely and the water never froze in our house. So we were a lot more fortunate than some. But it’s definitely been more stressful than normal. Because there was talk of the power grid going out completely, and every time the power went off, we worried it may not come back on. And maybe that extra stress has caused the irregularity in my period.

Am I in perimenopause?

I don’t know. I’m in my 40s. So it’s possible.

Specifically, menstrual cycles of less than 21 days are a sign of perimenopause, which just means menopause is coming, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Could it be my diet change?

In February, I stopped eating refined sugar. Could that have caused an irregular period?

I can’t seem to find a lot of research linking sugar to changes in the menstrual cycle. But, thinking about this logically, sugar affects hormones. And hormones control the menstrual cycle. So there has to be a connection.

According to this article with the Women’s Health Network, “sugar not only provides major highs and lows in mood and energy, it can also disrupt one of the most powerful hormones in the body: insulin. And insulin is closely connected to all of the other hormones in your body, including estrogen and testosterone.”

Before I intentionally cut sugar from my diet, I didn’t think I ate a lot of it to begin with. But what you don’t realize until you take that step is that EVERYTHING has added sugar. Refined sugar is in a lot of things that I didn’t think about before, like canned tomatoes and beans and peas. BEANS! And PEAS!

Maybe it’s a sign of sugar withdrawal? Studies have shown that cutting out sugar leads to symptoms of withdrawal similar to those suffered when quitting drugs like morphine and cocaine. Like these addictive drugs, sugar causes intermittent increases in dopamine. Cutting it out reduces those dopamine levels. At the same time as dopamine levels fall, acetylcholine, which is a neurotransmitter that regulates our perception of PAIN, rises. This is what causes headaches. Other withdrawal symptoms can include anxiety, depression and sleep disruption. All these things can affect your menstrual cycle. So, this might be contributing as well.

Could it be stevia?

I also ADDED some treats with stevia, to satiate my sweet tooth, which was different from my normal routine. In fact, I’m pretty sure I never ate stevia before February. Which led me to wonder: could stevia cause irregular periods?

Just a quick Google search led me to several forums where women were asking this very question. This doesn’t mean stevia is definitely to blame. But it is something to consider. And it means I’m not the only one who has questioned it before.

Generally I like to point to scientific studies, hoping to gain knowledge from those. But the research on stevia so far hasn’t been very conclusive, according to an article from Harvard Medical School.

Also. I found personal accounts of women who had irregular periods while using stevia. Most of them had the opposite problem – delayed or completely vanishing cycles. And according to Global Women Connected, women in Paraguay have used stevia in their tea for centuries as a birth control method.

What else could cause an irregular menstural cycle?

Changes to your sleep patterns – or circadian rhythms – could lead to an irregular cycle. The rolling power outages across Texas have definitely affected my sleep cycle in the past week. And, sugar withdrawal could have contributed to that as well.

Also. My cardiologist gave me a food list – things I should be eating and not eating, based on the antiquated LOW FAT diet plan from the 60s. I’d been studying nutrition for a while, so I was confused about this reversion to what I thought was a debunked strategy. But he was my doctor. So I thought I’d try a few things on his list and see if they worked. One of them was a vegan butter. It tasted pretty good, so I continued to eat it. But when we started Sugar Free February, I read the label and, while there was no sugar in it, there were a lot of other things that weren’t part of our normal healthy routine. Still, I didn’t throw it out. During the past week, when the grocery store shelves were emptied, we ran out of our usual Kerrygold butter. So I started using the vegan butter. One night, I melted some and topped popcorn with it. The next day I started my period super early. Now, this is not a scientific conclusion, obviously. But I’m pointing it out, to keep note of it.

What do I need to do to help my menstrual cycle get back on track?

Dr. Kumar gives some great advice: “Take out some me time, listen to your body, nourish your body well, look after your body well, and move your body well.” She also recommends yoga.

Moving forward, I’ll focus on getting my yoga in, relaxing, and appreciating the return of my electricity. I’ll likely consume stevia in moderation, just in case. And I’ll watch for the next few months, to see how my cycle reacts.

And I have some serious stress relief planned for March. Stay tuned!