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I'm Hormonal | Hormone balance, gut health & nutrition insights
Welcome to I’m Hormonal — the podcast where we make sense of your bloating, brutal PMS, and missing periods… without blaming it all on “just stress” or “being a woman.”
Hosted by Bridget Walton, Women’s Hormone Coach, this show is your no-BS guide to decoding your cycle, calming your gut, and actually balancing your hormones (not just crossing your fingers and hoping for the best).
Each week, we break down what no one taught you about hormones, nutrition, and gut health in your 30s — especially if you're tired of guessing what your body is trying to tell you.
Expect solo episodes packed with real talk and root-cause tools, plus the occasional expert guest to help you feel less confused and more in control.
Because you deserve better periods, better digestion, and a better shot at getting pregnant — without burning out trying to figure it all out alone.
I'm Hormonal | Hormone balance, gut health & nutrition insights
4 Things to Try First for Period Pain | Ep. 108
Period pain isn't a normal part of womanhood that we should accept and endure. Up to 71% of women report having period pain, with 45% saying it impacts their daily activities and 30% needing to take days off work.
• Prostaglandins cause normal period cramps by triggering uterine contractions to shed the endometrial lining
• Inflammation from diet, stress, digestive issues or infections can significantly worsen period pain
• Histamine reactions from allergies can increase uterine contractions and nerve sensitivity
• Endometriosis and adenomyosis involve abnormal growth of endometrial tissue and require specific treatment approaches
• Most clients see improvements in their very first cycle after implementing these changes
CONNECT WITH BRIDGET
If you're still under the impression that your period pain is normal, then this episode might piss you off. Did you know that up to 45% of women in studies report that their cramps are so bad they have to skip work? And yet we're taught to just suck it up and push through Mm-mm. No, today I'm going to be breaking down what's actually going on in your body, why this pain isn't just part of being a woman, and what you can do if you find yourself in this boat. Welcome to I'm Hormonal, your source of information about women's hormone health and how to support your body. Naturally, I'm your host, bridget Walton, and I'm a certified functional hormone specialist and menstrual cycle coach. I am on a mission to hold these hormone conversations with as many menstruators as possible because you deserve easier access to accurate information about what's up with your unruly menstrual cycle and with your fertility mysteries. Don't you think it's time that we figure this out once and for all?
Speaker 1:Welcome back to this episode of I'm Hormonal. I'm your host, bridget Walton. I'm so excited and so grateful for you to be here listening today. I know you've got a ton of choices out there, so it's not lost on me that you are here listening to. I'm Hormonal, trying to learn more about your bod, about your hormones and how you can feel better. Now, that is one thing that feel better, now that is one thing that right teased in the intro there that I'm super passionate about is this whole idea of what is a normal part of being a woman. I'm doing some strong air quotes over here because so many of us, myself included, grew up thinking, oh okay, well, when my period comes, I'm just going to have some pain and be uncomfortable and just be bleh, and we're all just accepting that as truth. But actually there is a lot that you can do through your diet, through your stress, through some other things I will be talking about today, to help manage that pain and, ideally, eliminate it right Now. Of course, there are other factors aside from just quote-unquote normal period pain that could be impacting you. I'll touch on that in a bit here as well. But basically, if you're somebody, if you have cramps that are preventing you from doing your normal activities, living your normal life going to work, hanging out with your girls, hanging out with your kids, whatever it is for you then this episode is going to be for you, so you can learn about what causes this pain, what are some potential sources of it, and then I will walk through what are the top four suggestions that I have for you, that I have for clients when they come to me with period pain. So we will get into that in just un momentito here. Before we dive into the good stuff, I just wanted to say welcome. If you're listening to I Am Hormonal for the first time I'm really glad that you found me and if you're back again, or if you've been sharing your favorite episodes, what you've been learning with some of your friends. Thank you so much for helping me to expand the I'm Hormonal community. If you have any questions, if you have any comments, if there's anything that you want to hear me talk about in the future, I would love to hear from you. You can connect with me on Instagram at I'm Hormonal, and that's going to be the best place to be in touch.
Speaker 1:As I was preparing for this episode, I went back and took a look at some stats about period pain. I was disappointed and shocked to see just how high those numbers are. Right, we know that this is quote-unquote common because in conversation with our friends, with people who we know, period pain is a thing, but I couldn't believe it to see that some studies show even up to 71% of women report having period pain. I mentioned 45% of women in a particular study said that their period pain impacted their daily activities. Another study shows that at least 30% of women have needed to take a day off due to their pain, or that 42% of women state that their period pain directly affects their ability to accomplish their work. Now, of course, each study is going to have a slightly different response. There's slightly different nuances. That's why not all of those numbers align. But what they don't touch on is because they can't. What they don't touch on is one under-reporting.
Speaker 1:Right, there are a lot of folks who think, ah, this is no big deal, this is just life, it's not something worth reporting and also considering just what is the productivity lost and that makes it sound so masculine and corporate, like how much productivity did we lose out on? But what about the joy of just living pain-free and not being bogged down by this? If you're listening to this episode, you probably don't actually need me to be up here in this soapbox because you're looking for solutions. So I will step down from this soapbox really quick and talk about what causes period pain. But I just wanted to kind of set the what's the word I'm looking for? Set the landscape, set the tone, get us all on the same page, for what is the backdrop when we're talking about period pain?
Speaker 1:Now, in a lot of cases, what causes normal period pain is the release of prostaglandins in your body, right? So when it's time for your period to start, your estrogen levels, your progesterone levels, are dropping down quite low and your body releases prostaglandins, which are these little chemical messengers that basically tell your uterus hey, girl, it's time to contract, it's time to shed this endometrial lining, and that's what is kick-starting the actual shedding of blood and tissue from your endometrium. Now, this happens generally, that maybe the day before your period starts, the first day or first two days of your period, and this release of prostaglandins, that's what can cause the mild cramping discomfort in your lower abdomen and in your back. So, tldr, prostaglandins, we need them, but there's a little bit of this negative side effect from them. It's also worth noting too, right, because a lot of gals, a lot of clients that I work with, they're like yeah, I actually on my period, I have diarrhea, I have loose poops, but that's totally normal, right, that can be a side effect, like a consequence of these prostaglandins. They're not really discriminating about where they're going in your body, and who would have thought your digestive system is right next to your reproductive system down there, and so that's why, if you're somebody who you have the period poops on the first day, two days of your cycle. That's what's causing it as well.
Speaker 1:In addition to this normal period pain, there are, of course, additional factors that can contribute to pain and discomfort. So I want to walk through some of those next to help clue you in, maybe give you some more context, for, okay, am I working with something that is just kind of normal period pain on steroids? Then there are things that you can do through your diet, lifestyle etc. To address it. We'll get to those in a bit. If you find that one of these other factors I'll be talking about in a second applies to you, then maybe that's a conversation with your doctor, with another practitioner, with a coach, with someone like myself to say, okay, how can I really support my body's systems overall in order to combat this inflammation? That'll make more sense after I walk through these couple of items. So let's jump into it.
Speaker 1:The first thing that I wanted to mention that can exacerbate or contribute to period pain could be inflammation, right, inflammation. What does that even mean, bridget? When I'm thinking of inflammation, I'm thinking of anything that is kind of swollen or irritated. It could be due to high cortisol levels, could be due to more erratic blood sugar levels. It's not something that you can exactly measure, but it's all of these sources of stress that can contribute to inflammation.
Speaker 1:So for some of you maybe that is an inflamed digestive system. For some of you maybe that is some type of infection. Or, on a personal note, I've mentioned this here before, so maybe you've heard this if you've been listening for a minute. But in the past I know, or I have known, that I've had a UTI, because I had no other symptoms, except that when my period came it was absolutely horrendous cramps and I was like, oh, okay, note taken body, let me investigate what's going on here. Right, there's this other additional source of inflammation, the infection in my case that's being exacerbated by the release of these prostaglandins. Okay, well, I see the trend here. Let me go take care of this and nip that in the bud. So could be something maybe a little bit more acute, like that type of infection could be overall inflammation in your digestive system.
Speaker 1:I also want to mention allergies kind of in this little subcategory, because allergies whether it's to pollen or food or anything else that your body is sensitive to that's going to increase histamines in your body. Now, when you're having a histamine reaction, or maybe a greater than normal histamine reaction, histamines could contribute to increased uterine contractions not the dream, and that's because they can act similarly to prostaglandins. Right, they can increase, potentially increase nerve sensitivity, and so all of that could lead to stronger and more painful cramps. This is all to say that if you notice you have worse cramps, more cramps, longer cramps that impact your ability to go about your daily activities and you're also like, oh yeah, your ability to go about your daily activities and you're also like, oh yeah, it's allergy season or hey, okay, I do think I have this infection or dysbiosis or other type of inflammation, then that picture might make sense and that can be a good start to this roadmap for you of all. Right, where do I go from here and how do I help to support having less painful periods, less painful cramping?
Speaker 1:The next topic that I want to move on to is talking about some of these named diagnoses right, like adenomyosis, endometriosis. It's also maybe worth me mentioning here that, of course, nothing I share with you in the podcast is designed to be medical advice or medical diagnosis. You should definitely chat with your provider if you have some greater suspicions. Essentially, what's going on with endometriosis is that your endometrial tissue, the normal tissue that grows in your endometrial lining, that can sometimes develop in other parts of your body, outside of your endometrium, but then they're still being triggered by the prostaglandins when your cycle starts and that's going to cause, in some people, a lot of pain because it's still that tissue trying to shed but not really having anywhere to go. There's also this component for somebody who has had endometriosis, for a hot minute, where scar tissue can build up.
Speaker 1:Thinking right, it's different for everybody, but this could be on the outside of your uterus, maybe around the ovaries, around the bladder, around the rectum, although some people have been found to have endometrial tissue from endometriosis even like up into their abdominal cavity and their chest cavity and more. I don't say that to be, you know, scary, of course, but I think that is really worth noting. And if you notice, ah, weird, when my period starts every month I have this pain in insert part of your body that's not your uterus, that's not your pelvis. Mentioning that with your provider would be a really solid first step. So this is all to say. Hey, endometriosis is the growth of this tissue in an atypical spot, and so that is going to require a specific series of steps, a specific protocol to address, which would namely be surrounding your digestive function and immune function. They're really closely related to endometriosis. It's actually more of an immune and a digestive response than it is a hormonal response, right, and I'll break that down in just a minute here. But that's all to say that if you have endometriosis, you're going to want to one. Talk about that with your practitioner. It can take many years, unfortunately, for some women to get an endometriosis diagnosis, and maybe for some, some people, surgery is the route that they're going to go. We won't focus too big on that here, but just know that this is something that's out there and that affects many women.
Speaker 1:Adenomyosis is the other condition I mentioned, and what this is is the growth of endometrial tissue in the lining of the uterus. So not as far away maybe as endometriosis, but it's still where this tissue is growing in the wrong or not in the ideal spot, and that inherently, can cause some inflammation and cause pain, sometimes can contribute to additional bleeding, heavier periods as well. I mentioned a moment ago that endometriosis isn't just exacerbated by hormones, and I want to clarify that now, because that also can be applicable to the conversation with endometriosis. Now, what I mean by that is does elevated estrogen potentially contribute to endometriosis or adenomyosis? It can, and that's because estrogen is a growth hormone, one of the handful of growth type hormones that we have in our bodies, but when estrogen levels are higher than normal, higher than expected or maybe relatively high compared to progesterone, that can lead to additional growth. Now, on the other hand, though, like I mentioned, a lot of digestive dysfunction as well as impaired immune function can be correlated to both endometriosis and adenomyosis. There are some studies that show that liver function too right. If your liver is sluggish, you have leaky gut, you have an inflamed gut, then that can contribute to this systemic inflammation and worsening pain. Last note here could be that if you are having digestive dysfunction, you're not eliminating regularly, you're not having bowel movements daily, that too can contribute to higher levels of estrogen than normal, because your body is holding onto that estrogen and recycling it back into your system instead of eliminating it out of your body.
Speaker 1:I have a few more thoughts that I want to share with you about potential causes for pain, and then we'll move into the tips that I have for you. So you also want to think about, okay, is the pain that I'm experiencing maybe related to my pelvic floor function? We have so many muscles holding up our pelvic floor or comprising our pelvic floor, and is it something with those muscles? Is it cramping in those muscles? Is it another kind of dysfunction that you might want to address and that does not have to do with hormones? So that's one thing to keep in mind. Also thinking, okay, could there be a cyst on an ovary that's causing some pain. If it's inflamed, if it's enlarged, maybe that could be something to investigate for you.
Speaker 1:The third topic that I want to reiterate is on the note of infections. Again, now, I'm not thinking of like, okay, a UTI that might be causing additional pain, but could it be some type of like pelvic infection or pelvic inflammatory disease, infection or pelvic inflammatory disease, for example, that you would want to investigate further with your doctor? Last but not least, if you're somebody who experiences cramping in the middle of your cycle, ie not when you're on your period and you're like that's super weird. Well, it could be pain that's associated with ovulation, right when the egg is actually being released from the follicle on your ovary. For some people, that can be a little bit sensitive. There could be a sharp pain that lasts maybe a day or less. It's a little bit more acute in that way. So if that's you, then that could be a sign that your body is just ovulating.
Speaker 1:I just shouted out a good solid handful of suggestions or ideas, things for you to think through, so let me go ahead and recap that to kind of keep it organized. If you are new to some of those topics Now, from top to bottom, I talked about normal period pain, and by normal in this case, what I mean is pain and cramping that's caused by the release of prostaglandins in your body. This is going to be relatively easily addressed by the steps we'll talk about in a minute here, because if you have quote unquote just normal period pain, then you should be able to address it with some of these changes that we'll talk about If you find that these shifts are not resulting in any change in the level of period pain that you're experiencing, then you might want to do some more investigating to consider, okay, well, is there some sort of additional inflammation source? Could it be an infection? Could it be related to allergies? That's where I would look first, from there thinking, okay, well, is this something that has been going on for many, many moons, maybe even years? Understanding, could this be endometriosis? Could this be adenomyosis? And having that conversation with your doctor to identify what is actually going on. That could be another step that you might want to continue. Some honorable mentions as well, for pelvic floor pain right, is it a muscular thing that's going on in your pelvic floor and causing you this cramping? Could it be a cyst or related to cyst? Is there another source of infection that needs to be addressed? And then, last but not least, if you're experiencing a bit of pain in the middle of your menstrual cycle, could that be simply a sign of ovulation?
Speaker 1:Let's talk about the top four things that I would recommend and that I would work on with you if you were my one-on-one client and you came to me with period pain, the first area being focusing on minimizing your intake of processed food, of sugar and of alcohol. All of these things are going to be inflammatory, they're going to be a little bit disruptive for your digestive system. They might be adding an additional tax to your liver and what your liver needs to be focusing on. And so by eliminating, by minimizing intake of processed food, sugars and alcohol, I think that's a really solid starting point to say, okay, let's start figuring out where we can make healthy swaps, how we can make this realistic and sustainable for your lifestyle, for your budget, and see how much that can move the needle. I think that you would be surprised how much that can move the needle. I think that you would be surprised I mean, I've been surprised, certainly in the past by how much of a change I can even feel in myself when I say, okay, bridge, you've been eating maybe a little bit more sweets lately than what you should be quote unquote should you know what I feel like is good for me? And so, making that change to eliminate sugar, eliminate alcohol, I'm optimistic for you that, if not in your period pain, you will certainly feel benefit. You'll feel better overall when you take those things out. I know that this isn't rocket science, but I do think that we need to be reminded of the basics from time to time and be prompted to reflect on okay, what am I actually consuming on my day-to-day, on my week-to-week? Am I prioritizing whole foods or am I consuming a lot of processed foods? So that is where I would start square one if I was trying to eliminate or minimize my period pain.
Speaker 1:Now, the second area to focus on is liver support. We kind of touched on this with eliminating alcohol. But our liver does so much work. We ask so much of it. Right, because it's processing out not only toxins in alcohol, not only processing out our hormones. Right, that need to be detoxified and eliminated after we use them. But if it's getting a little bit backlogged, maybe because you're consuming alcohol, maybe because you have a lot of stress, there's a lot of caffeine in your system, something like that, then that can slow down the elimination of hormones, of estrogen specifically here, and that could lead to the additional growth, the additional buildup of your endometrial lining and therefore maybe contribute to some of that period pain because there's more lining to shake off, for lack of a more thorough explanation there. So what do I mean when I say support your liver?
Speaker 1:Well, the first thing that you can do is incorporate more cruciferous vegetables, cruciferous veggies going to be great for your liver, thinking of things like broccoli, cauliflower, kale, broccoli sprouts too. Those are the top four that are top of mind, but do a little goog for all the cruciferous vegetables and make a decision on which ones are your favorite. One pro tip that I have been doing lately as it's, you know, getting a little bit warmer here into summertime in California is I'm picking up the what's it called Riced cauliflower Cauliflower rice. Yeah, frozen cauliflower rice. There we go from Costco and I will put it in the smoothies that I make. So I'll make a protein smoothie with some berries, put some of the frozen cauliflower rice in there. You can't taste it at all and I get an extra serving of veggies, cruciferous veggies, and so try that if that sounds interesting to you.
Speaker 1:Or you can always find a liver detox tea at the grocery store. Most of them have it right there. You're going to be looking for something that might have dandelion root milk. Thistle, turmeric is also going to be in a lot of liver supporting teas, so you can't go wrong with that, adding it to your nighttime routine. And then, if you really wanted to consider a supplement, there are many, many quality supplements out there that do target and support liver function. Of course, you're going to want to make sure that you're getting the supplement from a reputable company, but that's another option too. So, liver support adding cruciferous vegetables, adding a liver detox tea, adding a liver support supplement. And then what can you take away to support your liver? Well, we talked about taking away alcohol, minimizing or eliminating caffeine. You'll also want to eliminate your exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals. So are you putting a lot of different products on your skin? Are you breathing in a lot of pollutants? Do you have a lot of synthetic fragrances around your house that you're also breathing in? Cutting those out and that's going to free up your liver to do its job in eliminating those estrogens from your body.
Speaker 1:Now, the third area that I want you to consider would be avoiding cow dairy. For a solid handful of gals out there, cow dairy is going to be a bit inflammatory and you'll find that when you remove it from your diet, your period pain is much more manageable or goes away. So this doesn't have to be something that you do forever, right? I think that's worth mentioning, because sometimes we think, oh, shoot, okay, eliminating cow dairy forever. But hey, take a little, take a deep breath. It doesn't have to be that deep, right, you can just say all right, for the next month I'm going to swap out my cow milk and lattes for some almond milk. I'm going to be thoughtful about meal planning, about avoiding whatever other dairy sources that you have. There are so many good non-dairy or plant-based recipes out there. And just see how this impacts you. What is the change that it has in your life With any of these changes or adjustments that you're making?
Speaker 1:I do think it's an excellent idea to be tracking these changes. So, whether you use an app, whether you keep a journal, whatever it is that best suits you, make sure that you're tracking how you feel so you can assess did it make a difference to eliminate cow dairy? Did it make a difference to eliminate alcohol or to eliminate caffeine, whatever it is for you, because A well, that helps you to understand what contributes to your period pain. But of course, it can also be a solid source of motivation to continue to avoid cow dairy or continue to minimize your alcohol intake, when you can really see like, okay, I feel so much better without this X, y or Z in my life, in my diet.
Speaker 1:Now I want to wrap up this section by just sharing two recommendations with you for supplements. Now, zinc is one that can be supportive for you if you have period pain. So if you take a multi-mineral, is there zinc in there or is there another zinc supplement that is right for you? For some folks out there, taking 30 milligrams a day, maybe with dinner, could be a good starting point. There's also magnesium glycinate. Taking about 300 milligrams a day could be supportive for you. Magnesium has so many different benefits that I don't think you can really go wrong with starting out with magnesium. I'll just say again that magnesium glycinate is the type of magnesium that you probably want to go with for this one. There are a handful of different types of magnesium. Some have different benefits than others. So just taking an extra look at the label, at the description, before you buy and, of course, making sure that you're buying from a reputable source, reputable manufacturer that is going to be your best bet.
Speaker 1:Overall, if you are experiencing period pain, I want to encourage you to do something today. Adopt one of the changes that you heard today. Figure out what is going to fit your life and make that change now. Don't wait, don't sleep on it, don't wait until your next period just to see how it goes. Go ahead and make that change so that you can start to feel better sooner.
Speaker 1:When I'm working with my one-on-one clients, for the most part they're able to see changes in their period pain within the first cycle that they have after we start working together. So within that first cycle, within the next 30 days or however many days, you can totally see changes in the amount of pain that you experience. And my clients have gone from having to miss work maybe not every single period, but most periods, having to take a day off, having to cancel plans, having to stay at home curled up in a ball instead of being out there living their life. And then, within three months, my client actually just the other day I was so happy she sent me a voice memo and she's like, yeah, my period came. I barely even knew. I barely knew it was going to be coming. It came early, it was shortening back into what it's like an ideal range is what I mean to say. And she's like, yeah, I had like a little bit of cramping for two days. That didn't impact what I was doing, I just kept living my life. I couldn't believe it. And that can be you too. Right, that can be you too.
Speaker 1:Incorporate some of these basics. You've got this. Get an accountability buddy. Find out like do you have a workout buddy? Do you have a sister? Is there somebody else in your life who has period pain? You want to kind of go on this journey together. Or, of course, if you want another type of accountability buddy, you want more specifics on how you can implement these adjustments in your life.
Speaker 1:I would invite you to check out the link in the show notes where you can apply to work with me one-on-one. This is my jam working with gals just like you who have unpredictable periods, period pain, bloating, pms, all of these things and more. I got you girl Again. Check out the link in the show notes. Or, as we wrap up, you can connect with me on Instagram. I got you girl Again. Check out the link in the show notes. Or, as we wrap up, you can connect with me on Instagram at I'm Hormonal, and that's a little change from before. I just changed the handle, but connect with me over there if you want to see more tips and I will see you on the next one.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening If you loved today's episode and got something good out of it. Make sure you subscribe so that these episodes show up automatically in your feed. No work needed on your side, let's put it on autopilot. As always, I need to give you my reminder that the information I share with you here is for educational purposes only, and it should not be used as a replacement for medical advice or diagnosis. Now, if you are, on the other hand, in the market for some one-on-one support, then I would love for you to take me up on my offer for a free strategy call. You can find these links and more in the show notes.