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lack of cycles= vegetarianism

5197 Views 46 Replies 23 Participants Last post by  Debrah
Hello, I posted a while back about problems related to my menstrual cycle, but I have a few more questions about how vegetarianism relates to menstrual cycles. I'm 16 and have only had two cycles this year. I became a vegetarian last November, and the loss of my cycle seems to have coincided with going vegetarian, although I had seemed to start to get irregular the summer before. It seemed like when I became a vegetarian, though they totally dissapeared and were gone for 6 months. I went to a doctor who put me on a high dosage of vitamin D which she thought would correct my lack of cycles, and I did get 2 periods which were very light. I have been getting periodic bloodwork, and my testosterone keeps going up. I have gained 15 lbs this year. I have not had a period since early August. Yesterday my mom realized that this has been going on too long, and she made me an appointment with a gynocologist. They had an opening for today, and I went in and they examined me and ran more blood work and I am getting an ultrasound next Monday. They are hoping to get to the bottom of this soon. They think it is either an ovarian cyst that will need surgical removal or a hormonal imbalance such as PCOS. I asked them if they thought that this could be related to my diet and they said that they are almost sure that it isn't. My chiropractor, however has been telling me how vegetarianism is so unhealthy and that my cycles will probably start if I eat red meat. She believes that people really need animal protein in their diets. I'm not sure if being a vegetarian can cause problems or not. I am an ovo vegetarian, but I actually have started to include fish oil in my diet from the insistance of this chiropractor. What do you all think of this? Do you think that sometimes animal food is necessary to maintain hormonal health?
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I've been vegetarian for four years and vegan for two, and I have an extremely regular cycle, even off of birth control. I understand your frustration, but it's really unfair to scapegoat vegetarianism for a problem you're having, when it's extremely unlikely that it is to blame.
No, basic nutrition isn't really controversial at all. It's all the idiots who want to make money off a product/service who muddy the message.
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