You're not crazy, your menstrual cycle changes your brain
October 19, 2023 2:22 PM Subscribe
For The First Time, Scientists Show Structural, Brain-Wide Changes During Menstruation To address the menstruation gap in our understanding of women's health, the team took MRI scans of their subjects during three menstrual phases: menses, ovulation, and mid-luteal. At the time of each of these scans, the researchers also measured the participants' hormone levels. The results showed that, as hormones fluctuate, gray and white matter volumes change too, as does the volume of cerebrospinal fluid.
I used to teach "human physiology" to 1st year Pharmacy Technicians. I tried to strike a balance between what was correct and what would give a useful overview of how adrenals, blood, chromosomes, diabetes, epidermis, fibrinogen, glucagon, homeostasis, insulin . . . worked - together. My conclusion was that, to the nearest whole %, "science" knows 0% nothing about how it all works.
posted by BobTheScientist at 3:18 PM on October 19, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by BobTheScientist at 3:18 PM on October 19, 2023 [4 favorites]
This entire topic is the great white whale of my intellectual life. Such as it is (?)
I'm post-menopausal (thanks, 2016 election. My ovaries were like 'fuck this', took a look a president-elect Trump and the whole system was like yeah, shut this whole thing down).
I had diagnosed PMDD prior to menopause, and now take topical estrogen and progesterone. I suspect this is basically in the realm of birth control pills for people who can't get pregnant - and I'm now getting menstrual cramps when my daughter gets her period - never mind the mindfuck stuff that's been happening.
Menstrual cramps! Do you ever forget what those feel like, after you stop getting them? You do not.
I forget about the whole thing, because where am I supposed to talk about this? To whom? I'll sound insane. Or boring.
And then I'm like wait, why did I almost stab some dude in the library, why do I want to fuck left and right, why am I napping in the middle of the afternoon, why did I randomly eat six ice cream sandwiches this afternoon, and, thinking, WTF? I look at the calendar and I'm like, huh, 28 days from my fifteen year old's last period and *then* she texts me from school saying she has her period and has cramps?
I know with absolute certainty that a) there is a chemical hormonal wash in the ether and it effects both men and women and b) hormones make both men and women crazy at different times and c) nobody is going to spend any time figuring this out, because where's the money? and d) I'll never figure this out because I'm not a scientist.
But it seriously irks me to know I am not imagining it and well, pretty much anyone would tell me I was imagining it, as well as the PMDD that fucked so many of my relationships earlier in my life, when I didn't have the presence of mind to recognize when I didn't have presence of mind.
On the other hand the orgasms are awesome; I'm going to write a poem about them.
(Also if there is a better way to convince people that you are crazy or misled than to try to tell them you aren't crazy I have not found one.)
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:53 PM on October 19, 2023 [27 favorites]
I'm post-menopausal (thanks, 2016 election. My ovaries were like 'fuck this', took a look a president-elect Trump and the whole system was like yeah, shut this whole thing down).
I had diagnosed PMDD prior to menopause, and now take topical estrogen and progesterone. I suspect this is basically in the realm of birth control pills for people who can't get pregnant - and I'm now getting menstrual cramps when my daughter gets her period - never mind the mindfuck stuff that's been happening.
Menstrual cramps! Do you ever forget what those feel like, after you stop getting them? You do not.
I forget about the whole thing, because where am I supposed to talk about this? To whom? I'll sound insane. Or boring.
And then I'm like wait, why did I almost stab some dude in the library, why do I want to fuck left and right, why am I napping in the middle of the afternoon, why did I randomly eat six ice cream sandwiches this afternoon, and, thinking, WTF? I look at the calendar and I'm like, huh, 28 days from my fifteen year old's last period and *then* she texts me from school saying she has her period and has cramps?
I know with absolute certainty that a) there is a chemical hormonal wash in the ether and it effects both men and women and b) hormones make both men and women crazy at different times and c) nobody is going to spend any time figuring this out, because where's the money? and d) I'll never figure this out because I'm not a scientist.
But it seriously irks me to know I am not imagining it and well, pretty much anyone would tell me I was imagining it, as well as the PMDD that fucked so many of my relationships earlier in my life, when I didn't have the presence of mind to recognize when I didn't have presence of mind.
On the other hand the orgasms are awesome; I'm going to write a poem about them.
(Also if there is a better way to convince people that you are crazy or misled than to try to tell them you aren't crazy I have not found one.)
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:53 PM on October 19, 2023 [27 favorites]
My conclusion was that, to the nearest whole %, "science" knows 0% nothing about how it all works.
That is my assessment as a layperson as well.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:54 PM on October 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
That is my assessment as a layperson as well.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:54 PM on October 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
I meditate for an hour every day and definitely have a different experience around my period such that I schedule retreats around it. The focus isn’t bad just… different… so I have to use a different technique during that time.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 6:05 PM on October 19, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by St. Peepsburg at 6:05 PM on October 19, 2023 [4 favorites]
I'm torn between wanting more research into this area, and distrusting how it will be used by sexist people to justify their sexism.
I have to remind myself that those people already at 100% misogyny, and while they might try to use studies like these to justify themselves, they're perfectly capable of being misogynistic with or without this knowledge.
posted by Zumbador at 9:45 PM on October 19, 2023 [23 favorites]
I have to remind myself that those people already at 100% misogyny, and while they might try to use studies like these to justify themselves, they're perfectly capable of being misogynistic with or without this knowledge.
posted by Zumbador at 9:45 PM on October 19, 2023 [23 favorites]
I think the potential for research adding to our abundant stores of misogyny might be tempered by the reality that men have hormonal cycles and if the research surface were scratched even a little we'd find explanations for things like fist fights in football stadium parking lots.
Trying to imagine a world where a female world leader could get away with throwing a plate of hamburgers at the wall without people saying her entire gender was unqualified for a leadership position. It's not possible. Idiotic or unhinged male behavior is never chalked up to hormones.
I'm being simplistic, though bc 'hormones' is a really complicated topic and it comes up in everything from baby-making (or baby not-making) interventions to gender affirming care to aging related topics like menopausal HRT -- so some of us swim in the hormonal soup more than others.
But I imagine it's hard to get funding for something unlikely to make money with so many vague questions. Knowledge for knowledge's sake? Pffft. I do find it fascinating though.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:46 AM on October 20, 2023 [9 favorites]
Trying to imagine a world where a female world leader could get away with throwing a plate of hamburgers at the wall without people saying her entire gender was unqualified for a leadership position. It's not possible. Idiotic or unhinged male behavior is never chalked up to hormones.
I'm being simplistic, though bc 'hormones' is a really complicated topic and it comes up in everything from baby-making (or baby not-making) interventions to gender affirming care to aging related topics like menopausal HRT -- so some of us swim in the hormonal soup more than others.
But I imagine it's hard to get funding for something unlikely to make money with so many vague questions. Knowledge for knowledge's sake? Pffft. I do find it fascinating though.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:46 AM on October 20, 2023 [9 favorites]
What this means for the person driving the brain is unknown
You mean there are lucky people out there who drive their brains? Me and my brain need to have a talk about who is in the driver's seat.
posted by eekernohan at 6:00 AM on October 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
You mean there are lucky people out there who drive their brains? Me and my brain need to have a talk about who is in the driver's seat.
posted by eekernohan at 6:00 AM on October 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
Now on the other side of menopause, I actually feel less crazy than I have for most of my adult life.
posted by Miko at 7:01 AM on October 20, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by Miko at 7:01 AM on October 20, 2023 [9 favorites]
Hard same, Miko.
posted by joannemerriam at 7:23 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by joannemerriam at 7:23 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
For every £1 spent by the NHS caring for cancer, it spends 12p on research: for every £1 spent by the NHS caring for reproductive issues, just 1p is spent on research. The NHS pays fifty times more in legal claims relating to pregnancy than it spends on pregnancy-related research.
on a similar note, Women’s health research lacks funding – these charts show how
Migraine, headaches, endometriosis and anxiety disorders, for example, which disproportionately affect women, all attract much less funding in proportion to the burden they exert on the US population than do other conditions.
similarly, endocrinology remains one of the lowest paid physician specialties:
Endocrinologists’ pay remains at lower end of physician scale. cardiologists making top pay is not surprising from a gendered perspective
there do look like there are NIH-specific grants for looking at understudied conditions in female populations such as https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-OD-23-013.html though research is just the first step - convincing giant corpos beholden to predominantly male-run asset management firms and predominantly male politicos to research treatments and fund interventions is another battle
posted by paimapi at 8:52 AM on October 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
on a similar note, Women’s health research lacks funding – these charts show how
Migraine, headaches, endometriosis and anxiety disorders, for example, which disproportionately affect women, all attract much less funding in proportion to the burden they exert on the US population than do other conditions.
similarly, endocrinology remains one of the lowest paid physician specialties:
Endocrinologists’ pay remains at lower end of physician scale. cardiologists making top pay is not surprising from a gendered perspective
there do look like there are NIH-specific grants for looking at understudied conditions in female populations such as https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-OD-23-013.html though research is just the first step - convincing giant corpos beholden to predominantly male-run asset management firms and predominantly male politicos to research treatments and fund interventions is another battle
posted by paimapi at 8:52 AM on October 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
I'm torn between wanting more research into this area, and distrusting how it will be used by sexist people to justify their sexism.
I'm on team more research, it could be used to provide relief if we get a better understanding of it, it could be used to establish on scientific basis that accommodations for the cycle in the workplace are necessary thing.
And we already have the bad sexist part, the 'bitch be crazy during her period' thing going on, there's nothing to spoil it's already spoilt.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 9:50 AM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'm on team more research, it could be used to provide relief if we get a better understanding of it, it could be used to establish on scientific basis that accommodations for the cycle in the workplace are necessary thing.
And we already have the bad sexist part, the 'bitch be crazy during her period' thing going on, there's nothing to spoil it's already spoilt.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 9:50 AM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Major flaw with the premise. Everything changes our brains! Every experience, every second, our brains are always changing. Trumpeting that something is changing our brains does not mean anything special.
posted by acridrabbit at 7:20 PM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by acridrabbit at 7:20 PM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Major flaw with the premise. Everything changes our brains! Every experience, every second, our brains are always changing. Trumpeting that something is changing our brains does not mean anything special.
Of course! If only the researchers who conducted this study were aware of that. Have you though about reaching out to them and letting them know? Usually there is contact info for someone involved in the paper; and if not; you can often look up the lead researcher and the institution they are associated with to get their contact info. I’m sure they’d appreciate your insight into the matter.
- signed, my perimenopausal sarcasm
posted by [insert clever name here] at 11:22 PM on October 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
Of course! If only the researchers who conducted this study were aware of that. Have you though about reaching out to them and letting them know? Usually there is contact info for someone involved in the paper; and if not; you can often look up the lead researcher and the institution they are associated with to get their contact info. I’m sure they’d appreciate your insight into the matter.
- signed, my perimenopausal sarcasm
posted by [insert clever name here] at 11:22 PM on October 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
There are a thousand cultural norms that are ingrained to care for male hormone fluctuations and the male sex drive. Ever heard of purity culture? What about various cultures who find the sight of a woman’s hair, or ankles or hands to be enough to send them around the bend? Male dominated religious structures are comically formed to meet the needs and fears of the male hormone system.
Did you know men can get hot flashes, too? I digress. A huge problem within medical care for those born with ovaries, is the lack of research and the dismissal of symptoms which don’t appear in the research because…no research has been done. In the arc of my reproductive life, I’ve had to deal with denial, skepticism, indifference and dismissiveness of my reported symptoms. It’s exhausting and demoralizing.
posted by amanda at 7:17 AM on October 21, 2023 [6 favorites]
Did you know men can get hot flashes, too? I digress. A huge problem within medical care for those born with ovaries, is the lack of research and the dismissal of symptoms which don’t appear in the research because…no research has been done. In the arc of my reproductive life, I’ve had to deal with denial, skepticism, indifference and dismissiveness of my reported symptoms. It’s exhausting and demoralizing.
posted by amanda at 7:17 AM on October 21, 2023 [6 favorites]
Now on the other side of menopause, I actually feel less crazy than I have for most of my adult life.
Oh yeah, me too -- except when engulfed by daughter's hormonal fugue state.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 2:09 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
Oh yeah, me too -- except when engulfed by daughter's hormonal fugue state.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 2:09 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
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bioRxiv has a critical role in modern science. Getting results out quickly, making them available without a paywall... preprint servers are great, I've put stuff in them, and I'd hate to go back to not having them.
Journalists trolling preprint servers to popularize preprints that touch on hotbutton issues and are guaranteed to be both intentionally and unintentionally overinterpreted... I'm not so wild about that part of our modern science/media intersection.
posted by gurple at 2:50 PM on October 19, 2023 [23 favorites]