Has COVID-19 affected women’s menstrual cycles?

Hannah Kahn had COVID-19 in mid-November and expected to have her period soon after. When it never happened, she didn’t think much about it at first.

“I was just worried about having COVID-19 and in distress,” she said. Also, as someone who has been on birth control for five years, Kahn is used to having missed her period or having it very late.

But December, January and February have passed and she still hasn’t had her period. Since she finally got it in March, her cycle has been largely irregular.

Kahn also exhibited lasting symptoms of COVID-19, such as altered taste and smell. When she spoke to her primary care doctor and gynecologists about her irregular period, they agreed it was also likely due to COVID-19, but “none seemed to care.”

“But I was obviously worried about it,” Kahn said, “because it’s my body. And I don’t want anything permanently altered within me that I have no control over.”

For a while, not hearing someone else talking about her period or having similar symptoms drove her “crazy.” She began to do her own research and found it happened to others.

She found that when you’re sick, increased levels of cortisol – a stress hormone – can affect whether or not you get your period, as can diet, exercise, and changes in daily routines. , which many people knew during the pandemic.

Others had experiences similar to Kahn’s, where they felt isolated or alone until they realized that others were suffering from similar symptoms.

Leah Abrams, 23, is from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and graduated from Duke in 2020. She met Kahn, 23, through her job in New York City.

Abrams has been on birth control since she was 16 and has had a regular period for as long as she can remember. So when she started having spots in the middle of a packet of pills a week after her period ended, she noticed very quickly.

For three weeks, she spotted continuously, even though she was a few weeks away from her next period. She had no guess as to what was going on – “I thought I might have eaten something” was her best guess.

It wasn’t until a friend texted into their group chat, asking if anyone else was also having a weird time after their first COVID-19 vaccine, that she realized what could be happening. . But when she went to the doctor in April to make sure everything was okay, they didn’t give her theory much thought. They offered to do an ultrasound, but Abrams said her providers were “quite dismissive” about the proposed link between the vaccine and her spotting.

“I think this is because women are generally not believed or studied,” she said. “We don’t know what the long term impacts will be because no one has thought to prioritize this in the approval process or testing, at least to my knowledge.”

Abrams had no further problems after his vaccine and found it generally safe and effective.

“But I think it is indicative of this kind of larger question about who we value and whose issues come first.”

How can COVID-19 affect your period?

Research on the impact of coronavirus or vaccines on menstrual cycles is not yet deepened. Although there is anecdotal evidence that COVID-19 affects menstruation, “specific data on the frequency of this phenomenon is scarce,” according to Medical News Today. There is currently no evidence that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, directly affects menstruation, but responses to the virus can. What Kahn has found on the internet about increasing stress levels affecting periods is verified with experts.

“If you have a high fever, it’s a lot of stress, and there may be a good chance that you won’t ovulate, which will lead to menstrual irregularity,” said Dr. Thomas Price, an endocrinologist. reproduction and infertility. at Duke University. Other physiological effects of COVID-19, such as inability to eat and fatigue, can also lead to high stress levels.

And there is a direct correlation between menstrual cycles and stress, anxiety and depression, according to Price. He noted that stress levels among individuals have increased during the pandemic, much of which is associated with isolation from staying at home and having a restricted social life. When stress affects hormone production, menstrual cycles can be disrupted.

Besides psychological stresses, such as moving, exams, and pandemic survival, Price noted that other events can cause changes in menstrual cycles, such as weight gain or loss, which many may also have experienced during the pandemic.

The lining of the uterus contains immune cells that help protect the uterus, and according to the Associated Press, some gynecologists believe that when the lining falls off during menstruation, COVID-19 vaccines can affect periods. There is no evidence that vaccines affect fertility.

“People are so afraid to discuss it”

The stigma associated with periods and reproductive health makes it difficult to start conversations, making it difficult to help people with periods access care and understand their symptoms when there are problems.

When his spots first started and his doctor ignored his concerns, Abrams, like Kahn, said he felt “really crazy for a second.” When her friend contacted her in her group chat and others described similar issues, she felt validated.

Kahn also noted that “when it comes to issues that primarily affect women, it is not uncommon for there to be some sort of delay in the response from the medical community to recognize it as a real thing.” .

For Kahn, the experience highlighted the “larger context of stigma around periods”.

“It’s something almost half of the adult population goes through, but we still find it so difficult to talk about it,” she said. “In an ideal world, we would talk about COVID-19 affecting your period the same way we talk about COVID-19 affecting your sense of taste and smell.”

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