Scarleteen

Question: “If you take the same amount of hormones every day your levels wont fluctuate. So you can’t have a period. It’s all in your head.”

Answer: Ok Junior Scientist, time for learnification.

I take the same amount of progesterone everyday and inject the same amount of Estradiol twice a week . That is true. And while that does allow me to experience a cycle, it is not what causes it, rather it is raising my hormones to a level where my body takes over. While Estradiol (E2) is made mostly in the ovaries (and to a small extent testes and adipose tissue), Estrone (E1) is made about 50% in the adrenal gland, 25% in adipose tissue and 25% in the ovaries. [there is a third form of Estrogen made in the placenta of pregnant women but it isn’t normally present in women who aren’t pregnant] I give my body a steady supply of E2. But E1 and E2 are easily converted into each other while being stored in fat cells (adipose tissue) and so my body can make whichever form of Estrogen it currently needs. E1, E2, and progesterone are also all stored in fat until the body needs them and it is this along with an increase in production in the adrenal gland and adipose tissue that allows the body to produce a regular cycle. This relation of fat cells to estrogen storage and production has been thoroughly studied and is believed to be the cause of first world early maturation in girls.