Possible connection bet LC and no periods?

[superpen]

Last October, my 15 year-old daughter wanted to drop a little weight. I have always advocated healthy eating and explained that she did not need to go on a "diet", rather that she should reduce the carbs and avoid all junk. So I helped her by making delicious low carb meals and she has been very enthusiastic in sticking to this WOL. The quantity of food that she is eating is normal to large but she has completely avoided all cakes,cookies,(anything with sugar) potatos,pasta, rice, bread, etc since that time.

She is 5' 9" and dropped from 153 pounds to 136 pounds. She looks fantastic. However she has not had a period since November - NO! She is not pregnant! She thought that she was having a period at the end of March but it turned out to be very light and only lasted a couple of days. She has been having periods since she was 11, and they were regular right from the beginning.
She also does a lot of karate ( 5 times a week) , but she has been doing this since she was 9 years old.

So I am going to take her to the gynaecologist. But I want to have my answer ready if the gynae tries to dissuade my daughter from continuing with this way of eating. What do you guys think?

Thanks for your input.
Penny

[Gaelen]

Superpen, what I'd want to know for sure before you see the gyn with your daughter is what her body fat percentage is. Generally, in a girl that age, the combination of high activity (the karate) plus insufficient FAT intake, is what is going to cause menstrual irregularity. So while she may look fantastic at 136, if her BF% is too low for her, then her periods are not going to be regular.

There are also a host of medical things the doc should be working out, if her BF% is appropriate (at least 18%) and her caloric intake is sufficient. Good luck.

[superpen]

Thanks Gaelen.
Have just figured out her body fat percentage and it comes to 25%, so that doesn't seem to be the problem.
Calorie wise, she is definitely eating more than my 13 year-old son, and she manages to get through more than a pound and a half a week of hard cheese! The gynae appointment is on Thursday so we shall see what she has to say.
Thanks,
Penny

[superpen]

OOoooppsss!!!:o Just made a bit of a mistake. I rechecked my daughter's measurements and actually her body fat comes out at about 20%. Still within normal but a big difference. Just wanted to let you know.
Thanks, Penny

[SherryJ]

Thinking of you and her, Pen... :nod:

20% sounds great to me! :D ;)

Sherry

[superpen]

OK! So we went to the gynae this morning. So far she thinks that it is the intense exercise combined with the weight loss that is doing it. But she is sending my daughter for a blood test - including hormone levels, ultrasound, and a visit to the dietician. So we shall see if these have anything to say.
I am not looking forward to the dietician appointment, unless of course she happens to be enlightened! I very much doubt that she will be.
Penny

[gitfiddle]

Good luck, Penny. Hope there is no battle with the dietician!

[superpen]

OK, an interim update.
Last week my daughter had a period. It was not completely back to normal as she said she was having a lot of clotting. So she went for a blood test on the 4th day of her "cycle". We are still waiting for the results. It is possible that the period came as a result of my daughter having to reduce the amount of karate she is currently doing as she hurt her foot 3 weeks ago.
Next week is the abdominal ultrasound.
We saw the dietician- who by the way was twice my size!! Not very inspiring. Although she agreed that Atkins can be good, she had no idea about Protein Power. Anyway my daughter made up her mind not to listen to her, and doesn't want to see her again.
Thanks for listening!
Penny

[lisanurse81]

PP can include alot of soy, which has an effect on estrogen - is she eating any soy products?