Hey, how’s your pain tolerance today? We ask why, and you’ve probably noticed, your sensitivity to pain changes during your menstrual cycle. There will be days when just your scalp hurts. And there will be days when you won’t remember how you got that huge bruise on your leg. And all this is due to the relationship between hormones and pain.
Hormones and pain: Higher estrogen
Now, no one is really sure how this all works. But as far as anyone can tell, estrogen is somehow linked to pain sensitivity. This means that your estrogen levels can affect the pain you feel each week of the month.
For example, when levels are higher, such as during the later follicular phase or the first half of your cycle and around ovulation, your pain tolerance may increase. Higher estrogen may also reduce inflammation in your body, reducing overall pain levels.
And that’s great news for your workouts, as it can also improve muscle mass and strength, as well as reduce recovery time.
How Does Low Estrogen Increase Pain Sensitivity?
When levels are lower, however, as they are shortly after Ovulation, towards the end of the Lute phase or the second half of our cycle and during your period, your sensitivity to pain increases. Yes, you are more likely to experience higher levels of pain. And yes, that explains PMS and painful bleeding. To some extent anyway.
But here’s the thing. If you already live with painful joints or muscles, headaches, or other chronic pain, lower estrogen levels can make these symptoms worse. It can also mean you are more prone to muscle injuries during exercise and can lead to increased recovery time after injury. Fun, right?
That said, much of the evidence related to pain and its relationship to your menstrual cycle is inconsistent.
As with all things hormonal, their effects vary widely among individuals, so we can’t say for sure what the definite effect of estrogen is on your pain tolerance. How we experience pain is quite complex at the best of times, and researchers have yet to nail down exactly how our reproductive hormones affect pain perception and regulation.
How does pain sensitivity occur during my cycle?
Exactly how low Estrogen and increased sensitivity to pain manifest is likely to be different for everyone. But it can include:
- Sore or sensitive skin, anywhere from your scalp to your toes
- Eczema or psoriasis flare-ups
- Increased severity and frequency of reactions to skin allergens
- Headaches
- Wounds in the joints
- Muscles ache
- Increased pain of all or arthritis
Here’s one you might not know: Higher estrogen can also lead to gum pain and a higher rate of plaque buildup. Who knew? Therefore, taking care of your teeth is especially important in the last week of your cycle to ensure that any damage is minimal.
Hormones and pain: How do I know my pain is due to hormones?
Well, estrogen may have a fantastic effect on your pain tolerance, or it may not. It might increase your ability to build muscle or it might not. And lower levels could make your period more painful. Or not. But estrogen’s connection to pain offers a possible explanation for why breathing makes your scalp hurt for a few days each month.
What we are saying is that it is quite difficult to pin the cause of pain down to one hormone. That said, anyone with a menstrual cycle will know that hormones definitely play a role in how much pain we feel and when.
So until medicine figures out how and why any of this is happening, keep tracking your symptoms with the Hormona app. At least that way, you’ll have some idea of when heightened pain sensitivity is likely to occur and plan accordingly.
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