{"id":2128,"date":"2022-01-27T20:27:22","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T20:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.toplinemd.com\/beaches-obgyn\/?p=2128"},"modified":"2022-01-27T20:28:46","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T20:28:46","slug":"your-menstrual-cycle-and-the-covid-19-vaccine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.toplinemd.com\/beaches-obgyn\/your-menstrual-cycle-and-the-covid-19-vaccine\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Menstrual Cycle and the COVID-19 Vaccine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s no denying that the past two years have been tremendously tough on all of us. As the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.toplinemd.com\/beaches-obgyn\/how-to-protect-yourself-and-your-baby-from-covid-19\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">COVID-19 pandemic<\/a> continues, more and more studies are being conducted on both the virus itself and the efficacy of the vaccine.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.acog.org\/womens-health\/faqs\/coronavirus-covid-19-and-womens-health-care\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recent scientific study<\/a> published in the <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.lww.com\/greenjournal\/Fulltext\/9900\/Association_Between_Menstrual_Cycle_Length_and.357.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Obstetrics &amp; Gynecology<\/em> journal<\/a> shows that the COVID-19 vaccine can cause very minor changes to the timing of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.toplinemd.com\/beaches-obgyn\/heavy-period-every-month\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">menstruation<\/a> (less than one day), and that the change is temporary \u2014 more akin to having a sore arm post-vaccine, rather than a serious adverse event.<\/p>\n<p>The end result showed that periods were late by less than one day on average, and they returned to normal within one or two months post-vaccine.<\/p>\n<p>The study was led by Dr. Alison Edelman, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Oregon Health and Science University, who notes to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2022\/01\/06\/1070796638\/covid-vaccine-periods\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NPR.org<\/a> that the results were &#8220;reassuring and also validating.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While more research can be beneficial to the link between the vaccine and menstruation, the results show solid evidence that any effect of the COVID-19 vaccines on periods is small, temporary, and no cause for concern. Dr. Diana W. Bianchi, director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2022\/01\/06\/1070796638\/covid-vaccine-periods\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">adds<\/a> that while this minor side-effect is &#8220;nothing to get alarmed about,&#8221; it does affirm what individuals had been reporting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is reassuring that the study found only a small, temporary menstrual change in women,\u201d Dr. Bianchi shares.\u00a0\u201cThese results provide, for the first time, an opportunity to counsel women about what to expect from COVID-19 vaccination so they can plan accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Worth noting is that menstrual cycles often change a small amount from month to month regardless. These temporary changes can be caused by a wide variety of factors including stress, lifestyle changes, and certain underlying health conditions. These minor changes are normal and do not have an affect on overall health or fertility.<\/p>\n<p>We continue to recommend the COVID-19 vaccine to all of our patients \u2014 including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.toplinemd.com\/beaches-obgyn\/how-to-protect-yourself-and-your-baby-from-covid-19\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">those who are pregnant or plan to get pregnant<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Edelman echoes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.toplinemd.com\/beaches-obgyn\/how-to-protect-yourself-and-your-baby-from-covid-19\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">earlier reports<\/a> that the vaccine has no effect on fertility or pregnancy. Moreover, the COVID-19 virus itself can have a profound effect on health.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The risk of COVID-19 disease in pregnant women is incredibly serious,&#8221; said Edelman, who has watched<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>pregnant women end up in intensive care because they&#8217;re not vaccinated.<\/p>\n<p>Also, note that you can get the vaccine during your period; there is no need to reschedule.<\/p>\n<h4>More About the Study<\/h4>\n<p>Funded by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nih.gov\/news-events\/news-releases\/covid-19-vaccination-associated-small-temporary-increase-menstrual-cycle-length-suggests-nih-funded-study\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Institutes of Health<\/a> (NIH), the <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.lww.com\/greenjournal\/Fulltext\/9900\/Association_Between_Menstrual_Cycle_Length_and.357.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">study of nearly 4,000 women<\/a> aged 18 to 45 years old included a mix of unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals, with most of the vaccinated (55%) receiving the Pfizer vaccine and several others having received either Moderna or Johnson &amp; Johnson. Vaccinated participants with normal cycle lengths (24\u201338 days) were monitored for three consecutive cycles before the first vaccine dose and then for another four to six cycles post-vaccine, while unvaccinated individuals were monitored for six cycles over a similar time period.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>If you have any questions or concerns, please speak with your healthcare provider.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s no denying that the past two years have been tremendously tough on all of us. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, more and more studies are being conducted on both the virus itself and the efficacy of the vaccine. A recent scientific study published in the Obstetrics &amp; Gynecology journal shows that the COVID-19 vaccine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":2129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[129,130],"class_list":["post-2128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gynecology","tag-covid-19-vaccine","tag-menstruation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toplinemd.com\/beaches-obgyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toplinemd.com\/beaches-obgyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toplinemd.com\/beaches-obgyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toplinemd.com\/beaches-obgyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toplinemd.com\/beaches-obgyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.toplinemd.com\/beaches-obgyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toplinemd.com\/beaches-obgyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toplinemd.com\/beaches-obgyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toplinemd.com\/beaches-obgyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toplinemd.com\/beaches-obgyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}