Overcoming Amenorrhea: Get Your Period Back. Get Your Life Back.

by Tina Muir

When Tina Muir made the decision to step away from her career as a professional marathon runner in order to regain her menstrual cycle, her story grabbed the attention of the world. News outlets like People Magazine, ESPN, Runners World, Glamour , SELF and many more covered her story After nine years spent hiding her secret and countless hours exploring options such as bloodwork, medication, testing and naturopathy, Muir made the radical decision to step away from her career to get her period back. But perhaps even more shocking was her decision to share her story openly with the world in the hopes of helping others faced with similar dead ends and disappointments. Complex and often misunderstood, the menstrual cycle is a sensitive topic in athletics, often brushed over by coaches and teammates and hidden by those struggling to maintain a regular cycle. It is with gentleness and poignant honesty that Muir leads the reader on a journey to discover their own root cause of amenorrhea, covering everything from exercise and stress to the prevalence of eating disorders in sport, and removes the filter of shame and secrecy so often associated with a missing period.In Overcoming Amenorrhea you hidden strengths, talents, and joys that running may have prevented you from finding.-Learn how to love your body regardless of size.-Recognize the behaviors that caused amenorrhea for you in the past, to prevent it in the future.-Identify what health looks like for your body.Candid, informative and relatable, Overcoming Amenorrhea is an essential guidebook for every woman who has fought the battle of amenorrhea. You no longer have to fight alone.

Genres: Health

166 pages, ebook

Published January 21, 2019

About the author

Tina Muir is the founder and CEO of Running for Real, a mother of two, and a former elite runner for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Tina is best known for being the first athlete to speak publicly about amenorrhea (now encompassed into REDS). Tina hosts the Running For Real podcast, a collection of conversations about running, the climate emergency, and social justice, which has amassed over 6 million downloads. Tina has worked with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and has been featured in The Guardian, The Telegraph, People Magazine, Outside, SELF, and Women’s Health. Becoming A Sustainable Runner, a book coauthored with Zoë Rom comes out August 2023.

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great account for anyone who struggles with amenorrhea as well as anyone who is genuinely curious about the topic. I've never had this condition, but it was interesting to learn the science behind it in a more simplified way and what someone could do to take action to get their period back. I agree with others who have reviewed so far that it also helps with those who struggle with body image and fueling your body correctly.

I would have been interested in learning more about if and how this would affect a woman once pregnant, as I think there will be some readers who would benefit from an anecdotal perspective on that. I also could have done without the emojis (e.g. :-)/;-P). But overall, this was written well and a great first read from Tina!

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew about Tina Muir’s story, but not to the level she shared here. Tina really lays bare her heart and her struggle with amenorrhea here for all the world to see. Not being a science-minded person, I appreciated the down to earth approach with the references to more research and resources for the reader to dig deeper if they choose.

I think even if you are not a runner, or maybe a runner with periods but you struggle with body image and fueling correctly, that there is value in this read for you. I am a runner and do not have amenorrhea, but I struggle with disordered eating and Tina’s kind, friendly advice feels like a hug and a kick in the pants to treat my body better. Well done!