Does Cocaine Affect Your Menstrual Cycle?

The Menstrual Cycle & Cocaine Abuse

Not every woman’s menstrual cycle is easy to predict or even regular. Your period can be affected by everything from hormone changes to your body weight. Even stress could impact your menstrual cycle. While every woman is different, cocaine can affect your menstrual cycle and reproductive health.

The Effects of Cocaine on the Menstrual Cycle

Research suggests that cocaine can affect your period as well as various aspects of a woman’s menstrual cycle. One study using rhesus monkeys found that nearly half of the monkeys who were administered cocaine regularly had an abnormal menstrual cycle duration with several episodes of amenorrhea, or the absence of a period for at least 2 months. A third of these monkeys also had lower levels of progesterone, a female sex hormone.¹ While this study applied specifically to monkeys, similar results have been found with humans. Although more research needs to be done on exactly how cocaine affects your menstrual cycle, in an article for Vice, doctors explained that cocaine use can stop ovulation and disrupt the menstrual cycle. In particular, cocaine use has been associated with higher levels of the hormone prolactin, which may be the cause of these changes.²

The effects of cocaine on the menstrual cycle are worth noting because it may interfere with a woman’s fertility. Abnormal hormone levels, irregular menstrual cycles, and the disruption of ovulation makes it much harder for a woman to try and conceive a child. Prolonged cocaine use can also cause damage to the fallopian tubes.² These abnormalities are believed to continue during withdrawal,³ but some of the effects of cocaine on the menstrual cycle can be reversed if cocaine use stops and other appropriate treatment begins. Going to a rehab treatment center to get help to quit cocaine could be the first step to fixing your menstrual cycle.