Period Pain: The Part No One Talks About with Psychologist Andy Leggat

Your pain is real. And your brain is trying to protect you.

In episode four of our period pain miniseries, Jess sits down with Andy Leggat, registered Health Psychologist and Fertility Counsellor with over 15 years of clinical experience, for one of the most validating conversations we've had on this podcast.

Andy is a returning Cyclist guest, and if you haven't heard her first episode on the emotional side of infertility, we'd highly recommend going back to that one too.

If you've ever been told your pain is in your head, been referred to a psychologist and felt confused or even insulted by that, or spent years quietly gaslighting yourself into thinking you're just not coping, this episode is for you.

Andy explains why psychological care isn't the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff when it comes to period pain. It's a core part of the picture. She breaks down how the brain actually processes pain, not as a simple tissue-based experience, but as a deeply contextual one shaped by the nervous system, past experiences, trauma, environment, and the relationship we have with our own bodies. Two people with the exact same diagnosis can experience pain in completely different ways, and this conversation explains why.

They get into pain memory and how significant pain experiences shape future ones, the cyclical nature of anticipatory anxiety around periods, and why years of chronic dismissal, from doctors, from family, from ourselves, can create deeply entrenched thought patterns that spill over into health anxiety, hypervigilance, and conditions like panic disorder. Jess shares honestly that this conversation hit close to home, describing how she was body scanning and messaging her husband in a spiral just minutes before they sat down to record.

Andy unpacks self-gaslighting, what it is, why it's concerningly common, and why it makes complete sense when you've spent years being told your pain is normal. She talks about the grief that quietly sits underneath chronic pain, the grief of missed career milestones, changed relationships, and lost trust in your own body, and why naming it as grief can be one of the most validating things a person can do.

There's practical guidance throughout, too. How to navigate period pain conversations in the workplace, how to raise children who feel safe talking about their bodies without amplifying anxiety, and exactly what a first session with a health psychologist looks like so there are no surprises before you walk in the door.

This is episode four of five of The Cyclist's period pain miniseries. All episodes are available now.

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Hit play. Your body is working hard to keep you safe. This episode will help you understand how.

Listen to Andy’s episode, Infertility Unfiltered: The Emotional Side of Infertility with Psychologist Andy Leggat

Here’s the link to it on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1S5M8ob4zVC0kDGi1J44wi