@ Marle777: My understanding is that we need body fat to produce enough estrogen to make our bodies build up uterine lining. Therefore, gymnasts, marathon runners, and other athletes who have next to zero body fat do not produce sufficient estrogen; therefore, dysmennorea occurs (your periods stop).
All males and all females both have three sex hormones: testosterone (relates to libido), estrogen (relates to menstruation), and androgen (don't know what that does). As we reduce body fat, we don't actually produce more testosterone, but the estrogen levels are so low the proportion of testosterone is higher than it would be if we were carrying around what would be normal body fat for females (I think around 20%). I believe you have to get down to something like less than 7% body fat to stop periods. And yes, anorexics/bulimics often suffer from this problem for the same reasons.
All that said, my advice is: listen to your body. If it doesn't feel right, don't do it.
When I broke my foot, I only stopped poling for about a week and then I did only inverted work where I didn't need my feet. (Side climbs, not straight up fireman climbs.) I got back to the floor work and spins after my foot healed. We can do the same thing with Aunt Flo: just do what feels okay during that time. But gymnasts and other athletes compete regardless of what time of the month it is, so it probably won't cause any sort of permanent damage, just might be a bit more uncomfortable... than usual. I mean, who are we kidding? Pole hurts under the best of circumstances. LOL
