We’ve all had it happen at one point or another. We expect our period to come at the same time every month, but then it just doesn’t. Then the waiting game comes. You wait and wait for it to start and maybe sometimes it does one or two weeks later, or sometimes it just doesn’t happen. First thing you do if you’re sexually active of course is to take a pregnancy test. But what if you’re not currently sexually active or the test comes back negative? What does that mean? Why was your period late or skipped? Is something wrong? Should you see a doctor?
Rest knowing that this happens to almost every woman at some point in her life and it may occur for multiple reasons. Some of these causes are minor and don’t involve any need to see a doctor while others are more serious and you should seek medical help if you think it is correlated to a more serious issue.
So today, I want to discuss with you some of the reasons that your period may be late.
Remember what your period is
Your menstrual cycle is regulated by your endocrine system. This system is in charge of releasing hormones like estrogen and progesterone. These are the key hormones in all stages of menstruation and allow the eggs to mature and be released. Different factors can cause imbalances in hormones and can cause delays in menstruation (Palermo, 2013).
If you are experiencing extreme stress
Highly stressful situations, such as moving, large life decisions, or heavier workloads can put a lot of stress on your body. This stress can majorly throw off your hormones and even affect your hypothalamus, which is the part of the brain that controls and regulates your period.
This is thankfully a pretty simple fix. Try to locate what may be causing you stress and attempt to eliminate it or lessen it. Although it might be hard to completely get rid of what stresses us out, knowing what it is and taking actions to limit it can help keep our bodies and brains in balance.
Extreme weight loss
As much as we would love to see twenty pounds melt off our bodies in a week, not only is not realistic, but it’s not at all healthy. That being said, excessive weight loss happens to women all over the world. Most of the times this is related to eating disorders such as bulimia or anorexia, but sometimes it could just be caused by women who don’t understand what healthy weight loss is. Extreme loss of BMI can cause periods to be late or skipped. If you are afraid you are losing weight too quickly and you are missing your period, do some research on how much weight you should be losing a week or what your ideal BMI should be. You might be surprised what you find out. If you are dealing with an eating disorder, I urge you to seek medical attention.
Excess Exercise
Sometimes things like a new workout routine, especially if you didn’t have a workout routine before, or intense training can cause your period to be late or to be skipped. When we exercise a new routine or an intense routine, our body experiences stress since we are pushing it beyond its normal limits. Our bodies are pretty funny in certain ways, and when its under stress it actually tries to protect us from getting pregnant. That means that our body prevents ovulation, reduces estrogen, and fails to build a big uterine lining. Those ingredients are the recipe for not having a period (Barnes, 2014). This is why a lot of athletes, especially gymnasts, are known for not having periods for most of their lives.
Polycystic Ovary Symptom (PCOS)
Normal level of hormones during a menstrual cycle photo from: womeninbalance.org
This condition causes the body to produce more of the male hormone, androgen, and can result to cysts forming on the ovaries. This can make ovulation irregular or even stop all together. This condition can also affect the balance of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone in your body causing a huge hormone shift. This condition can be diagnosed by your doctor and a treatment plan to alleviate symptoms can be set up (Barnes 2014, Healthline, 2015).
Chronic Conditions
Chronic conditions such as celiac disease, diabetes, or thyroid conditions can cause alterations in your menstrual cycle. Changes in blood sugar are linked to hormone changes and inflammation that is caused by celiac disease can damage the small intestine and prevent the body from absorbing nutrients needed for healthy and normal menstruation (Healthline, 2015).
Premature Menopause
When women under the age of 40 have hormones “misfiring” significantly, they are said to be experience premature menopause and this can cause serious irregular and missed periods. This condition has every symptom of normal menopause including hot flashes. However, rest knowing that this is a rare condition and it should be the last thing you worry about when you are noticing that your period is late or missing. However, if you are extremely worried, a trip to the doctor will help put your mind at ease (Barnes, 2014).
There are a lot of potential reasons for periods to be missed or altered. Sometimes they aren’t even serious conditions and may not even be worth a bat of the eyes, next month you’ll probably go back to normal. But again, if your condition seems chronic, you should seek medical attention to determine if you are in need of a treatment plan to get your hormones back on balance.
Let me know in the comments below if you know any reasons for irregular periods that I missed, there are tons out there!
Until next time,
Kat
Sources and further reading:
Healthline. (2015). Healthline. Why is My Period Late? http://www.healthline.com/health/womens-health/why-is-my-period-late#4
Barnes, Z. (2014). Women’s Health. 7 Reasons Your Period May be Late Other Than Pregnancy. http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/late-period
Palermo, E. (2013). Livescience. Why is My Period Late? http://www.livescience.com/41329-why-is-my-period-late.html
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