Wouldn’t it be nice to know the exact day and time your period would start and stop every month so you’d never be caught unprepared?
Unfortunately, for most women our bodies aren’t quite that predictable. The average menstrual cycle lasts for 28 days. Some women find this timing is right on every single month and some find that it varies for them.
If your cycle tends to vary, or some months do not come at all, it can be frustrating and maybe even disheartening. Periods are considered irregular if they are missed entirely, come early, or come late.
It’s always a good idea to keep track of when your cycles start and stop with a calendar or app so that you can find any patterns and give the information to your gynecologist.
Why are periods often irregular?
Besides the obvious explanation that you could be pregnant, there are upwards of 20 different possibilities as to why you are experiencing irregular periods. Here are five of the most common causes:
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- Hormonal imbalances – When your estrogen and progesterone are out of balance, your body cannot complete menstrual cycles the way it should. Extreme hormonal imbalance (called “anovulation”) causes your body not to ovulate at all.
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- Stress or sickness – Long-term stress, or even a spike in anxiety over a certain situation, can affect your hormones as well and cause a delay in your cycle. The same is true when you have other health conditions or sickness.
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- Birth control pills – If you’re on the pill, you have a constant dose of synthetic hormones that can make your period more regular or, for some women, more irregular. They often cause you to have lighter and shorter periods, but skipping cycles is also fairly common.
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- PCOS (or other ovarian issues) – PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) causes small cysts to form on your ovaries, which then interferes with your cycles. Women with PCOS often go months without seeing a regular period.
- Age – Whether you’re just starting to get menstrual cycles or you’re getting close to perimenopause or menopause, your age can greatly affect the regularity of your cycles. In the first few years of a woman’s period, hormones can take time to balance out. The same is true for a woman that is nearing menopause.
If you’re concerned about the irregularity of your cycles, make an appointment today with your All About Women gynecologist in Gainesville or Lake City to talk through possible causes and solutions.