Possible Reasons Why You Missed Your Period
Missing your period is the first sign of pregnancy. However, that isn’t always the case. In fact, there are so many things that take part in menstruation, that it’s normal to be unaware of all the reasons why you may have missed your period.
It’s not uncommon for women to have a delay in their period at least once in their lifetime. Even the most regular women can experience this.
In most cases, a woman has nothing to worry about if she only misses a period once. However, if that’s a constant situation in her life (if she always finds herself missing her periods), it might be a sign of a bigger problem and it’s important for her to go to the doctor.
Possible reasons why you missed your period
Pregnancy
Most of the time, this is the first thing that will cross a woman’s mind if she missed her period. However, practicing safe sex and using contraceptive methods can rule out pregnancy almost completely.
It’s true that a delay in menstruation is the first sign of pregnancy. An estimated one in three pregnant women present low-intensity bleeding during their first trimester.
A stressed and anxious state of mind
Many factors can easily affect the punctuality of the menstrual cycle. Strong and prolonged emotions can definitely take part in the delay of the menstruation. However, there are cases in which girls experience the opposite, and their period comes before the expected date.
In addition, human’s hormonal production can be impaired by a big amount of anxiety and stress. Stress can even inhibit ovulation, which can make women miss their periods as well.
It’s no secret that the routine and all of our daily duties make us feel stressed. In some cases, they can be the main reason for our anxiety.
Our financial, educational, and professional responsibilities mixed with a heavy work environment and a hectic work schedule is basically a recipe for disaster.
When the contraceptive fails during the sexual act or the woman forgets to take the pill, the stress generated by the fear of having become pregnant is enough so that her period doesn’t come on the expected date.
Anxiety also plays a big part when it comes to a woman missing her period. When the period doesn’t come when expected, a woman’s anxiety levels increase immensely and the situation becomes a vicious cycle. In that case, the best thing would be to take a pregnancy test as soon as possible.
Diseases or infections
A simple virus or common diseases like tonsillitis may be responsible for a delay in menstruation, but the consumption of some medications can also have the same effects:
- Corticosteroids.
- Chemotherapy.
- Anti-hypertensive medicine.
- Immunosuppressants.
Even though antibiotics don’t really play a part in the delay in menstruation, they can interfere with the effectiveness of the contraceptive method.
Variations in body weight
A woman’s menstrual cycle can be affected if her body goes through sudden changes in weight in a short period of time. The greasy cells in our body favor the production of estrogen, which is a female hormone whose function is to mature the eggs.
Gaining or losing a lot of weight all at once changes the constitution of body fat. As a consequence, there are alterations in the levels of estrogen that affect ovulation (and menstruation!).
Working out excessively
Menstrual variations are common in high-performance athletes. The low amount of body fat, a high caloric expenditure, and the stress produced by training are listed as possible reasons why their period rarely ever comes when expected.
Hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism
Changes in the menstrual cycle may occur when the woman has problems with the functioning of the thyroid.
If a woman takes medicine for this issue, slight changes in the level of the thyroid hormones at the blood level may occur, causing a deregulation of the menstrual cycle.
Polycystic ovarian syndrome
PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) causes constant irregularities when it comes to menstruation and its appearance. Women who suffer from PCOS produce large amounts of male hormones called androgenic.
There are several causes and factors to consider if you’ve missed your period or if it comes late. However, in all cases, it’s advisable to be attentive to the appearance of new symptoms since they might have to do with other medical conditions.