6 steps to take if you miss a period
Amenorrhea is the absence of menstruation. For women who used to have a period and now doesn’t, she is said to have secondary amenorrhea. For those women (more like a young teen) who have never had a period, that is primary amenorrhea and that is a very different condition.
1. Pregnancy test. The most common cause for amenorrhea is pregnancy.
2. Three missed periods, consult your gyno. One or more missed menstrual periods is just a missed period, but over 90 days or three cycles in a row with no bleeding is termed amenorrhea.
3. Moms don’t worry if your daughter’s friends have a period, but she has not. It is also true if you have not yet had a period by the age of 16 you have amenorrhea. Other causes would include problems with the reproductive organs, or with the glands that help regulate hormone levels.
4. Thyroid hormone imbalance and other hormone issues can be related to skipped periods. Treatment of the underlying condition would resolved the condition. The first test, even then, is a pregnancy, and this should be done on blood. The quicker you figure out you are pregnant, the healthier your pregnancy can be. Women need in early pregnancy would be checking for anemia, checking their blood count, their blood type, whether they have infections like HIV, hepatitis or syphilis, and checking for immunity to vaccine treatable infectious diseases like measles, Rubella and chicken pox.
5. PCOS and menopause are the most common reason women don’t have periods. If your gyno determines you need hormone tests to determine the source of missed periods that would include tests to consider would be a thyroid stimulating hormone level, a prolactin level and LH and FSH tests.
6. Stress and weight changes can be responsible, but the average exerciser shouldn’t really have this.
7. See if your testosterone levels are off. This can cause a variety of symptoms.
8. Have your thyroid checked, of the over 200 reported symptoms due to thyroid disease, menstrual periods being off is just one of them.
More comprehensive testing is available, and for that we would suguest you contact your gyno.
