Many times women come to me saying oh! My periods are irregular, I need help but when I take a bit of history, I find that they have very perfect cycles. And I’ve met quite a bit who have no idea their cycles are irregular.
First off, I'd like you to know what I’ll be starting off by giving instances where a woman is said to have irregular cycles so you don’t go booking tests you don’t need.
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Signs of irregular periods/cycles
Your cycle lengths have a difference of up to 7 days or more i.e the number of days from the beginning of one period to the beginning of the next period. For example, 27 days, 35 days etc.
You have cycle lengths that are less than 21 days or more than 35 days
You skip or miss your period for months and you are not pregnant
You spot in between your cycle or just before your period for more than two days
You bleed heavily. You can deduce this from the number of menstrual cycle products you use in a day.
You bleed for more than 7 days
You experience severe pain during your period. One that prevents you from going around with your normal day to day. It can even be accompanied with vomitting.
If you experience any of these, then yes your periods are irregular.
The next step will be to visit the clinic. First, your history will be taken to understand your cycles better. Questions like dates of your last periods, use of birth control, how long you’ve experienced it, your lifestyle- diet, are you under any form of stress, are you eating well. Did you just start any rigorous exercise routine? These are all factors that can cause cycle irregularities.
From your answers to the questions asked, the tests will be recommended.
If you are spotting or bleeding irregularly, in between your cycles, many times, a pelvic exam and ultrasound to check your reproductive organs, the vagina, cervix, uterus will be done. Are there any structural abnormalities that may cause this? Fibroids, polyps. Is there an infection?
For late, missed or skipped periods, blood tests to check your hormones should be done, after a pregnancy test of course lol to be on the safe side. After which the following blood tests will be conducted:
- Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH),
- Luitenising Hormone (LH),
- Estrogen,
- Thyroid hormones,
- Prolactin, all of which will be done on the second day of your cycle
- Progesterone much later in the cycle.
These tests will give a better picture as to the reason why you may be experiencing irregular periods. An example will be ovulation disorders. So, maybe you are not sure if you ovulate or not, you can read my previous post where I talked about signs that indicate a woman is not ovulating.
- Ovarian reserve tests, checking anti-mullerian hormone. As we age, the quantity of quality of eggs we produce reduces too. This particular test estimates the quantity of eggs left. Very low levels can cause late skipped or missed periods as you will be ovulating less frequently
If there are physical signs like excessive hair growth on the face,chest or loss of hair on the head, In addition to some of the blood tests mentioned earlier and scans,
- insulin and the levels of your androgen hormones (male hormones) like testosterone, DHEAS to give a diagnosis for Polycystic ovarian syndrome PCOS if this is the case.
If you have any questions on PCOS and would like to see videos in the future about it, drop a comment below.
So, once the results are out, definitely a treatment plan will be discussed. It could be long term or short term depending on your goals. For example, are you trying to conceive or not or you just want to get your cycles right back on track?
You can learn more from this E-book I put together called “Period reset,” a guide showing a 4-step process for getting irregular periods back on track. Click here to get it
Do you have questions and concerns about your cycle and would like to speak to me about it to see if I can be of help. Click here to book a FREE 20minute discovery call
Would you like to learn how to chart your fertility signs correctly in order to track ovulation and time sex right? Get my short E-book 'How to get pregnant faster'
I am also the founder of Women's Health Platforms Foundation, an NGO clinic in Abuja providing women with low-cost preventive healthcare services.
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