Why women have irregular periods

Dr. Chitor Nwana, Consultant Gynaecologist at the Tabitha Women’s Health Centre, Abuja, says “as a teenager, when they start seeing their menses, the system between their brains and their ovaries are not matured yet. Usually it is normal during the first year of menstruation to have irregular periods. It could take a long period for […]

Dr. Chitor Nwana, Consultant Gynaecologist at the Tabitha Women’s Health Centre, Abuja, says “as a teenager, when they start seeing their menses, the system between their brains and their ovaries are not matured yet. Usually it is normal during the first year of menstruation to have irregular periods. It could take a long period for the hormones controlling the periods to achieve balance. Is either they are going to bleed a lot or their menses is going to be irregular. They may see it once in three months, but for a woman who is fully matured, when they come in with an issue of irregular period, the first thing we suspect is pregnancy. Now, if the person is not pregnant, then we check things like thyroid imbalance, lack of hormone called prolactin, so we do those test to make sure the person is normal. They are people with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOs), these people do not ovulate every month. And because they do not ovulate every month, they may not have regular periods,” Dr. Nwana explains.

According to other experts significant weight gain or weight loss is one of the reasons for irregular periods. Even though low body weight is the most common cause of irregular periods, obesity also causes various irregularities in menstrual cycle.

If a woman is a victim of severe emotional stress, then she can possibly experience irregular or missed periods. This is due to the reason that stress will have very serious impact on your reproductive health. So, if she is aware she  experiences severe emotional stress, she may suffer from irregular periods.

Excessive exercising or body straining activities can also lead to irregular menstrual cycle. This is the reason why most   athletes miss periods.

Also, many new mothers do not resume their regular periods until they have completed breast feeding. So, they can possibly have irregular menstrual cycle. Naturally the effects disappear once breastfeeding is completed.

Medication could also be the reason for   irregular periods, including different methods of birth control. These may cause fewer, lighter, skipped, more frequent or no periods.

Experts say women have to keep in mind that you could become pregnant even though you don’t have periods anymore. This is why in case you do not wish to have babies you should be using birth control methods.

There are many different causes for irregular menstrual bleeding. For a great many cases, medical intervention may be required to restore normal menstrual patterns. In many cases, it could be possible to use home remedies for the irregular bleeding. Self care is very essential to treat the condition of irregular periods.

“To manage patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (women who do not ovulate), we give them oral contraceptives that help to regulate their periods. For women who experience irregular periods as a result of polyps, we remove the polypes and the person is fine,” Dr. Nwana says.

In some cases, the irregular menstrual bleeding may be the natural course of things and there may be no need for treatment. For instance, when a female first starts her period, her system may take some time to regularize in to a set pattern or a predictable schedule. This will resolve in time.

Also, when a woman approaches menopause or is in her pre-menopausal years (which may begin as many as 10 years before actual menopause onset), she may start to experience irregular periods. This is not problematic in itself, though it could be tiresome and inconvenient.

Proper diet: Sometimes nutritional deficiencies could be the cause of irregular menstrual bleeding. Balancing the diet to include more fruit and vegetable, whole grain and good quality protein may often correct the problem. A multivitamin or other nutritional supplement could also help. So, carefully watch your diet and eat as healthy as you can. Take the necessary time and prepare the healthiest foods available to you. Fish is a good dietary product for irregular periods as it contains omega-3 fatty acids which are helpful during menstruation.

In addition, home remedies such as drinking carrot juice or grape juice everyday for several weeks are seen to be helpful. Herbal remedies such as a mixture of ginger and honey are also thought to help restore regularity of periods. Cutting out or lowering consumption of fatty foods, caffeinated drinks and so on may also help.

Reduce stress: Stress is a known culprit for causing irregular menstrual bleeding. Stress can result in certain hormone changes in the body that may result in the irregularity. Learning better time management techniques or anger management techniques can help lower stress significantly.