Period or menstruation is the first part of the menstrual cycle. It is the phase that is recognized by unusual stomach pain and bleeding. Irregular periods are a common problem among adult women in the world. It is when your periods don’t follow a regular pattern and each one differs from the previous ones. In the following, there is everything you need to know about irregular periods.  

How Can You Know If You Have Irregular Periods?  

You can detect irregular periods by considering the factors that might vary from one period to another. These factors are:  

• Lengths of your menstruation 
• The time between each period  
• The amount of bleeding

If these three factors vary for each period, you have the symptoms of irregular periods. This means you need to pay attention to how much you bleed during each menstruation and see if it is different. Excess amount of bleeding along with long-lasting periods are two of the most common symptoms of irregular periods.  

Check your cycle regularity with our Cycle Regularity Calculator

What Could Be the Causes

As mentioned, irregular periods are a relatively common issue among adult women. Some particular factors can increase the chance of getting an irregular period. Some of these factors could be considered a common thing by many women. This is the reason that many women suffer from this issue.  

Stress

Stress is arguably the most common cause among all the possible causes of irregular periods. Nowadays, stress is the cause to many of the health problems that people can experience. It is specially important in menstrual cycle, because this process has a lot to do with the hormones of the body. It can cause imbalance in different hormones and disturb this process.  

Medication

Taking new mediation can change the pattern of the menstrual cycle or even cause irregular periods. Make sure that your doctor knows what medications you are using and stay away from self-prescribed drugs.  

Birth Control

Using birth control or changing your birth control pills can cause some changes in the pattern of your period. While on birth control pills, women do not get their periods at all.  

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS): PCOS is a medical condition that disturbs the balance of the hormones in the body. As the result, you do not have the right balance for menstrual cycle and you might miss your periods.  

Eating Disorders

Anorexia and such eating disorders mean that body does not get enough nutrition. This might cause missed periods since the body might not be able to produce the hormones of the menstrual cycle.  

Excess Exercise

Too much exercise or active work can also be the reason for irregular periods in adult women.  

Complications 

The most common complication associated with irregular periods is anemia. This is in cases that the periods are irregular because there is too much bleeding. Consequently, there will be a big blood loss over time. As a result of this particular type of period, the body will have insufficient iron and nutrition in the blood. In this case, you can often feel dizzy and out of breath. This is the effect of anemia. Your body gets less oxygen from the blood flow and you will have an increased heartbeat. You eventually end up getting tired and out of breath.  

Treatment 

The treatment of irregular periods depends on the factors that cause it. Generally, some treatments can be beneficial for most people with an irregular period such as:  

For particular cases of irregular periods, there are some specific ways to treat them to medicate your irregular period. For the irregular periods caused by hormone imbalance, hormone replacement injection can be used to regain the balance in the hormones that play a role in the menstrual cycle  

If too much stress is the main reason for your irregular periods, you can use anti-anxiety medications. You can even reduce your stress without medicine with alternative ways such as meditation.  

NSAIDs are a type of drug that can reduce regular bleeding during the period. NSAIDs stand for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. 

Remember to talk to your doctor before taking any medication. 

Conclusion  

An irregular period is relatively common among women. If you experience any of the mentioned symptoms of irregular periods, you should contact your doctor. Be aware that the most common reason for missed periods is pregnancy. Doing a pregnancy check should be your first action as soon as your feel like you missed your period.  

While there are medications to treat your irregular period, you can often manage it by maintaining a healthy lifestyle. You should keep a healthy diet while trying to stressful and unhealthy habits in your life.  

Do you still have a question? Let us know in the comments.