Reasons for Missed Period Besides Pregnancy

When any woman misses her period, the first thought that crosses her mind is if she is pregnant or not. Then she takes a pregnancy test to confirm it. If the result is positive, then it is absolutely fine. However, when it gives a negative result, she gets panicked that something is seriously wrong with her health. Though the fact is there are many other simple reasons for missed period besides pregnancy.

Missed Period Causes Other Than Pregnancy

Those of you who have missed period and are experiencing some early pregnancy symptoms such as morning sickness, should first consult your midwife or doctor. It is possible that you could be pregnant and still get a negative pregnancy test because of low sensitivity pregnancy kit. So, you will be advised to conduct a retest after one week. If the second test is negative too, then look out for the reasons behind late period other than pregnancy. The most commonly found causes of irregular menstrual period and possible ways of treating them are given below:

Underlying Illnesses
The problem of missed period could be related to some underlying health problems. Diseases that can delay the periods are tuberculosis, irritable bowel syndrome, diabetes, liver disease and so on. So, if you are suffering from any such illness, then regular periods would resume only when the disease is completely cured.

Weight Related Issues
Sudden weight gain or loss of weight are bad for your health. When your body weight is too much, then the body hormones often fail to function normally. As a result, you may get periods irregularly or it may temporarily stop for some time. On the other hand, underweight women face such a problem due to low body fat. To resume normal periods, those women who are underweight should regain a healthy body weight and overweight women have to lose the extra pounds.

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
This is a hormonal disorder which results in formation of small cysts inside the ovaries and triggers menstrual abnormality. Sometimes, women with PCOS get prolonged period and at other times, they do not get periods for few months. During the time of their cycle, they may experience premenstrual syndrome such as cramps but there is no period. Doctors treat ovarian cysts with birth control pills and other medicines that contain synthetic form of estrogen and progesterone hormones.

Menopause
When a woman is approaching her menopause, she may have missed periods, light periods or heavy periods. This phase is often refer to as perimenopause where the levels of reproductive hormones start going down and the menstruation schedule becomes irregular. It is absolutely normal condition and does not require any treatment.

Mental Stress
Excessive mental stress can cause severe harm to your overall health. It can lead to hormonal imbalance in your body and the periods get delayed. In this condition, your doctor will advise you to keep your mind free from stress with the help of various relaxation techniques.

Other Causes
Eating disorders, increase in strenuous physical exercises, breastfeeding are a few of the other general causes behind missed period. It can be triggered by irregular use of birth control pills. In this case, women get spotting after they missed the pills for few days in between. Any abnormal change in daily schedule have an adverse impact on your cycle. This is particularly true when you stay awake till late nights on a regular basis or you work night shifts.

Hope this article on reasons for missed period besides pregnancy has made one thing clear in your mind, that you should not get alarmed when your period is delayed. As you can see, the medical problems responsible for missed period require proper treatment. On the other hand, for the non medical reasons, changes in lifestyle can bring back the normal cycle.