Irregular menstruation occurs due to certain behaviors and lifestyles such as poor diet, stress and lack of physical exercise.
Is your menstrual cycle out of whack and you don’t know what to do? Don’t worry, irregular menstruation is not always a cause for concern. First of all, you need to evaluate your case carefully, as the problem can have different causes.
In principle, irregular cycles are caused by certain behaviors and lifestyles, such as poor diet, stress and lack of physical exercise.
However, cases of cycle variation are also very common in the first menstruation (menarche) and also close to menopause (perimenopause). Furthermore, irregularity also occurs after pregnancy, when starting a hormonal contraceptive method or due to some diseases, such as endometriosis.
However, it is important to emphasize that, regardless of the cause, before starting any treatment, a patient who has continuous irregular menstruation should immediately seek out a gynecologist.
Definition of Irregular Menstruation
Irregular menstruation is when the cycle takes longer than usual to start. Therefore, to understand if your cycle is irregular, our tip is to keep a note of the days on which your period begins and, if there are frequent intervals between periods, it could mean that you have an irregular cycle.
When talking to a doctor, always have your cycle notes on hand. Also, talk about changes in your body if you have experienced abdominal pain, weight gain or uncontrolled hair growth.
Main causes
The causes of irregular menstruation are diverse, among the main ones are:
- Beginning or end of pregnancy;
- Polycystic Ovary;
- Use of hormonal contraceptive methods, such as the IUD;
- Coagulation disorders;
- Endometriosis;
- Use of anticoagulant medications;
- Emotional stress;
- Bad eating habits.
Symptoms
Pay attention to symptoms such as changes in bleeding, longer menstrual cycle length, increased abdominal pain, lack of frequent menstruation, because if you have any of these, your period is probably irregular.
Treatments
Irregular menstruation can be treated in different ways, depending on the cause, so it is important to talk to a gynecologist to study your case and give you the correct treatment.
Among the options for solving cases are the use of medications, use of hormones, surgeries to correct structural problems or surgeries such as, for example, removing the uterus (hysterectomy), removing fibroids or ovarian cysts.
How to identify the fertile period with irregular menstruation?
If your cycle is irregular, your ovulation will probably be irregular too, which can make pregnancy difficult, as it is not possible to identify fertile days.
So, if you want to check out some tips on how to find out your fertile period and be able to monitor, even with an irregular cycle, the days of your ovulation, read: Fertile days – Definition, period and main questions.
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Sources: Unimed Fortaleza, H9J, Hello Clue.
Image sources: The Editor, Dr. Juliana Ribeiro, Alira Clinica, Dr. João Dias, Itesc.
