Question: I have had my period regularly for all my life and now suddenly it has stopped. What are the causes of stopped periods?
Answer:
What is your age?
When was the last period? How many months have been skipped?
Was there a sudden/ gradual change in the pattern of menstruation?
Is there any gynecological history in the family?
Have you got any investigations done?
Amenorrhoea or trivial irregularities in the menstrual function, if not of a long standing, should not be worrying. But if there is no period for 4 months or more and no pregnancy, it should be investigated.
Causes of Amenorrhea:
- Drug stimulated: Are you onto contraceptive pills or any other hormone pills? If you are, please get back to your doctor to re-confirm the side effects. Stopping of contraceptive pills, after their prolonged usage, could also be a cause.
- Pregnancy must always be looked at as a likely cause for irregular period.
- Thyroid diseases: Autoimmune thyroiditis, hyperthyroidism, grave’s disease are commonly associated with reduced menstrual flow. Please get your T3, T4 and TSH levels assessed.
- Amenorrhea (non-appearance of menses) happens with work related pressures, anguish, tumult, or emotional turmoil.It will resolve by itself if you learn to de-stress.
- Menopause and Peri-menopause: Reduction in menstrual flow is observed commonly around the age of 45 to 50 years when a woman is about to enter menopausal age.
- Asherman’s syndrome: Frequent abortions harm the uterine tissue, causing scarring and adhesions in the uterus which not only affect the menstrual flow but also create fertility problems.
- Nutritional Deficiency/ Anemia: Low levels of hemoglobin are associated with absence of menstrual flow. An imbalanced diet could also be a culprit.
- Illnesses of long duration (typhoid, malaria) lead to amenorrhea.
- Weight related amenorrhea occurs rarely. Has there been a sudden and severe weight loss? Gaining optimum body weight will normalize the menstrual cycle.
- Related Topics
- Irregular Menstrual Periods | Causes Of Delay In Menstrual Period
- No Period For 4 Months | Irregular Menstrual Cycle Home Remedies
- Secondary Amenorrhea, No Period Causes | Missing Periods after D&C
- Profuse Bleeding Causes, Treatments | Excess Menstrual Period
- Causes of Amenorrhea or Irregular Periods | Causes of Missed Periods
I have irregular menstruation. Usually I miss my period for 1 month, but right now I not menstruated for two months. I had a negative pregnancy test. What would be the probable cause of my amenorrhea?
Ashermans syndrome is intrauterine adhesions, caused due to scars from repeated D & C performed for miscarriages. Amennorhea, less menses and infertility are the features observed in AS.
There are several other causes for menstrual inconsistencies for e.g. anemia, hormonal imbalance, stress, thyroid disease etc. You will need a detailed investigation, which your gynecologist will be able to tell you after proper history and examination.