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What Causes Delayed Menstruation And Negative Pregnancy Test?
Question: Hi I'm 20 y/o and have my period regularly. It is 90 out of 100% late every month. So this month I was supposed to get my period the 17th, which was 7 days ago. I haven't yet. My friend told me to wait a week to take a pregnancy test and see the results. So I bought a test with two individual tests. One with the lines and one that was digital. They both came out negative. But I think I do have some factors to why my period could be delayed or missed if that's normal? One being I used to go to the gym very often, 4-5 times a week. And I recently started a new job that has me on my feet all day and also making me stay on my feet longer than I'm normally used to, so I stopped going to the gym. But I do go once a week. Another factor is Saturday of last week, before my period was due, I didn't eat or drink anything before working a 8 hour shift making me stay up until 12am at work. And I felt dizzy, lightheaded and nauseous and my mom said it was because of not eating or drinking because I drank a lot of coffee making me dehydrated. I could use some input on why my period is more late than usual? And what I could do since I know I'm not pregnant 100%?
Brief Answer:
Anovulation
Detailed Answer:
Hello XXXXXXX
Stress of any kind, physical or emotional, can interfere with a woman's ability to ovulate. This is especially true of younger women, and some women are more prone to this than others.
It's as though the brain perceives the stress and doesn't want to have the additional stress of having a baby. Without ovulating, the cycle is thrown off. Menstruation can come early, late, spot, be heavy, light, longer, shorter. There isn't regularity too it because the hormones that result from ovulation and the expected regularity of them aren't happening.
All of the things that you mentioned, both physical and mental stress (new job) could have interfered with you ovulating. And so without ovulating, your period is delayed.
If you want to get your period now, you can go in to your doctor or urgent care clinic and they will give you a short course of Provera (a progestin) which provides an analog to the progesterone you normally would make after ovulating mid cycle. This allows the uterine lining to mature (providing you have enough estrogen, which you typically would have regardless of ovulation or not). When you finish the course of it, within a couple of days your period will likely start.
If you want to avoid doing this, you can wait for awhile longer.
We usually don't get too concerned about missed periods unless it has gone on for 3 months at which point we will give Provera and if that doesn't work, do hormonal testing.
Do what you can to take care of yourself with rest, good nutrition, relaxing, drinking enough water.
I hope this information helps. Please let me know if I can provide further information.
Anovulation
Detailed Answer:
Hello XXXXXXX
Stress of any kind, physical or emotional, can interfere with a woman's ability to ovulate. This is especially true of younger women, and some women are more prone to this than others.
It's as though the brain perceives the stress and doesn't want to have the additional stress of having a baby. Without ovulating, the cycle is thrown off. Menstruation can come early, late, spot, be heavy, light, longer, shorter. There isn't regularity too it because the hormones that result from ovulation and the expected regularity of them aren't happening.
All of the things that you mentioned, both physical and mental stress (new job) could have interfered with you ovulating. And so without ovulating, your period is delayed.
If you want to get your period now, you can go in to your doctor or urgent care clinic and they will give you a short course of Provera (a progestin) which provides an analog to the progesterone you normally would make after ovulating mid cycle. This allows the uterine lining to mature (providing you have enough estrogen, which you typically would have regardless of ovulation or not). When you finish the course of it, within a couple of days your period will likely start.
If you want to avoid doing this, you can wait for awhile longer.
We usually don't get too concerned about missed periods unless it has gone on for 3 months at which point we will give Provera and if that doesn't work, do hormonal testing.
Do what you can to take care of yourself with rest, good nutrition, relaxing, drinking enough water.
I hope this information helps. Please let me know if I can provide further information.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Also, since you said you usually don't get too concerned with girls missing a period. Does that factor change since I was kind of regular? Or no? Because this is the first time it has happened to me.
Brief Answer:
Thoughts on this
Detailed Answer:
Well it sounds like although you always had a period, the cycle varied in length, and that variability can sometimes mean that you aren't always ovulating.
But yes, with all that you had going on that could account for physical and emotional stress, it would not at all be unexpected, even if you never missed a period before.
Another thing that can cause a missed ovulation is weight loss. If women lose weight rapidly or get too thin, then that can interfere too.
Thoughts on this
Detailed Answer:
Well it sounds like although you always had a period, the cycle varied in length, and that variability can sometimes mean that you aren't always ovulating.
But yes, with all that you had going on that could account for physical and emotional stress, it would not at all be unexpected, even if you never missed a period before.
Another thing that can cause a missed ovulation is weight loss. If women lose weight rapidly or get too thin, then that can interfere too.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
THANk you for your responses! You have cleared out many questions I had!
My period would last 7 days. And 28-31 in between which I know is normal. Would that change any factor in why my period would be late?
Also, is it possible for girls with regular periods have their cycles changed because of factors that I hAce for a missed period?
My period would last 7 days. And 28-31 in between which I know is normal. Would that change any factor in why my period would be late?
Also, is it possible for girls with regular periods have their cycles changed because of factors that I hAce for a missed period?
Brief Answer:
Information
Detailed Answer:
Do you mean that the stress during this current time would, after it resolves, continue to affect the pattern of future periods? No, it should return to what it was before. Sometimes women have a new pattern after giving birth, but mostly, once women start ovulating regularly, which usually happens shortly after menarche (having first period) or within a few years of that, that pattern continues.
Information
Detailed Answer:
Do you mean that the stress during this current time would, after it resolves, continue to affect the pattern of future periods? No, it should return to what it was before. Sometimes women have a new pattern after giving birth, but mostly, once women start ovulating regularly, which usually happens shortly after menarche (having first period) or within a few years of that, that pattern continues.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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