Common Causes of Irregular Periods and When to See a Doctor
Common Causes of Irregular Periods and When to See a Doctor Menstrual cycles aren’t always as predictable as we’d like. While some women experience their periods like clockwork, others deal with surprises—early periods, delayed periods, or missed ones entirely. These irregularities may feel like minor inconveniences at first, but they can also be early indicators of underlying health issues. What Is an Irregular Period? A menstrual cycle is typically between 21 and 35 days. Anything shorter or longer may be considered irregular. For some women, periods come too frequently; for others, they are few and far between. Others experience heavy bleeding, painful cramps, or spotting between periods. Common signs of irregular periods include: Missing more than three periods in a row Periods that come more than once every 21 days or less than once every 35 days Menstrual flow that is significantly heavier or lighter than usual Bleeding between periods Severe menstrual cramps that interfere with daily life Why Is My Period Late or Irregular? Let’s take a closer look at some of the most common causes. 1. Stress and Emotional Health Stress is one of the most common disruptors of the menstrual cycle. When your body is under physical or emotional strain, it produces cortisol—commonly known as the “stress hormone.” High cortisol levels can interfere with the hypothalamus, which controls hormones that regulate your period. What to watch for:If your periods become irregular after a major life event—such as exams, a breakup, work pressure, or grief—stress may be the cause. Tip: Incorporating stress-reducing activities like yoga, mindfulness, and regular sleep patterns may help restore your cycle. 2. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) PCOS is a hormonal disorder that affects 1 in 10 women of childbearing age. It leads to irregular ovulation or anovulation (lack of ovulation), which often causes missed or delayed periods. Other symptoms include: Acne Weight gain or difficulty losing weight Excess facial or body hair Thinning scalp hair Dark patches on the skin (especially around the neck or armpits) PCOS is also a leading cause of infertility, but it can be managed with lifestyle changes and medication. 3. Thyroid Disorders Your thyroid gland plays a crucial role in regulating your metabolism and hormone balance. Both an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism) and an underactive one (hypothyroidism) can impact your menstrual cycle. Symptoms may include: Fatigue or restlessness Weight changes Sensitivity to cold or heat Irregular or absent periods A simple blood test can detect thyroid hormone levels and help your doctor determine the next steps. 4. Sudden Weight Loss or Gain Your body needs a certain amount of fat to produce hormones essential for ovulation. Rapid weight loss from extreme dieting or eating disorders can disrupt hormone production and lead to amenorrhea (absence of menstruation). Likewise, obesity can lead to excess estrogen production, causing hormonal imbalances that affect your cycle. Common signs to look out for: Unintentional weight changes Changes in appetite Menstrual irregularity that coincides with weight changes 5. Over-Exercising Excessive physical activity—especially in athletes, dancers, or bodybuilders—can affect the balance of reproductive hormones and stop ovulation. You might be overexercising if you: Exercise intensely every day without rest Have very low body fat Miss periods regularly despite otherwise being healthy Moderation and balanced nutrition are key. 6. Perimenopause and Menopause As women approach their 40s, menstrual cycles naturally start to become irregular due to hormonal shifts that signal the beginning of menopause (the end of menstruation). Perimenopause symptoms include: Hot flashes Mood swings Night sweats Irregular periods Sleep disturbances This transition can last for several years before periods stop completely. 7. Contraceptive Use Starting or stopping hormonal birth control (like the pill, patch, or IUD) can affect your periods temporarily. Some women stop bleeding altogether, while others experience spotting or cycle changes for several months. Emergency contraception (like the morning-after pill) can also delay your next period by a few days or a week. If irregular bleeding persists for more than 3 months after starting or stopping a contraceptive method, speak with your gynecologist. 8. Underlying Health Conditions Certain chronic illnesses can also impact menstrual regularity. These include: Diabetes (especially if poorly controlled) Celiac disease Pituitary tumors Adrenal gland disorders These conditions can interfere with hormone balance, affecting ovulation and menstruation. When Should You See a Gynecologist? If you notice irregularities in your cycle, you don’t have to suffer in silence. It’s important to see a gynecologist if you experience: No period for 3 consecutive months (and you’re not pregnant) Periods shorter than 21 days or longer than 35 days Heavy bleeding that soaks through pads or tampons every hour Bleeding between periods or after intercourse Severe pelvic pain or cramping Unexplained weight changes, acne, or excessive hair growth How a Gynecologist Can Help At [Your Clinic Name], we take a personalized approach to menstrual health. Your gynecologist may perform: A detailed medical history review Physical examination including a pelvic exam Ultrasound scan to check for PCOS or uterine issues Blood tests to evaluate hormone levels or rule out thyroid and other endocrine disorders Based on the findings, we create a treatment plan which may include: Lifestyle and dietary modifications Hormonal therapies Birth control regulation Treatment for underlying conditions like PCOS or thyroid disease Final Thoughts While the occasional late period may not be serious, frequent irregularities can be a signal from your body that something is off. Paying attention to your cycle helps you stay in tune with your overall health. Whether you’re a teenager just starting your period, someone planning for pregnancy, or navigating the changes of perimenopause, your menstrual health matters. 📅 If your periods have become unpredictable, don’t wait.👉 Schedule a consultation with our expert gynecology team today and take the first step toward hormonal balance and peace of mind. How to Choose the Best IVF Doctor in Chennai The right IVF specialist can make a world of difference in your journey. Look for: • Board-certified fertility experts• Experience with cases like yours• Transparent protocols and success rates• A well-equipped fertility clinic
Why to Maintain a Food Diary:
Why to Maintain a Food Diary: A Key to Mindful Eating and Fertility Why to Maintain a Food Diary Healthy Foods : When I ask my patients trying to conceive about their eating habits, they often draw a blank. Questions like “What did you have for breakfast yesterday?” or “When was the last time you had junk food?” are met with confusion. Many wonder why, instead of immediately prescribing fertility treatments, I’m asking about their diet. The truth is, your body’s ability to conceive is intricately linked to what you eat. While age is an important factor in fertility, it’s not the only one. Your body needs to feel safe and well-nourished to support conception, ovulation, fertilization, and embryo growth. This is where maintaining a food diary becomes crucial in your journey to conceive. Junk Foods : As someone who believes that FOOD is MAGIC and can be the solution to many of our problems, I can’t stress enough how important it is to be mindful of what we eat, especially when trying to conceive. We must brutally accept that we often don’t eat right. Correcting this is crucial while you’re on your Trying To Conceive journey. Here’s a suggestion from a fellow ‘messed up eater’: maintain a food diary. Let’s get into more details What is a Food Diary? It’s nothing fancy. It’s just a documentation of what you have eaten over the day. Breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, beverages. Even the most conscious eater, may not be getting the recommended daily allowance of macro or micro nutrients appropriate for their weight, height, age and lifestyle. And I say this with a lot of experience. Correcting this, which is probably the root cause of sub-fertility is extremely important. It’s common to feel over whelmed when words like RDA, are thrown around. Don’t be! The next couple of paragraphs are for people who are in their Trying To Conceive journey, having issues with fertility, undergoing fertility treatments. Having a conscious understanding of what goes into your body to help you survive through the day is quintessential. When you maintain a food diary and write down everything that you have eaten or drunk in a day, you get to understand the mind-body equation of hunger and satiety well. There are two hormones in our body which determine our eating habits. Ghrelin and Leptin. Ghrelin is the hunger hormone, the more of it gives us hunger pangs and pushes us to eat. Leptin is the satiety hormone, which does the opposite. Somewhere in between our body also deals with something called as ‘cravings’. And when you are on your weight loss journey or trying to conceive journey – cravings are not your best friend! Giving in to them is silently yet possibly changing the whole hormone balance, energy homeostasis and sugar metabolism. A pop of candy after meals which started as taste test of a new bar hanging at home, may not even seem like a big deal, only for you to realize couple of months later that your body is accustomed to eating sweet after meals. And that’s a silent craving there my love! Let me tell you something super interesting. We eat because we are wired to act on the lines of hunger. Our body demands food. We also eat because our emotions drive us closer to food. And this is not hunger. This is purely an interplay at the ARN – Appetite Regulatory Network of the Hypothalamus. This is happening at a different level of consciousness. Maintaining a food diary can help identify and modify these patterns. Benefits of Maintaining a Food Diary Weight loss and weight loss maintenance. If you’re someone who’s concentrating on reducing your calorie intake . Mindful eating – you don’t need that extra packet of chips which you reach out to when you’re bored. You don’t have to munch in . Identifying trigger foods and food sensitivities. Address stress eating The first step in building better habits is to be aware of the existing habits. The whole world is now talking about GUT MICROBIOME and its role in health and harmony of the body. Its role in practically functioning of every organ in the body from digestion, removing toxins, fertility, longevity etc. Looking back in the past couple of years and our heavy dependence on antibiotics for various physical ailments, our consumption of processed and ultra processed foods would have taken a huge toll on the MICROBIOME and there has been a significant increase in the incidence and prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Gluten sensitivities and food allergies. By maintaining a food diary, you can better relate to your body’s signs and symptoms in response to specific foods. There is better relatability. If You’re New to Maintaining a FoodDiary, Here’s a Step-By-Step Guide: If you are a virgin at FOOD DIARY, here’s a step by step guide to starting and maintaining one, without over whelming yourself. Start slow, it is not a competition to win. You don’t have an opposition. So stop fighting with yourself, start it like a fun activity. Document your major meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner. Give details about the quantity, company and ambience. Once you get into the flow of documenting the major meals of the day, level it up by noting down beverages. From your morning coffee to the peer pressure coffee you have in that office break. The more details you include, the better is your awareness. And being aware of your own habits is the first step to mindful clean eating. Do this for about 15 days before you notch it up by including your snacks. Don’t forget the midnight biryani. I live in Chennai and the city is lit with food parks and stalls till 4am! And by lit, I don’t mean lit with lights, it’s also lit with people! If you have come all this while, you probably survived the most difficult part of any task – CONSISTENCY! So why not write down a line
Tips to Conceive
Essential Communication Tips to Conceive: Building a Strong Foundation for Your Fertility Journey When it comes to tips to conceive, one often overlooked aspect is effective communication between partners. Being vocal about your thoughts of trying to conceive is extremely important. And most couples fail to do it. Most couples assume this to be a task to accomplish and keep a certain age, year or a specific financial goal as a target. In the current competitive era, the hunger to achieve professional excellence has been critical, pushing health off the table. I often find couples finding it really hard to communicate amongst themselves about the thoughts of extending their family since it involves very sensitive conversations like providing and protecting. In this blog, we’ll explore why communication is crucial and provide practical tips to conceive through better dialogue. Why Communication Matters: 5 Key Tips to Conceive as a Couple You get to know whether it’s just one, both or neither are ready to embark on this journey. And yes, neither is definitely a possibility because sometimes it’s just the family who wants the heir. Like it or not, peer pressure is a thing. This alignment is one of the most important tips to conceive successfully. Couples who converse intimately are the happiest. Happy couple is a happy fertile environment. You must be wondering what ? Is there something like that ? Yes. There is everything like that! The happier you are, the happier are your hormones. The regular are your cycles, the lesser is your fight or flight response. You neither want to fight with nor fly away from your lady hormones. Because my love, they determine the safe haven for the baby! The art of reciprocal self disclosure meaning sharing the experiences, visuals, opinions and expectations is thought to prepare the couple better for a more empowered trying to conceive and pregnancy journey. Sometimes all it takes to get over the self doubt of mothering or fathering a child is to simply talk about your feelings with your partner. This mutual understanding is a valuable tip to conceive with less stress. There is always an apprehension about the integrity of relationship between the couple during the process of trying to conceive or after getting pregnant. Sometimes the journey may not seem as rosey and cakey. It’s a mix of sweet spice bitter sour. Talking through these plethora of tastes preserves the integrity of the relationship keeps the bond stronger and better by the day. Some of the hardest discussions in the fertility journey crop up after a few months of trying to conceive without a conception. Having the level setting conversations prepares the couple realistically for the future. Feeling stuck ? Giving a few examples of these questions here – what happens if you don’t get pregnant in 1 year, how far are you willing to go physically, emotionally, financially to have a child, thoughts about intra uterine insemination, in vitro fertilization, donor gametes etc. Yes, now I’m sure if you have come this far, you are really interested in talking to your partner about having a baby. But are you struggling with the concept of how ? Are you one of those couples who avoid hard discussions and live a happy go lucky life ? Do you belong to the ‘I’m not sure how it works out for us, we just avoid and move past our differences without much yapping about it, we are the forget and move on kinda couple’, then I’ve got you covered. Follow these simple steps since you won’t be able to move past the concept of trying to conceive or pregnancy without actually living in the phase. Essential Communication Tips to Conceive When it comes to tips to conceive, one often overlooked aspect is effective communication between partners. Being vocal about your thoughts of trying to conceive is extremely important. And most couples fail to do it. Most couples assume this to be a task to accomplish and keep a certain age, year or a specific financial goal as a target. In the current competitive era, the hunger to achieve professional excellence has been critical, pushing health off the table. I often find couples finding it really hard to communicate amongst themselves about the thoughts of extending their family since it involves very sensitive conversations like providing and protecting. In this blog, we’ll explore why communication is crucial and provide practical tips to conceive through better dialogue. 1. Try to have at least 1 meal of the day together: Detach yourself from the digital world and be fully present with your partner. For all of us who are probably used to eating alone or gobbling while working, it may seem extremely uncomfortable trying to sit across the table with our partner trying to have a realistic conversation specially if you identify yourself with an insecure attachment style. People with this style of attachment often find it difficult to pull any kind of uncomfortable or hard discussions. Identifying this is your first step to success. 2. Use “I” Statements: Sometimes the way you talk to your partner completely changes the aura of the point of discussion. Try to discuss feelings rather than arguing facts because the later quickly turn into debates over who is right or who gets the last word. let me break this down for you. Let us say you wish to have a baby but you don’t get the same vibe from your partner. So, rather than stating facts like ‘we should have a baby because we are getting old or it’s time to have one’ use a statement that starts with ‘I’. And use it gently. ‘I think I am ready to have a baby, may I understand your thoughts on the same..’ . ‘I’ statements used carefully focus on what you are feeling rather than on your partner’s behavior specially when they are not aligned. this is a wonderful way of sweet talking your partner. 3. Avoid
