Irregular or Missing Menstrual Periods

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What Causes Menstrual Cycle 

When a girl reaches puberty, her hormones become active. A hormone called estrogen is made in the ovaries. Estrogen affects the lining of the womb  and makes it grow and develop. After 10 to 14 days, the ovaries release an egg, and begin to produce another hormone called progesterone. The egg has now moved from the ovary to the uterus through the Fallopian tube. If the egg has not been fertilized by a sperm, the production of progesterone stops. When that happens, the lining of the womb comes away with a some blood and the woman gets her monthly period. The entire process takes about 28 days.

Irregular and Missing Menstrual Periods

Menstrual cycles that vary more than a few days in length from month to month are considered irregular. Most menstrual cycle intervals occur about every four weeks, with the normal range between 24 and 35 days. To measure your menstrual cycle, start counting from the first day of your last period and stop counting on the first day of your next period. Don't worry if you have one or two irregular cycles; Occasionally all women have variations. True irregularity persists over several months so if you do notice wide fluctuations in your cycle, speak to your doctor about it.

Periods are often light or widely spaced both when a young woman starts having periods and when a woman is nearing the menopause. This is normal because the woman is not producing an egg every month. Many women experience widely spaced periods typically having one or two periods every six months. 

The common cause of infrequent periods is a condition called polycystic ovaries. This is a common condition affecting as many as 10 per cent of women. 

There are a large number of very small (less than 1cm) cysts on the ovaries and these are in association with a hormone imbalance. The result of this is that women do not ovulate regularly and so their periods are usually infrequent.

Some of the factors associated with temporary cessation of periods are: 

1) Calorie-restricted diets 
2) Strenuous exercise
3) High levels of stress. 

Some women with no previous symptoms also miss periods after discontinuing use of oral contraceptives. Typically, in each of the above situations, moderation in diet, and exercise, stress reduction, and the passage of time, help return normal menstrual function. 

Depending on the cause, there may be too much or too little estrogen produced by the body. Over a long period of time too much estrogen can cause overgrowth of the cells in the lining of the uterus, (which can lead to cancer), while too little estrogen can cause calcium loss from the bones (leading to osteoporosis).