Health Guide©

MISSED or IRREGULAR PERIODS (Unexpected periods)

Testing for pregnancy has become faster, easier and more sensitive in the last decade. Home test kits are now available that provide a reasonable degree of accuracy and may show a positive result as early as two weeks after the missed period. The most sophisticated laboratory test available through your doctor's office may turn positive within a few days after the period should have started. In both instances, a negative result is less reliable when the test is used soon after the period is missed. Thus, it is common to repeat the test after a negative result if periods do not resume. Because a positive result is less likely to be misleading than a negative one, the rule is to believe a positive test, but not to trust a negative test until it has been repeated at least once.

Two opposites, obesity and starvation, often led to irregular periods. If either of these conditions is severe and persistent, it can cause the complete cessation of periods. At the other end of the health spectrum, women who are undergoing rigorous athletic training often have irregular periods. The missed periods themselves do not harm the athletes, but there is some concern that the hormonal imbalance that cause the missed periods may also lead to loss of calcium from bones. Currently, it is not possible to determine if this poses any real risk to women athletes.

Emotional as well as physical stress may result in irregular periods. Indeed, anxiety over possible pregnancy may cause a missed period, thereby increasing the anxiety even further.

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