Pregnancy and 19 Other Causes, Symptoms to Watch For

Periods can last anywhere from three to seven days, but your “normal” period is whatever is typical for you. If it suddenly changes, it may be due to a change in schedule, birth control, pregnancy, or stress.

Here’s what to watch for and when to see your doctor.

It’s normal for your menstrual cycle to change at different times in your life.

Puberty

During puberty, your hormone levels begin to fluctuate on a monthly cycle. It takes a few years for these hormones to develop a regular schedule. In the meantime, they can be irregular, leading to shorter or longer periods.

Other menstrual symptoms common during puberty include:

• irregular periods
• light or heavy bleeding
• missed periods
• two periods per month

Perimenopause

Perimenopause is the time leading up to your final period. During this time, your hormone production decreases and periods typically become irregular.

Your periods may be shorter or longer than usual. You may also experience:

• missed periods
• light or heavy bleeding
• irregular periods
• fewer periods per year

Changes in your daily routine can impact your hormone levels and cause irregular periods.

Stress

Stress takes a toll on your whole body, including your ability to produce hormones. When your hormone levels are affected by stress, it isn’t uncommon for your period to become irregular. This may include less days spent bleeding.

Other symptoms of stress include:

• anxiety
• fatigue
• insomnia
• weight loss

Excessive exercise or athletic activity

When you exercise excessively, it’s easy to burn more calories than you eat. If this goes on for weeks or months, your body will enter starvation mode.

Your body will begin to use all of its remaining fuel (calories) to perform critical functions, like keeping your heart beating, at the expensive of other functions, like producing reproductive hormones.

When your hormone levels decrease, it can cause irregular or missed periods.

Excessive physical activity can also cause:

• mood swings
• tiring more easily
• getting sick more often
• unintentional weight loss

Significant weight changes

Any significant changes in weight can disrupt your normal hormone levels. Following gastric bypass surgery and extreme dieting, many women experience irregular periods.

Excess body fat can also affect estrogen levels, which means obesity can impact your menstrual cycle.

Other side effects of major weight changes include:

• headaches
• fatigue
• missed periods

Eating disorder

Eating disorders that involve extreme calorie restriction can affect the body’s ability to produce reproductive hormones. A very low body fat percentage can also disrupt normal hormone levels. This can cause irregular, short, or missed periods.

Other symptoms of eating disorders include:

• extreme thinness
• low self-esteem
• distorted body image

Many common medications can affect your hormone levels and change your menstrual cycle.

Hormonal birth control

Hormonal birth control methods contain hormones that directly affect when and how you ovulate. When you start birth control for the first time or switch to a different kind, it’s normal to experience some changes to your menstrual cycle.

You may experience shorter periods or irregular periods for a few months, until your body gets used to the new medication.

Other side effects commonly seen with the pill, the birth control shot, and the hormonal IUD include:

• cramping
• spotting
• headaches

Other medications

Certain prescription medications can interfere with your body’s hormones and cause irregular periods.

Medications that cause irregular periods include those for:

• thyroid disease
• anxiety
• epilepsy
• inflammation

There are several underlying conditions that can affect your hormone levels and cause you to have shorter periods than normal.

Ectopic pregnancy

An ectopic pregnancy happens when a fertilized egg implants itself in an area of the body other than the uterus. Ectopic pregnancies often cause vaginal bleeding that may be mistaken for a period.

Other signs of an ectopic pregnancy include:

• abdominal pain
• dizziness
• shoulder pain

Implantation

Implantation is when a fertilized egg embeds itself in the wall of your uterus. It occurs about one to two weeks after inception. In some cases, it can cause minor vaginal bleeding that may be mistaken for a short period.

Implantation often occurs before you miss a period and develop other symptoms of pregnancy.

Miscarriage

A miscarriage is an event that results in the loss of embryonic tissue or a fetus during pregnancy. Miscarriages often take place before women know that they’re pregnant, which is why they’re often mistaken for periods.

A short, unexpected period could be a miscarriage.

Other symptoms of miscarriage include:

• spotting or bleeding
• passing fluid or tissue from the vagina
• abdominal pain

Pregnancy

Periods stop during pregnancy, but it isn’t unusual for there to be spotting or light bleeding in the first trimester of pregnancy. Up to one in four women experience some bleeding during pregnancy.

Other symptoms of pregnancy include:

• sore or swollen breasts
• nausea
• vomiting
• missed period
• cravings or aversion to foods or smells

Breastfeeding

The hormone that helps you to produce breastmilk, prolactin, also stops you from ovulating. If you’re breastfeeding day and night, your period may not return for several months after giving birth.

When your period does return, it may be irregular and shorter or longer than usual.

When breastfeeding, you may also experience:

• missed periods
• months between periods
• changes in period duration
• light bleeding or spotting at first

Ovarian cyst

An ovarian cyst is a fluid-filled sac inside the ovary. While these cysts aren’t cancerous, they can sometimes be painful or cause bleeding. A bleeding cyst may be mistaken for a short period.

Most ovarian cysts have no symptoms, but they can sometimes cause abdominal pain, particularly if they’re large or if they rupture.

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)

PCOS can cause your body to produce more male sex hormones than normal. This hormonal imbalance often causes irregular periods, missed periods, or short periods.

Other symptoms of PCOS include:

• unwanted or excessive facial hair
• acne
• deeper voice
• difficulty getting pregnant

Thyroid disorder

Thyroid disorders cause the body to produce too much or too little thyroid hormone. Thyroid disease affects about one in eight women.

Thyroid hormone plays an important role in your menstrual cycle and can cause a variety of menstrual irregularities, including short periods.

Symptoms of thyroid disorder vary depending on which type you have, but may include:

• weight loss or gain
• trouble sleeping or sleepiness
• fast heart rate or slow heart rate
• lighter or heavier than normal periods

Rarely, short periods are caused by a more serious condition.

Premature ovarian failure (POF)

POF is when you go into early menopause. POF is rare, affecting only 1 in 1,000 women under the age of 29 and 1 in 100 women between ages 30 and 39.

If your ovaries fail, it means you no longer produce the necessary hormones to become pregnant. Your periods may become irregular and then stop entirely. POF may also cause:

• hot flashes
• missed periods
• irregular periods
• vaginal dryness

Asherman syndrome

Asherman syndrome is a rare condition in which scar tissue develops in the uterus. This typically presents after a surgical procedure.

Uterine scar tissue may block the flow of your period, causing irregular or missed periods.

Other symptoms include:

• missed periods
• difficult conceiving
• miscarriages
• cramping without bleeding

Cervical stenosis

Cervical stenosis is the abnormal narrowing of the cervix, which is very rare. It typically happens as a complication of surgery. When the cervix narrows, your mensural flow is obstructed. It may cause missed periods and abdominal pain.

Sheehan’s syndrome

Sheehan’s syndrome is a complication of childbirth that occurs when a woman loses large amounts of blood or experiences severe low blood pressure. It’s very rare in advanced countries where people have access to medical treatment.

Sheehan’s syndrome interferes with the body’s ability to produce pituitary hormones. Low hormone levels lead to absent or infrequent periods.

Other symptoms include:

• difficulty breastfeeding
• difficulty regrowing shaved pubic hair
• low blood pressure
• weight gain
• fatigue

If you’re pregnant or suspect you could be pregnant, you should seek emergency medical treatment if you have any unusual bleeding.

Otherwise, you can typically wait two to three months before seeing your doctor. This will allow your menstrual cycle time to reset and return to normal.

Consider tracking your periods during this time. Make sure you note your period’s start and stop dates, along with details about when bleeding is heavy or light. Your doctor can use this information to help make a diagnosis.

Pregnancy and 19 Other Causes, Symptoms to Watch For

Periods can last anywhere from three to seven days, but your “normal” period is whatever is typical for you. If it suddenly changes, it may be due to a change in schedule, birth control, pregnancy, or stress.

Here’s what to watch for and when to see your doctor.

It’s normal for your menstrual cycle to change at different times in your life.

Puberty

During puberty, your hormone levels begin to fluctuate on a monthly cycle. It takes a few years for these hormones to develop a regular schedule. In the meantime, they can be irregular, leading to shorter or longer periods.

Other menstrual symptoms common during puberty include:

• irregular periods
• light or heavy bleeding
• missed periods
• two periods per month

Perimenopause

Perimenopause is the time leading up to your final period. During this time, your hormone production decreases and periods typically become irregular.

Your periods may be shorter or longer than usual. You may also experience:

• missed periods
• light or heavy bleeding
• irregular periods
• fewer periods per year

Changes in your daily routine can impact your hormone levels and cause irregular periods.

Stress

Stress takes a toll on your whole body, including your ability to produce hormones. When your hormone levels are affected by stress, it isn’t uncommon for your period to become irregular. This may include less days spent bleeding.

Other symptoms of stress include:

• anxiety
• fatigue
• insomnia
• weight loss

Excessive exercise or athletic activity

When you exercise excessively, it’s easy to burn more calories than you eat. If this goes on for weeks or months, your body will enter starvation mode.

Your body will begin to use all of its remaining fuel (calories) to perform critical functions, like keeping your heart beating, at the expensive of other functions, like producing reproductive hormones.

When your hormone levels decrease, it can cause irregular or missed periods.

Excessive physical activity can also cause:

• mood swings
• tiring more easily
• getting sick more often
• unintentional weight loss

Significant weight changes

Any significant changes in weight can disrupt your normal hormone levels. Following gastric bypass surgery and extreme dieting, many women experience irregular periods.

Excess body fat can also affect estrogen levels, which means obesity can impact your menstrual cycle.

Other side effects of major weight changes include:

• headaches
• fatigue
• missed periods

Eating disorder

Eating disorders that involve extreme calorie restriction can affect the body’s ability to produce reproductive hormones. A very low body fat percentage can also disrupt normal hormone levels. This can cause irregular, short, or missed periods.

Other symptoms of eating disorders include:

• extreme thinness
• low self-esteem
• distorted body image

Many common medications can affect your hormone levels and change your menstrual cycle.

Hormonal birth control

Hormonal birth control methods contain hormones that directly affect when and how you ovulate. When you start birth control for the first time or switch to a different kind, it’s normal to experience some changes to your menstrual cycle.

You may experience shorter periods or irregular periods for a few months, until your body gets used to the new medication.

Other side effects commonly seen with the pill, the birth control shot, and the hormonal IUD include:

• cramping
• spotting
• headaches

Other medications

Certain prescription medications can interfere with your body’s hormones and cause irregular periods.

Medications that cause irregular periods include those for:

• thyroid disease
• anxiety
• epilepsy
• inflammation

There are several underlying conditions that can affect your hormone levels and cause you to have shorter periods than normal.

Ectopic pregnancy

An ectopic pregnancy happens when a fertilized egg implants itself in an area of the body other than the uterus. Ectopic pregnancies often cause vaginal bleeding that may be mistaken for a period.

Other signs of an ectopic pregnancy include:

• abdominal pain
• dizziness
• shoulder pain

Implantation

Implantation is when a fertilized egg embeds itself in the wall of your uterus. It occurs about one to two weeks after inception. In some cases, it can cause minor vaginal bleeding that may be mistaken for a short period.

Implantation often occurs before you miss a period and develop other symptoms of pregnancy.

Miscarriage

A miscarriage is an event that results in the loss of embryonic tissue or a fetus during pregnancy. Miscarriages often take place before women know that they’re pregnant, which is why they’re often mistaken for periods.

A short, unexpected period could be a miscarriage.

Other symptoms of miscarriage include:

• spotting or bleeding
• passing fluid or tissue from the vagina
• abdominal pain

Pregnancy

Periods stop during pregnancy, but it isn’t unusual for there to be spotting or light bleeding in the first trimester of pregnancy. Up to one in four women experience some bleeding during pregnancy.

Other symptoms of pregnancy include:

• sore or swollen breasts
• nausea
• vomiting
• missed period
• cravings or aversion to foods or smells

Breastfeeding

The hormone that helps you to produce breastmilk, prolactin, also stops you from ovulating. If you’re breastfeeding day and night, your period may not return for several months after giving birth.

When your period does return, it may be irregular and shorter or longer than usual.

When breastfeeding, you may also experience:

• missed periods
• months between periods
• changes in period duration
• light bleeding or spotting at first

Ovarian cyst

An ovarian cyst is a fluid-filled sac inside the ovary. While these cysts aren’t cancerous, they can sometimes be painful or cause bleeding. A bleeding cyst may be mistaken for a short period.

Most ovarian cysts have no symptoms, but they can sometimes cause abdominal pain, particularly if they’re large or if they rupture.

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)

PCOS can cause your body to produce more male sex hormones than normal. This hormonal imbalance often causes irregular periods, missed periods, or short periods.

Other symptoms of PCOS include:

• unwanted or excessive facial hair
• acne
• deeper voice
• difficulty getting pregnant

Thyroid disorder

Thyroid disorders cause the body to produce too much or too little thyroid hormone. Thyroid disease affects about one in eight women.

Thyroid hormone plays an important role in your menstrual cycle and can cause a variety of menstrual irregularities, including short periods.

Symptoms of thyroid disorder vary depending on which type you have, but may include:

• weight loss or gain
• trouble sleeping or sleepiness
• fast heart rate or slow heart rate
• lighter or heavier than normal periods

Rarely, short periods are caused by a more serious condition.

Premature ovarian failure (POF)

POF is when you go into early menopause. POF is rare, affecting only 1 in 1,000 women under the age of 29 and 1 in 100 women between ages 30 and 39.

If your ovaries fail, it means you no longer produce the necessary hormones to become pregnant. Your periods may become irregular and then stop entirely. POF may also cause:

• hot flashes
• missed periods
• irregular periods
• vaginal dryness

Asherman syndrome

Asherman syndrome is a rare condition in which scar tissue develops in the uterus. This typically presents after a surgical procedure.

Uterine scar tissue may block the flow of your period, causing irregular or missed periods.

Other symptoms include:

• missed periods
• difficult conceiving
• miscarriages
• cramping without bleeding

Cervical stenosis

Cervical stenosis is the abnormal narrowing of the cervix, which is very rare. It typically happens as a complication of surgery. When the cervix narrows, your mensural flow is obstructed. It may cause missed periods and abdominal pain.

Sheehan’s syndrome

Sheehan’s syndrome is a complication of childbirth that occurs when a woman loses large amounts of blood or experiences severe low blood pressure. It’s very rare in advanced countries where people have access to medical treatment.

Sheehan’s syndrome interferes with the body’s ability to produce pituitary hormones. Low hormone levels lead to absent or infrequent periods.

Other symptoms include:

• difficulty breastfeeding
• difficulty regrowing shaved pubic hair
• low blood pressure
• weight gain
• fatigue

If you’re pregnant or suspect you could be pregnant, you should seek emergency medical treatment if you have any unusual bleeding.

Otherwise, you can typically wait two to three months before seeing your doctor. This will allow your menstrual cycle time to reset and return to normal.

Consider tracking your periods during this time. Make sure you note your period’s start and stop dates, along with details about when bleeding is heavy or light. Your doctor can use this information to help make a diagnosis.

when to go to the doctor

Have you noticed that your cycle has changed and now your periods are not 5-7 days, as it was before, but only three or even two? On the one hand, it’s nice that menstruation has ceased to be long and causes inconvenience for only three days instead of a week. On the other hand, if this happened without any effort on your part, then this is a reason to pay attention to the changes and consult a doctor if everything is fine.

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Menstruation

Menopause and menopause

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Doctors believe that it is worth worrying if the intensity and duration of menstruation suddenly changes, although it had previously remained constant for a long time.

The normal cycle length is between 21 and 35 days – each of these options is perfectly normal. But if your cycle is 28 days, then its decrease to 21 or a sudden lengthening to 35 is a moment that you need to pay attention to. Such a fluctuation may not be associated with any pathology, but it is better to know that nothing serious is happening to you.

The discharge itself on average lasts from 5 to 7 days, but in some women it almost always lasts no more than three – this is also a variant of the norm. This parameter is influenced by our hormonal background, which is determined not only by external, but also by internal – hereditary – factors.

But, we repeat, in some situations, the duration of menstruation can unexpectedly decrease for you by as much as two times, for example, from six days to three.

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You are using hormonal contraception

Contraceptive pills, spiral and other means of preventing pregnancy affect the production of sex hormones. In addition to the contraceptive effect, their intake also affects the duration of the cycle. Your periods may become shorter, less intense, and less painful. In some cases, they disappear altogether, turning into meager spotting.

You are taking medication

Medicines that at first glance have nothing to do with the cycle can affect the duration of menstruation. Among them are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), drugs that are prescribed to reduce fever, fight pain and inflammation. Among them are popular antipyretics and analgesics that can be purchased without a prescription. In addition, antidepressants, drugs for the thyroid gland may have a similar effect.

If you have started taking these medications and notice changes in your cycle, it is best to consult a doctor to find out the exact reason.

This is premature ovarian failure

After 40 years, the ovaries begin to age – and this is normal. They produce less estrogen and ovulation becomes less frequent. This also affects the cycle – menstruation becomes less regular, and their duration changes.

However, it happens at a younger age. If this condition is observed before the age of 40, then doctors talk about premature ovarian exhaustion. In every hundredth woman, it occurs in the period from 30 to 39years, and every thousandth – at the age of 15 to 29 years. An unexpected shortening of menstruation or their complete stop without pregnancy is a reason for examination by a doctor.

You have adhesions

A condition in which adhesions form in the uterus is called Asherman’s syndrome. It does not occur very often, but it can develop in cases where a woman had to go through medical interventions that were required, for example, to treat gynecological diseases. If the inner surface of the uterus is injured, the epithelium is replaced by connective tissue and adhesions may form.

The appearance of intrauterine adhesions leads to a shortening of the cycle or even the complete disappearance of menstruation. Hysteroscopy is required to diagnose this condition, and adhesions can be removed surgically.

You have thyroid problems

Know that your thyroid function can also affect your cycle. If she is not in order, then her periods may also not go as usual.

The thyroid gland may start secreting too much or too little hormones, which will affect your appearance, weight, emotional state. Menstruation may also change. And therefore, if you notice that the duration of menstruation has suddenly become shorter, then it will not be superfluous to contact an endocrinologist – it is likely that there is an imbalance with thyroid hormones.

In addition, shortened periods can occur during breastfeeding, and can also be a sign of an approaching menopause. However, even if you are sure that the reason is precisely in feeding or in the upcoming menopause, do not neglect a visit to the doctor: it is better to know that what is happening to you is a variant of the norm than to miss a serious health problem.

Hypomenorrhea or scanty periods – treatment in Kyiv

Monthly vaginal bleeding is a natural consequence of cyclic hormonal changes in a woman’s body. A condition where menstruation also occurs regularly, but with scanty blood flow, is considered a gynecological disorder and requires treatment. Hypomenorrhea – this is the name of this pathology, characterized by a decrease in the volume of menstrual blood by 20% or more compared to normal menstruation.

Doctors of the Gynecology Department of the Center “Meddiagnostics”.

Lyudmila Ivanovna Mokhon

Obstetrician-gynecologist, ultrasound diagnostician

Price for services

Make an appointment with a gynecologist Meddiagnostika Center, Kiev , left bank, 250 meters from the Darnitsa metro station, Stroiteley lane, house 4. Location on the map

Diagnostics and treatment in one building.

Normal menstruation is considered to be bleeding occurring within 3-7 days with a blood loss of 20 ml to 60 ml per day. Scanty menstruation is a process that lasts up to 2 days with blood loss of less than 20 ml per day.

Classification of hypomenorrhea and its consequences

Taking into account the duration and volume of menstruation, hypomenstrual syndrome is classified as follows:

• oligomenorrhea – the physiological process lasts 1-2 days;
• opsomenorrhea – menstruation became scanty, and the interval between them increased from 35 days to 3 months;
• hypomenorrhea – rare, short and scanty menstruation.

If uncorrected, hypomenorrhea leads to a decline in reproductive function, as a result of which a woman cannot become pregnant and carry a child normally until delivery.

What causes scanty periods

If the color of the menstrual blood is normal, the menses come on time, and the woman feels satisfactory, this condition is not a disease. If, in addition to meager discharge, other symptoms are present, the situation is considered pathological.

Important! Hypomenorrhea can be a signal of the development of a serious gynecological or endocrine disease in the patient’s body.

Answering the question: why meager periods, it is necessary to highlight several main reasons.

1. Violation of the function of the thyroid gland, which produces the hormone thyroxine, without which normal menstruation and conception are impossible.
2. Dystrophy or obesity. With a deficiency of fat in the body, the synthesis of estrogens slows down. Excess body weight leads to an excessive increase in the amount of female sex hormones, and they begin to dominate over progesterone, which is also involved in the regulation of the menstrual cycle.
3. Avitaminosis, anemia. A lack of vitamins in the body leads to a decrease in the synthesis of hormones and a deficiency of hemoglobin, which leads to poor discharge during menstruation. Against the background of hypomenorrhoea, provoked by beriberi, painful sensations appear in the lower abdomen, and infertility develops.
4. Congenital anomalies in the structure of the uterus, complicated childbirth, surgical interventions, including curettage, are also the causes of meager periods.

In medical practice, there are many cases when scanty menstruation became the first signal of a developing neuropsychiatric disorder.

Symptoms of hypomenorrhea

In addition to the fact that menstruation is scanty, other symptoms are also characteristic of hypomenorrhea:

• unnatural color of menstrual flow – from light brown to almost black;
• headache;
• nausea;
• general weakness;
• intestinal disorders;
• soreness in the lumbar region;
• spastic uterine contractions.

Some women complain of severe nosebleeds that disappear when menstruation stops. Another unpleasant sign of hypomenstrual syndrome is a decrease in sexual desire, lack of orgasm.

However, hypomenorrhea can occur without additional symptoms and without any complications other than impaired fertility. If a woman does not plan to have more children, apart from infertility, this condition does not threaten her with anything. In premenopausal women, hypomenorrhea is considered a normal phenomenon, which only indicates the beginning of a cardinal restructuring in the body.

For patients of reproductive age, whose plans include the birth of a child, it is unacceptable to ignore meager periods. Timely treatment will help a woman find the happiness of motherhood.

Methods for the treatment of scanty periods

Therapeutic measures depend on the factors that triggered the hypomenstrual syndrome. If the cause lies in a gynecological disease, the gynecologist is engaged in the treatment of the patient. Hypomenorrhea against the background of hormonal disorders is treated by a gynecologist-endocrinologist. Factors of a psychological nature are eliminated with the assistance of a psychologist, and sometimes a psychiatrist. Scanty periods caused by tuberculosis infection are treated by a gynecologist and a phthisiatrician. In case of obesity and dystrophy, the patient is simultaneously led by a dietitian.