Period Question

I got my period when I was 14, I am now 19. I am currently 5' 6.5" tall. I weigh about 122 lbs. I am a college freshman and tend to get stressed out, but I am concerned because I have missed my period last month but still had symptoms (breast tenderness, bloating, moodiness ,cravings, etc) and some spotting a few weeks later. I think that I am going to miss this months, too because it was supposed to come yesterday or a few days ago and never did. I am not positive that my weightloss has caused this because it happened first semester when I was 10 lbs heavier. I am currently maintaining my weight but working out between 5-7 days a week doing 30 minutes of cardio.

 

Does weight loss affect everyone's period? Anyone have the same problem?

Wander,

Not completely sure what's going on, but I have a couple of suggestions.  When I was in High School, just normal activity level, my periods got out-of-sync, and they found some harmless cysts on my ovaries.  There were some other symptoms, like abdominal pain, and you'd have to get an ultrasound to confirm this.  Also, just wondering if you could maybe be pregnant?  Those things you mentioned (bloating, cravings, etc) can also point to a possible pregnancy.  Hope everything works out ok.

Thanks for replying, I am definitely not pregnant/sexually active so
I am not sure what to do. I have never seen a doctor about it but my period has always been pretty irregular.

I was irregular until I hit 25 years old and lived with a woman. I regulated to her, then when she moved I just stayed on a cycle. When I was 20 I asked my doctor about it. He told me that sometimes very athletic women don't have a regular cycle, then he suggested I cut back on my activity and gain a bit of weight so I could have a period every month. (A suggestion from a man, like I WANTED it every month. ;) )

As with ANY health problem, it is best to see your doctor. It could be that you are just normally irregular, or under stress, or very active. However, it could be there is something that needs attention. If you hope to have children someday, it is unwise to ignore the problem.

Finally, if you are on your parents insurance as a student, go to the doctor. I had a few minor health problems I ignored when I was insured, and they got very expensive when they waited to get bad until after the insurance was gone.

Hi, I am also 5' 6.5", and I weigh 135.

A few months ago, I had an eating disorder and I got down to about 120, and honestly I looked like a skeleton. I was disgusting. I also missed my period while I was this tiny, but once I went into recovery and gained the weight back it came back.

I would suggest that you try to gain a little weight back. Possibly not as much as I did, but I am an athlete so I need the extra muscle weight to help me in swimming. But seriously, I'm not sure that your weight is all that healthy. Sorry if anything I said offended you

thank you all for your help, its greatly appreciated.

 

i get home from college in a week, i am going to discuss it with my mom and probably go to the doctor from there.

 

anyways, you guys are great, thanks again.

I hope it's all ok for you :)

I've been having a similar problem.

I started purging after meals last May, but haven't done that since January, but I know I'm still having disordered thoughts and stuff because one of the ways I control binges is by keeping my food intake low, about 1200 per day. During the whole time of purging/food restriction I lost 17 pounds from 125 at 5 feet 2 inches to 108 now.

I haven't had a period since October, before that was pretty regular before. But we've had so much stress at home for the past two years (marital break ups etc) plus exams and stuff, I'm not sure what's causing it, whether if I start eating again (which in the mindset I'm at I don't want to do), or whether it is stress.

I'm worried :[

 

PS. I haven't done this post for attention, I understand there are people around that have ed's've/are recovering. I've talked this through with my counsellor and am maybe going to see the doctor.

 

Hi! Just was reading your posts, and had a little thought. I'm the same height, but around 127 lbs. I'm studying athletic training and nutrition right now in school so it's pretty interesting to read about situations then try and help someone with what you've been studying. :) 

if you're worried about your weight loss causing it, go back and see how fast you lost it. It's perfectly safe to lose 1-2 lbs. a week. anything more can be dangerous. so if you lost the 10 lbs over the course of a semester, i wouldn't worry too much about it.

also, you say you do cardio for 30 minutes most every day? it's very important for you not to overwork your body doing the same exercise with no variation every day. try cutting down on your days to give your body a rest and enable the muscles to strengthen after being worked in the same spots for a couple days. my suggestion is that you do your exercise mon-thurs, take a break friday by just taking a long leisurely paced walk, and maybe saturday do cardio again if you feel like it, then sunday take it easy again. this time off will help your body get stronger in the long run. if you keep pushing it constantly, you won't give it time to recuperate. You could also try doing different exercises every other day.

but, as i'm sure everyone knows, the best thing is to talk to your doctor. even if it's the campus nurse, they can help rule out things in your lifestyle that you think might be affecting your cycle.

hope this helps! :)

When I'm stressed, my period stops.

I also start puking.

I've had to buy so many pregnancy tests because of this.

Women have period so that we can bear children. You need to maintain a certain % of body fat to have healthy pregnancy. Dieting and some times stress can cause you to lose weight. If you drop below that % (which has nothing to do with your BMI, especially if you are working out as much as you are) you will stop having a period because your body is no long in a state that it can suppot having a child. THIS IS BAD! Maintaining this weight, without a period, can cause long term fertility problems. This may not be your problem, but if it is you should exercise less, eat more, or both.

Definitely - while my period doesn't stop completely (sadly :( ), it does become really irregular, so sometimes I'll have it twice in a fortnight (yes, that is 14 days of solid period - fun) and other times I'll have nothing for 3-4 months. I think - as long as you're not trying to get pregnant in the near future - that its OK.

At least, I hope its ok...