Irregular Menstral Cycles

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Sorry guys! - I didnt know where else to post this. Its personal, but I I wanted to get your (name removed by moderator)ut.

My menstral cycles have been non-existant since Dec 2005. This is very unusual for me, Ive always had normal cycles. Im not pregnant (took several pregnancy tests & had bloodwork) My gynecologist checked my Thyroid, prolactin & FSH levels & they are all normal. She recommended that I go on the pill to regulate my periods?

Has anyone else experienced irregular periods for no apparant reasons? What did you do?
 
kate(name removed by moderator):
Sorry guys! - I didnt know where else to post this. Its personal, but I I wanted to get your (name removed by moderator)ut.

My menstral cycles have been non-existant since Dec 2005. This is very unusual for me, Ive always had normal cycles. Im not pregnant (took several pregnancy tests & had bloodwork) My gynecologist checked my Thyroid, prolactin & FSH levels & they are all normal. She recommended that I go on the pill to regulate my periods?

Has anyone else experienced irregular periods for no apparant reasons? What did you do?
The pill doesn’t “regulate” anything. That seems to be the current popular solution for doctors these days. Put people on the pill. That doesn’t solve your problem, and it doesn’t find out what’s causing your problem, and it doesn’t create a period-- it creates a bleed that is not related to your menstrual cycle at all.

There are many things that could be causing this problem-- stress, hormones, endocrine problems. But, it’s only been a couple of months, so I would not panic.

Get a second opinion. If you chart using Creighton, the Pope Paul VI people can consult with you long distance regarding your issues.

Even if you don’t chart Creighton, I’d contact them so that they can give you some sound medical advice and can possibly refer you to a doctor in your area:

www.popepaulvi.com
 
Definitely don’t take the pill. There could be many reasons why this is happening.

Taken from WebMD:
There are many reasons why you may stop having regular periods, including:
Other medications, such as chemotherapy or steroids.
Breast-feeding.
Low body weight or rapid weight loss.
Severe stress or lifestyle change.
Obesity. Missed or irregular periods are common in women who have a body mass index (BMI) of 27 or more.
Excessive exercise or participation in endurance sports.
Menopause. Missed or irregular periods may be the first sign that you are entering menopause. During the 2 to 5 years before menopause (perimenopause), you may notice that your periods are irregular.
Other, more serious causes of missed periods include tumors, pituitary disorders, and other glandular problems involving the ovaries, thyroid, or adrenal glands. These problems are rare.
If you are certain that you are not pregnant and you have no other symptoms, you can wait up to 3 months before consulting a health professional. Remember, you can still become pregnant even though you are not menstruating.
 
You may have PCOS. It was once thought of as a rare disorder but now we know its more common, especially among overweight women. Symptoms are weight gain, excess facial hair, absent or irregular periods, tendency towards hypertension and diabetes. Metformin, a diabetic drug, is used for treatment, as well as weight loss.
As your doctor to check you for this condition.
 
Ooh I have been where you are and I’d love to share my experience.

My periods started getting irregular when I was 18, and thankfully, not sexually active. My Catholic-pro-life OBGYN recommended the pill to “Regulate” my cycles. I now am grateful to him for telling me about the pill’s abortifacent properties as I may have chosen to stay on it once married.

Taking the pill made me feel agressive, encouraged weight gain, and just wasn’t my cup of tea. Nonetheless, I stayed on it for about 5 years. When I went off of it, my cycles resumed their irregularity.

When we were married and starting to try to have children, my cycles were so messed up. My period started the day after our wedding and lasted. . . . 3 months. Then my periods basically stopped. We went through traditional infertility and after being told we had no chance of conceiving, conceiving (miracle) and miscarrying, we decided to adopt.

Several months passed and as we were starting the adoption process, I had no less than 15 people (one an on-line acquaintance in Australia!) tell me to call the Pope Paul VI institute for a second opinion. I am blessed to be in their same town, but they work with people across the country and have physicians trained in their methods also located elsewhere. I skeptically called their office and made an appointment.

The doctor there, Dr. Hilgers, was different from anyone I had ever seen. He looked at my history and basically told me he thought he knew what was wrong with me and he could fix it. He did surgery on me a year ago and I have had near picture-perfect cycles since. He also cautioned me that left untreated, I was risking heart disease, cancer, or other problems. It isn’t good not to have periods!

Well one year later, we are still working on adopting and/or getting pregnant. This may be our month as our homestudy will be complete in only a few more weeks and… I am 2 days late for the first time in a year with confirmed ovulation! I definitely encourage you to get a second opinion and if possible to have it come from a doctor trained by the PPVI institute.
 
I second getting a second opinion from PPVI / Dr. Hilgers.
Another place to look for a pro-life Catholic doctor is One More Soul.
 
Chovy,
you said in your post “The doctor there, Dr. Hilgers, was different from anyone I had ever seen. He looked at my history and basically told me he thought he knew what was wrong with me and he could fix it. He did surgery on me a year ago and I have had near picture-perfect cycles since. He also cautioned me that left untreated, I was risking heart disease, cancer, or other problems. It isn’t good not to have periods!”

I know it’s personal, but do you mind sharing what was wrong that caused irregular cycles?
 
I don’t mind at all Marianne. I’m an open book 😉

I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. I also was found to be insulin resistant. The reproductive endocronologist we saw before Dr. Hilgers as well as my OB/GYN had identified the PCOS (I was pretty easy to diagnose as my two sisters have the same thing) but their treatment regimen was either BCPs or wait and see. In one of my sister’s cases the wait and see attitude resulted in a complete hysterectomy when she was 27. I also had endometriosis and pelvic adhesions that had went unnoticed prior to Dr. Hilgers. I had had a persistent pain in my right side for about 12 years and Dr. Hilgers found that my right ovary was adhered to my back with the adhesions.

I should also mention that I had previously had 3 sets of hormone tests done. Those tests checked 4 hormone levels. PPVI checked 19 hormone levels. I had also been tested for insulin resistance but the test wasn’t done correctly by the reproductive endocrinologist.

In addition to removing the endo and adhesions, my surgery was an ovarian wedge resection which is basically a procedure in which a slice of the ovaries is removed. It was the gold standard treatment for PCOS prior to creation of the BCP. Dr. Hilgers and his team have found ways to improve the chances of not developing more adhesions which was the main complication. 80% of his patients with PCOS for whom this is his recommendation become pregnant within 1 year of surgery.
 
kate(name removed by moderator):
Sorry guys! - I didnt know where else to post this. Its personal, but I I wanted to get your (name removed by moderator)ut.

My menstral cycles have been non-existant since Dec 2005. This is very unusual for me, Ive always had normal cycles. Im not pregnant (took several pregnancy tests & had bloodwork) My gynecologist checked my Thyroid, prolactin & FSH levels & they are all normal. She recommended that I go on the pill to regulate my periods?

Has anyone else experienced irregular periods for no apparant reasons? What did you do?
I didn’t have my period for one year after my second child was born and I was not breastfeeding either. After having all the usual blood work done to make sure there was nothing wrong the doc said he could put me on the pill to force my period or I could just look at it as a huge blessing (cause my periods are really bad) so once I knew there wasn’t anything physically wrong with me, I really just enjoyed that time and quit thinking about it and before long, it righted itself and they were back every 28 days 🙂
 
I had this problem before we had DS. My OBGYN said it was PCO. I had no period for 4 months she put me on progesterone pills. Got my period. Again 3 months no period took the progestoerone and bang next month I just took it and … the following month we conceived DS and since then I have never missed a period. Even though I bfed for 19 months. I got my period 30 days after DS was born. OFcourse I also have a huge fibroid that would be why.
 
Keep in mind, too, that PCOS does not always correlate with being overweight, having excessive hair, etc. Those are the typical symptoms, but there is a smaller percent (maybe 10% I forget) that have an atypical form. I only know because a good friend went through this. No overweight, diabetes, etc. etc. Just menstrual problems. She went through the same nonsense during her single, celibate years, with doctors never wanting to get to the root of the problem, and just “fix it” (NOT!) by putting her on the Pill. When she married and wanted babies it finally had to be dealt with head on.

I don’t mean to rant, I just get so angry when doctors just try to throw the Pill at everything and expect it to be the cure-all. Practice medicine, people! Diagnose the illness, don’t just treat the symptoms!

Sorry… I’ll lighten up now. 🙂

Margaret
 
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