What Is An Irregular Period And How Common Are They
Women are often told that the average menstrual cycle lasts 28 days, but in reality this is an outdated number based on averages. What counts as a normal period varies widely from woman to woman. A normal period may occur every 21 days to 35 days and typically lasts two to seven days.
An irregular period is defined as one or more of the following:
- A menstrual cycle lasting fewer than 21 days or more than 35 days
- A period that lasts fewer than two days or longer than eight days
- Cycles that vary in length by more than seven to nine days
- Having fewer than nine menstrual periods in a year- also known as oligomenorrhea
- Going 90+ days without a menstrual period with no medical explanation also known as amenorrhea
Irregular periods can also be characterized by abnormal menstrual bleeding, and was previously referred to as menorrhagia.
Symptoms of menorrhagia include:
- Soaking through one or more pads or tampons every hour for several consecutive hours
- Filling a menstrual cup every 2-3 hours
- Needing to double-up on menstrual pads or waking up in the middle of the night to change your pad
- Passing blood clots larger than the size of a quarter
- Menstrual periods lasting longer than 7 days
- Heavy menstrual flow that keeps you from doing things you would normally do
- Symptoms of anemia such as tiredness, dizziness, or shortness of breath
Medications To Help You Conceive
If it turns out that you are not ovulating, you may need fertility drugs to help boost your ovulation. Even if you are ovulating, if ovulation is irregular or occurring very late in your cycle, fertility treatments may help.
Clomid is the most commonly prescribed drug for ovulatory dysfunction, and it has a good success rate. Another possible option is the drug letrozole. This cancer drug is used off-label to trigger ovulation. Research has found it to be possibly more effective than Clomid in women with PCOS.
While not a fertility drug, another medication your doctor may suggest trying is the diabetes drug metformin. Metformin may help women with insulin resistance and PCOS ovulate on their own. If these medications don’t work, your doctor may suggest moving onto injectable fertility drugs , IUI treatment, or IVF.
If your irregular cycles are caused by primary ovarian insufficiency, your fertility treatment options may be limited. In many cases with POI, IVF with an egg donor is needed to conceive. This isnt always the case, however. Talk to your doctor about your options.
If the cause for your irregular cycles is a thyroid imbalance or hyperprolactinemia, treating these problems may regulate your periods and return your fertility to normal. This is why getting evaluated by a doctor is essential.
Read To Know How Ivf Can Help You Get Pregnant Even If You Have Irregular Periods
Written by Bhavyajyoti Chilukoti | Updated : July 20, 2017 6:55 PM IST
Can you get pregnant if you have irregular periods? This is a very common query. Although there are various options like IVF to help you conceive, most women think that irregular periods also affect the chances of getting pregnant through IVF. This is the reason, why we caught up with Dr Anagha Karkhanis, Gynecologist, Co-founder of Cocoon Fertility, Thane. When asked about this common question, here is what the expert had to say. Before that, read about why you should not ignore irregular periods.
Before knowing whether irregular periods affect IVF, you need to know about what are irregular periods. Menstrual cycle normally ranges from 21 days to 35 days. Some people get periods after 21 days and some after every 35 days, which is considered normal. However, if you are getting periods beyond that time frame or if the gap between periods is more than two weeks, it is known as irregular. Also, if menstrual cycle is shorter than that or longer than that , it means your periods are irregular.
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Irregular Period Symptoms And Causes
Menstrual cycles generally range from 21 to 35 days, and anything outside of that timeframe is considered irregular. Varying cycle lengths are also cause for concern, especially if they change by more than a couple of days each month. .
Medical conditions like polycystic ovarian syndrome or thyroid disease are the most common causes of irregular periods, according to Michele Hakakha, M.D., an OB-GYN in Beverly Hills, CA. Certain lifestyle factorsincluding stress level, weight, exercise, and dietmay also affect the menstrual cycle. And sometimes irregular periods have no known causes at all.
Its always important to get checked out by your doctor and run the appropriate tests. If your provider cant find any glaring irregular periods reasons, he/she may diagnose hypothalamic-pituitary-axis dysfunction. This is a big medical term for poor communication between your ovaries and brain, leading to less frequent ovulation, says Dr. Hakakha.
Detecting Ovulation When Cycles Are Irregular
If you are ovulating, but irregularly, you’ll need to make a special effort at determining your most fertile time. There are many ways to predict ovulation. You might need to use more than one to help figure out when is the best time for you to have sex.
Ovulation predictor tests work a lot like pregnancy tests, in that you pee on test strips to determine when you’re most fertile. However, in some women, the tests give multiple “false positives.” This is especially common in women with PCOS.
Another possible pitfall of using these tests when your cycles are irregular is that you’ll need to use more than the average number of test strips. You don’t use the tests your entire cycle, but only around the general time you might expect to ovulate. When your cycles are irregular, that possible ovulation window may be longer than it is for other women.
You may want to consider charting your basal body temperature . BBT charting can show you when you actually ovulated. You can also share your BBT charts with your doctor. They may be able to use this information to make a diagnosis.
Of course, the most accurate way to detect ovulation, or lack thereof, is through a trans-vaginal ultrasound and/or through bloodwork taken at your physician’s office. Talk to your doctor about these options to determine if they are right for you.
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Can You Get Pregnant If You Have Irregular Periods
Yes. Irregular menstrual cycles dont always affect fertility. In fact, plenty of women with irregular menstrual cycles get pregnant and go on to have normal pregnancies. So if you’re wondering whether irregular periods mean infertility, the answer is no, but this may make it harder for you to get pregnant.
When your periods are irregular, it makes it more difficult to know when to try to conceive. Usually women will track their cycles to determine when ovulation happens.
But going months without bleeding and then getting your period without any discernible pattern, or always having irregular periods, can make that type of tracking unreliable. Instead youll have to be on the lookout for other signs of ovulation, since cycle length wont tell you when to time baby-making sex.
The real concern when it comes to irregular periods is that occasionally the condition might indicate irregular or absent ovulation. And if you dont ovulate, you cant get pregnant. Problems with ovulation are responsible for up to 30 percent of all cases of infertility.
If an ovulation problem is a possibility, now’s the time to consult an evaluation with your physician to see if you will need help getting pregnant or if there are any underlying health issues that should be addressed first.
How Do You Know Youre Pregnant If You Have Irregular Periods
When youre trying to conceive, your life is a rollercoaster of excitement and anxiety, disappointment and happy surprises all based around charting your period. Now imagine trying to conceive when you dont know when Aunt Flo is coming to town. How do you know youre pregnant if you have irregular periods? Lots and lots of patience, even more pregnancy tests, and a really supportive network of friends and family.
On the road to having a baby, every woman is charting her period to figure out the big occasion: ovulation. According to Parents, you are the most fertile when you ovulate because your body releases the egg. Parents added that if the egg isnt fertilized during the next 36 hours, chances of conception decrease. If you have irregular periods, which means that your cycles are not consistent and, according to The Bump, can last as long as 45 to 60 days, or just vanish from month to month without warning, its a lot harder to chart your cycle. According to the American Pregnancy Association, ovulation occurs about midway through your cycle, which makes charting unreliable with irregular periods. You can use ovulation predictor kits, but with irregular periods, youre going to be going through a whole lot of these suckers, because the kits only test positive when youre ovulating, not right before.
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Reproduction And Your Period
It is easier to conceive if your periods are regular. If you have irregular periods, contact your OB-Gyn to have the cause discovered and begin appropriate treatments. Even if you dont have normal periods, you will need to use birth control if you dont want to conceive. Over-the-counter prediction kits for ovulation can help you chart your fertile days more readily.
We look forward to talking with you about periods, ovulation and all of your womens healthcare issues. Contact us today to make an appointment with one of our physicians.
Why Is It Important To Determine The Cause Of Irregular Periods
If one the above problems is identified, your doctor or a fertility specialist can talk about ways to treat the underlying issue to allow for more predictable ovulation and more regular periods. Some of these underlying conditions can have other effects on your overall health as well. For example, patients with PCOS are at higher risk for diabetes, high blood pressure and overgrowth of the uterine lining.
Women who are not trying to conceive: Your doctor may recommend birth control pills to help regulate your periods. This is so that your period comes monthly.
If you are trying to conceive: Your doctor can help determine if you would benefit from taking a medicine to assist with ovulation. Clomiphene citrate is the most commonly used ovulation-inducing fertility medicine. It is taken orally for 5 days of your cycle. This helps induce an egg to grow within the ovary so that you can ovulate and potentially become pregnant.
Original post February 2016 Updated May 2021
If you would like to learn more about GENESIS Fertility New York or are ready to schedule an appointment, please speak with one of our representatives at .
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Can You Get Pregnant If You Have An Irregular Period
Its possible to get pregnant with irregular periods, but it may take more time. One study found that women with highly variable cycles were 51% less likely to get pregnant per cycle than women with regular cycles.
A separate study, however, found irregular cycles made less of a difference in trying to conceive. In it, most women who got pregnant had cycles lasting 31 days, and women whose cycles were shorter or longer than 31 days also became pregnant, just at a slightly lower rate.
Irregular periods dont necessarily mean you wont be able to get pregnant on your own. Sometimes, making lifestyle changes can regulate previously erratic periods and help you conceive. Some women with irregular periods, however, will need to use fertility treatments.
How To Improve Ovulation Naturally
Light Exercise
The benefits of light exercise for your overall health and fertility are well documented and innumerable. Specific to irregular periods and ovulation, light exercises like yoga, walking, and stretching help to clear blockages that impede blood flow. Exercising can help increase your blood circulation and ensure that nourishing nutrient and oxygen-rich blood flow is reaching your reproductive organs.
Research has shown that light exercise can significantly help to improve menstrual cycle regularity and ovulation especially for women with PCOS.
For optimal results, we recommend incorporating 30 to 60 minutes of low-intensity movement into your daily routine, especially if you are experiencing irregular periods or are having difficulty achieving pregnancy.
Reduce Stress
Stress is known to impact fertility negatively and struggling to get pregnant or worrying about irregular periods only causes more stress. Research shows that stress is significantly associated with menstrual cycle irregularity and that stress management is an important factor in improving a womans reproductive health.
Fortunately, studies have shown that implementing relaxation techniques can effectively reduce stress and negative emotions. If youre feeling stressed we recommend trying the following relaxation techniques:
- anything else that helps you!
Stop Smoking
Diet
Take Fertility Supplements
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Should Women With Irregular Periods Panic
Irregular periods are concerning. More so if getting pregnant is on the cards. Missing periods can also be a sign of an underlying medical issue. Theres no need to panic. Take action early. Seek advice from your OB/GYN, as doctors can help increase the chances of a successful pregnancy.
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How To Get Pregnant When You Have An Irregular Period
Timing is an important part of getting pregnant. But how can you predict when youre ovulating if your period doesnt have a consistent schedule?
May 22, 2018
If its always a bit of a mystery when your period is going to show upperhaps your cycle is 35 days some months and 21 days othersyou might find getting pregnant more challenging because you never know when youre ovulating. So whats going on down there? Heres what you need to know about your irregular periods.
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Signs Of Pregnancy When You Have Irregular Periods
A missed period is one of the most common ways that women know they’re pregnant. Once you conceive, your body releases hormones that basically shut down ovulation. But what if your period comes sporadically? One missed period can bring excitement or panic when you’re not actually pregnant.
Watch for these other signs of pregnancy when you have irregular periods:
Keep in mind that many of these symptoms happen for other reasons. You might feel extra tired if you haven’t been sleeping well or you have an infection, for example. The only way to know for sure is to take a pregnancy test.
What Is The Safest Time To Avoid Pregnancy After A Period
Are you able to regulate your menstrual cycle? You can either have a regular or irregular period, and the average womans menstrual cycle lasts between 21 and 35 days. An ideal menstrual cycle lasts 28 days.
The risk of becoming pregnant is not negated by unprotected sex during the menstrual cycle, regardless of whether its during or just after the period.
Many might wonder, Is it safe for me to have sex after my periods?
In principle, there is no safe time when you can have sex in public without having to use contraception during the month. The phases in your menstrual cycle determine when you are most likely and least likely to conceive.
You have a low chance of getting pregnant if your sex occurs within the first seven days following periods. This is because the eggs do not release from the ovaries.
| Day of the Cycle |
| It is less likely for a woman to become pregnant if she is less fertile |
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I Had Sex 3 Days After My Period Can I Get Pregnant
Yes. A woman can become pregnant if she has not protected sex for 3 days after her period. It is rare for a woman to after her period to become pregnant. Because sperm can survive in a womans reproductive tract for up to seven days, it is possible. Women with shorter periods can experience ovulation.
Is It Safe To Have Sex After Periods
It would be best to track your menstrual cycle, whether you want to avoid pregnancy or try to conceive. You should monitor your period from the moment you have your first period to the day you get it again. On average, a woman starts to ovulate 14 days after her last menstrual cycle. The most fertile time for a female is between 3-4 days and her ovulation period. If you dont want to become pregnant, having sex within three to four days is unsafe. It is also not recommended to have sex in this period.
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Can I Get Pregnant If I Have Irregular Periods
While having irregular periods can be a sign of infertility, it doesn’t mean that every woman with abnormal menstrual cycles is unable to get pregnant. If you have irregular periods, you and your partner may face more obstacles than the average couple, but learning about these challenges can help you find the appropriate treatment.
Find out if you can get pregnant with irregular periods and how to do so to go forth with the knowledge you need concerning your reproductive health.
What Are Your Ovulation Tests Telling You
If you have irregular cycles, you dont need an ovulation calculator for irregular cycles you need a tool as unique as you are! You may be wondering, How can I get pregnant naturally with irregular cycles? The key is ovulation tests in combination with the smart technology of the Premom app. These precious little strips can increase your chances of getting pregnant with irregular periods when utilized with Premoms predictive algorithm. The key is to first identify when and if you are ovulating. Ovulation testing with Premom does this for you!
Ovulation tests take a look at luteinizing hormone directly, the hormone that is responsible for triggering ovulation. Its likely that youll have to test more days than average but when you examine the way your LH levels appear, you can learn a lot about your body.
Fertility doctors recommend starting ovulation testing right after your period ends and every day until your next period begins to ensure an LH surge is not missed. Its common for women with irregular periods to need to test upwards of 25 days to catch that LH surge, consistent tracking is essential with irregular cycles.The follicular phase or first phase of the menstrual cycle can vary in length commonly among women. However eventually LH levels will surge, ovulation will occur and the second half or luteal phase will typically be consistent, around 14 days.
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