When To Call Your Healthcare Provider
Missing a period every once in a while is usually not cause for concern. That said, you should see a healthcare provider if you miss more than one period, or your missed period is accompanied by new or unusual symptoms.
Seek medical attention right away if you also experience any of the following:
- New or worsening headaches
What If I Have A Negative Pregnancy Test
If your period is 4 days late with a negative pregnancy test, it could be due to
- Eating disorders
- You just started having period for the first time
What to do?
If your pregnancy test result is negative 4 days after your period, it may still not be accurate if your bodys pregnancy hormones are still low. Wait till its seven days past your period date and check again.
What If I Miss A Period
A missed period is one of the first signs of pregnancy, but it doesnt always mean youre pregnant. Sometimes you skip a period for no reason at all, especially during the first few years of your period. Lots of other things can throw off your regular cycle and mess with the timing of your period. These include:
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Using hormonal birth control, like the pill, patch, ring, implant, and hormonal IUD
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Stress
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Sudden weight gain or loss
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Having very little body fat, which can happen if youre an athlete or have an eating disorder
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Menopause
Take a pregnancy test if you had unprotected sex and then missed your period. Just missing your period isnt a foolproof way to know that youre pregnant a pregnancy test is the only way to find out for sure. You can get a pregnancy test at drugstores or your local Planned Parenthood health center.
Hormonal birth control can affect your cycle, and even make your period stop altogether. If youve been using your birth control correctly or are on a highly effective method , its very, very unlikely that a missed period means youre pregnant. But you can always take a pregnancy test to be sure.
Also Check: How To Calculate Your Period Cycle
Actual Length Of Pregnancy
The actual length of pregnancy varies significantly among women. Just 4% of babies are born on their estimated due date, while 70% are born within ten days. The remaining 30% are born more than ten days before the due date or more than ten days after.
The reference above provides a delivery birth range of 38 weeks and four days to 41 weeks and three days with a probability of 70%.
Dont Ignore A Missed Period
ALQURUMRESORT.COM” alt=”What to do when my period is not coming > ALQURUMRESORT.COM”> If you keep track of your periods, youll probably know right away if something is amiss. Keep a period diary in your calendar or get an app designed for that purpose. Your period records can provide valuable information for you and your doctor.
Doctors want to know details about your previous periods so we can determine if theres an issue, Dr. Higgins says. An occasional late period is often the result of something minor, but if you frequently have late or irregular periods, check with your doctor to rule out other health conditions.
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When To Visit The Doctor
Make an appointment with your doctor if you can’t pinpoint the reasons for a late period they may want to check for various conditions. It’s also important to note that vaginal bleeding after a late period may not be the monthly visitor you were expecting. “Anybody who experiences heavy bleeding and pain after a missed period and/or a positive pregnancy test should go to the doctor,” says Dr. McDonald. “All bleeding is not a period, especially in a setting where something is off.”
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Reasons For A Late Period That Don’t Mean You’re Pregnant
A menstrual cycle that’s off schedule doesn’t always mean you’re pregnant. Here are seven other reasons your period could be late.
If you’re waiting for a late period, there’s one thought that’s likely going through your mind: Am I pregnant? “Everybody thinks they’re pregnant when their period is late,” says Wendy Goodall McDonald, M.D., aka Dr. Every Woman of Women’s Health Consulting in Chicago and the author of It Smells Just Like Popcorn: The Modern Woman’s A to V Guide to Her Vagina and Beyond.
But mensuration could be late for a variety of reasons, and it doesn’t always point to pregnancy. This could be disappointing to learn if you’re TTC or a huge sigh of relief if you’re not ready for a baby. Before you run to the local pharmacy to pick up an at-home pregnancy test, read about these external factors and conditions that could cause delayed periods.
Nutrient Deficiencies Or Chronic Disease
Underling nutrient deficiencies or chronic disease are a third reason your body may decide to delay or halt ovulation, making your period late. When these conditions go unaddressed, your body can perceive this as yet another form of stress.
Being malnourished or suffering from an unmanaged condition like an autoimmune disease are common reasons for irregular cycles or missing periods.
If your period has been missing or irregular for some time, it is always a good idea to visit your primary healthcare provider for a full checkup including lab work. Some blood tests to discuss with your doctor include:
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Iron studies
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Follicle Stimulating Hormone and LH
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What If My Period Is Irregular
Its really common to have irregular menstrual cycles at some point in your life especially when you first start getting your period.
Examples of irregular periods include:
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Missing a period altogether
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Heavier or lighter bleeding than usual
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Bleeding longer than usual
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Unpredictable timing of periods from month to month
Keeping track of your periods and symptoms on a menstrual cycle calendar or in an app is a good way to learn whats normal for your body, and help you know if anything changes.
Some peoples periods are irregular a lot. It may just be the way their body naturally works, or it can be caused by a health problem. If many of your periods are irregular, unpredictable, or abnormal, talk with a doctor to make sure everythings okay. They can also help you find a hormonal birth control method that may help make your period lighter and/or more regular.
My Period Is 4 Days Late: Am I Pregnant
To answer this, we must understand what a period is and why it stops during gestation. Women have a pair of ovaries that produce a mature egg each month under the influence of hormones, estrogen, and progesterone. This is known as the process of ovulation. In pregnancy, these hormones are also responsible for creating a soft lining inside the uterus. However, if pregnancy doesn’t occur, then this extra lining is shed out in the form of blood at a certain point in our menstrual cycle.
Considering this cycle, it is natural to assume that a late period or missed period is a sign of pregnancy. For most women, the logical next line of action after experiencing a missed period is to take a pregnancy test. A positive result in this test will show if you are pregnant, but you may also experience other early signs of pregnancy like nausea, , fatigue, selective hunger, unexplained cramps in the pelvic region, increased moodiness, or irritability and tender or sore breasts.
If you are experiencing any or all of these symptoms you could be pregnant, but without a positive pregnancy test result, this cannot be confirmed.
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Address Your Sleep Hygiene
Poor sleep can increase cortisol levels, worsen fatigue and create a reliance on substances like caffeine and alcohol. These all fuel a worsened stress response and late periods. Set yourself a regular bedtime and stick to it! You will notice a huge difference simply by increasing the time you spend in bed.
If you struggle to fall asleep or stay asleep, try the 60 minutes of no-screen-time discussed above and consider a guided meditation right before sleep. Additionally, make sure your room is as dark as possible .
First thing in the morning, open your curtains and allow your eyes to receive natural light . This allows your body clock to reset and will help you feel more energised throughout the day .
Is Period 4 Days Late White Discharge Due To Pregnancy
If your period is four days late with heavy white discharge, it might possibly signify pregnancy.
During your period cycle, there is a cyclical change in the texture and volume of discharge from your vagina. Just before period and due to a reduction of progesterone hormone, women have a dry vagina or thick discharge.
During ovulation and if youre pregnant, women have increased milky white discharge.
If your period is 4 days late and you experience increased vaginal discharge, then its likely due to pregnancy.
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Why Is My Period Late But Pregnancy Test Negative
If your period is very late, or youve skipped your period, and you get a negative result, you are unlikely to be pregnant. If you are testing before the date of your expected period, you may be pregnant but your hCG levels are too low for the test to detect.
Youre In Early Menopause
Early menopause, also known as premature ovarian failure, happens when your ovaries stop working before you turn 40.
When your ovaries arent working the way they should, they dont produce enough estrogen. As estrogen levels drop to all-time lows, you will begin to experience the symptoms of menopause.
Late or missed periods may be an early sign. You may also experience hot flashes, night sweats, and trouble sleeping.
Other signs of premature ovarian failure include:
- vaginal dryness
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My Period Is Late: Is There Any Reason To Be Worried
Numerous studies show that a slight variation in the length of your menstrual cycle is normal.
More than 100 women with normal menstrual cycle lengths took part in a large-scale study that showed interesting results: cycle variability of more than seven days was observed in 42.5 percent of the participants! As you can see, a one to two-day variation is very common.
Track my period
What To Do If You Miss Your Period
If you miss your period, you should wait at first. Give it a few days to make sure you didn’t miscalculate or do something to mix up the dates or that you aren’t simply late. Many practitioners at this point, may recommend a pregnancy test.
You can take a pregnancy test at home or your can go into your doctor’s office. If it’s positive, you have your answer: You missed your period because you were pregnant. If it is negative, you may want to wait a bit and try again.
Seeing your doctor if you are worried is never a bad option. If you are planning to get pregnant soon, you can use the visit to start your preconception health plan. This is a great way to get your body on track to be pregnant. This helps you have the healthiest pregnancy possible.
If you are not ready to be pregnant, they can help you determine what your reproductive life plan may look like to stay healthy and avoid pregnancy until the point where you make a decision to have children or permanently decide to not have children.
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How Can You Tell If You Are Pregnant Without A Test
The most common early signs and symptoms of pregnancy might include: Missed period. If you re in your childbearing years and a week or more has passed without the start of an expected menstrual cycle, you might be pregnant. Tender, swollen breasts. Nausea with or without vomiting. Increased urination. Fatigue.
When Would Pregnancy Begin
Here are some early pregnancy symptoms that are different from signs of PMS:
- Menstrual bleeding is heavier than pregnancy-related spotting.
- Fatigue from PMS usually goes away, for the most part, once the bleeding starts.
- Nausea is a common pregnancy symptom, but not so much with PMS.
- Food cravings or aversions are more intense with pregnancy.
- Cramps can be intense before menstruation but are milder in the early stages of pregnancy.
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When Not To Take A Pregnancy Test
As explained above, to be reliable, the pregnancy test should be taken properly. So you should never:
- Take the pregnancy test on the day of unprotected intercourse or the next day.
- Take it without having a menstrual delay.
- Take the test without reading the instructions, or you might get the wrong result.
While home pregnancy tests can give false negatives, they do not yield false positives. Except in cases of ectopic pregnancy or pregnancies without an embryo, a positive result means that there is an ongoing pregnancy.
This article is merely informative, oneHOWTO does not have the authority to prescribe any medical treatments or create a diagnosis. We invite you to visit your doctor if you have any type of condition or pain.
If you want to read similar articles to How Long to Wait to Take a Pregnancy Test After a Missed Period, we recommend you visit our Family health category.
Is It Common After Taking Plan B
People take Plan B to prevent pregnancy following sex without contraception.A person should take the medication within 72 hours of sex, as the efficacy of the drug decreases over time. It contains only levonorgestrel, a synthetic version of the hormone progestin.
After taking Plan B, a person can expect to get their period at the usual time, but there may be a delay of up to 1 week.Also, some people experience spotting or bleeding between taking Plan B and getting their period.
It is important to note that Plan B is not 100% effective. If a person does not get their period within a week of taking the drug, it is probably a good idea to take a pregnancy test.
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