Where has my period gone?

[mauh.livejournal.com]

While it’s quite lovely and wonderful to not have to deal with a period, the fact that it’s completely disappeared is getting a bit worrisome.

As a bit of background info, I’m 22 years old. When I became sexually active, I began taking birth control pills (Triphasil 28). In June of last year, I stopped taking them. This was, in part, because it completely destroyed my otherwise healthy sex drive (or at least that’s what I attributed it to at the time). After stopping the birth control pills, I had two normal periods and then they just stopped. That means my last period was in July. Of last year.

I’ve made two trips to my doctor since then - once for a yearly check up (which included a pap smear) and once more to have a pelvic ultrasound (which was primarily to check for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). Nothing really out of the ordinary was found in either case. I’m just baffled.

Now I’ve been putting off making another trip back to the doctor, but at this point it seems apparent that something is indeed wrong. Unfortunately last time I went, I was just handed a prescription for another year’s worth of birth control... I haven’t bothered filling said prescription because it just seems to be treating the symptoms and ignoring a potentially larger problem. Not to mention the fact that my sex drive is as elusive as my period.

Anyhow, I don’t suppose you lovely ladies have any thoughts or ideas?

Comments

[velochicdunord.livejournal.com]

What is your overall health like?
Are you eating enough?
Extreme thinness (poor nutrition) can cause periods to stop, as can excessive exercise.

Are you doing a lot of athletics or have you just started in on a heavy training program? The one time in my life that my period stopped for a couple of months was when I had just started basic training with the military. The sudden start of 5 mile runs with heavy packs, stress and lack of sleep threw my body into survival mode, and that meant shutting down reproductive functions.

My two cents worth.

[mauh.livejournal.com]

During the summer when this started, I was exercising almost daily. I really don't think it was excessive though, and in any case my routine slowly trickled down and finally stopped completely with the onset of winter.

I'm certainly not too thin, in fact I've gained quite a bit of weight since the summer. I get plenty to eat, though my nutrition isn't the best. I've been working on that though... Oh how I miss junk food.

[sweetseadragon.livejournal.com]

If you're gaining weight, you're eating right and exercising, I would go to your dr. and ask them to give you an rx for blood work that includes:

1) CMP - comprehensive metabolic panel
2) UA
3) Lipid profile (most likely unnecessary)
4) TSH and free T3 and T4 levels (this is for thyroid)

Request that a copy of the blood work be sent to you, or call your dr. a few days after the test and have them mail/fax it to you. The results should show you the acceptable ranges and levels. If some of your results are abnormal your dr. should note it. If there's something like hypothyroidism going on or some other hormonal imbalance you should see an endocrinologist.

[photobooth15501.livejournal.com]

You might want to check out this link:

http://womenshealth.about.com/cs/menstruation/a/lateperiod.htm

[frolicnaked.livejournal.com]

I don't have an answer for what's going on with your period, but I sympathize so much with this point:

"Unfortunately last time I went, I was just handed a prescription for another year’s worth of birth control... I haven’t bothered filling said prescription because it just seems to be treating the symptoms and ignoring a potentially larger problem."

For the longest time, whenever I went to the doctor about a menstrual issue, that doctor's immediate and only reaction was to prescribe HBC. If I went back because that BC was causing unbearable side effects (What? Vomiting 3 times a day every day isn't fun? Who knew?), the doc's response was to prescribe a different brand.

The only thing I can tell you that hasn't already been said here is that if you really believe there could be a serious underlying medical issue, don't be content with something that might just "mask" it.