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Most of the time, when a woman experiences a irregular menstrual period, the causes behind it are completely benign. There are a number of occasions where you may experience an irregular menstrual period, including missing a period, having periods too infrequently, experiencing spotting between periods or experiencing a bout of heavy bleeding and clotting. Most of these irregular menstrual period situations are caused by a hormonal imbalance that is an underlying cause and that can be treated relatively easily. Most of us have had an occasion where we missed a period. Sometimes this leads us to anticipate pregnancy while others only feel anxiety as a result. Some women seem to menstruate just like clockwork while others go their entire lives without ever seeming to have a normal or typical menstrual cycle. There is one thing that is a given, however, and that is that shifts in the balance of our hormones can easily alter our menstrual pattern, causing what we have experienced in the past to no longer be the norm, and making irregular menstrual period situations the norm. Many of these irregular menstrual period experiences are especially common when you reach perimenopause, which is the stage that comes before full blown menopause. So what is an irregular menstrual period?Questions are asked about irregular menstrual periods all the time. A textbook menstrual cycle occurs every 24 to 29 days, but what is a "regular" menstrual period actually covers a much wider range than this. Menstrual cycles that occur between 23 days and 35 days are actually quite common in nature. A woman may only get her period between once and four times every year, or she may even experience periods that occur between two and three times every month, involving an extremely heavy menstrual flow or spotting in between. Alternately, a woman can also have heavy bleeding episodes only every two months to three months. So the truth about what an irregular menstrual period is, is that it is only irregular if it is not the norm for you and your body. For the most part, a single missed period or a couple of missed periods every year is nothing to raise alarms over. There are a wide variety of different factors that are capable of being responsible for irregular menstrual periods. Among them includes significant weight loss or weight gain, exercising too often, poor nutrition, drug use, smoking, too much caffeine, excessive use of alcohol, eating disorders, an increase in stress, Uterine abnormalities such as fibroids, polyps or cysts, certain medications, recently having gone through childbirth, breastfeeding, having a recent miscarriage, premenopausal hormonal imbalance or polycystic ovarian syndrome. As should be evident at this point, there are a number of different causes for an irregular menstrual period in women, and they can occur for a multitude of different reasons. While it can be confusing when you experience a irregular menstrual period, you should only consult a physician if it becomes a regular occurrence. 2012-01-23
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