Amenorrhea and overweight
How serious is amenorrhea? I am 22 years old and have always had very regular periods. I am definitely not pregnant and have not menstruated for 2 months. Should I see my doctor right away? I am 50 pounds overweight. Could obesity be the cause and if so how?
Amenorrhea itself is not dangerous at all. It doesn't lead to cancer or premature death, heart disease, diabetes or anything like that. The only serious effect it has is its effect on fertility. If amenorrhea isn't due to pregnancy, it generally prevents getting pregnant.
Rarely, a stopping of menses (secondary amenorrhea) can be due to blockage of the genital tract but that's almost always due to the consequences of scarring due to a procedure like conization, laser, cryotherapy, or LEEP to the cervix as treatment for cervical dysplasia, or D&C of the uterus usually as treatment for abnormal uterine bleeding.
The most common cause of skipping menses is lack of ovulation on the part of the ovaries. Anovulation is often due to stress reaction, medications or sometimes various disorders.
Weight doesn't usually cause amenorrhea per se but is often associated with it. Usually it is thought that the same stress that produces the overweight may cause the lack of ovulation.
If the amenorrhea persists into a third month, seeing a physician would be a good idea.
No menses after stopping breast feeding
Help! I had a baby and breastfed for somewhere up to 2 1/2 months and I had some periods not very regular then had one a few weeks later even than the others, now I haven't had one in 2 months....you could almost tell time by them before the baby and now I'm wondering if something is really wrong. By the way, baby was born by emergency c-section if that makes a difference.
A general rule-of thumb is that it takes about 3 months after delivery or after discontinuance of breast feeding for menses to get back to their normal pattern. That pattern can be different after a delivery.
Restoration of normal menses can be interfered with by injectable contraceptives, stress/depression or sometimes even sleep deprivation with a new baby. Make sure that you are not pregnant again also.
Normally an emergency C-Section would not be a cause of something like this unless there had been an excessive amount of bleeding usually requiring blood transfusions.
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