Almost none of the adults realize how destructive the state of stress and chronic fatigue are for the body. In fact, regular lack of sleep, nervousness, irritability, conflicts at work and in the family smoothly and imperceptibly, but inevitably lead to the development of diseases. One of the first “bells and whistles” is the delay of menstruation due to stress. Usually this pathology is easily reversible, but you will have to make efforts and change your lifestyle to resume the menstrual cycle.
Causes of amenorrhea - delay and complete absence of menstruation
Among the most common causes of delayed menstruation in a relatively healthy woman are the following:
- hormonal failure due to severe nervous shock;
- amenorrhea due to a strict diet or fasting;
- failure to produce sex hormones;
- chronic prolonged stress, lack of sleep;
- advanced depression or anxiety disorder.
Saying that any one reason prevails does not make sense. The body of each woman is individual, and the quality and presence of menstruation is a direct consequence of the hormonal balance in the woman’s body. So even an experienced doctor can find it difficult to determine whether there was a delay in menstruation due to stress, or the reason for the presence of some more serious chronic diseases.
You cannot diagnose yourself. If a woman suspects that severe stress and delayed menstruation are interconnected, then you should express your assumptions at a consultation with a gynecologist. But sitting and waiting until the cycle is restored can simply be dangerous, since at this time some really unfavorable process can develop in the body, which threatens all life.
What could be a source of chronic stress
In order to roughly imagine the state of chronic stress, you should know about the criteria that psychiatrists use when making such a diagnosis:
- lack of regular healthy sleep for more than one month;
- conflicts at work and in the family that bring a woman to a condition that is accompanied by a nervous tic, convulsions, and other physical manifestations of psychoemotional discomfort;
- rapid weight loss - if a woman refuses to eat because of psycho-emotional overload, then BMI can fall below 17 points, as a result of which amenorrhea can simply come from exhaustion;
- hard physical work with insufficient sleep and poor nutrition almost guaranteed leads to serious mental and nervous overload;
- a woman who regularly experiences aggression or believes that her life may be in danger is also under chronic stress.
The effects of fatigue and stress on women's health
It is worth noting that chronic fatigue and stress extremely negatively affect not only women's health, but also men's. Not only the reproductive system suffers, but also the nervous, cardiovascular. These injuries, in turn, lead to diseases and impaired functioning of other organs.
In order to recognize for sure whether there was a delay in menstruation due to stress or for other reasons, you should contact an experienced gynecologist. About the timing and when exactly it is time to run to the doctor, is described below.
How to understand that the reason for the delay is just a stressful state
It is believed that due to nervous overwork and stress, a delay of about five days may occur. Delayed menstruation after severe stress, as a rule, cannot break the cycle completely. Menstruation should come, but it will happen after about a week from the usual date.
In this case, the nature of menstruation does not change. That is, if, prior to severe stress, the discharge was abundant - they will remain so after the fact that menstruation is delayed due to stress. But if the nature of the discharge has changed - they have become painful, excessively thick or abundant - this is an occasion to see a doctor as soon as possible and undergo an examination.
Could the delay in menstruation due to stress be longer than a week? No, this is extremely rare. For example, if a woman against the background of fatigue and nervousness did not eat, amenorrhea may come from exhaustion, in which case the cycle may not be restored for many months. But if there was a delay in menstruation due to stress, and this is the only reason, then menstruation, as a rule, occurs 4-5 days after the expected date.
It is worth repeating that the female body is an extremely unpredictable device. Therefore, even an experienced gynecologist will not be able to answer the question "how much can a delay of menstruation under stress" be? The average delay due to stress is 4 to 7 days. If menstruation did not appear, this is an occasion to worry about your health, urgently do a pregnancy test and go for a visit to a gynecologist.
How to normalize the menstrual cycle in conditions of chronic stress
If it has become known that there is no pregnancy, hormones are normal, and no chronic diseases of the genitourinary system have been detected, then it becomes obvious that the reason is delayed menstruation due to stress. What to do in such a situation? Of course, you should not immediately run to an appointment with a psychiatrist. You can completely normalize your psycho-emotional state without a visit to the doctor, the main thing is to want this and change your lifestyle.
The first task is to get rid of the traumatic factor. To do this, you need to analyze your lifestyle. Maybe you need to change jobs or break off relationships that make you nervous? Often girls suffer from unhappy love or live with a husband-abuser for years, which causes a severe psycho-emotional state, and in some cases even mental disorders. If you can’t break the vicious circle yourself, you can turn to a therapist for advice. Sessions with a competent specialist will help restore peace in the soul, as a result, physical health will improve, and the cycle will normalize.
You can resort to using special herbal preparations that will help maintain nervous health.
"Fitosedan" - a drug based on natural herbs to restore the emotional state
This is an excellent drug for relieving stress and normalizing sleep, the use of which on a regular basis helps to restore the cycle. If the reason for the delay in menstruation is stress, and in addition to this, all other factors of the state of health are normal, then the next menstruation should arrive on time.
"Fitosedan" is a package in which 20 filter bags. They should be brewed like regular tea and taken half a glass before each meal.
The composition of the drug includes the following active ingredients:
- Valerian officinalis roots
- Oregano grass
- clover grass,
- creeping thyme grass
- motherwort grass.
This drug does not cause either drug or psychological dependence. You can safely take it to people with sleep disorders, as insomnia is one of the direct indications for taking "Fitosedan".
Should I take hormonal drugs if there is a delay in menstruation due to stress
Most girls are very impressionable and even with a slight delay, they begin to look for a hormonal drug. In fact, a delay due to stress does not make sense to treat with such serious drugs.
Hormones are a very delicate balance, and if you break it, you can expect really serious consequences, up to the appearance of neoplasms. In order not to upset the balance, in no case should you arbitrarily take drugs of this kind. Even a hormonal contraceptive should be prescribed by an experienced doctor; there can be no talk of any self-administration.
Is antidepressant therapy for chronic stress justified?
Antidepressants are drugs that can quickly lead a woman's psycho-emotional state to a full or relative norm. However, you can buy these pills only if you have a prescription from a neurologist or psychiatrist.
If the degree of stress has reached that critical point at which amenorrhea has set in, this is a signal that you can no longer let your psychological state drift. Of course, the idea of ​​coming to a psychiatrist seems blasphemous to many. However, if there is a need for taking antidepressants, then consultations with a specialist can not be avoided. The most effective and popular drugs of this kind are Prozac (and its cheap counterpart Fluoxetine), Paroxetine, and many others. Self-administration is prohibited, but if the doctor prescribes such pills, then the result of treatment can exceed all expectations.
How to restore your psycho-emotional state without the use of medications
You can do without pills, if you follow the simple rules of psychological "hygiene":
- regularly allocate at least 8 hours of sleep;
- Do yoga, swimming and other pacifying activities;
- give up bad habits - smoking and alcohol abuse, as such a lifestyle is detrimental to the cells of the nervous system and can lead to psycho-emotional exhaustion.
Will physical education and sport help relieve psychoemotional stress
It is a common misconception that physical education and sports will help to get out of the state of chronic stress and, as a result, normalize the hormonal background. However, in most cases, intense exercise only depletes the nervous system, especially if there is no normal diet and healthy sleep.
To restore the psycho-emotional state, yoga, swimming, Pilates and other quiet types of physical activity are recommended.