Scarleteen

Hello! My boyfriend recently has just left for university and the past few days for me have been terrible. It didn't help that on top of that I'm starting my busiest year of school and my applications for university. Plus, I have my period impending!

I was expecting my period yesterday but it did not arrive. My period has been kind of erratic lately. Prior to this year, my period had always arrived at 34 days. Right now it's all over the place. Sometimes it can go up to as much as 38 and sometimes as little as 25. The fluctuations seem to be getting bigger and bigger. I don't know what is actually going on and I'm starting to get anxious. My last period was on the 12th of August. Could it be because I've recently loss my virginity this year? I don't really know what's going on anymore. What could be the cause of this? I guess this month I could account it to emotional distress? I was really upset about my boyfriend leaving for about a week prior to his departure and I still have been struggling with it even now (a few days after he had left). Could this have affected my cycle? Having had a lot of tests and sleeping really really late (getting roughly 4-5 hours of sleep per school day) has also become the norm for me this month. Would it be right to account my late period to these attributes or should I go see a doctor?

Thank you for your hard work!

There are a whole lot of reasons why a) your cycle has changed from SUPER-regularity (at a degree that was highly unusual, mind), and b) why it's so erratic right now. And probably it's a few things, some of which you or we can probably figure out and assume correctly are impacting it, and some of which we just won't have any way of knowing anything about, really, or anything for sure.

Cycle changes expected around your age, increased stress (and that can include the stress being sexually active or adding a new sexual activity to your life can bring), and sleep deficit are probably all players here, though, for sure. The good news is that you can likely improve on the latter two things.

Are you experiencing any other issues with your body or health besides just your periods being erratic? Do you have any other current health concerns or just stuff that feels off or weird to you?