Amenorrhea
Amenorrhea
Amenorrhea is defined as the three consecutive missed menstrual cycles. It is the absence of menstrual periods. Commonly it occurs during pregnancy and lactation. Young girls who don’t reach puberty have natural amenorrhea.
Symptoms
Signs and symptoms of amenorrhea include:
- Acne
- Vision changes
- Hair loss
- Milky discharge from nipples
- Pelvic pain
Causes
There are many causes of amenorrhea, some are mention below:
- Breast-feeding
- Pregnancy
- Drugs for hypertension
- Anti-depressant
- Allergic medication
- Chemotherapy
- Exercise
Complications
Complications of amenorrhea include:
- Osteoporosis: low estrogen level cause the resorption of bones
- Infertility: lack of ovulation cause infertility.
Diagnosis
After taking history and doing pelvic examination your doctor might recommend the following tests:
- Pregnancy test. To rule out this cause
- Prolactin test: to check the prolactin hormone level in the blood.
- Thyroid function test. To check the level of TSH.
- Testosterone test. To check the level of the male hormone.
- Pelvic ultrasound
Treatment
To cure the amenorrhea it is necessary to first treat the secondary causes like if amenorrhea occurs due to thyroid or pituitary gland secretion then treated it with medications if there is any tumor present in pelvic which causes the amenorrhea then surgery is the first-line treatment.
Lifestyle factors
A lifestyle of a person also associated with amenorrhea like:
- Intense exercise
- Low body weight
- Hormonal imbalance
- Stress
- Certain medications
- Eating junk food more regularly