Female Advice Preferred: Period Craziness

[lexi-babi]

I haven't gotten my period in three months and I know I'm not pregnant because before they stopped I hadn't had sex in awhile. In the past week though there has been two times that I felt like I got my period but when I went to check it was a reddish brown discharge, and then nothing. The discharge was like what usually happens the last day or so of my period. I've never been really regular but now I am a little concerned. I'm really nervous about going to the doctor because of my self harm scars so...can anyone tell me if I should be really concerned or not.

[mindflower]

Okay, hi there

I haven't actually heard of this, but I Googled it just for you, because that is a little strange, especially if you know you aren't pregnant. You said that you have already had your first period, which being 19, you should have. So good. The first thing that came up when I looked this up, was of course, Stress. It could really just be stress. Another thing that came up was hormonal imbalance, or thyroid imbalance. Also, something came up that was called Amenorrhea. Don't let the big word scare you, it just means "Absence of Periods". Basically, it is treatable, and it can go on for about three months, so if you wanna read about it, just click here. I honesty don't know you enough to say what could be causing it, but some of the causes could be any of these:

Pregnancy
Breast feeding
Stopping the use of birth control
Menopause
Some birth control methods, such as Depo-Provera
Stress
Poor nutrition
Depression* I starred this, not that self harm always has to mean depression, but again, I don't know you enough to pin the exact cause of why you aren't having a period...
Certain drugs
Extreme weight loss
Over-exercising
Ongoing illness
Sudden weight gain/ being overweight.

And I just copied and pasted that list, I'm not gonna lie I don't have a lot of experience with this, but I'm not a doctor.....

Which leads me to say, that it might be best to go to a doctor. I know how scary it can be when you have scars, but you're old enough to see a therapist on your own, so if this doctor saw them, he wouldn't have a ton of say (at least, that is what I've heard from experience with doctors and therapists, being a self harmer myself). Depending on the cause, they can prescribe medication or suggest certain lifestyle changes.

Anyways, I hope things get figured out, and stay strong!