[FeliciaB]

At the age of 16 my period stopped suddenly, and only happened maybe once a year. I'm 22 now and haven't had a period without birth control for at least 4 years. I have had my hormone levels checked and they are normal, I have also had female check up after check up and they seem to be unable to find whats wrong with me. I am overweight but this started after the periods stopped, and its not due to thyroid problems, I have been checked for that as well. I'm married and we really want to have a baby, but if I'm not menstruating or ovulating I fear my baby maker is dead. I have recently tried pills my Dr. prescribed me to take for 5 days to kick in my period, they ended up working. So she then prescribed me with birth control (orthotryclen) to take for 3 months. Everything was fine until the third month, even with birth control I had no period. At this point I'm just lost for words and I don't know what to do or what Dr to turn to. I feel like a mystery diagnoses and no one is going to find out what is wrong.

[MelanieStOurs]

I'm so sorry to hear that you're struggling like this, Felicia. There are a number of things that could be happening. Have you been evaluated for PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome?)

I'm a clinical herbalist and I work with women who have stories like yours all the time. Two of the participants from my last group had stories similar to yours and were able to get their periods back without taking hormones---so there certainly is hope. I want you to know that you're not alone, and there are answers out there for you. Don't be afraid to look toward natural medicine if you're not getting the help you need from regular doctors.

[Audri.Rose]

I was put on birth control after having a two month long and extremely heavy period when I was 15. Prior to that I was without a period for almost a year because of an eating disorder. Before my eating disorder I was already slightly underweight so I lost my period quite fast and it was when I started gaining my weight back at age 15 that my period came back as well. At that time when my doctor put me on the birth control, she also tested my blood and told me that I had iron-deficiency anemia and had me taking iron pills daily.

I am now 20 years old and in June I stopped taking my birth control but after being two months late on my period. My doctor suspected that I didn't have enough estrogen and had me do the provera (progesterone) challenge. After a couple of days of taking the last provera pill I did get the withdrawal bleed which I've read means that my body has enough estrogen but is not ovulating because of a lack of progesterone? My doctor basically told me to just go back on my pills which I did for about three weeks until I decided that I would like to try to regulate my cycle naturally. So, mid-September I stopped taking my pills again. Since then, I still haven't gotten my period. I heard it can take up to a year for your body to get used to coming off the pill, so should I just wait and see if my body regulates itself or should I seek some sort of herbal remedy? I've heard of women using femaprin (vitex) pills for anovulation..do these work? If so, how much do I take daily?

By the way, right now I am still a little bit on the thin side at 5'6 and 111lbs so I'm not sure if gaining some weight will help bring back my period?