There are a number of reasons for late period.
The most obvious reason is pregnancy, the only certain way to rule this out is by home pregnancy test. I recommend a test now and repeat in 3 days time. Use early morning urine for the second test to ensure maximum possibility of picking up the hormone that the test is sensitive for. It is possible to get false negatives in early days however false positives are very rare.
There however other reasons. These include:
emotional stress
hormone imbalance and Polycystic Ovary Disease
excessive exercise or physical demands recently
being malnourished or very underweight
other hormone imbalance such as thyroid
Also although most women have regular cycles, these can vary within 28 to 35 day cycles and still be considered normal, so despite this not being your normal pattern, at the moment I would not be excessively worried. The cramping possibly indicates the presence of prostaglandins which is usually associated with the onset of mentruation. If the cramps continue then they can be treated with ibuprofen 400mg three times daily, as long as you have no history of stomach ulcers.
So your first action is to rule out pregnancy by using a home pregnancy test, if your period has not started within the next week then you can pop down to your family doctor or Gyn to get a blood test to rule out any hormonal problems. It is also worth considering whether you have been putting either physical or emotional stress on your body in the last few weeks and where you could take action to reduce this stress.
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Regards
Edited by plaw123 on May 4 2006 at 5:25am__________________
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