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Hi Aunt Vadge,
My period usually runs like clockwork, give or take a day, but this time it’s five days late and still hasn’t come. I’m not sexually active, so what’s making it take so long? This year is my leaving cert and next month I have my orals, and I’m stressed and anxious about the exams.
Every night I get the feeling it’s about to come, but it hasn’t, and now I’m worried, which is stressing me out too. I have some tenderness but no real cramps yet.
Yours,
Late
Age 18, Ireland
Hi there Late,
The short, reassuring answer: your period’s late because you ovulated late, and you’re not pregnant – you’ve told me yourself you’re not sexually active, so there’s simply nothing to be pregnant from.
Your period runs like clockwork from the day you ovulate, about two weeks later, so a ‘late period’ really means late ovulation, and stress is one of the most reliable things that pushes ovulation back.
You’ve got your leaving cert and orals bearing down on you and you’re anxious about them – that’s exactly the kind of stress (even the exciting, high-stakes kind) that tells your body ‘not this week’ and delays the whole cycle.
The nightly ‘I think it’s coming’ feeling and the breast tenderness are your premenstrual signs gearing up; it’s on its way, just running behind because ovulation did.
So nothing’s wrong – five days is well within normal, especially in an exam term. The worry itself can nudge it later still, which is a frustrating little loop, so as much as you can, treat the lateness as the expected result of a stressful month rather than a problem.
It’ll come. If it ever stretched out much further, or your cycle became regularly erratic, it’d be worth mentioning to a doctor and reading up on why periods can stop – but a single stress-delayed period during your exams is your body behaving exactly as designed.
Good luck with the orals.
Yours,
Aunt Vadge
This is general information, not a substitute for personalised medical advice.
