Period One Day Late White Discharge and Cramps: Am I Pregnant?
Last updated on July 27th, 2018 at 05:13 pm
Period one day late in most cases does not mean much, and you shouldn’t panic yet. Most women with menstrual period that goes missing for a day may be due to hormone shift that occurs due to severe weight loss, sleepless nights, stress, and drugs.
However, it’s possible you have a baby coming.
If pregnant, your period will not come as usual. The chances that you’re pregnant is even higher if you had sexual intercourse some weeks ago during your fertile days without any protective measures.
Did you have any light bleeding days before your period is due? Any increase in your breast size? Do your breast hurt with nipple itching? Are you getting tired very quickly?
You should know your menstrual cycle can fluctuate sometimes. And, though, most women will have period every 28 days, it could come late or early.
This article explains why you’ve missed period for 1 day and signs that indicate you’re pregnant.
Why is my period one day Late?
1. Wrong Date
Don’t always think it’s pregnancy. Most women don’t know how to calculate next period date. This could cause unwanted panic. Are you sure your period is regular? Do you understand your menstrual cycle?
If you’ve started having menses for your first time in life, it may be irregular and may come early or late because your hormones are still unstable at this point. In most women, period gets regular in about 1 to 6 years.
If you have a regular cycle, the number of days between periods is your menstrual cycle length. If regular over months, it is easy to predict your next period date.
Let’s say your period is normal for months now and occurs every 28 days. This means, if your period were to start on the 1st of December, your next period should begin on the 29th of December.
On the other hand, your period may be irregular due to hormone imbalance, infections or medical issues like polycystic ovaries. It becomes difficult to calculate your next period.
2. Pregnancy
It’s always important not to ignore pregnancy if you’ve had sexual contact without condom use. If you get pregnant, your body produces a lot of hormones that prevents your period and ovulation from showing up.
Absent period may be one of your first signs if pregnant. However, some women may detect pregnancy days before missing period through implantation bleeding and cramps.
Implantation bleeding, which does not occur in every woman, is one of the earliest signs of pregnancy. After fertilization, the embryo, formed by the union of the sperm and ovum, digs into the endometrium leading to bleeding. This bleeding usually occurs with mild cramps and is short-lived.
Other signs of pregnancy are
- Getting weak and tired after little or no work
- Change in your eating habits
- Change in mood
- Food aversion
- Feeling bloated with tightening of abdomen
- Abdominal discomfort
- Bigger breast with soreness and pain
- Nausea
- Vomiting
What steps should I take if I have these symptoms?
It’s important you sit out for some days if you’ve not had any of these pregnancy symptoms. If you get bothered, you could test for pregnancy by using very reliable first response pregnancy kit.
Using an accurate kit that can detect pregnancy when hormones are low is important. The First response kit has an accuracy of 66 percent when tested five days before your period.
On the other hand, you could still have a false negative pregnancy test if the test is carried out. False negative test means, you are pregnant but not detectable on test strips.
This happens if your hormones- human chorionic gonadotropin, is very low to be diagnosed by test strips.
To prevent this, if you have a false negative result with pregnancy signs, you should re-test with your urine or blood after seven days.
If pregnant, talk to your doctor ASAP.
3. Stress and sleepless nights
Having stressful days, sleepless nights and excessive weight loss can have serious effects on the way your hormones functions.
Your period is regulated by hormones that will be released from the hypothalamus, pituitary, ovaries and the thyroid glands. When stressed, many of these hormones are not secreted, or their volume is reduced.
This may cause your period to be absent for days. In some women, stress may result to no period for 1 or 2 months.
4. Pregnancy prevention pills
Contraceptives are commonly used by women of all age groups. These pills, when taken daily for a long time may delay period from coming.
The commonest reasons a lot of women are on these pills is to prevent unwanted pregnancy or ease their heavy flow during periods.
Depending on the type of contraception used, period may stop coming for a long time. Different types of contraceptives used by women are implants, oral drugs or patches and they prevent pregnancy for a long time. Others, like Seasonale pills, are taken daily for about four months without any period.
It’s vital to ask basic questions and side effects before starting any contraceptive pills.
Also, after sex pills may also cause period to stop coming. This is because ovulation is pushed back or delayed. If you already took emergency contraception after an unprotected sexual intercourse, it’s possible your period is delayed, or you’re pregnant.
Chances of pregnancy are high if you did not take medications immediately after sexual intercourse.
Other possible causes missed one day period are
- Severe weight loss
- Polycystic ovarian syndrome
- Abortion some weeks or days back
- Perimenopause
- Thyroid hormone dysfunction
Period 1 day late: Frequently asked questions
Did you miss your period for a day and worried? Here are commonly asked questions
Period one day late: Am I Pregnant?
It’s possible you are pregnant if you did not use protection some weeks ago during sex. During your fertile period, you can get pregnant easily.
While it’s possible you’re pregnant, there are still other causes. Take a test to confirm.
Period one day late and cramping, why?
Cramping abdomen pain that is less severe as period cramps may mean pregnancy. This occurs due to implantation and subsides in few days.
If you’ve not had any unsafe sex, it may indicate your period will start soon. Other signs of period coming are headaches, pimples, dry vaginal, thick vaginal discharge and mood changes.
Period 1 day late white discharge, is it normal?
The chances of being pregnant may be high if you’ve missed your period for a day and have increased white, clear or milky vaginal discharge.
This is due to changes in pregnancy and elevated levels of pregnancy hormones like estrogen and progesterone.
Still worried why your period is one day late? We could help! Ask us.
