An occasional period that is a bit different from what you normally expect is nothing to worry about. Just an ovarian hiccup, so to speak, most likely.
Women tend to have irregular periods in the cycles right after they begin having periods and in the years before menopause for the same reason: ovulation does not happen.
For teens, the periods can sometimes be heavy, though cycles in which you do not ovulate are more likely to be less crampy. As the system matures, the interval from the beginning of one period to the beginning of the next period becomes more regular and the periods themselves sometimes more painful.
For women nearing menopause, skipped ovulation is related to aging of the eggs still present. You are born with all the eggs you will ever have, and many of them disintegrate without ever having an opportunity to ovulate. The eggs which are more sensitive to hormone stimulation get used first. The remaining ones sometimes ovulate, but the production of estrogen and progesterone is not what it used to be. Progesterone poops out earlier in the cycle, and the interval from beginning to beginning gets shorter. Eventually, all the eggs are used up and periods stop altogether.
If you are using any hormonal method of birth control or an IUD, the periods may change depending on the method.
If you are not using a hormonal method of birth control, an IUD, or any method of birth control, a period that seems different may actually be pregnancy related, and a test would not be a bad idea. A pregnancy test might also be a good idea if you are using a method of birth control but had a problem, such as missed birth control pills. Any woman who has sex is at risk to get pregnant. Any method can fail. Know your method and know when to test for pregnancy. When in doubt, test.
Most doctors are not going to suggest birth control pills for someone who does not need contraception just on the basis of one or two slightly irregular periods. But if the periods are less than about 23 or 24 days from beginning to beginning or the flow is heavy or prolonged or painful, hormonal treatment can provide relief and is a very low risk option. On the other hand, if the periods are further apart, say over about 35 days, abnormalities of the uterine lining can develop.
If you want to know whether you are ovulating, there is a simple, inexpensive way to tell. Take your temperature. Use a digital thermometer and take it as soon as you wake up. This is your
basal body temperature, the lowest it will be during the day in the absence of an illness causing a fever. As soon as you get up and move around, it will go up a little. The progesterone produced after ovulation causes a rise in basal body temperature, often just about one degree Fahrenheit.
You can keep a record like this one:
http://assets.babycenter.com/ims/Con...mple_chart.pdf
There are day to day fluctuations, sometimes a little dip in the temp, then the rise which lasts until the period begins, usually fourteen days in a 28 day cycle. If a pregnancy occurs, the temp stays up, the period is missed, and a pregnancy test is in order.
Young women with heavy, crampy periods should see a doctor. Heavy flow can cause anemia and painful periods can be a symptom of a condition called endometriosis.
Older women with prolonged bleeding can also become anemic, and the risk is greater that something non-hormonal is going on, including fibroids or even pre-cancers or cancers of the uterine lining.
Women with polycystic ovary syndrome tend to skip periods, and they, too, are at risk for abnormalities of the uterine lining. Women with PCO also have other metabolic issues that need to be addressed, and most gynecologists can do it quite well.
All women should get in the habit of recording their periods every month. I'm sure there's an app for that now, but a simple pocket calendar will also do the trick.
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