I had irregular cycles, from age 11 to age 34. I still managed to have three kids, anyway, but I think I was lucky there. Doctors told me that I was mistaken about my cycles all that time. I didn't mind, 3-5 cycles a year was pretty good for a person who really enjoys the outdoors. Doctors (I kept switching, there were lots of them) would tell me that I was pregnant, even when I couldn't have been. They would not concede that they could be wrong and that I could be right. It's a family joke now, all about my 15 kids, but I only claim the best three.

I finally switched to a woman GYN, younger than me with small kids of her own. At long last, somebody gets it. I just hope that my later life health wasn't completely messed up by the problems I had in my younger days.

 Its funny how many people believe teenage girls need a few years to regulate their periods. I have a morbidly obese friend who has never had a regular peiod and shes 42 years old! She was on the pill, then off the pill [high blood pressure]. She never had kids. She has P.C.O.S. and was on Meformin [diabetes drug] to regulate her period. I am going to email this article to her. THANKS!

I also wish they would take young girls more serious when they have irregular periods. More research should be done around this and more attention to it is needed. I have always been thin and I had PCOS and extremely heavy periods that lasted 12 days or more each month and were EXTREMELY painful. Of course, no one took me serious. I didn't find out until and adult and after my first child that I was anemic as a result, had PCOS and endometriosis. Those periods also extremely abnormal and stayed that way until my own hysterectomy at 35 yrs old. I did try several different options first that failed. Sometimes I would have two periods in one month. Studies are interesting but I don't put any faith into them. Everyone is unique and not everyone fits. I never did and actually had some Dr.'s dismiss things because I didn't fit a certain profile or criteria. I can't tell you many young girls say they "need" a hysterectomy because of endometriosos and can't have kids anyway. Who would possibly say that? I have three kids and I had all sorts of issues. People need to stop listening to what everyone else says. LISTEN to your Dr. and your OWN body. By the way, I also had gestational diabetes with my 1st pregnancy. I am and have always been thin and yet, I have had borderline sugar levels for years. Plus, I am very active (I had hyperthyroidism). So my advice to the girls and ladies out there is to take yourself serious and do NOT say yes to hysterectomy but instead insist on tests and answers. My personal belief is that an irregular period for a female is the first indication that something isn't right in the body. Chemicals are out of whack and disease will be next if not fixed. If all the ladies that easily say yes to hysterectomy would try to fix the actual issue, I think we'd be a lot further by now. Women should at least not give up on their body before they make such a drastic decision to remove the uterus because of irregular cycles or just endometriosis. I have met many women that have had a hysterectomy for much smaller issues in comparison to my own. That is very sad, unnecessary and it gives the medical field a reason not keep digging for alternative solutions because they have an easy fix. Other serious reasons do not apply to my reference here. This study is at least a good start. I hope they continue to research the mentrual cycles in teens and come up with some answers.