Delayed or Irregular Periods in College Students: Causes & Solutions

Question
My 20 year old daughter, a college student with a high expectation/high stress life 13 hours away from home, has only had one period since a year ago Christmas.  Before that they were irregular and very painful.  We began vitamin and other mineral therapy which seemed to help and she no longer needed the pain killers.  Because her periods were irregular I recommended that she take her temperature so she would know when she ovulated and thus be able to predict when her period would start.  Well, about that time they stopped.  It appears she does not ovulate at this time.  I do not want her to go on the pill, no way, no how.  Do you have any other recommendations or insight?  

And congratulations on the milestone with AllExperts.  I'm an expert myself, in Natural Family Planning.  I have researched it from this side of the fence but nothing else comes to mind to help her.  She and I are not terribly worried since she's not planning to get married and have children anytime soon, but if there is a hormonal deficit that may need to be rectified sooner rather than later, I guess we should know.


Answer
It is not abnormal for women under the age of 21 to have anovulatory cycles and this, of course, may be what is going on with your daughter. It would, of course, be nice to know if she is ovulating or not. In addition to basal body temperature charts, she can also get an ovulation predictor kit or an ovulation monitor to see if she has an LH surge and ovulates or not. If she is not ovulating, she can wait to see if her periods return on their own, or she can use medication to regulate her cycles. I understand that you do not want her to start the pill, but she may need to use it for a short while to regulate her cycles and to trigger ovulation. (She may need Clomid some time in the future). However, is there, perhaps, a reason for the irregular periods? Is she overweight or underweight? Could she have Polycystic Ovarian syndrome? Has she been evaluated by a gynecologist? All of this should be evaluated before starting any therapy.