Discussion: Periods

If you cringed or made a face while reading the title then you need to stick around until the end because you need to hear this more than anyone.

Let’s get to it.

Lady time, Aunt Flow, mensies, your special visitor, that “Time of the Month” whatever you call it, today we’re going to talk about it.

Men – yeah I’m coming for you first. If you are a straight man who is sexually active then you have no right to say that you are “grossed out” by periods. I’ll be blunt: if a vagina isn’t “gross” to you when you’re sticking your dick in it, then it’s not any other time either. Seriously, grow up.

This especially applies if you have children. If you’ve got boys, then you need to raise them so they understand periods not be afraid of them, so that they don’t become one of those assholes that makes fun of a girl if she gets her period in class. Trust me, that moment is hard enough as is. And if you have daughters then you need to educate yourself and be able to talk to them about what they’re going through. You may need to run out and grab some Advil, pads/tampons, and a pint (or two) of Ben and Jerry’s. So prepare yourself now.

Now for those of us who actually have periods – talk about it! Tell it all, don’t be afraid. I’ll go first:

I first got my period when I was 9. Yeah fucking nine. Oh believe me, I was pissed. And it just so happened that at the time I was spending Thanksgivings with my Dad and Christmas with Mom. You guessed it, the day before Thanksgiving while I was at my Dad’s I got my period for the first time.

I just remember waking up with this horrible pain. I went to the bathroom and boom…there was blood. Luckily we were actually at my aunt’s house so I snooped through the closet and found some pads. I used common sense to figure out how it should go on and I went back to bed. I don’t really remember actually telling either of my parents that I started my period but they both found out one way or another.

Anyway, the worst part at the time was the cramps. My goodness I felt like I was dying. The second time that it came (back at Mom’s this time) I literally crawled into my Mom’s bed with her and cried. I hate being in pain and I had never experienced anything like this before. Sure I scraped my knees a few times as a kid but those were external wounds. This felt like my own body wanted to take me down.

A lot of times I would try to fight through the pain, but when my Dad saw me curled up on the couch before school he would let me stay home. I would sleep most of the day, not eating much because I couldn’t. Luckily, we’ve had the same doctor in our family for forever so she knows how bad the cramps are. That prescription for 800mg ibuprofen (yes 800) was a lifesaver.

A lot of people say, “oh exercise will help” that actually doesn’t work for everyone. I was an athlete is high school. I played sports 5 days a week for 2 hours. I pushed through the cramps when I wanted to do nothing more than lay down in the fetal position.

Second worst thing was the vomiting. Every month, like clockwork. Not because of anything I ate. My body just decided it wanted to reject food I guess. On top of that, there are some days where all I could eat was Cheerios and maybe some toast. Other days I will eat everything in sight. I have the worst cravings too. Always chocolate without question and there were a couple of months where I NEEDED french fries. Didn’t care where from I just had to have them.

I’ve had other symptoms along the way including back aches and migraines, what has really helped a lot of that is getting on birth control. I mentioned a bit about this is a previous discussion post about reproductive rights.

Of course, birth control pills aren’t for everyone and all of our bodies respond differently but in my case it has helped. I also now always keep Advil in my purse.

Now that I sort of have a handle on it sometimes the flow is light and I barely feel a thing and some days I want to stay in bed and eat nothing but ice cream. If I could I would get a hysterectomy since I don’t want kids anyway, but I’m 25. single and have no children so I couldn’t even get my tubes tied if I wanted.

So that’s my story, what’s yours?

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