To think I ever wanted to start my period?!

[LondonLady1980]

I remember being a teenager when me and all my friends were so desperate to start our periods as it was such a milestone, the sure sign we were growing up and womanhood was beginning….

And now they’re the absolutely bane of my life.

1. The cramps, the headaches, the exhaustion.
2. The clots, the mess, the flooding.
3. Being confined to the house for at least 2 days.
4. Sitting on towels, clothes being ruined.
5. The endless washing.
6. The heating always being on to try and get all my period pants dry as I’m going through 5 pairs a day.
7. Waking up constantly throughout the night due to leaks.
8. The accompanying diarrhoea.
9. The anaemia.
10. Doctors really not caring how much it impacts your life.

The only good thing is that it gives me a valid excuse to cuddle a hot water bottle 24/7.

Mind you, another positive is that my two sons are going to be super sympathetic towards any future girlfriends as they witness every month the crap and misery I endure (and are very sweet about it).

I know the menopause is going to bring with it lots of negative experiences too (us women are so lucky aren’t we?!), but after 26 years of periods I am so done with them!

I know my experience of having periods isn’t the reality for all women, but it’s my reality and I wish they would fuck right off!

I feel better for the rant.

My heart goes out to all the women who have it worse than I do.

Currently sitting on a towel with my hot water bottle and feeling very sorry for myself.

Are you ok with reusable pads? I can recommend some that are amazing for heavy periods

be you period patches help the cramps and also a heated plug in pad (fairly cheap on Amazon)

get some puppy pads to put under you as well, I used to use them in bed or a Kylie sheet (google for prices)

(stage 4 endo and adenomyosis)

On a normal day I can’t step out the shower without wedging a flannel to give me time to walk 3 steps to grab my pad or I get blood on the floor
everyone is different

I didn't suffer as badly as some with my periods, and I pretty much sailed through menopause, but one of my dds has extremely heavy periods and a lot of pain. She has tried going on the pill to see if it helps but she gets awful headaches. Its just shit isn't it?

Yes I know that everyone is different.

I wrote about my own experience. I didn't say that every woman in the world has the same exlerience as me. Youd have to be fairly stupid to think that.

Periods are different for everyone. Everyone has a different natural cycle to start with. Then periods are also affected by age, weight, health, diet etc

I was replying to the post that I quoted, obviously. Not some other post?

End of the day, it doesn’t stop, and anything like a sneeze or cough would easily push the blood out if it wasn’t coming out already. No one should be going in a pool without sanitary products. That’s just grim tbh. Chances are some of it IS coming out, you just won’t always notice because it will wash away from your body in the water.

Unfortunately - that sounds very familiar.

Not just you @fivebyfivefaith 🍹

Yes.

🍫🍻🍕💊 = 🏆

It is.

DH sometimes moans about having to shave his face every day.

Really? 🤯🤦🏻‍♀️

He, thankfully, now understands the hard way why he really shouldn't.

I suppose we're all different. My PMT would kick in like a dark cloud two days before I started. It was a hideous, very, very dark place.
However, I knew my period would start after two days, and the dark cloud would go. Knowing my period would start and my symptoms would go away was the only thing that got me through it. So yes, I looked forward to my period starting.

I agree with a PP, the symptoms are like a spectrum, they can affect us all differently and to different extremes.

It’s a shame you didn’t get on with a Mirena coil, mine took a year to settle down but was so worth it. Bonus was that as my periods had stopped I had no idea what was going on and therefore went through the menopause without realising!

I really wanted mine, I was 16 when it started and I thought it would never happen! I didn't have a clue what it would be like, my mum told be absolutely nothing, aside from showing me where she kept the pads in her bedroom when i was 14 or so. She was clearly embarrassed so I didn't feel i could ask her anything, I have 5 older sisters and I didn't feel i could ask them either. Thank god for Sex Ed in school!

I honestly think that my periods have been one of the worst things in my life.

They are irregular.

I was on holiday last week and my period arrived. I got that horrible sinking feeling of "why do they always come at the worst time".

I was just reading a book abiut a competitive dancer. She said she was stressed when she went on stage. She said the stress was tenfold when she had her period. She was so worried that she would leak on stage in front of everyone.

Imagine what porr gymnasts go through too.

Poor women we go through a lot

these are brilliant if you’re heavy

https://honouryourflow.co.uk/collections/extremely-heavy-flow-pads?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21697701738&gbraid=0AAAAAClpAb8OHoYTXgvNKJ-qa0MzUQi9I&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI09qayYbokAMVspVQBh0OVhhzEAAYASABEgLZy_D_BwE

OP how are your iron levels? For the last couple of years my periods have been pretty bad. I went to the drs and was diagnosed with severe anemia. I took iron tablets for 3 months and now i take them for 14 days after each period and it has made a big difference. I couldn't believe it. I've had less ruined clothes etc.... also a pp referenced getting something to clean up the blood. I use salt and cold water, soak the garment for a few hours and then wash as normal it works a treat. Absolutey so over periods now!

Yes, I suppose I did and my friends did. It was sort of a sign that we were developing normally. I wouldn't have wanted to be later than average and have to worry that there was a problem.

I did have one friend who was totally in denial about puberty. She ended up anorexic later on and I think there was a connection with not wanting to grow up/have womanly curves.

Now, I'm dreading the end of them. Even if they're heavier than they used to be with fibroids and perimenopause, I'd still rather have my hormones.

"Part of me has been so tempted to ask for them to just take the whole lot out,"

In my situation, I'm really trying to avoid a hysterectomy, but in yours I think it would make sense. Not being able to work 3 days of every month is really awful and if there is no obvious cause that they can work on then maybe that is your best option.

I’ve been on iron supplements for 6 years.

My anaemia is down to my awful periods but correcting my iron levels hasn’t made any difference to them 😢

100% true.

It's mad how different women's experiences are though. It's good people talk about periods more now so we can understand a bit more about how much people's experiences vary. I had heavier periods for a few years as a teenager but since then they've been very light - I remember being bemused when people talked about 'period poverty' as a pack of supermarket own tampons would last me months, so periods cost me about 30p a month. Same with a recent thread suggesting all women should get period leave off work if they need it, can't imagine ever doing so.

It explains why so many people - including medical professionals - are so unhelpful, as if their only experiences are of themselves/relatives having 'normal' periods they don't understand how bad some women's can be. Obviously still not an excuse for just believing people - but unless you spell out exactly what 'bad' or heavy' etc means you can understand why they'd underestimate.

I never wanted my periods to start. I dreaded it even though my mother had been very meticulous about explaining everything. I quite simply didn't want them as they sounded like such a massive ball ache.

Of course, they did start, just a week to 10 days after my 11th birthday. So I was a reasonably early starter and I was very pissed off about it.

They went on quite late too as I had just turned 57 when they finally finished. I haven't had one for well over two years now and I certainly don't miss them. Not one little bit!

They were usually on the heavy but manageable side up until the last 10 years of them when I became perimenopausal. Then they became absolutely huge floods which nothing at all could deal with except for tena adult nappies. It was just like a very fast flowing tap being fully turned on., they were awful. They also became closer together, sometimes being only a couple of weeks apart, so I got hardly any break from them.

The mirena coil didn't work for me and I bled continuously (and heavily) for over a year on it before absolutely insisting that it was removed.

You have my sympathy, OP. Periods are a total PITA.

I've actually always envied dogs here. Unless spayed, the bitch only has a season on average every six months. I always thought I would have much preferred that system for me. Alas, it isn't how human women are designed.

Isn't it possible to take the pill without breaks? And the coil also stops it for some women? I remember reading somewhere that many female athletes manage to not have periods at all.

So it was puberty in general you didn't want? And not just periods?
Some children are afraid of growing up...

I am over 35. The pill is for under 35's.

The doctor told me not to take the pill at my age as there are too many risks.

I take the mini pill back to back. Which is the pill that is suitable for my age. I still get a heavy period every month.

My friend was on the coil and she got periods all the time

I thought the pill referred to any contraceptive pill. It's a pity nothing exists that can reliably stop them.

Yes surely there should be a chemical/hormone that totally stops the egg being released.

It is hard being a woman. Sometimes I think the female body is so ridiculous.

I have never had children and I never want children.

I have absolutely massive breasts. Each one is the size of my head and is very heavy.

They are no use to me whatsoever.

Then I also release an egg and have a painful and heavy period every month. Again, of no use whatsoever. It hinders my life.

Right we are made to keep the species going. But so are men. And they don't suffer all this!

After another night of being constantly woken due to my pyjamas being soaked in blood I’m going to go to the GP (for the 3rd time) and tell them that I can’t carry on like this. I’m just so fed up with it 😢

Being a woman is so shit at times.