When I was in 5th or 6th grade and got my period I was devastated. Not that my childhood was ruined or anything, but I can still remember the anxiety it caused.
What if anyone finds out?!
Until I was about 17 and found out about tampons, I used to ware night-pads to school. Just so no-one would find out that I had a pad with me to the bathroom.
Yep, I pretty much had a diaper on all day. Let’s say that my vagina wasn’t over the world happy during this period of my life.
That reflex, to hide that I’m on my period, still kicks in. I’m pretty comfortable to talk about menstruation, period pains and PMDS. But when it comes to say the sentence “I’m on my period” it sometimes feels like crossing a field of snakes.
We have to get rid of all of these ridiculous taboos. That is why I chose to wright this text.
The menstrual cup – women’s gift to women
When I used pads I got itchy and later when I used tampons I also got itchy and my vagina felt as dry as a dessert. It’s not supposed to be like that.
A couple of years ago I finally tried the menstrual cup. What a halleluja moment. Together with my pads and tampons all of my problems flew out the window. It doesn’t leak, no more itchiness or dessert, no worry about changing over the day. If you have a vagina and haven’t tried out the menstrual cup yet, please do so. Better for your vagina, better for you and better for our environment.
Off course all of our bodies are different and different things works better for different vaginas. I’ve even heard of women that has no protection at all. They can control their blood flow so it only comes when they are on the toilet. How cool?! Talk about being in control of their vagina!
Life’s sure not fair
All bodies are different and we all have different reactions to our cycle. It surely shows how unfair life can be. My cycle is pretty long and irregular. However my PMDS pretty much always surface around day 12. It will then stay with me until I get my period and sometimes one or to extra days.
My PMDS gives me anxiety and I feel like the most horrible person in the world. Today I can control it better by Premalex, exercise, healthy food and resting.
When my period comes the next thing happens. I get bad cramps. And my period stays with me up until 7 days. The days between my period and my PMDS are amazing though. Then I’m unstoppable.
There are people that has no problem at all with the hormones, as well as those that has way bigger problems than me. There are people passing out because of their pains, and those that hardly feels them at all. Some has low blood flow for a day or two, and some feels like the Niagara falls for a week.
Heat and painkillers
I take painkillers to help with my pain and also get helped by heat. Today I use my wheat heating pads. But I have to keep heating them up in the microwave. And who has the energy to do that when you would prefer to stay under a blanket eating chocolate? It works ok, since I can work from home if I chose to. But far from everyone has that option.
The idea is that Heather and Scarlet will help me out with this problem as well, and perhaps we will even make some kind of dedicated period-pain-heating-thing in the future. I sure hope so!
I wrote some about Heather earlier and Scarlet will get an introduction soon. To not miss out on a great early-bird offer and pre-launch, please sign our early-bird-lists.
