and some more moaning (this time vaguely justified)!

[baratron]

Today I am completely blergh. I have two sources of stress in my life and a really heavy, bloody period that's soaking through sanitary pads at a rate of knots and staining my underwear. Lovely. Also have profoundly achy legs and sore wrists/thumbs - this is normal for my first day of period, but still unpleasant. Waah.

Comments

[barakta]

Oh I'm totally for charting cycles. I think it is something which should be more encouraged. However my friend would be like those people you mention who cannot handle the fact that some people have really really stressful and horrible effects from their periods.

My older sister who has severe anxiety and other mental health problems has been on depo provera for years. Unfortunately this stops her periods and sends her extra loopy because she found periods reassuring, it gave her a sense of cycle. Unfortunately she's not able to use any other contraceptive method because she knows she's too unreliable. She just knows to have a kid in her current state would be extremely non ideal so she does the depo thing even with the awful effects :(

I'm lucky that my partner usually guesses when I'm being horrible cos of PMS and makes an effort to give me space and not wind me up. My ex used to play on my anxiety and really wind me up when I had PMS - when we split up he admitted to doing this because he thought it was funny... Bastard.

I don't think young people are educated about the actual effects of periods other than a 'bit of pain'. They aren't taught that PMS isn't just someone being cranky, but can be very very frightning and confusing to experience, iinducing people to do things that they otherwise wouldn't do - as you point out. My mum used to have terrible depression which was eventually linked to her hormone cycle, and eventually linked to her breast cancer.

Hell doctors are pretty bad, I found it almost impossible to get painkillers as a teenager and was told that I was making it up. Eventually I went on the pill for 5 months which fucked my head, but sorted my periods out a fair bit and they've never got as bad since. I'm lucky I have stayed with the university GP where the nurses are amazing, and always offer really helpful advice about period issues as well as contraception/family planning.