In the last years, we’ve welcomed guest bloggers from Australia, New-Zealand, USA, Hawaii, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, Madagascar, Uganda, Kenya, India, Bonaire, Argentina, Bangladesh, Portugal, Egypt, Nepal, Rwanda, Zambia and the Netherlands. We proudly present you some shortlists. This time: our best read submissions in the category Period Problems.
Period changes and chemotherapy – by Cruz Santana (United States)
‘My period has changed quite a bit in the last 18 years I’ve had it. Giving birth to seven children caused it to eventually level out. Two years ago, I was diagnosed with stage four lymphoma. My oncologist told me not to expect any future visits from Aunt Flo once I completed his prescribed six-session chemo routine. It didn’t stop and continued on my regular schedule for the next three months. That is until I became pregnant with an unplanned baby. I took a break from chemo to tend to my pregnancy. Once I delivered, my period returned to normal within a few weeks. Five months after delivering my son, my seventh child, I became ill. While in the hospital, my oncologist decided to resume treatment. Again, he issued the same warning. This time, with a smile and smirk, he said I’d be free of my menses soon.’ Read more
Why did I ever think this was normal? PMDD – by Clare Knox (United Kingdom)
‘Rewind two years and you might have found me in a heap on my bedroom floor, crying, engulfed by a black cloud of depression and sadness. Or losing my temper in a fit of uncontrollable rage, lashing out at the people I love. Or sleeping in the middle of the day, completely overcome by fatigue. Maybe you’d have seen me crying behind the steering wheel on my drive to work, or parked up at the side of the road trying to pull myself together. Yes, there would have been a 25% chance of seeing me in one of these states. But, to me this was ‘normal’. Because it happened every month. I’d become used to it. I’d learned to prepare myself for the onslaught of symptoms which swamped me in the ten days leading up to my period. I lived every month as half a month, riding the extreme ebb and flow of my menstrual cycle.’ Read more.
I was 14 when I reached menopause – by Hayley Cockman (United Kingdom)
‘Like any normal teenager, I started menstruating at the age of 12. Then after a year, my periods just stopped. I was struggling to concentrate at school and the nights were hell: waking up dripping with sweat and just feeling weird. That’s literally how I described it to my mum one day: ‘I don’t feel like me, I feel weird’. So off we went to the doctor. After explaining what was going on, I was referred for a blood test and an ultrasound. Two weeks later, a consultant gynaecologist confirmed I had reached menopause and that I needed to start taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) tablets. I will never forget that day, sitting on the bed in a hospital room waiting for the consultant to come and then hearing those words. My mum bawling her eyes out and me comforting her. Asking her to not cry as it’s OK. Thing is, it wasn’t OK at all, but back then I had no clue what the consultant was even talking about.’ Read more.
PMDD and me – by Cindy Lopez Smith (Hawaii)
‘When I first started my period at age 13, I did not have anyone that I could talk to about periods. My mother was from the Philippines and we never talked about it because Menstruation talk was a taboo in our native culture. I remember learning about periods from friends, magazines, and the back of the tampon box! No one spoke to me about the emotional, physical and mental health shifts that happen during our cycle. I’d always known that something was wrong. I was experiencing bouts of intense mood swings, rage, suicidal ideation, anxiety, hopelessness, depression, and sensitivity to sounds and light but I did not know what was causing it and I assumed it was a normal thing that teens went through because friends and magazines said that feeling down was part of PMS and no one ever talked about it. I did not realize that not everyone else felt the severe symptoms I did, so I did my best to hide them.’ Read more.
Let’ talk about sex – by Laura Millions Cone (Canada)
‘Sex. Whether you’re married, dating, single, or somewhere in between, it’s constantly in our lives. It blares out from advertisements, movies and music. Pornography, sex toy parties and non-creepy sex stores show how open we are about sex. It’s something that friends can talk about with friends, and parents with children. But what happens if you CAN’T have sex, for some reason? For most people, sex is a deep and primal necessary thing. Something that doesn’t just offer pleasure, but also intimacy and connection. Not too long ago, a friend was jokingly-serious about not being able to have sex with his wife for two weeks. That night, my husband Brad and I laughingly spoke about how ‘regular’ people really have no idea what sex is like for a person with chronic pelvic pain.’ Read more.
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Period! is an independent, online magazine about all aspects of menstruation. Period! is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. If you’re suffering from medical complaints, always visit your doctor or GP. Editorial articles can contain affiliate links. Sponsored collaborations can be found in the category Spotlight. Do you have any questions? Check our contact page
