Am I the only woman who isn't completely on top of her period?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m not *not *on top of it; I don’t just walk around then one day discover, “Oh dear, it would appear I am bleeding from my nether regions,” but I’m not on top of it. There are women who can tell you the exact moment, down to the minute, when their period will start. I have some kind of loosey goosey system that works for me, but makes me feel like kind of an ass when the doctor asks me when my last period was, and I say, “Uhh… a week ago? Sure, let’s go with that.”

Whenever lady time begins, I make a little mark with a red pen (heh) on the date on my calendar. Then, usually about 25 days later, my boobs start hurting like a MFer, which cues me that the next round is soon approaching. I then consult my calendar, check the date of my last period, and figure out the day when it’s going to start again. My periods are very regular, so this system is good enough.

Sunday, as I was changing my shirt before heading off to the gym, the ladies gave me a bit more pain than is usually involved with changing a shirt, and I said to myself, “Okay then, so today is not a treadmill day.” So yeah, there were are, I pretty much use extreme boob pain to give me a heads up that it’s coming, then look at my calendar to get an exact date.

I’m the only one who isn’t on top of this to the very second, right?

Oh, one more thing. I started this because the other day I mentioned the gym, changing of tee shirt, no treadmills today story to my friend, and she looked at me like I was crazy. “What the… You don’t have the exact dates and times of your cycles permanently etched into your brain?”

2

Aaah the pill. what a glorious invention!

I used to do it your way - and when I briefly went off the pill (in a fit of insanity, apparently) I did it your way.

I like the pill’s way much better! :wink:

ETA: out of fairness for the poll, I had to select “No”, since my only way of staying on top of it is the pill.

3

I used to be like that, then I started trying to get pregnant. I think that if there isn’t a *reason *you need to be on top of it, you likely won’t be (unless you’re organized like that).

4

Even with using the pill, I can guarantee that I will have a period. At some point. Generally during the pill-free week.

Seriously, if I start taking the sugar pills Sunday, things can start anytime between Monday afternoon and the next Sunday. Generally the girls hurt and gain a size in the days before the period actually starts but that only guarantees that I will have a period within the next 1-3 days.

ETA: been like this for the 6 years I’ve taken various forms of birth control, none helped with the consistency (patch, ring, pill).

5

It drives my mother bonkers, but I can’t be bothered to keep track on a calendar. I’ve got a good sense of when my next is due, but too often figure out “oh, that’s why I felt like crap” after the bleeding starts.

6

Exactly. Until we started trying to knock me up, I had no idea. And I was using a NuvaRing, so I *had *to keep track, so I could remember when to take it out and when to put in a new one. But unless I had my calendar handy, I couldn’t tell you whether it ended a week ago or three.

7

I only have about four periods a year and I never know when they’re coming. Luckily I can kind of feel it happening a little before it does so I can prepare.

8

I would say “no” because I don’t have any indication of the dates other than “oh, the white pills are coming up next week on the pill pack. Gotta remember to pick up a refill soon,” and then I think “am I going to be doing anything this weekend that will be made more of a pain in the ass because I have my period?”

So, it’s not like I have dates all lined up and marked on a calendar.

However, I did vote “yes” because with the pill, it’s just impossible not to know when it’s coming up.

If it weren’t for the pill, I’d be a “no”…no baby planning here :slight_smile:

9

I don’t keep track at all. It’s roughly once a month but the way I “know” is that I get cramps a day or a few hours before it happens so I know to put on a pad and have tampons at the ready. But no calendar marking for me.

10

That’s exactly what I do but I thought that meant I was on top of my period.

11

I never keep track of it on a calendar! Goodness. I just have it the same way, every month. I mean, it’s down to a science. I have said before I could track it with a clock; doesn’t mean I do.

However, I am hyper-aware of when things are not according to plan, as I said in the other thread. It’s because everything goes so clockwork that I can afford to ignore it. If it was all over the map you can bet I’d be tracking it.

If my bio mother did one thing for me it’s that I have this great system. Everyone else in our family is all over the map and has all kinds of problems. She is the only one that has gotten to her age without having to have major portions of her plumbing removed for one problem or another, and since my periods are just like hers, I hope I will follow the same path.

12

I’m so not on top of it I scheduled a week’s vacation in Jamaica for the exact week when I will have my period. And I picked that week for no particular reason (other than being in before spring break tends to start). When I realized what I’d done I was more than a little annoyed with myself, but I’ve got only me to blame.

13

I don’t keep track. I start having heads up two or three weeks ahead of time (I’m not sure, because, y’know, I don’t keep track. :stuck_out_tongue: )

14

Without birth control, my cycle is extremely irregular so when I wasn’t on BC, I had no idea. Now if I look at my Nuvaring calendar, I can tell when it’s going to be, but without looking, I don’t know.

15

I never did until I startedy trying to get pregnant. I’m regular-ish, but not completey regular, so it was useful to know when I might expect it, so I knew when I could test.

I’ll probably keep tracking after I give birth, though, I got used to knowing what to expect.

16

I know! So why does my doctor make me feel like a total asshole when I don’t know when my periods are? “I dunno, I think my last one was two weeks ago? Maybe it was more than that. I don’t really remember” never seems like an acceptable answer. And my friend thought I was crazy because I couldn’t proudly pronounce on the spot “My next period will begin March 1, 2010, 07:56:28 AM Central.” But then again, this friend is extremely anal, so I asked a different, normal friend and she told me she knows the date and approximate time of day when lady time is coming next.

Made me feel like I was apparently the only woman anywhere who just kind of has a general idea of when the next time is, instead of having it down to the minute.

17

I like my pants, don’t you like yours? Having a clue when it’ll come saves on laundry bills.

I keep track on a calendar, but only because mine isn’t regular any more. Until I was 28 or so, it would start within 2-3 days of the same date every month, though once a year or so it would be a few days early and reset when it’d fall during the month. For the last three or four years, though, it’ll show up whenever the hell it pleases, now within 8 days of when it was the month before. It’s almost always earlier than the month before by several days, so there have been a couple of years with 13 periods instead of 12. Stupid uterus.

18

My doctor does that, too! It’s so irritating. Even my mom makes me feel like a jackass for not knowing the exact date. She told me I needed to mark it down on a calendar, but I like to use just one calendar for everything. I’ll be damned if I’m going to write down, “Started my period,” on a calendar someone at work might see. Yeah, I could use some code, but I’d quickly forget what it was.

I thought my doctor was going to explode when I told him I wasn’t sure when my last period was when I got pregnant. At least now that I’m nursing I’m not ovulating (yet). Maybe one of the reasons some women nurse so long is so they’re not asked that question.

19

I get symptoms a day or two ahead of time that lets me know it’s on its way, so I’ve just never seen the point of keeping track (until the Jamaica debacle, anyway).

Like the OP, I never answer in anything other than a rough ballpark at the doctor’s office. Sometimes I’ll ask for a calendar to help jog my memory.

20

My doctor does that too! I don’t need to know, so I don’t keep track of it.

I have the advantage again…my flow comes in really really light the first day, and I always have warning. Like I said the cramps start at the same time, so I know exactly when it’s time to get up and go to the bathroom.