# Am I the only woman who isn't completely on top of her period? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 3, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571 "2010-02-03T19:36:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/41 "2010-02-03T22:28:19Z")
Before I got my IUD (and stopped having periods - love it) and before I was on the pill, my periods were wildly irregular. I’d have a couple of months where they’d be normal, then nothing for six months, then one, then nothing for three months, then two regular ones again, and on and on. So no, I never kept track, because it would have done me little good. The first day or so were always rather light too, so there were only a few times that I got surprised. ---
**Author:** ![Chopper9760](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/42 "2010-02-03T22:31:42Z")
I don’t keep track on a calendar but I can usually guess in which 1/3 of the month it will appear. I always catch it on a wipe before there’s a mess in my underwear, it’s been like that for so many years that I don’t worry about it at all. I kept track of my period on a calendar when I was a kid at my Mother’s behest. I was a moron about the whole thing though because I never looked at the calendar except to mark the day it happened - apparently the idea of preventing an accident never really sunk in. Yeah, doctors don’t appreciate the, “Oh, while back.” answer. ---
**Author:** ![Nightingale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@Nightingale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightingale)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/43 "2010-02-03T22:36:46Z")
Back when I was having them (not an issue since I had a Novasure ablation) my periods came anywhere from 24-27 days apart. Even if I marked the day I started on my calendar, I still ended up doing the “my boobs hurt, I’ve got cramps, and I want to eat everything in sight” method of figuring out it was time to start. ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/44 "2010-02-03T22:37:25Z")
I am tickled absolutely pink that the Giraffe Boards Google ad reads “For all day freshness ‘down there’” for me right now. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/45 "2010-02-03T22:52:00Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > ETA: I have NEVER, in my 16 years of having a period, gotten blood on my underwear or pants. Oh wow! And I thought my periods were easy! I probably should keep track, because I think I’m slightly irregular - my sister was on the pill and I was always either ahead or behind her. I think the worse is when you’re on vacation. I’ve had my period at Faire when all there is is port-a-potties, and at Camp, which wasn’t _too_ bad, but the restrooms I ended up using the most were cramped and had curtains instead of doors. Bleh. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/46 "2010-02-03T22:55:08Z")
No I don’t keep track, at least not until I have the OBGYN appt coming up My body sends out the message in the days ahead, but sometimes I can’t tell if it was the jalapenos I ate that is causing stomach cramps or if its my uterus causing cramps. I am also so lucky to be on the 21ish day cycle too ( :rolleyes:) ---
**Author:** ![Gestalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/47 "2010-02-03T23:02:30Z")
I voted No, cause I’m very much not aware of mine . . . but I’d also like to add that being a girl sucks. Reading this thread reminded me of the extent. I can’t wait till they develop artificial wombs and we call all just get radical hysterectomies. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/48 "2010-02-04T00:01:15Z")
> [@Gestalt](#): > > Reading this thread reminded me of the extent. I can’t wait till they develop artificial wombs and we call all just get radical hysterectomies. It ain’t easy, but it’s better than the alternative. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/49 "2010-02-04T00:14:26Z")
I’m on the pill and it’s like clockwork (ah, Wednesday. . . it’s almost 7 AM, butter put something in) and I have a repeating vague appointment set every 28 days in iCal in case I have to work out the date at the doc’s and can’t look at the remaining pills in the package. Had a terrible random messy time of it as a teenager and greatly prefer having precise knowledge. The only trouble is if I move time zones by 12 or so hours for more than a month, then have to figure out what direction everything is going to jump in. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/50 "2010-02-04T00:18:35Z")
I don’t pay any attention at all, and haven’t the foggiest notion when my last one was. I’ve never, ever kept track of it on a calendar either. Although I probably ruined some pants as a teenager, it’s been decades since that’s happened. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/51 "2010-02-04T00:32:07Z")
I kept track out of curiosity a few years ago. It’s pretty much every 24 days for 2-3 days. It’s just sort of a non-event. I usually can feel a day or so before that it’s coming, and I keep a couple tampons in my desk and car, so it’s no biggie. ETA: I can’t imagine you women who spend a quarter of your time having a period. That would really suck. When mine chooses to go into day three I’m irritated. StG ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/52 "2010-02-04T01:10:55Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > 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). This would be my post. Since my partner isn’t male, I have no need to really keep track beyond a vague idea of “Oh, sometime next week” so I can be sure I have proper supplies with me and don’t get caught in a storm without and umbrella, so to speak. I have a clockwork system too, that can be predicted even down to within a few hours (between 10am and 1pm, if you’re wondering), but I don’t generally bother keeping track. I DO keep track if I’m travelling or if I plan on going on a backcountry hiking excursion, only because I need to take care of logistics. Otherwise, I have no real need to know exact times. I think your poll needs an extra option for “reasonably good idea, but no specifics” for those of us who don’t write it out on a calendar but are never surprised either. RE: Doctor questions - I tend to confuse them. They ask if I’m on the pill, the answer is “no” so then they go through the pregnancy screening questions and then get really confused when I say “no really, it’s not possible for me to be pregnant, I haven’t slept with a man since the 1990s.” ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/53 "2010-02-04T01:15:19Z")
Ya know, I often hear stories (mainly on TV) of women who aren’t trying to get pregnant freaking out about possibly being knocked up because their period is late. That could never happen in my life since I rely entirely on boob pain as a period warning. If that were me, something like two months would pass before I finally said to myself, “Hey, uhh, self? Aren’t you supposed to have a period or something?” ---
**Author:** ![MaddyStrut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@MaddyStrut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaddyStrut)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/54 "2010-02-04T01:22:07Z")
Throughout my 20’s and 30’s, I didn’t really have to. I was regular as clockwork. In fact, the day I was due I could tell about an hour before that I was going to get it (seriously, I always got a particular cramp that let me know). Now that I’m in my 40’s? Forget about it. My uterus must be having a going out of business sale or something. I could track it, but it’s too depressing. Sometimes I skip one. Sometimes I get two in one month. And I spot (never used to). And I can never tell whether it will be heavy or light or what. I could go on the pill to regulate it, but it’s not advisable for me (for various, boring reasons). So I just never wear light colored pants. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/55 "2010-02-04T01:49:29Z")
Before I got the inner bits removed with extreme prejudice, I had PCOS, endometriosis and horrid horrid issues with my hoohaa emulating the Marquis de Sade. I was _never_ on a schedule, could never depend on the flow lasting a specific time, and in general ranging from a few drops to Niagara Falls. If I could have had a hysterectomy at birth, I would have loved it. Science needs to discover a way to turn the period off after having it ONE time at menarch, and not turn it back on again until one wishes to reproduce. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/56 "2010-02-04T01:53:32Z")
I keep track, but if you took away my calendar I wouldn’t be able to tell you if I was expecting it in two days or three weeks. I get bad PMS, so I’d have some vague idea beforehand, but I wouldn’t be able to plan a beach vacation or thin white dress fashion show. ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/57 "2010-02-04T02:05:34Z")
I’m completely clueless. More so now that I use the Diva Cup. My periods were non-events other than the irritation of tampons. When we were trying to get pregnant I was following the 28 day cycle thingy, one month after realizing I have a 26 day cycle, I was pregnant. One question I’ve never understood. When women say they start on the 15th of the month, wouldn’t that make them very, very irregular, what with each month having a different number of days? I figure those folk must be the most anal-retentive people on the planet, so much so that they can force their bodies to comply. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/58 "2010-02-04T02:08:54Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Science needs to discover a way to turn the period off after having it ONE time at menarch, and not turn it back on again until one wishes to reproduce. I’m slightly embarrassed to admit this, but I always secretly envied the women of _Star Trek: The Next Generation_ because one day I said to myself “I bet they don’t have periods at all unless they’re trying to conceive.” I don’t think this was ever addressed on the show but I just KNOW it’s true. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/59 "2010-02-04T02:32:46Z")
I haven’t marked it on a calendar for, oh, _thirty years_ now. I basically did that under my mother’s instruction/insistence. I kept it up just long enough to determine my normal cycle ran 32 days (not 28) and was regular as moon rise and then just didn’t bother any more. (This annoyed mom, who always surrounded herself with clocks and calendars, like time would fracture if she didn’t keep a constant eye on it. Meanwhile… I’m largely unaware of time passing in many ways.) My body signals the impending event about 24-48 hours in advance. These are not agonizing symptoms, just distinctive and firm enough that I know what’s up. I haven’t ruined clothes for, oh, probably _more_ than thirty years at this point. Doctors do occasionally get annoyed I can’t remember _exact_ dates and times, and recollections usually go “let’s see… I picked up more pads last time I went shopping 'cause it had just started the day before and that shopping day was… last Wednesday. So it started last Tuesday.” I’m sure if pregnancy was a possibility I might track this more diligently, but my husband is sterile and I am faithful so that’s not a concern for me. I just don’t see a need to obsess about it, and for me, tracking something on a calendar month after month would be obsessive. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571/60 "2010-02-04T02:48:10Z")
I’m not regular at all. Even on the pill I’m more regular than when I am not, but I couldn’t tell you what day it starts. I know it will occur during the week of white pills but will it start two days before the white pills start? The second day after (usually)? Four days later? No two are ever quite the same. Usually when the doctor asks me I can give him a good enough answer (last week, starting in a couple days) but I still goof. Made an appointment for a checkup and had to change it because it was expected and I didn’t realize when booking… and then it didn’t start until mid-week. It was a relief the year I didn’t have one (no, I wasn’t pregnant, breastfeeding or on anything to stop it… just didn’t occur for a whole year until it did and my doc wasn’t too worried and since it was when I was steadfastly single it didn’t worry me too much). People who can tell to the exact time it will start kinda freak me out actually, but I’ve never met one in person (that I know of). Can they really though? Or is it just they have a general idea of the time (sometime in the evening vs 5pm on the dot). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-woman-who-isnt-completely-on-top-of-her-period/527571.md?page=4)