Fair enough. My knee is probably a little jerky because of the long standing viewpoint in our society (and others) and even on this message board that menstruation is gross, disgusting, dirty, tainted…insert negative adjective here. Dead and rejecting and decaying seemed to have negative connotations in line with that point of view, and it’s a point of view I’m not fond of.
I remember subjecting my father and brothers to my menstrual issues and questions when I was 13. When they showed their displeasure, I just said “Better get used to it. Over fifty percent of the population has it. It is a natural process. There’s nothing wrong with it.” My mother just said, “She’s right,” which was actually a rare defense of my attitude.
But still, I don’t know the right words to use. Perhaps because early medical studies treated women’s body functions as abberant instead of the norm it is.
I can stop it. If I find myself in a situation where no protection is available (like at work), I just go to the bathroom a lot to wipe it. It seems that sitting with my legs closed holds it in temporarily. My periods are very irregular so I never know when one is going to happen or how heavy the flow will be. But I’m lucky; my birth control pill makes my periods 1-3 days, tops. And they’re mostly light, with maybe one big “push”.
I only start cramping after the period has started. Putting a tampon in a non lubricated (such as with blood) place is not a comfy feeling. Neither is pulling it out. And I never wear pads; I hate them.
I don’t recall my sex education class going over menstruation in much detail.
Yeah, me neither. One of my sex ed classes actually split us up by gender so that us boys wouldn’t learn anything about menstruation except graphs of hormone levels and uterine thickness.
A male relative, at 15 years old, asked me what a pad was for when we saw a commercial for it on TV. I know he’s been through sex ed, so they’re not teaching the boys anything more nowadays either.
In the 60s we didn’t get your newfangled sex ed. We had “the movie” in 7th grade, one for boys and, I assume, one for girls. Our movie told us about sweating, armpit hair and nervousness when calling a girl for a date. There may have been more but the snickering was loud and it was a long time ago.
It was many years before I figured out what those TV commercials were talking about. Maybe I never really did.
Honestly, there is a lot for a boy to learn, just like girls. Do they teach girls about erections in sex ed?
I usually start wearing panty-liners (thin pads) when I estimate my period will come. Though mine is so irregular, I never know.
You mean, “No. Period.”
And they never taught me this stuff in health class. Only showed us the Georgia O’keefe painting of the uterus and falopian tubes, and ovaries and whatnot knowing full well that 11-year old boys don’t care about that stuff. Never anything useful like that “female trouble” is a real thing and that giving her a hug when she’s bloated is not good.
Actually, I don’t remember them talking about menstration in sex ed. Us girls got to watch the “movie” in 5th grade - way before we had “sex ed.” (We didn’t have sex ed till high school.)
I remember we girls had to watch the movie while the boys go to go outside and play stickball. I thought that was unfair.
I’d like to point out that while women can’t “hold it in” consciously, during times of high stress the body releases hormones that can subconsiously delay or stop the onset of menstruation.
I’m a bit nervous/anxious to begin with, and this happens to me about once a year. Nothing like a late period to add to previous anxiety!
I can feel it and can hold it in usually long enough to go to the bathroom (if I have access to one nearby). I can also, once it is on its way out, attempt to push it out (because I don’t want to be in the restroom for long periods of time).
Another thing is that it is not a continuous stream even when it does start (well, not all the time, and not for every woman). For many it is most like chunks… say a few ounces at a time, and once that descends, nothing else will come out for some time. This time may vary from anywhere of 10 minutes to hours. Hence, some light days women may think they’re almost done, only to find out that they had a small discharge later on (and get something or someone stained).
Also, cramps are not universal.
It can, but curiously enough, only during the *first *half of your cycle - the part *before *ovulation may go a little longer if you’re ill or stressed. Once the egg is out, though, the time is very consistent to menstruation, ill/stress or not. When the ovum pops out of the ovary, the remaining capsule it came from (called the corpus luteum) releases progesterone as it shrivels and atrophies. Once it’s gone, the progesterone level abruptly drops and you get your period. There’s no other source of progesterone significant enough to delay your period unless there’s a zygote in you.
So if you ovulate and 12 days later you get your period on the 26th and your period ends on the first and you’re sick on the fifth and moving on the seventh and have a big exam on the ninth, all that stress can delay ovulation and you may not get your period until the 31st…but it will still be 12 days after you ovulated.
Mary may get her period 14 days after ovulation and Jane may get her period 10 days after ovulation and Sue may get her period 15 days after ovulation - which is why the old “Rhythm Method” doesn’t work for figuring out when you’re fertile - but once you know how many days after ovulation you get yours, it’s remarkably consistent once you’re past your first year of menstruating and until perimenopause.
I was just going to post this, but you explain it so much better. 
I keep pads and tampons in strategic locations at all times (my purse, my office, my home bathroom) for my period. If it’s heavy and I don’t have a pad or tampon on/in, it’ll sometimes just sit in my vagina if I’m sitting down, but as soon as I stand up, whoooosh, it all spills out.
WhyNot? You’ve given better info that I’ve gotten in my life. I’m about to turn about 43 and have had honest sex discussions with my mom.
And I read a lot. You did a great job of condensing.
Thanks! <But I’ll still research :*>
Nearly everything I know is in Toni Weschler’s book, Taking Charge of Your Fertility. I didn’t even get this stuff in Anatomy and Physiology for Medical Majors or in my OB rotation or other classes in nursing school. (Well, actually, much of it *was *covered for my class…by me, in presentations and projects. If I hadn’t elected to study it on my own and present it to the class, it would not have been covered.)
So don’t be too hard on your elementary school…there’s just an across the board dearth of education on menstruation.
Well, I don’t know, I think blood is gross and disgusting, whether it’s coming out of my vagina, or a cut on my hand. I mean, it’s body waste. Plus it hurts like hell, and I get cranky and migraines. It isn’t misogynist to say that getting your period sucks.
Best book ever on the subject. I read it about 12 yrs ago. I wish someone had handed me a copy when I was 12 yo.
There’s an app for that. 
I do use one to track the monthly cycle. But period-tracking methods are not absolutely accurate. Cycles can change from month to month depending on a variety of factors, so it’s more of a helpful estimate as to when you should stash the extra sanitaries in the purse. 
Museum of Menstruation and Women’s Health. Enormous, ever expanding site, now in 18th year.
I would wonder about this, but not that it’s being held in by the cervix, but by the vagina. I know those muscles can clench, but are they strong enough to hold in liquid? Apparently not.