Hey there female dopers. As a female who got her period at 12 . I’m worried about my younger sister she is 15 almost 16 and has yet to get it. To make matters worse she outright refuses to go to a doctor. It’s plainly obvious that the rest of her went through puberty , I mean she wears a bigger bra than me for gods sake .
When did you get yours , do you have any advice? Do you have a daughter or sister with a similar problem?
The worst case scenario that creeps into my head is :: shes not getting it because she’s pregnant:: but thats impossible. I really dont want to seem like i’m prying into her business but i have a right to be worried about my little sister , Dont I? :o :o
Trust me she hasnt. I’ve asked my mom. because, well I dont live there any more and my mom would have to know because my om would be the one buying tampons and such
If it really bothers you, really work on that trip to the gynecologist. It seems like it would be really awkward and embarassing, but it’s really not that bad. They look at 'em all day.
I dont really mind the doctors . I would be happy to take her but she is very VERY stubborn. and she HATES anything remotely medical. we cant even get her to take aspirin
Have you thought about looking it up online or asking your doctor? I’m sure it can be quite normal for a young woman’s period to start later on like that.
Me, I’m one the lucky ones. (Sarcasm there.) I was 10 years old. Still a child, completely, and I got my period. I cried and cried and cried. heh
I got mine about 12. However, your sister may be one of the later ones…it’s supposedly perfectly normal to get it at 15. If she doesn’t get it in the next year, however, I would take her to see a doctor.
My Mom sent sent me alone to visit my Aunt in Florida for 2 weeks when I was 14 years old. I started my first period in the airplane bathroom somewhere over South Carolina.
It wouldn’t have been that bad had my Aunt not been of the “old school” in that she made me wear one of those Goddess awful belt contraptions, would not let me bathe, swim, etc. due to my “fragile” condition. I was on vacation for 2 weeks and my first period lasted for 10 of those days.
All in all, it wasn’t really a big deal. There was no pain, and I knew what was happening as soon as it started.
I would ask about her weight, but the fact that she’s got bigger boobs than you do (unless you’re very very very skinny yourself) makes me think she’s not got any sort of eating disorder that would cause … amenorrhea, is it?
It’s perfectly normal for some women to start menstruating later. Just because someone has all the secondary sexual characteristics doesn’t necessarily mean they’re sexually mature. If she hasn’t started in another year or two, that’s when I’d start to worry. According to my gynecologist, any age between ten and eighteen is normal, but before or after that may be cause for concern. I got my period just a few months before I turned 16, while my mother began at age 10. So, YMMV.
iampunha brings up a good point- could your sister have an eating disorder? This sometimes causes amenorrhea, or abnormal cessation of menstruation. Also, if she is very athletic and physically fit, and has very little body fat, she may be delayed. It’s common in women athletes to have very light periods, or sometimes none at all. I asked my gyn about this, too, and she claims that a woman must have a certain percentage of body fat (not sure of the %) in order to menstruate, since fertility and the conception/gestation of a child is taxing to the body, and it must have enough fat stored or it will cease to ovulate. Again, YMMV. This is why severely anorexic women cease to menstruate, and also why female athletes who are made of muscle sometimes do as well.
I was 10, but I know someone who didn’t have her first period until she was 18. Her mum took her to the gyno;she examined her and there was nothing wrong. She was just a late bloomer, all the luckier for her.
Don’t worry about your sister, she’ll be fine. If you’re really worried, suggest that she see a doctor or gyno.
Pundit, I wasnt really trying to be modest or anything. Its just that in my expirience men dont even like hearing the word period. I figured i might as well spare them from having to read the thread name. And about the eating disorder thing. i dont think so she is very heathy but not very fat or muscular . She has a very female hippy figure . also i’ve seen her eat and it all stays down. Not to mention the fact that like every other young person she isnt much for exercise. When younger i envied the fact that she had a lightning quick metabolism
I got mine hen i was 11. my sister marlecianna got hers at 10, my other sister britaniendagot hers at 16 1/2 so i dont think that there is much to worry about.
bruna
My suggestion: leave her alone.
Really.
I started on the later side, and felt like enough of a freak all on my own without having my sister butt in on the whole process. And it isn’t really any of your business, and you are invading her privacy, and to me, you don’t come across as “worried,” but nosy and prying.
judging by the amount of people that say that she still has time, I’m starting to not be as worried as i was in the first place. since i started kinda young i guess i was just expecting her to do the same. You know what i mean?
While the age of first menstruation does vary widely, encouraging your sister to see a doctor for a check up (at the very least) would still be reasonable and useful. By age 16, absence of menstruation is characterized as “primary amenorrhea” and because there are a number of causes, many of which warrant treatment, a consultation with a doctor is definitely in order. Encouraging your sister to have a check-up (beginning with the family practitioner, even, she doesn’t have to go right to a GYN for a pelvic and a smear and a plethora of embarassing questions) is a good idea in general, (everyone needs regular checkups) but especially since she has this issue.
Amarinth, I get where you’re coming from, but health is health, and this is Lab’s sister, who she for and is worried about. Because this has to do with the young woman’s menstrual cycle doesn’t mean that it ought to be a hands-off issue for the people who care for her. It may be embarrassing, but I’d hope that when someone’s good health is at the heart of an inquiry, that antidiluvean attitude that anything happening in our “female spaces” shouldn’t be discussed could be dropped like the hoary, useless nonsense that it is.
If it was her daughter or legal dependent, I’d agree more with this argument. If the girl in question was turning 18, I’d definitely agree with it. But 15 1/2 and sister? I don’t see it as either an appropriate time or relationship.
I got mine at 13, later than most of my friends.
She does need to go to the doctor, if only for a check up.
Its not that abnormal to start slightly later.
This is her sister, she loves her and worries about her. Why aren’t sisters allowed to be concerned for one another’s health? And what’s the difference how old the sister is? Now is the time when this has to become an issue, because now is when it becomes an issue medically.
Do you have sisters? My sister and I talked about this kind of stuff from the time that she first started menstruating. We’d take care of each other when we had killer cramps. We’d bum tampons from one another. When she had to have a hysterectomy, I went and held her hand and cried with her. When I couldn’t conceive and jumped through every known hoop, she was the one I called and griped to on the phone. That’s what sisters are for.
:o 
