# Female dopers:: when did you first get your ... :female days: **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 24, 2002, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-when-did-you-first-get-your-female-days/129373 "2002-09-24T00:54:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dinahmoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8797f3/32.png) [@dinahmoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dinahmoe)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2002, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-when-did-you-first-get-your-female-days/129373/21 "2002-09-27T00:24:32Z")
I was 8. In the 4th grade. Thank mom and God that I had already read “Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret.” I think that the window for “normal time to get your period” is a wide one. Though I can’t fault you for caring about your sister’s health:) ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2002, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-when-did-you-first-get-your-female-days/129373/22 "2002-09-27T00:30:02Z")
I got mine on my 12th birthday. Happy birthday to me! The cramps were atrocious, and no one had warned me about them, especially not Judy Blume, in whose world menstruation just feels like “a little leaking” and childbirth is “no big deal.” When I was 16 my period went away for about nine months. I wasn’t pregnant. I had lost weight: thirty pounds over six months, which didn’t seem like an especially fast rate for weight loss at that age, but I guess it was enough to make the menstruation stop. I LOVED it. Then it came back. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2002, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-when-did-you-first-get-your-female-days/129373/23 "2002-09-27T01:45:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tlw \* > \*\* > > 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.\*\* It matters how old the sister is because 15 is still in the range of normal. 16 is still in the normal range. 18 is not. That is why it matters how old the sister is. Now is not the time when it has to become an issue - later it will be in the time when it does have to become an issue. \*\* > [@](#): > > Do you have sisters? My sister and I talked aout 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. \*\* Yes, I do have a sister. We’re close. I am sure that if I’d gone through a hysterectomy or infertility, she’d be the one I’d be on the phone with constantly (I’m on the phone or email with her daily as it is) and vice versa but it is something I invite her into, not something that she barges into (And I don’t see the OP’s sister asking for help or support - I see her pushing away). However, when I was 15, if she’d bugged me about something that is (a) none of her business and (b) not abnormal (see above, 16 still perfectly normal), it would not have gone well for either of us or our household. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2002, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-when-did-you-first-get-your-female-days/129373/24 "2002-09-27T02:15:13Z")
just after I turned 11, for me. My friend didn’t get hers until 15 though. ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2002, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-when-did-you-first-get-your-female-days/129373/25 "2002-09-27T09:38:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lab2490 \* > **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.** You underestimate the men of the Straight Dope. 13 for my older sister, which I only know because I saw it on a medical form at some point. And I think **amarinth** has a valid point. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2002, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-when-did-you-first-get-your-female-days/129373/26 "2002-09-27T10:13:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by amarinth \* > **It matters how old the sister is because 15 is still in the range of normal. 16 is still in the normal range. 18 is not. That is why it matters how old the sister is. Now is not the time when it has to become an issue - later it will be in the time when it does have to become an issue.** You didn’t read the link – at 16, (and when that’s considerably later than mom or sisters) it’s an issue from a medical standpoint. The National Institutes of Health say [call the doctor](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001218.htm#callHealthCareProvider). So do the [Aetna Insurance and The Harvard School of Medicine](http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/9339/9443.html#when). The [causes for this situation](http://www.ecureme.com/especial/obgyn/Primary_Amenorrhea.asp) can be [serious and warrant treatment](http://www.uptodate.com/patient_info/topicpages/topics/17023P2.asp) sooner rather than later. If she were about to turn 14, waiting would be in order. 16 is the time at which there should not be any more waiting. Looking at that list of causes, if there were a chance that someone I loved had just about any of them, I’d do everything in my power to get her to a doctor. But that’s just me – I’ve always figured that any perceived breach of privacy involved in my encouragement to receive necessary care would be significantly palliated by the fact that they did get that care. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-when-did-you-first-get-your-female-days/129373.md?page=1)