Sucks and it’s gotten worse with age. (I’m 50 already! Isn’t time to cut this crap out?) Used to be I’d get cramps on day 2 – sometimes awful but usually manageable with ibuprofen. Now, I have cramps pretty much the whole time, and the really bad ones can hit on any day.
However, I no longer break out like I used to. (Having said this, I will no doubt wake up tomorrow with a huge, painful zit on my chin.)
It’s pretty nasty. Aside from the bloating, odd bowel movements, pimples, and crankiness, I bleed lightly for three days, it stops a day, then gushes for two and then medium for about five. The cramps have lately made a comeback, as well. I enjoy being a girl.
Oh yeah, and I get the mittelshmerz too. Whee.
It’s pretty horrible. Severe pain, bloating, and intensified depression, anxiety, and irritability. I usually can’t eat without getting sick. In a terrible way my whole life revolves around my cycle. Per someone’s suggestion here, I’ve started skipping the placebo pills and it’s eliminated the emotional issue and reduced the severity of my physical symptoms by about 50%… except for the cramps. I still get cramps. They hurt so bad, but I can usually survive by taking two Aleve before they start.
It’s no big deal. 2 days on a 22-24 day cycle. Occassionally it’ll go 2.5. I do resent having to pay for tampons, but not enough to buy a DivaCup (I hate that name). Rarely cramps. Still I’m 47 and I’m looking forward to menopause.
StG
I feel really bad now for complaining about the occasional cramps I got when I was on the pill, as compared to some of the stories here, I’m not sure they were that bad.
Strangely, I didn’t have cramps before the pill, and they stopped as soon as I came off. I now have a period that is on a regular 27 day cycle. About 2 days long (with some spotting before and after), generally fairly light, with just a bit of an achey back and legs (easily taken care with some ibuprofen). I don’t particularly enjoy the whole thing, but I really can’t complain.
I feel really sorry for those that have to soldier on with awful cramps, migraines and pms.
Not a big deal at all. Messy, since I tend to be a bleeder, and occasionally worth taking an Advil or two, but otherwise nothing to make a fuss over.
Almost no trouble or pain at all, ever.
That created what I thought of as a downside; there’s rarely any hint it is going to start. After reading the above posts I see I should be very grateful.
The last two years have been period HELL! I’ll be 42 next month and I suspect this is the last hurrah before menopause. A week before I start my breasts swell and hurt so bad that I can barely stand to wear a bra – I have D-cups, so going commando isn’t an option at work.
I used to be like clockwork, now time between periods is shortened to 24-26 days. Yippee!
Acne, cramps, diarrhea, depression, and bleeding like a pig . . . yup, great to be a woman.
Two days of cramps, nausea, etc. but still way better than when I was on The Pill. Thankfully, I never get the ‘unclean’ feeling– just the ‘fuck nature’ feeling. And like it will never end. Seriously, the day it ends I’m already marking the calendar for 20 days later.
Until I had a baby, my period was really a curse. I have less-than-fond memories of lying on the floor of the bathroom (common ones) at boarding school because I was too weak and cramped to go back anywhere between bouts of vomiting.
I remember my mom saying to me that I was such a baby, “what’s it going to be like when you actually have a baby?” Years later I was able to tell her that my periods were worse than labour.
I would crawl around like an animal, on all fours. I found movement of any kind more tolerable than just lying there feeling waves of excruciating pain and nausea.
The heating pad would usually work wonders, but only if I could stand to lie still long enough for it to work. Sounds easy…trust me, it was torture.
I speak in the past tense because I was another one who had the nightmarish periods as a teenager and into my early 20’s; they tapered off and now at 30 my period is a ghost of its former horrendous self. I still get cramps/bloating/stomach issues and I still cry very easily, but I don’t have to miss work/vomit/sob/get cold sweats/dizzy/want to die.
So I consider it a bonus of aging. Some of my girlfriends are just now getting that kind of period, and having gone 15 +/- years without experiencing it, they are absolutely stunned. I feel badly for them on the one hand, but on the other hand I can’t help secretly thinking, “See? SEE? All those years you thought girls like me were exaggerating or being whiny or just had a low pain tolerance…what do you think NOW?”
I never say this to them. I just offer them my years of wisdom in guzzling Advil days beforehand, heating pads, and not eating anything so you won’t have anything to throw up. 
I never feel “unclean” FTR…I’ve had sex on my period before and I’ll do it again. The main problem I have with it is the mess it makes; sometimes I’m just like, “I just washed the sheets…I can wait a couple of days…”
It means that I wear a panty-liner if I’ve got on light-colored pants, and that I shove excessive amounts of tampons in my purse. Other than that I don’t really think about it at all; my days of leaking everywhere, or being grossed out, or having days of misery are over. Thank Og.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a cramp more than really mild. It’s been getting a little worse as I’ve gotten older, but still not at all bad. What usually happens is that I’ll be sitting around thinking “boy, my belly feels a little weird” then I’ll realize it’s a period cramp, and I’ll promptly forget about it.
I’ve never skipped work or not done something because of it. Well, not truthfully at least. I have used it as an excuse at times, but I was lying 
The Divacup makes it even less of a hassle. Carrying around tampons/pads was a pain. Now I don’t even have to do that.
My cycles are irregular and long–always 40-50 days apart–and I’d say that the stuff going on in my uterus is a very minor complaint. I get pretty severe mood symptoms in the week before my period, so when the floodgates open (thankfully, with little cramping–and yeah, floodgates is a good description) I’m completely relieved–it coincides with my brain returning to normal.
Can’t imagine having a “normal” cycle length and going through it 12 times per year, though. For that, I’m thankful.
Well, I didn’t consider it a curse, but I did have some pretty bad cramps. Day 2 of my period was always the worst: really, really bad cramps (I would start at 8 Advil) and diarrhea.
Other than that, the mess. I never once made it through a period (they lasted from 5 - 8 days) without an accident, which means my underoos were soaking in the sink one week out of four.
It’s now been almost 30 months since my last period, but I’m STILL scared to get rid of the enormous supply of tampons, napkins, light days pads and other various menstruation paraphenalia still taking up space under the sink. It’s irrational, but I have this sneaking feeling that the moment I give that crap away Aunt Flo is going to show up just for old times’ sake.
I’m done breeding. I would dearly love to be done with all the stuff that goes with having the babies. I’m tired of the mood swings. The yuck. The pain (only bad about 3-4 times a year, but when it’s bad it feels exactly like early labor.) It’s just all around not fun or nice.
It was a curse that kept on giving - more and more pains and cramps and weirdness the older I got. I broke the curse with Depo, the magic needle. No muss no fuss. Whew.
Same here… which is the main reason I keep track of it! “Hmm, should be here in a day or two, better make sure I have some pads/tampons!”
I don’t get cramps much… if anything, it feels more like indigestion, and is gone just as quickly. I’ve had what I would describe as really bad cramps… once or twice when I do a lot of exercise, and not related to my period. Those were bad, made me thankful I don’t get them during my period.
Also, I’ve asked this before, but does anybody is physically better at that time? Seriously, during my period I have more stamina, more strength, more athletic aptitude (which is not hard to do), better eye-hand coordination, etc. It sucks because then the next week almost all gains are lost.
It seems I’m the only female in my family like this, though. Mom used to complain, my aunt tells me her lurid stories of cramps and clots, and my sis once looked at me in awe when I told her that night that I had started my period earlier that day, while we were walking all around Manhattan. She just couldn’t believe I was going on as if nothing was happening. And in truth, for me, nothing was happening.
Oh, I’m so glad to know I’m not the only one who gets the bowel problems! It’s just not fair…dealing with one mess is quite enough, thank you, why do I need to deal with two at once? I rarely get horrible cramps…maybe twice a year…but my periods are long and heavy…almost always 7 days, and lots of clots. I’ve recently started to be able to wear tampons again (a prolapsed uterus makes them a bit uncomfortable) but I also have to wear an overnight ultra-absorbent pad at the same time, because a tampon only slows things down a tad. Then add to that the fact that now, at 50+, they are starting to get irregular. Twice in one calendar month just isn’t fair! If I didn’t have high blood pressure, I’d beg to go back on the pill…periods were so much more manageable back then! On the worst days, I’m changing that damn overnight pad and tampon at least every two hours, and I have to worry when I sit down, that a sudden gush will cause an overflow and I will drench the chair or at the very least my pants. And sleeping? Not a whole lot of quality sleep when you lay there in fear of rolling over because you know you will soak the sheets if you try to get out of bed wrong or lay on your back for a spell.
Fortunately, the mood swing (Or Emotionally Fragile Day) is fairly well-contained, and usually dissipates as soon as I comprehend just why I’m feeling like sobbing. It’s really very interesting, in a way, because I swear there are times when I can actually feel the wave of hormones that causes me to verge on being a blubbering mess. I can feel the emotion just wash over me. On the times when I don’t get that warning wave, and find myself in mid-emotional crest…it seems that just the act of acknowledging why I’m feeling this way (like, looking at my calendar and saying “oh, of course…I’m supposed to start this week!”) is enough to make the mood lighten up and then dissipate…most times. For that I am very grateful.
And then there is Boob Fairy day…they get a bit sore, but nothing too terribly painful. They just…burgeon! I get great cleavage and lift and I feel pretty darn frisky! And, of course, it’s a good warning sign of what to expect two days later!
My cramps are usually an annoyance, and, on occation (2-3 times a year) painful enough for me to be seriously bothered. I usually get a few hours of warning before things flow (pink discharge). The emotional stuff is moderate. I’m not generally bothered by it.
When I’m on my current Pill (Zsofia), my periods are regular, light, and practically unnoticeable.
When I was on the previous Pill (Yasmin) or off it entirely, my cycle could range from 20 to 60 days, I bled for 7 to 10 days, very heavily, with bad cramps, and I had lots of headaches. The worst part, though, was my mood. On the third Tuesday of my cycle while on Yasmin, I could pretty much guarantee that I would throw a screaming fit over something, cry over something, and have very ugly, suicidal thoughts.
I’m so glad Zsofia works for me.