# Periods - Men just don't get it. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 15, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188 "2014-07-15T17:58:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/141 "2014-07-18T04:11:55Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > He was making sure you weren’t pregnant. Ding! Ding! (Experience) ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/142 "2014-07-18T04:45:24Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Not to mention it’s in Midol’s interest to convince you that it’s happening, and that it’s a very bad thing, so you will buy their expensive product, which is just OTC pain medicine with caffeine, a mild diuretic. Yuuuup. I was at the drugstore with cramps and thinking I’d get Midol since we’d had it at home and I’d used it before (I was in college at this point). But I always examine the drug facts panel of medicines to know what’s in them or to double check I’m getting the correct version. And so I looked at Midol’s and see: - acetaminophen - caffeine - pyrilamine maleate\* So it’s Tylenol, a diuretic that wakes you up, and a diuretic that makes you drowsy. Uh. Huh. After that, I just made my own Poor (Wo)Man’s Midol: Two Tylenol (later ibuprofen) with coffee. 😃 - not “malware”, autocorrect! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/143 "2014-07-18T04:49:46Z")
What are men supposed to “get” without being told? It’s not like all women have the same experience of periods. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/144 "2014-07-18T05:09:44Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > What are men supposed to “get” without being told? It’s not like all women have the same experience of periods. The non-contact Vulcan mind meld so we know what is going on without asking. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/145 "2014-07-18T08:49:32Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > I no longer have parts that would cause this monthly calamity, but I concur with the esteemed **Rivkah** , **Karl** and **Skara**. I never got so bloated during my periods that my clothes didn’t fit. That must be some industrial grade menses that other women are having. I mentioned, too, that I get none of the symptoms in my post above (albeit couched in literary metaphor). These threads make me grateful that that time of the month when Arsenal are at home so that painters can come in, it never lasts more than three days tops, a packet of ‘supplies’ (napkins/towels/whatever) can sustain me for at least three months, and that I don’t suffer some of the awful pains and attendant side-effects some suffer. (As for people who have turned their beds into abbatoirs - :eek: How does that even happen? Or ruining your knickers on a regular basis, yikes.) As a kid, I would get cramps when my period came in because of stress-related problems, but ibuprofen turned out to be the wonder drug for me, thank fuck. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/146 "2014-07-18T10:46:45Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > What are men supposed to “get” without being told? It’s not like all women have the same experience of periods. If a women wears sweatpants at night this is a message that not only do they not want sex, but that they’re on their period. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/147 "2014-07-18T12:11:26Z")
> [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](#): > > If a women wears sweatpants at night this is a message that not only do they not want sex, but that they’re on their period. Is this a whoosh? Because it’s obviously not a universal truth. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/148 "2014-07-18T12:12:26Z")
> [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](#): > > If a women wears sweatpants at night this is a message that not only do they not want sex, but that they’re on their period. Unless it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/149 "2014-07-18T16:18:03Z")
Ok busted - it’s a little bit wooshy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/150 "2014-07-18T16:21:31Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > When I’m hormonal I want to EAT ALL THE THINGS. So then when I have processed food in my system it probably contributes to feeling bloated. Heh! It’s either that or you realise you havn’t eaten for two days and are not so much mood swinging but HUNGRY. ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/151 "2014-07-18T19:24:14Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Unless it’s not. It means I want to be comfy. Or I am cold. ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/152 "2014-07-18T19:39:20Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Okay, as this thread’s quintessential clueless male, I get to ask one stupid question of the women here. > > Do your periods always hit you the same way? > > If you get bloated and crampy, does that mean you get bloated and crampy every month? If you get moody, do you invariably get moody? If a good session of sex helped last month, will it help this month? Does chocolate always have some magical appeal, or does the very sight of it disgust you sometimes? > > And can you predict any of this? Nope. They vary. I may be dense here, but I am not understanding the “bloated” concept. Are we talking about water retention an the general I’m a big fat pig feeling? I have had it pretty easy compared to some women. I get cramps, but they are more annoying than painful. I can have BOTH constipation and diarrhea in the same day!! About 10 days prior to my period, I get so freaking horny. This continues into the first day or two of my period. I tend to get food cravings and breast tenderness about three days before. In the last 8 months or so, I have been getting migraines. Part of the reason I have been tracking my period is to try to figure the pattern. It seems as if the beginning and ending of ovulation trigger them ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/153 "2014-07-18T20:00:06Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > What are men supposed to “get” without being told? It’s not like all women have the same experience of periods. if you loved her then you would know what she was feeling. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/154 "2014-07-18T20:03:19Z")
My husband understands completely. He doesn’t even want to have sex when I am on the rag. He even gets me chocolate and takes care of the kids if I am feeling particularly miserable. Maybe I am just lucky? ---
**Author:** ![Lowdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Lowdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lowdown)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/155 "2014-07-18T20:14:47Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Does he taunt you for being a dusky Amazon? You got me with this one. I laughed pretty hard. ---
**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:** [July 18, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/156 "2014-07-18T20:31:01Z")
> [@Ms\_Boods](#): > > . (As for people who have turned their beds into abbatoirs - :eek: How does that even happen? Or ruining your knickers on a regular basis, yikes.) > . PCOS with endometriosis, and a very thick endometrial layer. I could fill a 1 oz diva cup in under 2 hours, or go through a super plus tampon in an hour. I was regularly dropping golfball sized clots repeatedly for 7-10 days or longer. At one point in time I bled continuously for 7 months. [The Navy doc in his infinite wisdom told me since I had PCOS and endometriosis it was ‘normal’ and to take a suppliment with iron. Yay.] When mrAru retired and I got a civilian doc, she happily ultrasounded me, took an endometrial sample [OU\_fucking\_CH] and immediately put me on norethindrone to totally suppress everything until my other ovary developed cancer and I lucked out into getting a hysterectomy. [heavenly.] There is nothing like that internal slithery sensation of a huge clot obeying the law of gravity when you stand up, realizing that you have about 10 seconds before your lap will be swimming in blood. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/157 "2014-07-18T20:35:08Z")
> [@Ms\_Boods](#): > > Apologies for the double post – just agreeing here with this one, although in my experience ‘pretending to feel good’ usuall means there is something catastrophically wrong (eg: my dad staggering around for three days with what turned out to be a broken leg, not the result of ‘musta bumped into something!’ or when my mom discovered he was taking up to six bottles, not tablets, but full 100 ct bottles, of aspirin every couple of days because of a ‘slight twinge behind his ear’ that turned out to require surgery and resulted in the loss of hearing in that ear. No idea why his liver/stomach didn’t look like a coral reef after downing so much aspirin like that for weeks). > > As for ‘oh-my-god-I’m-dying-come-take-care-of-me’ – ah hahaha, manflu. Sounds almost like my father. Two years ago he had this horrible red rash on his back that he kept insisting was a bug bite. My mother finally dragged him to the doctor who diagnosed him with shingles. And a pretty bad case of it, too. The doctor also found out that he had a hernia that needed to be operated on. :smack: If there’s an opposite of a hypochondriac, that’s my dad. ---
**Author:** ![Lowdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Lowdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lowdown)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/158 "2014-07-18T20:40:35Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > The doctor also found out that he had a hernia that needed to be operated on. When I was a teen I went in for surgery in that area, and afterward the doctor said “…and I saw you had a hernia, so I fixed that for you too.” I couldn’t have told you. I felt fine. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/159 "2014-07-18T21:04:39Z")
> [@April\_R](#): > > My husband understands completely. He doesn’t even want to have sex when I am on the rag. He even gets me chocolate and takes care of the kids if I am feeling particularly miserable. Maybe I am just lucky? I’m lucky too. My husband doesn’t pretend that he can or should understand, anymore than I can understand what it’s like to sit on your balls wrong (or your dick, or whatever it is), and be in some situation where it’s inappropriate to adjust. But he can sympathize with my feeling crappy, and being in a bad mood because of it. He takes our son out by himself, brings back take out, asks if I need Tylenol or anything, and gives me a backrub. > [@Guinastasia](#): > > Sounds almost like my father. Two years ago he had this horrible red rash on his back that he kept insisting was a bug bite. My mother finally dragged him to the doctor who diagnosed him with shingles. And a pretty bad case of it, too. The doctor also found out that he had a hernia that needed to be operated on. :smack: > > If there’s an opposite of a hypochondriac, that’s my dad. My husband toughed his way through a bout of the shingles with nothing but hydrocortisone creme. I couldn’t believe it. His boss had to order him to take a sick day. I’m sure if it had been me, I would have accepted the prescription for narcotics. He was only 40 when it happened, but now he qualifies for the shingles vaccine that normally you can’t get until you’re 60, or something. Funny thing was, he was the third child in his family, and his father and older sister couldn’t remember whether or not he’d had the chickenpox, so we were debating whether we should eat the $70, and have him get the vaccine for it that our insurance wouldn’t pay for on the chance that he hadn’t, because when our son was little, even though he (our son) had the vaccine, there were probably kids in his preschool who hadn’t. Problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/160 "2014-07-19T03:19:48Z")
> [@Inna\_Minnit](#): > > Nope. They vary. I may be dense here, but I am not understanding the “bloated” concept. Are we talking about water retention an the general I’m a big fat pig feeling? Yes, water retention. I gain ~5lbs - I go up a cup size, and the rest of the weight centers on my belly, even making me look fatter fully dressed. It sucks. But I still fit into most of my normal pants while retaining the ability to breathe, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188.md?page=9)