Why I Hate My Period Today

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

::deep, shaky sigh::

For the past few months, I have been lulled into a sense of security. For a while last year, you see, the first day of my period was like a little bitty taste of Hell. I’d wake up and stare at the ceiling, horrified by the somehow undeniable knowledge that dear ‘Aunt Flo’ was here for the week. Here to stay. Here to torment. Here to twist my schedule and demand my attention for her maintenance for an entire week. For the next 35 years of my life! Once a month! THE HUMANITY! But then the agony ceased, and for a while, I lived in peace and harmony with my uterus. While it was inconvenient and annoying, my menstrual cycle no longer caused me inner turmoil or wild, uncontrollable bouts of crying.

My name is Searching for Truth, and this is my story.

I’ve had some weird and decidedly unpleasant dreams this week. I’ve become more adept with controlling them, and so last night I pulled myself right out of one of those dreams. I now felt very awake, and was pretty sure it would be a while before I slipped back into sleep. I hadn’t gotten around to eating dinner that night, so I thought perhaps I just needed some crackers and a glass of water.

I padded down the hall, into the kitchen, and looked blearily at the clock. It was a few minutes after 5 A.M. What a cruel joke. I have to be at church before the Easter Sunrise Service @ 6:45 A.M. to set up breakfast, I thought to myself.

I went to the restroom and then grabbed a cup from the cabinent. It had become obvious to me that it wasn’t my bad dreams that were making me feel increasingly weird. Nauseated, maybe. It occured to me today was, in fact, perfect timing to be the Infamous First Day of the Period, but I wasn’t too worried. I’d hardly had cramps at all during my last few cycles, and though I could feel the beginnings of them now, I saw no reason to assume they would be anything more than an inconvenience.

*Though, perhaps some Midol[sup]TM[/sup] would be advisable…*I opened up the medicine cupboard and all of a sudden, I felt sort of dizzy. And weak. And there isn’t anything PMS-targeted in the entire freaking cabinent. Everything is becoming very dark and black…I grab at a bottle of Tylenol and the next thing I know, my butt has hit the floor. Then my head. Ow. Well, that didn’t hurt TOO bad. In a daze, I pull myself up using the counter, grab my cup and lean against the island counter to reach into the fridge and grab some ice.

I’m not really positive what else I did in the next few minutes, but the third time I ‘blacked out’ onto the floor was in the kitchen bathroom. Amazingly enough, my cup of water flew out of my hands directly into the toilet. Splash! Perfect score. I would have been impressed if I had been able to see, stand, function, think coherently, etc. I’m also impressed that I didn’t hit my head very hard. I think.

As you can imagine, the sound of someone falling, thud, on the floor repeatedly can wake you up, even from the other end of the house. My eyes were closed and I was still sprawled in between the bathroom and kitchen when my dad found me. My 50-something-year-old father picked me up and carried me, like a baby, to the living room couch. My mother joined us shortly thereafter.

After some food, some Advil[sup]TM[/sup], and 45 minutes of grueling, agonizing, Fallopian-tube-twisting pain, I was feeling much better.

Let me take the time here to tell you about my best friend, The Amazing Heating Pad. This guy took me by the hand and led me through the rest of that shaky, scary night. Everything about him, from the comforting orange glow of the “ON” button to the gentle way he curved around my belly, made me grateful for his presence.

I never made it to church this morning. I slept soundly through both services, snuggled happily on the couch with The Amazing Heating Pad.

I’ve been shuffling around since all afternoon, primarily pain-free. Though there is a dull ache rumbling into the depths of my unhappy Female Reproductive Parts, I’m content to call myself saved from the ungodly fit of dizzy near-unconsciousness that robbed me of sleep last night.

Female Dopers, has this ever happened to you? [Does anyone think this could be a warning of a more serious medical problem? Haven’t really considered it.]

I’m sorry, but thank you for letting me get this off my chest.

2

I would think that if your cramps are to the point where you are passing out, you REALLY should get looked at. That does NOT sound anywhere near normal to me! (I’m one of the lucky ones who has mild cramps at worst, at least these days.)

I used to have a close friend in The Amazing Heating Pad in my early teens. I remember him fondly. If I need him again, I know he will be there. Ahhhhhhhhhh…

I spent four hours yesterday in bed crying. Damn hormones. But yay for moms who bring you food in bed and stick around for a while!

3

Sounds to me like you should at least talk to your doctor about it. Passing out is NOT normal for anyone I’ve ever met, even someone who had a really rough menstrual cycle like my sister who had terrible problems (being a DES baby) with cysts and pain and you name it. You aren’t bleeding abnormally heavily, are you? If so and if it were me, I would haul my unhappy Female Reproductive Parts to the emergency room immediately!

4

Wow… that sounds horrible {{{{{{{{ hugssss }}}}}}}}}}

I can’t say I’ve experienced this I’m afraid - I’m the only female in my family who doesn’t go through hell every month. I just go oh my back is sore, for about a minute then thats it. I do get ratty though and am prone to cry a bit more thats all.

I do agree you should go see your doctor about this - at least to check your blood pressure etc… just to be on the safe side ya know???

5

I’ve had Cramps So Bad I Couldn’t Move and Cramps So Bad You Couldn’t Get Me Out of Bed if the House Was on Fire ,but I’ve never passed out because of them. You might check with the doctor just in case. Even if he says the blackouts are nothing to worry about, he could at least introduce you to my dear friend Really Strong Pain Medicine for the cramps.

6

I would agree with all the ladies above. Passing out isn’t right!
I am lucky cramp wise, although the headaches get their revange…
I do feel more tired, but not to the point of fainting.

7

I used to faint, not every month, but when it happened it was always on the first day.
I outgrew it after a few years.

8

I should probably add that I have low blood pressure, always have, must have inherited it from my mom.

My doctors have never been concerned about it or the fainting, they just cautioned me to be careful when getting out of bed, or standing up quickly. I often sit up in bed then sit there for a few minutes before trying to get up and walk around. Haven’t fainted in about 15 years.

9

Aww… lotsa hugs to you, Searching Sounds like no fun.

I dread that monthly visit - last month, I spent the last two hours of the school day curled up in the nurses office. Never actually passed out from the pain, but I’ve blacked out on occasion due to PMS-ing. Don’t know why, but it’s no fun.

Hey, I also have a Mr. Heating Pad, my bestest buddy once a month. That and his brother Mr. Sacred Bottle of Extra-Strength Pamprin!

10

I agree with everyone who said that you should probably get it checked out by a doctor, just to be on the safe side. It might be nothing, but it’ll be at least good to have a note of it in your medical records.

I’ve had pretty bad cramping as well, though the only time I’ve come close to passing out was when I’d had bad cramps, I was at work, in my 10th or 11th hour of waitressing that day, and I had taken a couple of Midol. I felt like crap.

I later found out that I had an adverse reaction to Midol, likely one of the inactive ingredients, since I can take Advil and Motrin without any problems, and all three are ibuprofen. I remember the second time I took Midol, I looked at the list of side effects and I had about 805 of them!

11

that should be 80% of them. Damn Shift key!

12

Oh man, I feel your pain (pun intended).

For the first year and a half of my menstral life, I was in agony. Cramps so bad I couldn’t lie down. I had to sit up with my legs hugged to my chest. Advil? You gotta be kidding me. And heavy. And, about halfway through 9th grade, it started coming every two weeks.

Finally it got so bad I clued my mom in (I’m usually very stoic about these things). Hauled me into urgent care, got my first ever pelvic exam, and it turned out to be nothing serious. Could have been the beginings of endometriosis, but they caught me early.

They wanted to put me birth control right away, but I was a little hesitant. They gave me Codeine for a month to try it out. My uterus just laughed. So I went on the pill, and when that didn’t even cut it enough for me to be a useful member of society, I went to Depo Provera, or as I call it, The Most Amazing Drug in All of Christendom. Seriously. You get 4 shots a year, which is great since I’m bad about remembering to take pills. It makes some people moody, but I love the stuff. I haven’t had a period in years, I have even fewer side effects than to the pill, and aside from the odd cramp or bit of spotting I’m no longer putting myself at risk for kidney failure from ungodly consumption of Advil.

Oh, and the best part is that it gets your health insurance to cover your birth control! It’s win-win! So get thee to thy gyno!

13

I might try Depo, except that a very close friend became unexpectedly pregnant a few weeks after her first shot. Oops! (She’s a BEAUTIFUL baby, and was quite welcome, just a few years earlier than expected.)

I have new period friends, The Pads with the Velcro Wings. God, these things are wonderful. They STAY PUT. The wings stay stuck down. Why didn’t somebody come up with the idea years ago???

I think the most annoying thing about my periods is that I get about three days of spotting, but the minute I think, “Hey, it’s just spotting, it’ll start for REAL tomorrow,” here it comes. I’ve lost more pairs of undies that way…sigh

14

Many thanks for everyone’s concern. (Thanks especially for the hugs, Rhino’sHoney and NinjaChick. Greatly appreciated! :slight_smile:

Nope, no abnormally heavy bleeding. Kind of weak all day, but nothing scary.

:eek: I’m so glad that was a typo!

More proof that uteruti are evil.

15

Gonna back up everyone else here and say hie thee to a doctor about the passing-out thing.

I myself have hormonally-triggered epilepsy. All the rest of the women I’m related to have migraines–I just took it one step further. No, I’m not trying to scare you. But, like seizures, passing out during PMS isn’t one of the more common symptoms. Not unheard of, but not as common as things like cramps and mood swings.
(((Searching for Truth)))

You’ll be okay, I’m sure. Whatever has caused these blackouts will be diagnosed and dealt with, and you’ll be fine.

16

You know,

I am a man, so I am not totally sure about all of these things, but I do have a semi-serious girlfriend, so I am a little involved in these things ; )
My GF is a med school student, and I had done a little research on the internet: I can’t exaclty remember the website where I read it, but it was a medical jounal type thing of some sort. But it was showing the news of a new type of 84 day birth-control pill. okay, 84 I can’t be sure, but if you can’t find the page, then I will find it for you. But the main points I got from it were:

When the first pills were introduced, the only reason why the placebo week was introduced (eg, the week of fake pills that do nothing) was for reasons of social acceptability. E.g. In the 50’s no women would take a pill that changed a cycle that had existed since time began. But the idea of the 84 day pill is that if you are taking the hormones, a period isn’t nessecary. Basically, if I understand correctly, if you take the pills, your uterine lining doesn’t require teh monthly disposal that it does normally. This site also says that you could theoretically never have a period and be okay, because the reasons to have one wouldn’t exist. Hmm, I’ll find it right quick, on second thought. I feel real sorry for you : (
Okay, its called Seasonale, but as you can see by seaching that many OBGYNs advise their patients to go on 84 day cycles anyway, because its good for some people for health reasons. Especially Anemia. People with Anemia typically have those symptoms of blacking out, etc. I don’t know if you are on the pill or not, but I’ve heard that some women take it to make their period less severe anyway, and if it were only once every 84 days it would only come 4 times a year!

Well, excuse me if I am not helping. I just feel sorry for you and I am trying to help all that I can hug I don’t know what medical options you have considered, but it seems like the pill might be good. Anyway, I hope you get better.

17

Persephone beat me to it. When you see the doctor, ask about migraine. Both my daughter and I have dizzy spells that are hormonally related. Sometimes very minor, and sometimes the room spins for a couple of hours. And she did actually black out once. I always thought of migraine as headaches, but for us that seems to be the least of it. However, Excedrin Migraine knocks it right out, so it’s fairly easy to deal with if we catch it immediately.

Not trying to diagnose this, but sometimes doctors look at things pretty narrowly. My daughter ended up having a CT scan before the family doctor diagnosed migraine from the history we gave him. I wish we could have done it the other way around.

Anyway, do have it checked out.

18

Oh yeah, Excedrin is my BEST friend… I thank God every day for it.

I have a quick question, sorry, I am highjacking a bit (and can’t spell it either) :
What do you consider the first day of your period? I have a couple of days, when I know it’s coming, I have dark spotting, very very light, until the real blood comes along.
I wonder what day I should consider the first day, for ovulation counting purposes?

19

Zazie, I think the first day of the “real blood” is the “first day”. At least, that’s how I count it.

Searching for Truth, I’m anemic and have low blood pressure. I bet it’s a combination of these two things that made you pass out. It’s never happened to me, but I do get extremely tired on that first day sometimes. The fatigue and the bloat can be so bad that I have to seek refuge in bed.

20

Thanks Monstro!