Periods....

[blondiegurl09]

I'm 15 and I got my period when I was like...11 or 12. I was going into the 6th grade....So I think i was 11...I don't remember exactly. But what is a period? Like, why do we have it? And why is it so painful? I'm on it right now to be honest, and I have killer cramps. And I want to get rid of them, especially since tomorrow is my first day of school. I'm a sophomore. And I don't want to be sick on the first day of school. When I have my periods...I shake really bad...and I can't eat, I feel like throwing up everytime I eat. So can someone help me with how to not get cramps and be able to eat? Because I'm starving!! Anyways, thank you!!

[Brandye]

Your period is a shedding of the lining of your uterus. Each month the body gets ready to be pregnant and, when that does not happen, it clears itself out to get ready again. Using the first day of your period as Day 1, the body spends five or six days sloughing off last month's preparations. Then it builds up the lining of the uterus to accept and nurture an fertilized egg. The egg is (ideally) delivered on about the fourteenth day. If it it meets a sperm in the fallopiam tubes, it will be fertilized and arrive in your uterus ready to implant itself in the rich walls and grow. If it is not fertilized, it simply passes on out and the hormone mix of the body changes to tell the uterus to empty out.

The few days before your period are usually uncomfortable as the hormone mix hits a point that can generate emotional upset and the body accumulates fluid and feels bloated. The cramps are part of the uterus squeezing to slough off the lining and the menstual fluids are that lining draining out from your uterus. This often causes nausea, loss of appetite, headache and generally feeling crappy. We are each different. Some women look down at their panties and see a spot and simply use tampons for a few days. Other women are completely wiped out for a week. Most of us are in between.

You may want to discuss your period with the family doctor or your gyn if you have seen one. Your mother should be a sympatheitic ear and help you find help. She has periods, too. There are ways to make it less uncomfortable and you sound like you could use some help.

[blondiegurl09]

We just recently moved to the place we live now. So we don't have a family doctor, and shes been to a gyn I believe, or someone like that, but said she wont take me until I'm not a virgin anymore...which, I've used a dildo on myself...so that would probably make me not a virgin, but she doesn't know that, and if she ever found out, I would probably be dead....but thanks for the help anyways...

[Maribelle]

Are you in the US? Planned Parenthood can help you with this -- they were very helpful with these issues for me & my friends in highschool....

[Jenna295]

Have you tried taking Midol? Seriously, that stuff can work wonders on cramps. So can some excirsize, like a walk . My girlfriend was put on birth control because her periods gave her serious cramps and made her sick to her stomach alot, but i don't know exactly how serious yours are. Anyways, if you haven't yet, try some Midol, and when you're lying on you back, i find it can help if you rub you lower stomach area, where your cramping. (Well thats where i usually cramp.)

[blondiegurl09]

Yeah, I switch between midol...ibuprofen...and exedrin....and i use heating pads...it just takes 4ever for it to work for a short period of time...

[Brandye]

Tell your mother and doctor; there is no need to continue to suffer just because you are female.

[Paraclaisian]

blondiegurl09,
One thing I've found that helps me is to anticipate my period, and really watch my diet in the days before. If I avoid refined sugar, especially chocolate, and eat lots of veggies and fruits, then my cramps are much better. It's annoying, cause I also really crave chocolate right then! But that also helps me remember not to eat it. I can realize, Oh! I'm really craving that chocolate; must mean it's time to start avoiding sugar.
Hope this helps!

[Brandye]

Good point, Paraclaisian.

Diet can have an effect and we physicians tend to ignore that. Because of the tendency to retain water and become bloated, any food or drink (chocolate, sugar, salt, high sodium foods) can make the situation worse. Soft drinks are horrors. Some women are able to link specific foods, as you have, to menstrual woes.

Medical treatment could be as simple as diuretics and analgesics for a few days or as complex as hormone therapy. Blondie seems to be having a bit more than the normal discomfort.

Too bad someone did not describe this to the jerk on another forum complaining about not getting any during his g/f's period.