I got my first period in seventh grade in English class. I was talking to a boy I liked and I kept feeling something strange. I thought I was peeing on myself, but I knew I wasn't. After the bell rang I went to the bathroom to pee and was flabbergasted. Even though I knew about periods, I thought a) I was ill and b) I was humiliated. I didn't tell my mom until she figured it out herself and asked why I hadn't said anything; I was so embarrassed.

I have absolutely no memory of my first one. I know you are supposed to remember them, but I can't. I think it's because I was a lot more disturbed by how damn agonizing they were before visible signs appeared than any 'mess'. Everyone taught you that they might be 'mildly uncomfortable' and yet mine had me throwing up from pain and unable to walk. I can remember occasionally checking during health class or whatever and being told that 'some girls' made an attention thing out of the pain because they were weak.

Oooo, I love telling period stories! I have tons of them, but you just want to know about my first period, so I'll just stick to that. ;)

I was 11 and in the 6th grade when I first got my period. It was the opening night of the first Harry Potter movie and I was going to see it with my dad and my grandmother, who had basically raised me along with her husband. I was a HUGE Harry Potter freak since before anyone even knew about the books. Since then, however, I've sorta fallen out of love with them...Sorry, HP fans. ^^;

Anyway, the movie was about three hours long, of course, so I'm not really sure WHEN I actually got my period. But after the movie ended I had to go the restroom with my grandmother. I went to into the stall and was worried that I had wet myself or something (I did have some troubles with wetting myself up until then, I am embarrassed to admit!), but when I pulled down my panties, lo and behold! Blood!

I, thankfully, knew it was my period and I got a little excited and a little scared. I got out of the stall and told my grandma. She told me to put some toilet paper in my panties for now and that when I got home, my mom might have a pad for me. So I did that and on the car ride home, I was so giddy. Of course, it was so funny to me that my grandma and I knew what had happened, but that my dad was totally out of the loop!

Once I got home, I told my mom and she gave me one of her pads to wear for the night. I'm a very small girl and my mom's pads were huge to me. I remember thinking that it felt like I was wearing a diaper!

When I recall my period, I think of it as a happy, humorous occasion. But lately, I look back on it with some sentimental value too. My grandmother, bless her soul, passed away on February 7, 2007. She was like a mother to me and I miss her very, very much.

I'm just so grateful that I got to share such a wonderful, intimate experience with her before she went to heaven.

I got mine a little later- 10 grade (not that I was complaining!) and I didn't even know until my mom, who was doing laundry, had to ask me if I had- I thought, because it wasn't bright, gushing red blood, I was just doing a really, really bad job wiping. I felt like a complete idiot, and frankly still find it a terrible story I'd never tell outside here.

on another note, I was so not eager to get mine, and felt happy it took so long, because I thought it was so embarrassing and awful to experience. I did keep thinking that, too, for a while- until I discovered reusable fabric cloth pads (my period's not strong enough for me to use tampons or the diva cup comfortably), which made me feel less like I was wearing a diaper and more like a woman going through an amazing life cycle! I think that if I had known about that before, it would have made it a completely different experience for me.

My was pretty traumatic... I was 9 and had just started 5th grade. I think I had gotten my period already once, lightly, but was worried that I had "soiled" myself somehow, so I hid my underwear at the bottom of my laundry.

My mother noticed when she went to wash my clothes one night. I cried a lot and she let me stay home from school that day...

I knew about the birds and bees, but did not expect it to happen in, yknow, 5th grade?

Three words; white shorts and parade. 'Nuff said.

It was a Sunday. I was getting ready for church, and was wearing white shorts. I went to the bathroom and after using it, I thought I saw brownish blood on the toilet paper. But a voice inside me was incredulous, so I went off to church, not telling anyone.

Later, in Sunday School (it also happened to be Father's Day), My friend asked me what I spilled on my shorts... I was leaking onto my white shorts! Fortunately, it wasn't very heavy.

But then, since it was Father's Day, my Dad wanted to take my brother and I to the swimming pool. I was so worried because I had no idea about what to do, or tampons or anything... so I swam in the pool when I was on my period!!

Later, I brought my swimsuit home to my Mom and asked her to validate my first period... "Yep, I think you got it!"

We then celebrated and got ice cream together.

My first period story actually begins the day before it started. I completely flipped out on the bus ride home. I don't really remember the details but I was screaming and I hit a boy who insulted me. The next day I was in the principal's office because of that behavior. I had to use the bathroom and I noticed I was bleeding. I went to the nurse's office for a pad. I was suspended because of the bus incident so my parents had to pick me up to go home. I told them I got my first period. I believe PMS was a big factor in my behavior the day before.

My first period was very light the whole way through. My second was a regular flow. But after my third, I had extremely heavy flows. My mom was worried because she didn't think it should be that heavy at my age. I also had horrible mood swings. I had a teacher who always knew when I was menstrating just by my behavior. When I was 15 (I was 13 when I got my first period btw), I was put on birth control to lighten my flow and help with mood swings and it worked. I've been on it ever since.

It was 1999, so I think I was 12 or 13 at the time. I don't remember much of actually getting it, or my own reaction.

But I do remember my mother's! She took me and my little brother (who was probably about 8 or so, and who had no idea what was going on) out to eat. To the bar and grille right down the street, and I probably had some sort of linguini alfredo. Though I definitely remember the chocolate sundae.

It would have been much more charming if she hadn't told the waiter we were celebrating "something special" (MOM! He's going to figure it OUT!) and if I hadn't been so freaking uncomfortable.

I was 11, still living in Costa Rica. I had been sick for a week, cramped up, weak, no appetite and a headache that wouldn't go away. My mom was really worried that I might have dengue fever, since there was kind of an epidemic at the time. When I came out of the bathroom that fateful afternoon, and showed her my brown-stained panties, the first thing she said was, "Gracias a Dios! No es dengue!!" Then she congratulated me on becoming a woman (which I thought was sort of odd) and got me a pad. The headache turned out to be my very first menstrual migraine... But thankfully, no PMS since has ever been as bad as that first one!

I can't wait to read this book.

That said, this is the first time I will tell this story. And probably the last.

I lied to my friends about having my period for almost two years. My best friend at the time was very good at outcasting people for things: insert deficiency du jour. When periods came up around age 12, I was the only one who hadn't got it yet. A year passed and I started to think I'd never get it, and that there was something wrong with me. I didn't have my mom around so I read books about periods. It frankly horrified me to find out some girls didn't get it until they were 16- and in rare cases-they never got it. WHAT??!!

My dad took me to see my first Broadway Play (Jeckyl and Hyde) just before my 14th birthday, and I had cramps on the train. I felt really tired. I crossed my fingers, and within a couple of days... I was glad I didn't have to suffer through that crap earlier! I was sneaking my stepmom's gigundo pads, since she wasn't exactly a confidant, and it was way uncomfortable.

But I never told my friends. I'm still great friends with them, and they don't know... Frankly, she was a nasty little bully when we were kids, and doesn't like to be reminded of it- we all grew up, things change, you get the picture. But we all have our hangups. For example, I doubt I'll admit to her just how much sway she had over me then, and er- my period.

Mine happened in 7th grade when I was getting ready to present at the school science fair. I thought it was oddly appropriate because I had chosen a social science project in which I attempted to test for the existence of gender bias at local retailers.

For the record, my preliminary findings showed that the hardware and auto supply stores showed indications of gender bias from employees towards customers, but the fabric, department and grocery stores did not. I was 12 and the project was very important to me. It still is, really.

I got mine when I was 11, and it happened to be New Year's Eve 1999. I'd been waiting eagerly to get it ever since hearing about it in school when I was 9, so I felt very grown up and special to finally have it, and to have 'beaten' most of my friends in getting it. Our school was really good with 'the period lesson'; our PSE (Physical and Social Education) lessons were taught by the head teacher and one day she came in with all these samples of towels and tampons, and the whole thing left us all (we were an all-girls school) feeling like we had been let in on a huge, hilarious secret. The fact that it was the headmistress who had told us about it made it seem even more grown up and important. I remember it was a lot messier than I had expected, and the amount I actually bled kind of surprised me, but overall I was very happy and proud of myself. If anything, the unexpected grossness just made me feel prouder. The whole new millenium thing gave a nice romantic spin to it as well :)

Mine happened in 7th grade when I was getting ready to present at the school science fair. I thought it was oddly appropriate because I had chosen a social science project in which I attempted to test for the existence of gender bias at local retailers.

For the record, my preliminary findings showed that the hardware and auto supply stores showed indications of gender bias from employees towards customers, but the fabric, department and grocery stores did not. I was 12 and the project was very important to me. It still is, really.

Mine happened in 7th grade when I was getting ready to present at the school science fair. I thought it was oddly appropriate because I had chosen a social science project in which I attempted to test for the existence of gender bias at local retailers.

For the record, my preliminary findings showed that the hardware and auto supply stores showed indications of gender bias from employees towards customers, but the fabric, department and grocery stores did not. I was 12 and the project was very important to me. It still is, really.

I'm in the Vagina Monologues TOMORROW
and I'm doing "12 Slap" or "I was 12. My Mother Slapped Me" - the one about periods! My personal fave is "I like the drop that go into the toilet. Like Paint"

Anyone in the Syracuse area should come out and see it tomorrow at 8! in Hendricks Chapel!

My first time, I was home and my mom wasn't home yet, my grandma was babysitting. and I sat at the top of the stairs until my mom got home. and then we had to go to Payless and I was going to tell her in the car there - but my stepdad came too! So i was panicking and my mom knew something was wrong so I told her. Right in Payless.

I also lied for about a year and told my CLEARLY post-pubescent friends that I had gotten my period. I was able to get away with it because I already had breasts and a moustache.

My first was in a hotel on a family vacation.

I had a very unusual malaise/general pain I had never felt before and that lasted all day. When I looked at my underwear that night, there were muddy brownish-rust streaks.

Little did I know that the pain would only get worse as the years went on!

just my 2 cents - we have a great show up at the gallery at the moment called Red Rain Falling from a line from an Erica Jong poem called Gardner - "each month the blood sheets down like good red rain..." the show was juried by Sue Taylor from PSU university and the theme is women's menstrual cycles. Check it out at our website www.northbankartistsgallery.com or if you live in vancouver WA or Portland OR come on by and see it in person - some GREAT work!

I was in 8th grade, just over two months from my 14th birthday. I think it was a weekend, because I don't remember going to school that day. What I do remember is that I started bleeding heavily right from the beginning. I knew exactly what was going on, and had just stolen one of my sister's pads. I was out shopping with my mom, and in the car ride, I basically said something along the lines of, "I guess I have to tell you, because you'll find out eventually anyway. I got my period today. I can't just keep stealing [my sister]'s pads, so I guess I need you to get some for me." At the time, my mother was pretty against the use of tampons. She's pretty insane, and was convinced we'd die if we used them because of TSS (she also refused to get a cell phone up until about 4 months ago because she was convinced they cause brain cancer, and still thinks they do). She kept asking stuff like if I had any questions, if I wanted any advice, stuff like that. Which I didn't. I just needed her to get me pads, and she seemed pretty disappointed I was so distant and unexcited about it. I think I even started arguing with her when she pulled that "now you're a woman" crap.

I never wanted to get my period because it made no sense. There was no reason to have to bleed for a few days every month (which of course, it couldn't only be just a few for me...), and my overall feeling was basically "oh well" because it was part of being the sex I am with the organs I have, and as far as I knew, there was nothing I could do about it.

That first period lasted about 6 days, then it seemed to stop, so I stopped wearing a pad, and a day later started gushing blood again, which I found out about when I was changing for gym and my underwear was completely red and my jeans had a stain about 4" long and 2" wide in the crotch. Of course, a girl behind me sees this, and decides the best thing to do is laugh at and tease me for it. And I'm sure tell other people later on, too. The bleeding continued for another 2 or 3 days.

It was around three months before I got another period, and they only got somewhat regular (but always heavy, and after about the first year, ridiculously painful) until I got on the patch. Now I'm on continuous cycle NuvaRing (not approved usage, blah blah, whatever) and don't have to ever worry about it.

(Side note - if you do still get periods, Instead cups, and I'm sure other menstrual cups, are absolutely better than pads AND tampons, and I wish I knew of them sooner than about 6 years into having periods)

I was 11 and was at a swim meet. We weren't allowed to talk to our parents while the meet was going on so I told my best friend but had no idea what to do about it, I was way too scared to just grab a tampon and attempt to figure it out myself. So I decided to just let it go until I got home. I was bleeding very little so it wasn't a big deal but I remember being really afraid that there would be a trail of blood behind me as I was swimming...

It was New Years Day 1986 and I was 12 and in the 7th grade. I knew all about periods before that, and really wanted it to arrive because it would mean that I was a growing up.

So earlier that morning, I don't know why I thought this, but I looked down at my thighs and thought they were fat. I never thought that about myself. A little while later, I was getting out of the shower and there it was on the towel!

I can't believe how much I wanted my period. Now, I have endometriosis and experience incredible pain!

Well, I have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), so I still hadn't had a period by the time that I was 18 (except for the occasional spotting that had my mom absolutely ecstatic), so we went to the OBGYN and had my blood tested. The PCOS means I have higher levels of testosterone and sex hormone binding globulins and all other sorts of medical terminology, but it causes no or irregular menstruation (among other things). I was put on birth control to give me the hormones that would cause me to have a period. I remember being really shocked by it, mostly because, never having had the experience before, I thought it was weird how much my lower back ached . . . and then -boom!- period. I know it's an ordeal for all girls, but I definitely think all my period-free years of growing up made me a little spoiled, and I really resented having to buy pads and deal with the mess and all that jazz. I'd never had to break up the years of my life into 12 events . . . I disliked it (and the tiresome having to take a pill every day) that I stopped and used them only intermittently for about four years.

And that brings me up to speed now, as I've started up again (this time with the much cooler Nuva ring), and it kind of feels like a first period all over again. I still feel very awkward about it, like I haven't experienced the "norming" of the period the way other girls have. It always seems to sneak up on me. Sigh.

I really wish it was okay for my health to simply let nature take its course and not have them. As I was growing up, I think it sort of subconsciously gave me a feeling of specialness to not be having them, a sort of confirmation of my difference (since I always kind of thought I was a weirdo, in a good way). Now I'm just another girl on the rag . . .

I got my first period when I was twelve; it was entirely uneventful. My mother had prepared me well, and she was right there when, one day, I woke up and saw blood when I went to the bathroom. I didn't think it was exciting, really, but I didn't think it was awful.

Little did I know that two years later I'd be passing out and throwing up from the pain! Finally when I was sixteen I got on birth control. It has made the pain all but disappear and my periods are lighter and shorter. Recently I was off of it for one month due to a prescription screw-up and I had to experience the horrible pain all over again. >_

It's nice to read everyone's experiences. Very interesting.

My family was heading off to D.C. because my mom was doing a month-long internship at Georgetown about the Constitution and American history. Anyways, I discovered right before we left that I got mine. It was really amusing because my stepdad had to take my sister and I around to all the sights while my mom took classes and studied, and he of course had no idea how to deal with girls' period problems, and for me of course it ruined my experience at all the museums because I was so uncomfortable! There was this woman at the Air and Space Museum who worked there who was really helpful in getting me tampons and pads and stuff which was the best part. But it's funny, now that I'm a college student in Baltimore, us students go to D.C. a lot for long weekends and it's funny to go to those museums which I still associate with that experience!

I remember getting mine when I was about 13. I had some weird clear discharge the day before, and I thought nothing of it until the next day when I felt like my panties were wet for the last part of the day in school, and saw that it was blood when I came home. I told my mom right away, and I, too, felt like I was in a diaper when I began to use her maxi-pads.

I remember feeling like I hated it and it was a hassle--my periods were always so painful. Cramps in my back, abdomen, legs, not to mention headaches and fatigue! Luckily, as soon as I could get on birth control at age 17, I chose to skip my periods and haven't had more than some faint spotting for at least 2 years, maybe it's 2 1/2 already now...

Anyways, I always felt dirty and uncomfortable because I think it's gross and it IS very, very painful, not because anyone told me it was gross. For all you who think a period's a good thing, or an acceptable cycle, more power to you! I wish I could be as accepting of mother nature's little "gift."

I was thirteen when I got mine, and all the other girls I knew had already gotten theirs and had huge breasts and boyfriends and everything (or so I felt at the time). I kept this pad in my backpack for like two years, and finally threw it out because I felt like I would never need it. When I finally got it, it was nothing like I expected. I'd always heard stories about the blood going everywhere and mad rushes to "plug it up" and so forth, but when I got mine it was very light and brownish colored. I wasn't sure what it was for several days; I snuck into my mom's closet to get some pads because I was afraid I had some disease or (without ever having had anything close to sex) an STD. I realized it actually was my period when I consulted the book my mom gave me about puberty when I was like nine years and old. Once I admitted I had it, I was incredibly proud and would always exaggerate the symptoms and claim that I had cramps just so I could let people know I had finally gotten my period. In a way I was lucky that I had to wait impatiently for it to happen because I never had any feelings of embarrassment or pain; I was very proud and vocal about it.

The reason I remember the month and year (and the night) is because it was the night of/near that 2003 VMA performance with Christina, Britney, and Madonna. If it wasn't for that (seeing the pic in the nespaper the next day) I would never be able to answer a doctor when they ask me when i first started menstruating. I was 12, don't remember my reaction to it. Nothing big, but I was with my mom and sister on vacation.

I was 12 years old, in 7th grade. I woke up one morning with horrible cramps. Searing, sharp pains in my side. I thought it was my appendix or something. I told my mom, and she said it was probably my period. Nothing came out for most of the day, but I stayed home from school so I wouldn't get embarrassed just in case it did come. It eventually did that day. It wasn't very much though. Soon after that, I learned in school that this would be happening every month. I got really pissed off. I seriously thought this was going to be a one-time thing, since I didn't get my next period for like 2 months. Then all throughout high school, I'd get my period in the middle of the night. Seriously, it never failed. At 2 or 3 in the morning, I'd get my period. It was very annoying.

I pretty much hated my period until I got to college, because I still felt like not every girl had their period. I felt like I had to hide it when I had my period in high school, because I figured I wasn't in an environment where everyone would understand what I was going through. But by the time I got to college, I figured either all the other women did get their period already or would be secure with their cycles if they were nonexistent or irregular. So it wasn't embarrassing for me to talk about it with my roommates and friends. The only bad thing about my period now are the occasional hot flashes on the second day. And every few months, mainly in the warmer months, I get terrible cramps that last 4 or 5 hours no matter how much Aleve I take.

I mean this with all due respect for everyone who's shared their experiences. I mean no harm or insult:

I don't understand why it's so important to talk about periods.

Sure--we *could* talk about them. And I'll readily concede that there should be no stigma related to very simple, natural matters of women's lives and health. But "my first period" stories? I just don't get it.

I was in the fifth grade when I had my first period. For the past few days I'd had an upset stomach and brown spots on my underwear, so I thought I was sick. Then one day I went to the restroom at school and noticed the blood on my underwear.

This was the same year I was diagnosed with depression, and so my thoughts were along the lines of 'Oh crap. Now I have to deal with this'.

I remember my first experience pretty distinctly. It was my 8th birthday, and I had just come home from taking my 2-year-old puppy to the vet. I made a beeline for the washroom as soon as I got in the door because I hadn't mustered up the courage to ask about lavatories in the vet's office, and quickly discovered that my purple underwear was drenched in blood. I was horrified. I hadn't a clue about menstruation or anything encompassed - I was just starting third grade! I called for my dad immediately, and he too was fairly horrified - he hadn't made the connection until my mom was called in and confirmed that it was, in fact, a period. I was under the impression that I was bleeding from my rear, and thus I was very relieved to learn that it was a normal biological function. Great abdominal and otherwise pain ensued in the days following, but my mom eased the pain by distracting me with educational books about menstruation, intercourse, and anatomy. I was a well-informed 8-year-old.

I was incredibly young when I began menstruating, but I had already reached puberty, so it wasn't inconceivable. By the time I reached the 4th or 5th grade, I had 36D breasts and was 5'9" tall (I grew to 5'10" not long after) - I was a very, very early bloomer. I had acne at the age of 8, which fortunately subsided when I reached the age of 12. I was spared from the trials and tribulations of being a hormonal teenager.

To this day, I still experience pain of astronomical proportions from time to time (though nothing a few Advil can't dull), but it has lessened significantly in recent years. I have never opted to take birth control, though I likely should have, as I missed months of classes in high school. My mother insisted that I take something to regulate my periods, but I refused, due in part to my heavy duty Roman Catholic schooling. Mother knew best.

I'm amazed that I'm not the only one who didn't know what was going on because it was brown instead of red.

I was 14, visiting my grandma for a week in the summer, and had brown stuff in my underwear for a couple of days. Even though I'd been wanting my period ever since all my friends got their's when we were 12, I expected gushes of bright red blood, not smears of brown. I thought I wasn't wiping well enough. It slowly dawned on me that it was my period. I searched under the sink but, duh, my grandma didn't have anything. At first, I just stuck rolled-up toilet paper in my underwear, but then more came... So I called my stepmom (which was REALLY hard to do, since I did not like her and she was big on the "shameful female bodies" thing) and hid in a corner and told her that I thought I had my period. She told me to hand the phone to my grandma. I will never forget what my grandma did - she was always very matter-of-fact and this time was no different. While she was putting on her coat and getting her keys, she simply said, "I haven't had any of those things in my house for awhile so I'll go buy you some." And that was that.

I got mine when I was 11. I didn't tell my mother for quite awhile - over a year. I mean, she must have known because her tampons went missing (I used tampons from day 1) but then again, she may have been too drunk to figure it out. We have a great relationship. Really.

I have had horrible, heavy, awful periods from day 1, but I don't want to take birth control. I went through a few years were I was a little menstruation activist - periods are good! Don't hate your body!

But I've never really been able to reconcile my gender identity with having periods. I can't wait to start testosterone therapy and be done with them.

I got mine on my 13th birthday and it was excruciatingly painful. Of course, compared to the pain I experience now, it was NOTHING. But it was pretty bad already, even back then. I had of course heard of periods before (we had "maturation" classes in elementary school) but I was still terrified and humiliated. I just KNEW there must be something terribly wrong with me. I searched for my mother's pads, but I couldn't find any, so I made a couple of makeshift ones out of old rags quickly stitched together with a little slot to put paper towel in the middle. It actually worked really well, but my mom found out when she found the bloody paper towels in the garbage, and she bought me some real pads and told me how to use them.

It was the day before my 12th birthday, a Wednesday night, I think. I went to the toilet and saw a couple of dark red spots and ran for my mom. I don't really remember her reaction that well. I wish I had gotten ice cream though.

My cycles were never really that regular, and always so painful I would stay home from school. (I too remember being told that some girls made a big deal about being in pain cause they want attention.) I got on birth control at 14 because my cycle became really irregular after my first boyfriend broke up with me -- this followed my first ever pelvic exam which seriously traumatized me (but also kinda turned me on...) -- but even when I was on BC my periods were still horrendously painful.

Until I got on Seasonale and stopped having them every month. This was after two years on the generic version, and I don't care WHAT the insurance companies say, GENERIC BIRTH CONTROL ISN'T THE SAME. But I digress.

I got mine 2 weeks after my 13th birthday. Our house was in the throes of some serious renovations, spreading from my room out into the laundry, so the morning i woke up with giant blood stains across my ass was certainly an awkward one. With there being builders strutting around the house, I decided to hold off telling my mum till i was absolutely sure. So I snuck off to the bathroom, ass to the wall to have a shower etc. When It hit me I cried. I cried because I was now certain that there wasn't something wrong with me, that flat chested ole me HAD hit puberty and I cried because of the fear of trying to tell my mum before school. It all turned out fine by 8.30am though and I was off to school to tell my best friend, who when i told her said, "stop being a dick, I know you're lying" but the new stash of pads in my bag were proof enough. :D

It was two weeks after I'd turned 10 and my entire extended family was at my grandma's house for a family reunion. My mom and I had talked about before (and my favorite book at the time was "Are You There God, It's me Margaret) so I knew what was going on, but my mom and I had to go through every drawer in my grandma's bathroom in order to find a pad. A few days later, my dad bought me this huge chocolate bar (because I don't know about the rest of you, but I always want chocolate when I'm on my period).

I feel so boring. I got mine when I was about 15 and I was just like "meh".
The only thing my mom told me about maxi pads was "Now, you know you have to change these, right?"
She told my Dad and he was like "Oh"....I have a very enthusiastic family.

1999. I was 10 years old (going on 11), in 5th grade, and at the pool with my Dad and sister. I got out of the pool to go to the bathroom. After I'd finished peeing I wiped and found blood on the toilet paper. I remember looking down then saying, "Oh no..." to myself in a really annoyed tone. I went back to the pool to tell my dad what had happened. My dad was flirting with this neighbor of ours he thought was really cute. It was obviously an awkward moment for him and the first thing that came out of his mouth after I told him was, "Well, I guess this is a big, red letter day, isn't it?"

I was mortified.

My mom came and rescued me after that. She called me out of school the next day and took me to class with her at Sac State. I remember her buying me a caramel frappuchinos and candy bars all day to "celebrate my womanhood."

Mine's not too exciting.

I was 12 or 13, I felt 'squelchy' down there one morning, and I immediately suspected. I checked, then walked into my mother's room, said "I need tampons" and walked out. We had a mini-sex ed talk in 5th grade where they really pushed Always pads for some reason (I guess they produced the video or something?) so I insisted on my mother getting those as well, despite her protests that pads are of the devil. Didn't keep them on for more than a split second, I immediately hated them. (I still have those pads, actually. Do pads expire?) Then I tried the tampons, and they were better, only I could feel them too much. My mother told me that it probably wasn't pushed in far enough and she was right.

Anyway, it was never all that traumatic. Well, until a year or so later when I started getting all the lovely side effects. Without ibuprofen--and occasionally Vicodin--I would have curled up in a ball and died years ago.

Note: I realize this comment isn't exactly eloquent--"feel them too much"?--but it's 2:30 AM and I've had maybe 7 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours. Forgive my poor sentence structure.

I was about 11 and was sitting at home painting a pretty picture. I actually spilt a load of red painty water on me so didn't even realise that I had started...
Ridiculous, non?

It was about a week or so after my 12th birthday. I woke up and discovered a bit of blood and knew immediately that it was my period.

It all would have been no big deal, except it was the morning I was set to go to a 2 week summer camp. It was an educational camp, not an outdoorsy camp, but still ... first period + getting used to period and pads + heavy schedule = not a good time.

I think this is a fantastic idea. Using first person stories to demystify and degrossify periods. They're a natural part of bodily function and nothing to be ashamed of. Keep doing what you're doing.

I do want to register for a hot second that not all women have periods. Some women are infertile to the point of not having periods, some women are post-menopausal and no longer have their periods, and some women (like me) will never have one because were were born male-bodied.

I was 11 and I knew what was happening because we had just started to have sex ed classes at my school. But even before that, I saw it happening to my mom and my older sister and they never hid it from me. No that they actually celebrated or discussed anything, but they didn't hide it either.

I remember we had to do some cleaning that day, but, since I just got my period, my mom said I didn't have to. My sister got SO PISSED OFF. Like "since when she's not capable of helping us out here, just because she's getting her period?".
I didn't have cramps (never had them until Istarted taking BC pills) or anything, so I didn't know why my mom was acting like I was sick or something. I kinda agreed with my sister. But, since we always picked on each other back then, I pretended I didn't feel well just so she'd get screwed up with all the cleaning.

(Ha! I know, I'm horrible).

But this is not the story that most got me. My first periods were very light (and brown). So, a few months after my first period, I woke up and saw that it came. I had to go to school and I didn't find any pad in my drawer or my sister's drawer or my mom's. Anywhere. Just tampons (and I back then my mom scared me to death with stories about how I was not supposed to use tampons because I would "lose my virginity"). The only "pads" I found were those small "Carefree" ones. So I wore them. And the very first class that day was gym class. Needless to say that was my very first heavy, red, period and I got stains all over my pants.

The boys of my class harassed me big time. They yelled and made fun of me all day, it was horrible. And the teachers didn't do anything. Neither did my girlfriends -- I guess I was the first one among them to have it. Since then, I got paranoid about my clothes during my periods and did everything I possibly could to hide from my dad that I had them -- although he probabyl already knew, cuz I had age for that.

That's when I started thinking that blood was gross and that periods were a hassle I hated. But, hey, I never had any pain. My period never bothered me until I started getting those messages from other people. So, yeah, I totally relate when I hear feminists say we learn to be ashamed of our bodies.

I have no problems with my periods now. Not that I like them. It's just ok. It doesn't bother me at all. And I'm actually considering getting the diva cup.

mine was october 18, 1992, eighth grade. luckily, i was at home when it first started, but i had to go to school for PICTURE DAY the next day. i wore my favority olive green jeans and a cute yellow top (i thought i was HOTT in that color combo). i was afraid to tell my mom about it (we just never talked about that kind of thing), so i didn't know that i would need, like, a LOT of pads that day. i bled through and felt so self-conscious and humiliated that whole day. i was so relieved when it was time to leave school, but then she decided it was a good day to go to Sam's (the giant club-saver's store). i could not beLIEVE she was doing this to me. i told her i didn't feel good and she let me stay in the car, with my jacket tied around my waist, praying that i wasn't bleeding onto the car seat.

it took me a few years before i finally got the whole routine down and never bled through because they were heavy for 7 solid days until i got onto birth control in my 20s.

i don't know if i'll ever be one of those women who just LOVES the heck out of themselves and can, like, make art with their blood, but at least i don't feel completely humiliated for a week every month now.

I had waited eagerly for my period since I was around 9, in 4th grade...... In 6th grade all my friends got their periods and I said I had gotten mine too. Finally, the summer before 7th grade, my brother, my sister, and I about to go pick my mom up at the airport ( my brother was already around 18 or 19.) I went to the bathroom right before we left, and was sitting there for a few minutes just thinking randomly. I was about to wipe and get up when I noticed a round red spot on my panties. I just sat there for a few minutes staring at it. Then I put on a pad, and went to tell my sister, who was like " Oh. Do you know where the pads are?" and that was it. When we were driving, I was mortified by the smell, and assumed everyone could smell it. When we were back home with my mom, for some reason I didn't tell her for about two hours. I was feeling strangly embarrassed. The next day, my sister, my mom, and I went on this super cool girls roadtrip up NorCal, and I destroyed about 8 pairs of underwear because my mom was convinced I needed only panty liners. My mom did get me a pretty scarf for my period, then my sister complained that she had never gotten one when she had HER first period, so she ended up getting one too. Then my mom got one for herself in honor of menopause.

I was 15 and in 9th grade, so I basically felt like the oldest girl ever to still not have it. When I was younger, I wished that I had it and was jealous of all my friends with their pink Always pads, but by the time was 15, I had pretty much gotten over it and didn't think about it anymore.

So I went to school one day wearing khaki (this was 1998) cargo pants and I remember feeling like I had this weird stomach ache all day long, but since I had never had cramps before, I didn't know what they felt like. I ignored it all day, and miraculously didn't have to go to the bathroom until the second-to-last hour of the day. I remember going into the stall and looking down at my underwear and think "holy crap!" It was a mess, but luckily it had only soaked through a tiny little bit of my pants, so no one had seen it. I also was totally unprepared, and all I had was a quarter to by a tampon from the machine in the bathroom. So yes, I used a giant, thick cardboard tampon the very first time I got my period, and it wasn't even hard for me--I was so freaked out about stopping the blood from soaking through my pants, I didn't even care.

I had tryouts for the school play that day. I had to call my mom to bring me a pair of jeans. I was so distracted in the audition that I forgot to be nervous and I got a huge part in the play :)

It was near the end of 7th grade; I had just turned 12.

I'd been feeling what I thought was flu-ish most of the day. Kind of achey in my legs and back and really warm in the belly area.

When I got the chance to go to the bathroom, there it was, looking not unlike coffee sludge.

I shoved some toilet paper in my underwear (which made walking home that afternoon loads of fun) and made it through the rest of the day.

Funnily enough, this happened on the day of the evening I'd planned to de-hair my legs for the first time. And while my mom was helping me rinse the Nair off, I told her I'd gotten my period.

She seemed proud.

I felt proud.

Until the cramps got bad. (And later on I realized what a nuisance my period could be.)

I remember my first period as being a pretty big disappointment. My mom had always been very open with me. Her belief was that if I was old enough to ask I was old enough to know. I asked her when I was 3 and she went out and bought me Where Did I Come From (which led to slightly awkward results for my mom when I told my entire preschool class what I had learned). I was fascinated by the whole thing from then on and couldn’t wait to get mine. When it finally came on the Friday before Halloween in 8th grade I just saw the blood and kind of stared for a minute.
“Oh. Okay then.”
I grabbed a pad and told my mom what had happened. Her reaction was about as exciting as the event itself and it didn’t take me very long to realize periods were not nearly as exciting to have as I had previously thought. I’ve been on birth control and without a period for a year now and I don’t miss them a bit. Mostly I was sick of my favorite undies being ruined, you know?

I was 9 (one month before my 10th birthday) and the day before I got it, I skipped my Tuesday gymnastics class because I was inexplicably tired and threw a temper tantrum about not wanting to go. The next morning, I awoke to find my sheets, blankets, pajamas, etc. all bloodstained. I ran and told my mom what was happening, convinced I was dying. My mother had a full hysterectomy because of cancer before I could remember, so she hadn't had her period in years and semi freaked out because she didn't have any "lady products" (as she called them) handy. She sent my (traumatized) 16 year old brother to the 711 and he had to buy me Kotex (which I used once and promptly traded in for always with wings, because they were marketed towards teens and seemed 'cool'.) My mom damn near immediately started the phone chain, telling everyone she has ever met that I had 'become a woman' and sharing their dismay as to how young I was.

Next month, for my 10th birthday, I refused to open my presents because my sisters teased that they were going to wrap up maxi pads as gifts at my Rollerrink birthday party and when I opened them everyone would know I had my period. Oh sibling rivalry.

My first period came about halfway through 8th grade, ever so helpfully on the first day of my mom's 3 day trip, so i was stuck with my dad all weekend. Luckily I'd already had all the "Family Life" stuff in school and knew what was happening and knew where the pads were, but i felt awful all weekend and didn't want to tell my dad what was going on, even though I had to spend the day with him working at the farmer's market in San Francisco. I'm pretty sure I spent most of the day curled up in the car with a "stomach" ache. When my mom came home I was so embarrassed, but I knew I should probably tell her, and I think I whispered something like "Mommy... I got my period," and tried to walk away, but she caught me in a hug. :)

Eventually I remember being excited to tell my friends, and I distinctly remember giggling with my friends about "laying eggs." Hahaha.

Also in "Family Life" they taught us that if we got our periods at school we could go to the front office and ask for oatmeal and nooooone of the boys or male teachers or anyone would know what that meant and the lady in the office would bring us a pad or a tampon. Of course we thought this was hilarious and were constantly asking each other "Have you had your first... erm... bowl of oatmeal???" :)

My first period came about halfway through 8th grade, ever so helpfully on the first day of my mom's 3 day trip, so i was stuck with my dad all weekend. Luckily I'd already had all the "Family Life" stuff in school and knew what was happening and knew where the pads were, but i felt awful all weekend and didn't want to tell my dad what was going on, even though I had to spend the day with him working at the farmer's market in San Francisco. I'm pretty sure I spent most of the day curled up in the car with a "stomach" ache. When my mom came home I was so embarrassed, but I knew I should probably tell her, and I think I whispered something like "Mommy... I got my period," and tried to walk away, but she caught me in a hug. :)

Eventually I remember being excited to tell my friends, and I distinctly remember giggling with my friends about "laying eggs." Hahaha.

Also in "Family Life" they taught us that if we got our periods at school we could go to the front office and ask for oatmeal and nooooone of the boys or male teachers or anyone would know what that meant and the lady in the office would bring us a pad or a tampon. Of course we thought this was hilarious and were constantly asking each other "Have you had your first... erm... bowl of oatmeal???" :)

I was half-way through 9th grade and closing in on my 15th birthday. I was on an airplane flying home to the U.S. from 2 continents away to go to school. It was very awkward timing because I had no pads, I was alone, and there were no women around with whom I spoke any common language so I couldn't bum a pad from anyone! And there were 6 hours to go on the flight, to be followed by a ten hour lay over in a European airport, to be followed by another ten to twelve hours of traveling. So I had to rough it. It was very unpleasant, but at least I never had any discomfort or symptoms.

Since I was by myself, I never actually told anyone. I never mentioned it to my friends because they had already had their periods years earlier. I never mentioned it to my mother, because she was always uncomfortable talking about any "gross" bodily functions. As far as she knows, I have yet to start menstruating and I am almost 40!

I was one of those kids that never wanted to grow up, so naturally, I was the first one of my friends to get my period. I was just a little over ten years old, knew what it was right away, told my mom (who took it in stride and bought me the necessary accoutrements), and that was that. Despite having a totally crap memory, I have remembered the anniversary--May 2--every year for twenty-two years. Maybe this year I will through a party, with red tableware, of course.

My daughter got hers last year, and kept denying it. I did the laundry, so of course I knew, but she kept saying that it was not her period and she refused to admit she needed any sort of feminine hygiene product (she was using wadded up tissues). Finally, I bought her an array of items, put them in the bathroom cabinet, and didn't mention it. They've just started to disappear in the past couple of months; I quietly restock. Hopefully it's just a weird teenage embarrassment issue that will pass with time.

I didn't have time to read through all the comments to see if anyone else mentioned this, but I was really horrified by the NYT book review of this book. You can read it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/health/views/24book.html?em.

I know that this female reviewer was ultimately praising the book, but there were so many sexist remarks that I couldn't possibly get past in order to figure out her opinion.

Take this excerpt:
"At this point, male readers may want to go outside and toss a ball around for a while. No matter how sympathetic, how curious or how deeply interested in life’s little yuck factors you are, this collection is unlikely to hold more than the mildest intellectual appeal for you."

Seriously? As a woman, I can honestly say I resent my period being referred to as a "little yuck factor," and as a girlfriend, I can say I resent the suggestion that all men would a) be made uncomfortable by this subject and b) be unable to handle that discomfort in any other way than by tossing a ball around in the back yard.

Or this one:
"Most pieces are a few crisp paragraphs that manage to avoid both the chirpy “You are a woman now” song of the Tampax box and the lugubrious musings on blood, moons and fertility of the feminist academic."

And the reviewer is a doctor! Not the attitude I'd expect from my female physician, I can tell you that much...

The only time I have EVER been excited to get my period was the two times when I thought I was pregnant (hint, I wasn't). I wrote a poem about the joy of "feeling that familiar ache."

Back to the beginning: 7th grade in the bathroom of a Kingdom Hall (which is what Jehovah's Witnesses call church.) Around this time, I had already begun to doubt a lot of my mother's chosen religion and getting my period there really solidified my feelings of uneasiness and distrust. I told her I felt sick, went to the bathroom, saw the unholy site, then came back and said something like "I don't think it's my stomach...I think it's something else." I have never been comfortable discussing bodily functions, except for sex, and so we left. She was trying to show me how a pad went on underwear and I was really, really embarrassed/ annoyed and just took it from her and walked off. I saw the 5th grade video and pad commercials are pretty detailed and plus, I've always been a little smartass.

I was having a period every 2 weeks for like 3 years and thought it would never "regulate itself" like my mother said it would. BAD CRAMPS that would make me vomit. Got on birth control at 16. Life's better now. I still hate getting my period. Except for when I means I'm not knocked up.

I had begun getting breasts and curves at 8, so my mother had already explained this to me in anticipation, but I didn't get the period until I was 11. I woke up one Saturday morning and went to use the bathroom and there was blood on my panties. I got a clean pair, put a pad on them, and went to watch cartoons. When my mother woke up I told her and I forget what she said.

I guess that was a pretty anti-climactic first period story.

I got my first period during summer vacation between 5th and 6th grade. I had learned about periods in 5th grade health so I knew what was happening but I was really embarrassed. I refused to tell anyone. We had a family reunion that weekend and we were all going swimming so I taught myself how to use a tampon. I remember finally telling my mom that I had my period when about six months later I overheard her talking to one of her friends saying that I hadn't gotten mine yet. Imagine my mom's response when I told her in front of her friend that "yes, I have gotten my period, and I've had it for the last 6 months." Not pretty.

I had mine the summer before 7th grade. I started on the first day of a 14 hour car trip. And thanks to my aunt, I always wrap up dead pads in toilet paper before I throw them away. I remember the first time I had to throw one away and she told me to do that. I don't know why she does it but now it's kind of habit.

Anti-climatic, I know.

I got mine the day I happened to have a dentist appointment and subsequently got to miss school. I discovered it in the morning and stayed silent about it til the end of the day where I wasn't even able to tell my mom vocally, I just said I had something to tell her then pointed to my eye, made a 'got' kind of sign, a 'my' sign, and pointed 'down there'... haha then my mom preceded to tell me I was too young for tampons and I spent the next 4 years in misery using only pads. ooh the shame of sticking something into your vagina indoctrinated so young.

I got mine the day before my fifteenth birthday. I can remember the day before that being at my dad's house and being ravenously hungry. I thought "maybe this is PMT"! I am kind of proud for guessing this.

A few months before I had had a weird brownish green discharge for a day, which I now assume was a pre-cursor. I'd been getting the "you'll start your period soon" white/clear discharge for several years and had almost given up on ever "coming on".

I think I was back home at my Mum's house before my period actually started. I stole a pad from the supply in the airing cupboard. It felt awkward to tell my Mum, but I made myself do it later that day. We were walking to the bus stop (timed so I didn't have to look her in the face) and said told her "since we're going to town you might need to know to buy some more pads".

My Mum was against the idea of tampons when I started. I can remember being shocked when she refused to give me a stamp so I could send off for a sample tampon with a coupon in a girls magazine. (This was before I'd ever started.) She never refused me access to information or banned me from doing things. I still think it was weird and somewhat out of character.

I satisfied my tampon curiosity at a later date (this is still before my first period) by stealing one of my sister's. I took an antique glass bottle from my bookshelf (nothing valuable!) which had an elongated neck. I cut open a cartridge from my cartridge pen and poured the ink into the bottle, diluted with some water. (It would be no fun if I couldn't *see* the liquid!) I then put the tampon inside the neck of the bottle, tipped it on its side and watched the tampon magically expand sideways to plug the gap!

I was less enamoured of the idea of periods when I went to the loo one day and found that my sister had forgotten to flush. I was horrified by what I now recognise as the mess that having a heavy period while using pads will cause.

I had felt pretty strange not to have "come on" yet when all my friends had--it was a relief to finally get it. Then of course I quickly changed my mind! They have always been as regular as clockwork from the very first time. I used pads at first (cheap ones, all very messy and unpleasant). Then applicator tampons (uncomfortable, I don't think I ever got them in far enough, and prone to leaking, difficult to get out if dry, etc etc). Then back to pads (more expensive ones, still messy). Now I am a total convert to the Mooncup. I still leak sometimes (working on my technique!) but it's *so* much less smelly and messy. My period is no longer an absurd, disastrous mess every month. Hurrah!

My first period taught me where my vagina was.

I had it when I was about thirteen. My older sister had told me about tampons and, curious as I was, I'd tried to insert one, but I didn't exactly know where it was supposed to go. I always figured vaginas were somewhere at the front, so I pushed and expected something to miraculously open. I was really disappointed when it didn't and the tampon wouldn't be swallowed by whatever that 'vagina' thing was.

When I first saw the spots I was incredulous, because it was not the color I expected it to be. I didn't quite believe that this was, in fact, It, and I was a bit scared that something was really really wrong. So I grabbed a mirror to trace where that junk came from, and voilà! Found my vagina.

My sis wrote me a note to congratulate me. I was so embarrassed.

I had been hanging out in my bedroom with my sisters and I'd been coming out in a bit of a cold sweat. I felt clammy and dizzy, and I thought I had low blood sugar. I went into the kitchen to get some chocolate and then talked to my Mum.

"Mum, I don't feel right."

"What's wrong?"

"I'm all dizzy and weak and feel weird."

"Eat something."

"I did!"

I went to the toilet, hoping the chocolate would lift my energy levels a little. I pulled down my pants and there it was. The Big Red. I knew it would be coming one day, and I was sort wondering when it WOULD hit because I was fifteen and a half! This weird feeling gripped me. It was excitement, fear, pride, dismay, all those things at once. And then I let out a long groan as I realised I'd have to start wearing pads.

"Great."

Periods have always been a bane in our family, and mine would be no different (I have endometriosis. It was the start of monthly hell for me). So I got up, cleaned myself up as best I could, stuffed toilet paper down my pants and then waddled over to Mum. There's a line I'd heard on some TV show or movie, and I used it now.

"Mum, I'm haemorrhaging." She gave me an alarmed look and I realised she didn't get my reference. "My period, Mum, I just got my period."

I could see a sparkle in her eyes and I could tell she was trying not to smile. She directed me to the ladies supplies and grabbing a new pair of knickers, retreated to the toilet to change.

Upon exiting the toilet, two of my sisters, Lisa and Helen, were standing outside the bathroom with big crazy smiles on their faces. Mum must have told them.

"What?"

Leaping forward, they threw a blanket over my head, grabbed me and lifted me up and started running me around in the house making a sound not unlike Xena's warrior cry. A tribal sound, they were celebrating my womanhood. I laughed and I tell you, it felt special.

Didn't get to do it to my little sister, she kept it a secret deliberately so we wouldn't do it to her. I reckon she missed out.

No, I didn't have to sit on a bucket for days.

I got mine on February 17th 2002. It was rather uneventful - the only reason I remember the date is because there was a TV special I had been waiting for on that night.

It depressed the hell out of me. I've never reacted well to change, and I hated the idea of being a slave to this bodily function for the rest of my life. I was also horrendously embarrassed by the concept and I hated having to ask my mom for pads.

I think my primary issue was that I was very self-conscious about my body in my early teenage years. I mean, I felt the same way about wearing a bra! Open communication about these kinds of things would have helped me a lot, but I was the kind who covered my ears and yelled. For some reason I always felt like it had to be a big secret - but I was not a normal kid. I came into life with preconceived notions about what is fair, and the unpleasant parts of being a girl weren't! Took me 4 or 5 years to adjust.

I'm still not normal though! ;)

I have a bit of a rant about why I hate & resent periods. Apologies in advance. This is a long rant. I have a lot to say about my periods! Please just scroll straight to the end if you can't be bothered reading. I will post about my first period, but also about my experience of periods in general. I really want to talk about it somewhere, and I haven't yet found a blog post that is about period pain. I've always been surprised by society's focus on the emotions of periods = PMS (I've never had it); but not on physical experience of periods = painful cramps (which to me has seemed the most important). My education about periods & the help available to me should have been much better than it was. I still feel like I can't talk with my Mum or friends about how difficult (& painful!!!) periods used to be for me. It is something I want to talk about because they have had a big impact on me, but they are still something I feel pressured to not mention. I am a Christian, raised in a Presbyterian Christian home, in New Zealand. I am now 22.

1. HOW I FIRST LEARNT ABOUT PERIODS
- and sex: from conservative Christian man Dr James Dobson, from reading his book when I was 10 years old, "Preparing for Adolescence". That book was my first 'sex education' (I don't remember ever asking about where babies came from before that, I guess I either knew it was meant to be "secret" or else I just wasn't curious). The only thing I remember from that book is reading that "some girls may experience mild pain/discomfort" when they get their periods. Well, I thought I was a pretty tough girl. I could withstand chinese burns for longer than any of my friends or my brothers. So I thought that it would be unlikely that I would have any period pain when I got my period - and if I did, it would probably only be very mild.

2. MY FIRST PERIOD: Christmas Eve, midnight, soon before I turned 14. I had cramps & noticed watery browny blood when I went to the toilet. I sure hoped nothing bad was happening. It didn't look like blood (= my period) to me. In the morning there was more of it & I realised I had my period. I used toilet paper because I raided the bathrooms but couldn't find any pads. I was too embarrassed to tell my Mum. It was holidays, my brothers & Dad were around, and it was hard to find Mum alone. She found out when she found a pair of my undies, a few days later.

3. MY PERIODS EVER SINCE
- I've always used pads. I like pads. I've tried tampons many times but trying to wear them is always excruciating for me, even when I try hard to relax & go slowly.
- The blood never bothers me at all. I've never found it gross. I don't like my periods. They are just a (rather inconvenient) bodily function. I don't feel like they make me 'womanly' or anything. I don't hate them. What I really do hate is the pain. Periods are normal. Severe pain is not normal. Since my first period, my period cramps increasingly became more and more painful, quite quickly. I never passed out, and many other girls get worst cramps than I did, but they were the worst pain - I have yet ever had to endure. I threw up sometimes, not because I felt nauseaus, but because my body was doing everything it could think of to 'expel' the pain. Painkillers never helped. The pain was just in my lower stomach region, never in my back or legs.
- when I had painful periods I would just toss & turn on the couch with a hot water bottle & tell my family "I had a sore stomach" (hoping they would realise I had my period, but too shy to say it myself. My Mum knew). My Mum treated my severe pain as if it was normal. She never took me to the doctor or anything. So I believed that my cramps were normal and that I was just being very weak and pathetic - that my pain was 'psychological'. I thought that I must be a very weak person to be experiencing this much pain, because no one else seemed to. Or perhaps they did but everyone else was tougher than me and could 'soldier on' with life as usual. I needed my Mum to treat my severe pains as not okay, as not "normal", and to take me to the doctor to find out solutions. My health nurse also treated my severe cramps as "normal", giving me panadol, but no information on other pain remedies for cramps. I didn't know that there was anything else I could do to help with the pain.
- I "soldiered on" as much as was physically possible when I had my periods. I didn't miss a day of school for the first 3 years, even though I couldn't concentrate in class so class was pointless. Eventually my pains got so bad in one maths class that I was terrified I would not be able to stand when the bell went. I was imagining myself trying to stand up, but then falling, and I was imagining the embarrasment of having to be carried out by some of the guys in my class. I felt slightly better when the bell rang & I did manage to walk out myself.
- Since then I developed a completely different attitude to my periods. I realised that my extreme pain was not something normal that most 'other' women just dealt with. I realised that the worst thing for my body was to just "soldier on". I realised that I was not being weak or pathetic when I said I had cramps or lay on the couch, or missed school. I started to treat myself completely different when I got my periods. I stayed home if I needed to. I went to the sickbay before my pains got too bad. I nurtured my poor body when I had painful cramps. I respected that when my body had painful cramps it was telling me to "slow down". None of this made the cramps less painful. But it was much better for me than "soldiering on" (and pretending I wasn't in pain) had been.

4. FINALLY, MEDICATION THAT STOPPED THE PAIN!
- In my last years of high school my Mum brought home some over-the-counter period pain medication (Ponstan). I had no idea such a thing existed! It was incredible. It took away almost all of my pains. I was incredulous & angry that no one had mentioned to me before that such a thing existed. It was such a ridiculously simple medication, and it really worked. I had been sure that - if such a thing had even existed - I would have needed my male doctor to give me a prescription. If me or my Mum had known of it any earlier, we would have darted straight to the pharmacy!

5. WHAT I WISH HAD GONE DIFFERENTLY FOR ME
- I wish that I had never had the understanding that "periods" should not be kept secret. If I knew all along that periods should not be embarrassing or shameful I would have asked my Mum - the Health Nurse - and other people about why mine seemed so much more painful than my friends periods, and if there was any medication I could take. I just would have asked. Also, if periods were treated at my home as normally as headaches or anything else my Mum would have taken me to the doctor to get help for my periods [and I could have had the courage to talk to a male doctor]. I am angry that my headaches & migraines made my parents quickly take me to the doctor but my severely painful periods never did. My period pains were so much worse than any migraine. Interestingly, both my headaches/migraines and my severely painful cramping were related to my period - but only the headaches were deemed important enough to my mother for a visit to the doctor!
- my "sex education" should have started before I was 10, in case I got my period when I was younger. Also, Dr James Dobson should not have taught me about periods. A woman should have taught me about periods, a woman who tells the plain truth (that it is not just "some" women who get "mild pain" with periods, but actually "most" women, and for 1 in 3 of these women they experience "moderate to severe pain" - like me! I was normal!! And I was not just being weak and pathetic!!). My "sex education" should have included information about all the types of pain relief available, and also about all the period related medical conditions that some women experience. This information is extremely important for girls to be taught, because many (like me) will have a lot of trouble directly asking for it due to the secrecy & embarrassment associated with menstruation. Also, my health nurse should have shared this information with me.

6. HOW HAS MY BAD EXPERIENCES WITH PERIODS CHANGED ME?
- I am now terrified of severe pain. I am now terrified of childbirth. Period pains are the worst pains I have ever had. They were very hard to endure, but my body managed to do that somehow. I would be shattered, exhausted, after my period cramps had left me. I can't imagine willingly volunteering for that - but 10x worst - by having a child (I plan to adopt instead). I used to think I was a tough little girl who could withstand pain. I have changed my mind. I hate pain & I will run from it. I don't have the energy or determination to be a "tough girl" or a "tough woman" anymore when it comes to pain. I haven't had sex yet. Having sex for the first time sounds terrifying. Some friends have told me it is excruciating (though I understand that isn't true for every woman). I feel like there is a lot of pain associated with reproduction for women, and no equivalent for men. We have period cramps (which for many, are excruciating) (and because of hormonal changes we are more likely than men are to get headaches/migraines), sex for the first time is painful for us, pregnancy is uncomfortable, childbirth is painful, breastfeeding is painful, menopause is uncomfortable or painful.