I’m not built to be a woman.
I remember at 11 years old, I was stumbling out of my bedroom, sweating and delirious wondering why my stomach was in knots and in grueling pain. Within an instant, I lost all sensation first in my legs, arms and then my entire body.
Blood soaked my pants. I fainted on the very first day of my first ever period.
For those without menstrual cycles, this is not representative of a universal experience. However, extreme pain is not uncommon.
When I was 21, I was diagnosed with dysmenorrhea, which is a medical term to describe painful menstrual cycles or cramps according to a Cleveland Clinic article.
According to the same article, 60% of people with menstrual cycles reported to have mild cramps, while up to 15% of people have reported to have severe pain with their periods that prevents them from carrying out daily activities. However, the article also said many of these cases can go unreported so the statistic may be much higher.
So many cases go unreported because of the stigma surrounding periods. Menstruation is considered a taboo topic in classrooms, social circles and in various communities and cultures.
In a 2022 U.N. article, period poverty is a frequent experience around the world.
Period poverty is where many individuals in countries face insecurity of period products, education and resources.
In the same article, it was reported that a 12-year-old girl was afraid to tell her parents about her period because in her community it was considered a sign that she was ready for marriage.
A person’s menstrual cycle can affect their bodily autonomy, health, social status and biological development.
Ever since elementary school, I’ve been taught that menstrual cycles are “debris” of the uterus. Or also as a nest built inside you for a baby, and every month that nest is deconstructed and thrown out as bodily waste.
These terms like “debris” and “waste” have negative connotations that make periods seem like a gross, unnatural and disgusting process.
It feels shameful to talk about your own period, let alone any problems or difficulties you
experience.
I was always taught to tuck away my pads and tampons in my pocket on the way to the bathroom. In a house full of men, I made sure to wrap up my used pad five times with toilet paper so they wouldn’t see blood in the trash can.
I wasn’t able to talk about my period and its life-threatening symptoms.
Every month, I’d have to change overnight pads every two hours throughout the day, going through a whole pack of pads at the end of the week.
I’d lose so much blood. I would be so embarrassed when I bled onto my pants and had to go home to change multiple times a day.
I would then go to work as a barista and try my best to focus on making drinks while my body was fighting the urge to collapse in on itself.
My period was interfering with my everyday life. Ten days of every month, every year.
I went to see a doctor in high school, college and even now as I am near graduation, and the only answer they have for me is to take birth control pills to regulate my cycle, and iron pills for the lack of vitamins and nutrients in my body.
Birth control pills can regulate menstrual cycles. Cramps, pain, acne and other symptoms are controlled hormonally. However hormone pills can affect your body drastically, in both positive and negative ways.
In my case, it was often negative.
The first hormonal pill I took in high school worked effectively with my cycle, shortening my period to only two to four days a month. My acne disappeared and my pores were so clear and best yet my cramps only lasted two days at most.
But there was a downside. I was extremely depressed. I saw a drastic change in my mood, I felt numb all the time and my focus was off, I wasn’t paying attention in class, my grades were plummeting.
During those six months I was on my first pill, my body was thriving, but my mental health was crumbling by the minute. My GPA stooped so low it took me an entire semester to get me back on track to graduate.
I stopped taking the pill, and it took a few months to feel normal again mentally speaking at least. Eventually, my menstrual cycle returned to its cycle of pain and casting hell in my abdomen every month. But at least my GPA was back, and I started to feel like myself again.
Since then, I’ve had to go through multiple battles with multiple pills, trying to choose between my physical or mental health since, unfortunately, many of the pills I tried wouldn’t allow me both.
One would make me bleed more in between cycles, another caused worse pain than my regular cycle, others would increase my anxiety, acne, bloating, headaches and spiraling me into further insanity.
I’m currently off birth control pills, but still have to call off of work some days, buy menthol pads and stock up on tea every month to make sure I make it through another cycle without fainting or worse.
I was 21 years old when I was diagnosed with dysmenorrhea. It took ten years from when I first fainted to be diagnosed with a condition that many people around the world suffer through. These problems go unnoticed because of the stigma of periods, the systemic sexism that comes to women’s medical issues, lack of education, lack of resources and the lack of research that goes into women's health.
Periods need to stop being considered taboo. Severe bleeding is not normal, pain so intense that your body loses all of its senses is not common, being so delusional to the point where you can’t comprehend someone’s order at work because you’re trying to stay standing shouldn’t be a frequent occurrence.
Periods should not be a difficult topic to talk about. It’s a natural process, it’s a development of the human body. It’s not human waste, stop comparing it to feces.
According to a report by the National Library of Medicine, women’s health has historically been under researched and underfunded. Only recently has medical research on women and minorities been focused on.
In order to learn what’s “normal” for periods, we need to treat menstrual cycles as normal. Only then can we diagnose abnormalities and find real solutions to problems within an individual's menstrual cycle.
For the next girl growing up with her menstrual cycle, I hope she’s given plenty of choices of pads, tampons and liners. And if she happens to faint or needs a day off work, please extend some empathy, some understanding and some comfort, she’ll need it.
