Surviving Periods For FTM's

[TamTam]

Some girls get cramps that are indeed pretty crippling. It's no reason to call somebody pathetic.  I was only trying to help.

[Dennis]

I agree TamTam. My ex used to get cramps that knocked her out of commission for at least one day and she was not a whiner. Endometriosis can make them pretty unbearable and, as bad as a migraine, from what I've heard.

Dennis

[Drik]

Yeah, I had to skip PE every time I had my period.
Cramps were so bad I almost fainted ( and, uhm, I can take a lot of pain, so dont tell me Im a wuss or that Im pathetic).

Anyway, I cant deal with tampons either. I dont even wanna touch that place and I start hyperventilating when other people try (yes, even gynecologists). Its really weird. They are gonna check me for PCO, cause I sometimes go 4-5 months without it.. I still have horrible cramps and I bleed for like 9 days >.>

oh, and.. uhm.. I use pads.

[Elwood]

But quantitatively, what is a lot of pain? A lot of people don't know what real pain feels like. I takes a great deal of trauma to know what extreme pain is like.

One girl that I know had a lot of pain had two uteruses. Both of them filled up every month, but only one would bleed. The other remained bloated. I understand that she was in a lot of pain. She had a reason to stay home on her period, which was actually almost always constant because of her blood disorder.

I am not here to call people wussies. But I know that not EVERY girl has that much pain (or guy). The fact is, it's the minority of people who have period pain so bad they cannot stand, and it's usually only one or two days of the period, not the whole week.

But yes, it is different for everyone, and I know that.

[Luc]

I can totally feel for anyone who has painful periods. Mine started at 10 and were horribly painful for a good 15 years... I'm finally on T, thank god. As far as leaking, I've been through it time and time again, and didn't figure out a solution until about a year ago... and I gotta say, tampons are a godsend. I spent years worrying about pads leaking on school chairs and all and finally gave up trying. Use tampons, and try to get a prescription from your doc for a good pain-killer.

SD

[Elwood]

Starting early is certainly one of the major factors for pain... Glad you found a solution.

[Dante]

Well, my biggest deal is that I get that drippy feeling. I hate that. I get really minor cramps, like a stomach ache, but lower. I ride my bike to and from school, and on my period, it can be difficult, especially when you get to school with a huge wedgie from the bike seat. But it doesn't hurt to ride, it just feels really nasty.

For now, I'm ok because I'm on summer break.

As for bringing extras, I have really nosy friends, one, and two, I always forget to put some in my backpack. And we don't have paper towels in my school bathrooms, there was a problem with people sticking spitwads to the ceiling. And the single-ply toilet paper just shreds up.

And you can't get out of PE without a doctor's note. Otherwise, you can 'forget' your PE clothes, but you get in trouble for that.

It really sucks.

[Elwood]

I know how to get out of PE without a doctor's note. Pass out. Lol.

Seriously. I'd tell them I was feeling sick and they wouldn't believe me. I passed out at least twice at my school.

[Lokaeign]

Cramps should never be an excuse for anything. It helps me to say, "be a man, don't cry like all those girls over there are." I mean, seriously. How bad can it be? Is it as bad as my migraines? When I sprained my wrist or bruised my tail bone? Is it as bad as my wisdom teeth getting pulled? Bad as the time I split the roof of my mouth? Probably not. Did I cry when any of those things happened? Well, when I sprained my wrist, I was in 5th grade... and I was a toddler when I split the roof of my mouth... but did I cry because it was painful? No. I cried because I was scared ->-bleeped-<-less. The point is, I hate it when girls say, "Oh, I can't WORK. I'm BLEEDING." It's so pathetic...

Ow.  Dude, I kind of have to take issue with that, I'm afraid.  If someone laughed off your migranes as "just a headache" and told you to pull yourself together, you'd have something to say about it, right?  This is kind of like that.

I've suffered from cripplingly painful periods most of my adult life.  I subscribe to the "if you can walk you can work" school of thought but guess what--sometimes I've been so creased up with pain that I couldn't make the 5 minute stroll to get pain pills let alone get to my job.  More painful than my migranes?  Yep.  More painful than the time I was going down the mountain on a sled and a rock bashed through the sled and hit my tailbone?  Yep.  More painful than some of the times I've been punched?  Yep.  So painful I throw up, pass out, bite through pencils, contemplate suicide... sometimes for DAYS without a break.  Plus dangerously high levels of blood-loss, mid-month bleeds, etc.

And I have no medical diagnosis to wave in front of people.  There are a variety of conditions, some of them quite dangerous, which could be causing this but none of the medical practitioners I've talked to have bothered to investigate the symptoms.  Why?  Because most doctors have the same attitude you do.  Silly little girl, fussing over a tummyache.

[Jamie-o]

I've suffered from cripplingly painful periods most of my adult life.  I subscribe to the "if you can walk you can work" school of thought but guess what--sometimes I've been so creased up with pain that I couldn't make the 5 minute stroll to get pain pills let alone get to my job.  More painful than my migranes?  Yep.  More painful than the time I was going down the mountain on a sled and a rock bashed through the sled and hit my tailbone?  Yep.  More painful than some of the times I've been punched?  Yep.  So painful I throw up, pass out, bite through pencils, contemplate suicide... sometimes for DAYS without a break.  Plus dangerously high levels of blood-loss, mid-month bleeds, etc.

And I have no medical diagnosis to wave in front of people.  There are a variety of conditions, some of them quite dangerous, which could be causing this but none of the medical practitioners I've talked to have bothered to investigate the symptoms.  Why?  Because most doctors have the same attitude you do.  Silly little girl, fussing over a tummyache.

I'm no doctor, but this sounds like a lot more than normal menstrual cramps.  My advice would be to keep trying doctors until you find one who will listen.  Chain yourself to the doctor's desk until s/he agrees to run some tests if you must.   Joking aside, as you said, it could be the sign of something truly serious.  Be a total b**** if you have to, but don't take no for an answer.

[Nero]

I don't really get cramps. Well, I guess I do, but really nothing more than just a dull ache in my gut.
Though I recall getting them really bad during puberty. What helped me then was (if I was at home), to get on all fours on my bed and just sit like that, your stomach hanging above the bed. The uterus points downward and relieves the pain for awhile. Course I suppose in an emergency, you could do this on the floor of a restroom. It really helps.

[Drik]

Lokaeign: Has anyone tested you for PCOS?

[Lokaeign]

Lokaeign: Has anyone tested you for PCOS?

So far, no-one's tested me for anything.  Could be PCOS, could be endo, could be a lot of things...  Now I'm moving into middle-age they might pay a bit more attention, but I'm not holding my breath.  I'm finding that as I (slowly) persuade my body to move around and put on muscle, the really bad bouts are less frequent.

[Dante]

My sister used to get it real bad. She'd sit in her chair like always, but now with a blanket over her, and one of those heating pads on her stomach. She's playing it up as much as she can, and I know it, but every time she'd get hers, she'd throw up, and it was nasty. The whole day is always what she wants to do (not like that's much different from normal), and anything I had planned is thrown aside. I realize she's in pain, but I also know she's not in as much pain as she looks like she's in. She's a real drama queen, like the founding father of the word. Sorry to rant, but it's true.

I got my first period when I was 10. December 15. The worst day of my life. The first time I got my period, I was crying and crying, and I couldn't figure out why. It was like I was dying or something, but I was in no pain at all. Only now do I realize why I was crying; that was the day that this all started. The day I began to realize I was transgendered. And man, do I wish I could go back and fix it. But anyway, that's my story. Sorry to rant more.

[Lokaeign]

The whole day is always what she wants to do (not like that's much different from normal), and anything I had planned is thrown aside. I realize she's in pain, but I also know she's not in as much pain as she looks like she's in. She's a real drama queen, like the founding father of the word. Sorry to rant, but it's true.

I'd like to see anyone try and get away with that in our house... I inherited my physical issues from my paternal grandmother--my mum never had these problems so she assumed I was showing off.

I can relate to the negative feelings around menarche.  I didn't cry or feel too broken up, but I wasn't happy.  I kind of bought into the idea that I'd get used to it, like I'd get used to all my other gender weirdness.  23 years later and that still hasn't happened.

[Aiden]

Can't use tampons, tried, couldn't do it, same with pep-smears.  I freaked out.  Nightmares and everything...  *shudders*  As long as my body is not reminding me it's female I'm fine... but that goes beyound reminding me...   And yet I'm heavy enough that I end up using nightpads like regular pads.  Part of that is also insecurity as well.  For them 5 days I can't stand to do any moving around normally and I have to force myself to keep my legs together as I tend to sit with legs spread slightly or crossed normally.   Just complete discomfort the entire time... always worried someone notice, etc and there are many times where all I wanted to do was hide at home.  I have to force myself to leave the house.

I'm just lucky most of my pain I get within a week before my time of month most of time and not during it usually.  When do have it bad have found eating banana's help, or of course pain medication.  For a long time I thought I had to carry a purse because of it (which hated) have found a backpack is more suitable and acceptable for both men and women.  (Plus can carry all my school or work stuff and snackage in it as well and my computer lol)

[Elwood]

I can't use tampons for a few reasons. One, I'm rather small and tight, because I never stick anything in there, so it's quite an effort to get anything in (for medical reasons, of course). Also, whenever anything does go in there, I feel quite strange. Not scared, not disgusted, not nauseous. Just weird. Something just feels wrong about it. Wrong like when you see a dog taking a crap on the side of the road but you think he was a little gray man hunched over. Wrong like when you see a man who's missing an arm or a leg. Wrong like when you have a large splinter lodged into your leg, it doesn't hurt, but you can feel the object embedded into your skin. Just wrong.

I've never had a pap smear. But I'll have to before I start T, I imagine. Or rather, after I start T. I'm not sure which, but because I have a female body, it's going to have to happen eventually. I've had a yeast infection rather recently and I had to stick a plastic device up in there so I could inject medication. That for me was very difficult to do. It really just felt wrong to me to have something lodged into a hole in my body that isn't even supposed to be there.

I don't have to close my legs during my period. You should ask your doctor about that... if it smells or is a flow that heavy, I mean. I don't think any of the boys here like their periods.

My pain is during my period, because blood is coming out of a hole I shouldn't even have. It's like an open injurty. I feel like a wounded soldier who got stabbed in the nuts, except I just keep bleeding and bleeding and bleeding.

As for a purse, I prefer a briefcase. I'm looking for something like this:



It's actually a doctor's briefcase. They're quite hard to find in this particular style (this one's vintage).

But really, there's no reason to need all that "stuff" when you're out and about. I carry around my MP3 player, my harmonica, my phone (which is on my belt) and my wallet. Most guys don't even carry that much. You won't need a purse/backpack if you carry only what you need. As for school, you can use a messenger bag if you want. That's not a purse.

[Aiden]

Well just walking about I don't usually carry anything but whats in my pockets.  Going to school, or work I carry a backpack, for school it's good to carry books and my laptop as well as soemthing to snack on and drink so am not spending money at the vending machines.  For work I carry my dinner and drink as well as planner, sometimes bring my own coffee grounds because I don't like Maxwell house coffee which they have there.

It also has my bus scedules in it lol.  Takes to many dang buses to get where I need to go lol


Otherwise, just carry my phone, wallet, keys and buspass if need it

[Elwood]

Ah. Well, men can figure out how to carry a lot of stuff without carrying purses. You could get a fanny pack or something, too. I know I wore a fanny pack for a while, but I'm also not afraid of looking like a "nerd." Mostly because I am one. Or at least I look like one.

[Aiden]

Ah. Well, men can figure out how to carry a lot of stuff without carrying purses. You could get a fanny pack or something, too. I know I wore a fanny pack for a while, but I'm also not afraid of looking like a "nerd." Mostly because I am one. Or at least I look like one.

fanny pack?  Yuck...

Prefere my nice black eastport backpack.  Very rugged looking just like I like it