I have never had a real serious problem - 4 days max - ever. And like some have said the 2nd day "hurts" the worst - 3 xtr strenght Tylenol and I'm good to go. I have noticed that in the past 6 mos, they have gotten "heavier". Never missed work either.

"duvet days" -- I love it!

I've never taken a sick day because of a period.

Until 9 months ago.

I never had cramps/bleeding/anything until a few years ago. I think my hormones changed after giving birth. Slowly periods have gotten worse and I've started having cramps, horrible cramps.

I decided to start back on the pill, which I hate because it eliminates my sex drive and makes me bitchy. The first month was great, less bleeding/cramping. The second month - wow. Without warning - no cramps or anything, as I stood at my desk talking with my coworker, I suddenly felt a warm rush down my legs, and thought I had somehow managed to lose control of my bladder and had pissed myself.

Then I looked down and saw the blood running down both legs. goddam ruined my practically new heels. My uterus had apparently collected 17 quarts of blood and was pushing it suddenly out of my bagina. I was clotting and bleeding and gushing.

Scared the living shit out of me. I used to think that all the chicks who stayed home from school or work were a bunch of whiny ass bitches who just wanted to take a day off.

*edited of spurious comment for the sake of not killing another thread*
:)


Anyhoo, much like smurf's situation....I've stayed at home because I woke up soaking in a lot of blood and fealt dizzy. When you wake up in pints and pints of your own blood you might just want to give yourself a day of rest. Call in. Drink some OJ. Take some Tylenol. I don't think that happens to everyone but it certainly can....It's happened twice to me. Once while I was working and once unemployed...I will tell you, if you wake up and it looks like someone was stabbed to death right where you are lying...give yourself a break and see how you feel..(to work or not). Come to think of it...I did go to work anyway, I needed the hours..I was unemployed the other time...ok...revision:don't be like me. I'm not sure where all the blood comes from at once, but if you don't understand the big deal, you might not, until you find yourself in the middle of it. Especially if it's too soon to be doing that anyway....talk about a holy shit moment.

My husband never understood the PMS and the menstruation drama until he sadly found himself a part of it. (uuugh) For the first time he seemed to have some empathy and a new uderstanding. He didn't really want to talk about it, but visually that was about enough.

I haven't really fallen victim to PMS aside from a couple of times that I've drank and became a raging banshee. Hindsight is 20/20....Had I thought about it I might have known not to have that beer because I was PMS'ing. I don't notice it until it's too late...so if you know you are PMS'ing you might not want to drink that glass of wine. That's the only time I can tell I'm PMS'ing....if I happen to drink the night before the obnoxious flow. Usually I don't even notice PMS though.

I'm always scared that I'll get into that smurf situation where it doesn't happen in my sleep, and I'm actually in public wearing a dress or skirt or something. It could...so I wear slacks a lot. Over-stock of tampons at work and a wrap around the waste item just in case.


So there's T.M.I.

Good day!

For a long time I got serious PMT. Trouble is it started about a week before I was due, continued through the 3-4 days of sheer hell, and only really lifted about 1-2 days after that. Basically I had PMT for almost half the month. Stomach cramps, and just feeling off-colour and queasy for a couple of days before, followed by a really bad 3-4 days, with heavy bloodloss, cramps, very bad nausea and weakness. There's usually one day (day 2) that's particularly bad and I sometimes take that day as a rest day.

These days the PMT isn't half as bad and the lead up isn't as bad in terms of cramps and stuff either. usually now, it's just a general feeling of tiredness and bad stomach for a couple days, followed by a light bloodloss day, one really bad day and then gradually better across 2 or 3 days.

I had always been pretty lucky with loss and pain, until late 20's...then I started getting migraines that would leave me bed ridden for at least a day, doped up to the eyebrows. Vitex Agnus improved this greatly.

Best thing ever was having the Mirena inserted. Now I know when I *should* be cycling and ovulating, but I dont get any of the shit that comes with them :)