A Gush of Red

As I have said in my previous post, I had a couple of ideas about what I wanted to write for the next few posts... However, those ideas will be shelved for later as there is an important and unavoidable issue which has made itself present for me.

Lycanthropes, or simply werewolves, transform into terrible beasts once a month on a full moon.

Female homo sapiens, or just women, also transform into cranky "monsters" once a month.

With that said, I want to talk about my period. Period.

For those of you who are too squeamish to read about it, you can kindly wait for my next post. Or you can woman up (yes, I said woman up, not man up) and read it as it will contain some useful information. For those of you who are going through the same thing I'm going through right now, I feel you and I hope you eat lots of red meat, dried fruit, and other necessary iron-rich food.

So let's get some facts straight.

1. All women go through this, and the first period for a woman signifies that her body has matured enough to bear children.
   
2. Once a woman goes through her first period, her body goes through the menstrual cycle until menopause. An average menstrual cycle takes about 28 days and women have their period during 2~7 days of that cycle. (Wikipedia ftw)
   
3. When women menstruate, we're not actually bleeding pure blood (although a good majority of it is blood). We are shedding our uterine lining through our vaginas. And just in case there are people out there who actually think we pee and menstruate through the same hole, we don't. We have 3 holes: one for peeing, one for sex/menstruating, and one for pooping.

Yesterday, Mother-nature decided to punch me in the lower-guts to begin my monthly menstruation. Luckily enough, I was in the bathroom when I found out, so I did not ruin any of my clothes and my work chair was not stained with blood. However, with my "lucky" discovery came the excruciating pain, the cramps. Unfortunately, I am one of the many unlucky women who deal with cramps during their period. Mine always starts on the first day or second day of my period and ends after a day or two. I know that there are others who get longer-lasting cramps and some who don't get cramps at all. I'm envious of the latter but I am still grateful that the cramps do not last too long. But, of course, when I start feeling the cramps, I don't think about my situation that way because it feels like something extremely sharp is drilling my ovaries to smithereens and I just want to scream. During the two agonizing days, I chant my mantra, "I hate being a woman. I wish I was a man," and ibuprofen becomes my best friend.

Over the past 8 years, I have observed that my cycle takes about a month and I can easily predict when my period will be coming. There are also other symptoms that make it easier for me to prepare as I, without a doubt, have PMS (pre-menstrual syndrome) the week before it begins. I become very emotional, unhappy, and even depressed. When I had a boyfriend, the week before my period I'd become very unhappy with him and complain about my problems with him to my friends. There have been several times where I had small fights/arguments with him because I was PMS'ing*. This time around, I did not PMS (or I may have without realizing), but there were times when I would cry while watching a very sad episode of a TV drama. As I'm not the only woman who PMS before her period, so I don't feel too bad. But I do get annoyed when men think "She has PMS, RUN!!!" because it's very offensive and rude to women. It's like men are dissing our very nature. I haven't met any jerks like that yet, but when I meet one that ever says anything similar to that, I'm going to make sure I smack his face.

Oh, and before I forget, a big thank-you to all my friends who repeatedly endure my PMS-induced complaints and etc. You guys rock for being there for me even in my crappiest mood and conditions.

I mentioned before that "I hate being a woman", and I must say, I don't quite agree with my own statement and feel sorry about saying it sometimes. I do think it's unfair that women have to go through monthly periods, and the pains of birthing a child. However, I am proud to be a woman. Women are amazing for having enough emotional, mental, and physical strength to bring life into the world. Of course, women can't do that without the help of men. However, men are not the ones going through the burden of carrying a baby for 9 months and sacrificing their body, their time, and their already-sensitive hormonal system. So, as I said, I'm proud to be a woman, but I just wish I didn't have such bad cramps during my period. Haha!

Well that ends my big rant. If you've read through it all, I hope you've gotten something out of it.

I promise that my next post will be about a more fun subject. You can also suggest what my next topic should be in the comments! Or ask a daring question for me to answer.

Until next time...

<3,
Margi

P.S. Let me know if I made any grammatical mistakes *cough cough* ;]

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* I use PMS as a verb but it is actually a noun.