Awful Period Story

[Alyssa]

This happened to me in April. It was my birthday, and I got my period unexpectedly while I was at school in a Biology lab. I didn't have a tampon in my backpack and I didn't bring my wallet, so I went to the bathroom and put a ton of toilet paper on my underwear as a makeshift pad (but it was crappy one ply toilet paper so it didn't work very well). And ten minutes after that lab ended I had an English class to go to (working on a group project, attendance taken, etc so I couldn't skip). I only knew a few people in that class, my group partners, and none of them had a tampon to give me.

To top it all off I had AWFUL cramps that started during my English class, and after the class I had to wait half an hour for my mom to pick me up because she was out shopping and I had a blood spot on my crotch and didn't want to ride the city bus with 100 other students.

After I got home I was basically curled up in the fetal position on my bed in agony from the cramps and my dad showed up unexpectedly to take me out to dinner (that plus $10 was his birthday gift to me).

Yeah, it was not fun.

[plethorian]

Oooof, well doesn't that sound positively delightful. Cramps are the worst. Basically the primary reason I first started taking birth control, I wanted them gone gone gone! Do you always get awful cramps?

[Alyssa]

I always get cramps the first few days, but they vary in how bad they are. Sometimes I can feel that I'm going to get them soon, you know? So I'll take pain killers before they actually start.

I would start birth control, but I don't want to go to the clinic and get the prescription and all that. I don't know how much it would be because I don't have health insurance and I wouldn't know what clinic to go to and how much that would cost... It's just easier to buy a box of condoms, haha.

[plethorian]

Oh, well my plan doesn't cover it either, and it is a bit pricey, but it for sure helps me sleep at night to know that I've got an almost perfect backup and no cramps! Just for a reference point, if you're interested, mine are like 45 for two months worth. In Canadian dollars, of course. I just go to my family doctor.

[shadow]

My periods have never been regular, but it wasn't really an issue. But bc was a godsend for it. I always feel so fortunate that I get mine for free with the NHS when people talk about paying for it on the blog. =[

[Alyssa]

I don't have a family doctor, because my family is on the state health insurance that's for poor people, haha. So we don't just have "a doctor", we go to a certain clinic and get looked at by whoever is there. But now that I'm 19 I'm not covered under that, so I would have to find a free clinic and probably be put on a huge waiting list, haha.

My periods aren't really regular either, but meh. Condoms are just more affordable and easier to get.

[plethorian]

I think walk-in clinics (we have those in canada, at least) give them out. But if you're okay with using just condoms (and you are a brave, brave person for it!) then go for it.