Questions about Period

[thetiniestghost]

My period has always given me trouble, but recently I've kinda become a little concerned about certain things with it. I've had my period since I was 11 and normally it would come around the 13th of every month. Around July or so of last year it started coming a lot later (it came on the 25th once) until it settled on the 18th. Now, even though I've had my period for a while, I've heard it's normal for your cycle to switch dates sometimes, so I wasn't worried at first. Then the pain I'd normally get from cramps and pms started to get really bad on the first 2-3 days and then become nonexistent for the other 4-5 (my periods typically last 7-8 days). On top of that my pms symptoms started getting worse. Now I'm getting really bad vertigo, nausea, headaches, and random body pains in addition to the worsened cramps. I've never missed school/stayed home because of it but I did end up spending the last block of my school day in the nurse's office when I got it in January and I had to leave a sleepover early last month because I couldn't handle the pain and stuff without medication. I usually take Advil/ibuprofen to manage it all but recently I switched to Midol because the Advil wasn't helping as much anymore.

Is it normal for that to happen or is this something I should be concerned about?

(Also I figured I ask about this too since I've been thinking about it, but is it normal to have been getting (lighter) period-like cramps since you were a little kid? I used to get them all the time from around kindergarten on and they'd usually last for a few hours. They'd happen in the morning and often wake me up early. Since I didn't really know anything about my body when I was little, I just assumed I was getting stomach pains, but the pain would be in the same area my period cramps are now and none of the usual remedies my family would use for stomach aces would work to stop the pain (i.e. going to the bathroom, drinking more water, etc).)

Hopefully this doesn't sound too weird or anything

[Siân]

Hi there thetiniest ghost,

Severe period pains are something that we'd generally advise getting checked out by a healthcare professional as it can be a sign of Endometriosis. The additional symptoms you're describing make it something worth getting checked out, and your doctor can also answer the questions you have about similar pains when you were younger. Is this kind of healthcare something you have access to?

[thetiniestghost]

I'm not sure I have access to that at the moment, as my parents are dealing with some other medical apointments/tests for close relatives at the moment. I'd have to ask my mom about it. I'm a little nervous about telling her about it all though. Do you have any tips/ideas on how to tell her so she'll understand what's going on?

[Sam W]

Hi thetiniestghost,

It might be simplest to tell her a version of what you told us. That is, that you've noticed your cramps getting worse to the point of being seriously debilitating, that you're getting new symptoms on top of them, and that you need to access as healthcare provider to get checked out. Then the two of you can figure out the best way to access that care given things like insurance. Do you have any worries about how she'll respond to you telling her?

[thetiniestghost]

Ok, and yeah I do. Part of me is scared that she'll dismiss what I'm saying and blow it off as "she's just a kid with a low pain tolerance" or something like that. The other half of me (the more conserned half) is scared that she'll immediatly try and take controll of the situation and try to move faster through everything (finding a doctor, schedualing an apointment, etc.) then I feel ready to do, to the point where I end up back-tracking on my statements in order to get her to stop and forget about it. This whole situation is very new and pretty nerve-racking for me so if she tries to move too quickly I'm scared I'll end up stopping trying to get help out of fear and I'll never know what's going on with me.

[Sam W]

Got it. It's sounding like you think her trying to take total control of the situation is the more likely issue. Do you feel like you could say some variation of, "I need your help with some parts of this, but I'd like to do as much of it myself as I can" to her? Or do you think she'll blow right past that?

One thing you could try is thinking about how you'll respond if she has one of the two reactions you're concerned about. For instance, you could write out what you want to say if she tries to dismiss your pain as no big deal so that you have those points ready if you need them. Sometimes, just having that plan in place can make these sorts of conversations easier.

[thetiniestghost]

I'm not sure actually. She's kind of over protective so I feel like she'll try to do it all because she'll be able to tell I'm nervous about it all. Typically she lets her motherly instincts take over a little too much and then she gets something like tunnel vision, where she only thinks about the original goal and forgets to notice how I'm feeling in the moment. But I think that saying it like that may work, as it's kinda like setting "boundaries" from the start. And yeah I think I'll try the outline thing. Sometimes I have trouble getting my message across when I'm speaking, so being able to see what/a general idea of what I'm gonna say will most likely help me get my point across. Thank you for your help!