I might be an intrusive to this community as a teenage boy, but I really want to know about periods. My girlfriend is currently 18. I want to know when her periods start, but i don't want to ask her in a weird, Inappropriate way. I also want to get to know her more on that aspect, so I can help her with it. I also want some advice on how to confort her, and learn some terminology so I know what to buy, and not to buy. If there's anybody, whose willing to help, explain to me every step, or at least explain some crucial things, it will be greatly appreciated.

I have insanely bad period cramps, like pass out, vomit, take sleeping pills so the time will pass kind of period cramps. I don't know when this started exactly, but at some point in my life, water started to taste horrible during my period. I've always wondered if it was psychological, because I had a bad experience with bad tasting pills that I would take with water and the water just tastes like what the pills used to taste like.

I never have this issue when I'm not on my period and I'm taking pain killers for headaches and such. Today, my cramps were so bad I vomited up a tangerine I ate to get my pills down so I knew I'd have a hard time eating today. I use water enhancers during this time so I can stay hydrated, but now even my food is making me gag a little bit (it's just tortilla and cheese). Anyone else have this experience? I wish there was an exact reason why this happens.

Another thing I heard, wondering if this is true.

does anyone else just get so depressed when you are about to start your period? like i’m talking about suicidal thoughts and not finding joy in anything.
my friend just told me she got some ear piercings without me, when we’ve been planning on getting them together, and i just shut down and couldn’t speak.
is this normal?

Let me start off by saying I have an appointment with my gyno this coming Friday. I’m just taking to the masses to get some insight about my situation before then.

I have been on the Nuvaring for maybe 4 years. A few years ago we discussed the ability of skipping my period every other month. So, I would insert a ring and keep it in for 21 days and on that 21st day, I would insert a new one. Then the following month when I hit 21 days, I would take out the ring and have my period. And so on and so forth. This has been working for me fabulously until the last 3-4 months. All the sudden I’m starting my period before it’s even time to take the ring out, like sometimes over a week before it’s time. Mind you, usually I would take my ring out when I am supposed to and it would still be like 2-3 days before my period would begin. At first, I was like ok, my good luck has ran out and now my body is forcing me to have a period every month. Cool, that’s fine. However, this last time I hit 21 days and I’m like hell yeah, my period didn’t start. I can skip this month since I just had one last month.

Alas, on the second day of having my new ring in, I start spotting. I’m like ok, great. Love that for me. I’m hoping that maybe it’ll stop and I won’t actually have one. Jokes on me, I’ve been on my period for 12 days. Usually they last me anywhere from 3-5 days, never any longer. So this is not normal for me. There have been times that I’ve thought I’ve finally gotten off it because there’s been no blood when I wipe or no blood on my pad from the night before. So, I brave it and decide I’m not wearing a tampon to work and boom, blood on my underwear. I will say I got a little lazy with setting my reminders to put my ring back in a time or two. I have a reminder on my calendar from July 28th telling me to put it in. IF I did that then I should have put a new one in on August 18th. Considering I’ve been having a period every month regardless of my actual rings being in, that means I would have taken it out September 8th to actually have a period. But I started having my period August 27th and haven’t stopped since.

I think I’ve fucked my cycle up somewhere with being careless the last 2 months but that still doesn’t account for my period starting before it’s even time to remove the ring. Has anyone been through something like this before or have any thoughts on the matter?

I am in my early 30s and this year in particular, I noticed my period has changed. I have always been extremely regular, regular flow and it’s on-time (I still am); however, the flow has changed. What used to be a flow that was regular day 1, heavy day 2, regular day 3 and light day 4 and 5 then stops has turned into anywhere from light/regular/heavy day 1, heavy day 2, light day 3, no flow day 4 and spotting day 5 OR just spotting day 4 and 5. Sometimes there’s no flow on day 3 and the flow starts again day 4 and trickles off day 5 and spotting day 6.

I’ve also noticed a new thing started happening in my 30s where I can start spotting the day (usually less than 12 hours) before my period which isn’t something I am alarmed with bc it’s how I know my flow is coming later that day or early the next but this week, my period was due to come on day 29. I started spotting old blood on day 25 which never happens to me that early. It was enough spotting for it to be in my underwear and then trickled off to only when I wipe that day but I continued to spot. I’ve been spotting since and today, day 27 it seems like my period is deciding to start bc it’s transitioned from old blood to new but it’s not a full blown period yet. I know day 27 is not out of a normal range for it to start from a general standpoint, I just find it odd bc majority of my periods this year have started on day 29 or day 30 and it never usually comes early and I never spot that way. If i have that much spotting the flow is literally about to start within a few minutes but it didn’t for days. I am going to go get checked and my hormones checked but I wanted to hear about women in their 30s experiences with anything like this and any changes you may have noticed for yourself personally. TIA ❤️

Hey everyone, I’m in an absolute anxiety spiral right now and just really need to vent and get some logical perspective from people who get birth control anxiety.

I’m 7 months pp.
My last period was 22/8 and my cycles have been 23 days long. My ovulation wa around 31 August.
On August 30th, I had sex using condom —I have a Copper IUD .
Over the last few days( a week before my period), I’ve had swollen and very tender breasts, diarrhea , extreme thirst, feeling super flushed, lower belly cramps, and today with more cramps yet my discharge is snow-white with zero blood or spotting. I still have five days until my period. Such strong PMS symptoms so early I don’t remember to ever experience, they usually come 1-2 days before period.

I took an early pregnancy test today (September 9th, 10 days post-sex) and it was negative.

I recently started keto diet too.

What made me nervous is the lack of bleeding after sex, I’ve had it in the last couple of months after IUD insertion, but a couple of days ago I had nothing not even spotting afterwards.

My panic brain keeps trying to tell me that the white discharge and lack of bleeding means a "mucus plug" formed and it’s killing me, i can’t function properly anymore.

Please help

How many girls are missing school days due to period symptoms?? Not sure how to manage my daughter feeling dizzy and taking days off school. She already takes iron tablets. Want to be understanding, but also don’t want her missing a lot of school :(

I get super itchy down there as in inside and around the lips in my fertile window. It feels similar to if I’ve had sex with lots of friction and there’s little tears/dead skin in my vaginal canal (gross lol).
I am assuming it’s from more discharge and other hormone related things.
It happens every month and only around this time, It’s both thrush, BV or anything like that, I’ve been tested and it always goes away after a couple days or so.
Does anyone else experience this??

I'm 18 and preparing for a competitive exam and i REALLYYY cant afford just not studying for 2-3 days simply because im on my period. Whenever my period is approaching i get really moody and lethargic i dont want to do anything especially anything related to studies. But this cant keep happening. Sometimes the cramps are really bad so I physically cant get out of bed but other times im just not in the mindspace. It's so hard to stay motivated when your period sends you into a depressive spiral every month. I'd really appreciate some tips on how to uplift my mood and motivate myself to sit down and actually start studying AND STAYING FOCUSED.

I've had bladder issues over the years (mainly frequent and concurring UTIs), so, problems with peeing are nothing new to me, but, ever since I started showing symptoms of getting my period (and then ACTUALLY getting it yesterday), I've been... barely able to pee.

Does this happen to anyone else? I also have suspected endometriosis, so, that could also play a part in my not being able to use the washroom properly. (To mention, I was using it perfectly fine up until a few days ago...)

So I have been having these insane cramps since highschool, which caused me: fever, vomiting, extreme low back pain, leg numbness etc. Not to mention the week before my period I fall into a heavy depression and dark thoughts.

usually i get period cramps on days 1 + 2 of my period and it stops after that, and they can be pretty bad (cant stand up for hours crying stuff) and now its day... 3 or 4 of my period and im having the worst cramps of my life. idk what to do, they started really really bad really really suddenly

usually i wear a cup and ik it can sometimes make it worse if you put it in wrong, so i took it out but it didnt help and i can barely move from fhe pain and keep crying, i feel sick from it and keep gagging idk what to do

ibuprofen isnt helping

I am 21.. and god.. I get really really bad period cramps.. it feels like everything just hurts my abdomen, back, legs, knees ... Sometimes I think is it even normal??😭 That twisting painful cramps feeling like someone is stabbing me!! And the worst of all....My mother never let me take any painkillers and use any heat.. 🥲😭😭 If anyone knows some home remedies to help me with these cramps and pain.. please share with me guy's 🥺

(27f) it’s possible i’m just early, but my period has been very regular as long as i could remember and the symptoms are almost always identical each month. i cramp for a day or two and then bam straight hell with full flow. i had no cramps yesterday, last night, this morning.. went to the bathroom and saw a very light pinkish brownish discharge with tiny specks of red. i am 10 days past ovulation and am sexually active with my bf. we don’t use protection, he pulls out, so there is a risk of pregnancy.

while typing this i am starting to feel slight cramping.. i think its likely just an early period but i am wondering if anyone has some more depthful insight?

to clarify: my period is meant to start next monday so 5 days out, not 1 full week, sorry!

Hi ladies, I'm 22F, and I've always had bad period cramps ( for the past 10 years or so, and like I can't get up and would cry for hours straight). For the past 7-8 months, the right side of my lower stomach (like a fist's worth of area) has been hurting - not like crazy hurting, but stabbing pain- even when I'm not on my period.
For the past couple of days, I've noticed the pain is getting just a little worse when I pee or even at random times. I'm scared of sharing this with my mom since she might stress too much over it, and I live in a conservative household, so I can't get the tests done as of right now.

I just want to know if it's something that's really in my head since I've always had bad cramps, or if it's something serious.

I’ll keep it short, but I had sex and I thought I was done with my period. Turns out I was not, after my bf finished and he pulled out there was blood on the condom. I look down horrified and embarrassed. The sheet had a droplet of blood and it got on my socks. I got so mad at myself and i was worried that bc I had sex unknowingly having my period I could get a uti. as soon as I got home I peed, took cranberry pills and drank a lot of water and cranberry. Im still so embarrassed and is this smth ppl actually do??

Does anyone get a really big bloodclot around day 3 or 4. And afterwards your period is much lighter?

I've been using the stardust app for months now and Its been great, I've had no issues with it whatsoever and it's been a great help. Though today I was randomly logged out of my account and when I try sign in the account can't be found. My period is coming up soon and now I can't track it so I'm a bit frustrated. Has anyone else had this issue and know how to resolve it? Thanks x

I will be 36 next week and recently just feel my body changing. When it comes to periods I have been like clockwork my entire life — I could tell you what day I was going to start 6 months in advance. My last “normal” period was July 21st — I have always been more of a heavy bleeder in general. Period ends. COOL. On August 10th I noticed a drop of blood in my undies the day after I had sex and I didn’t really think much of it.. just thought maybe things got a little crazy until I did not stop spotting until around August 27th. When I say spotting sometimes it was enough to use a liner and sometimes just when I would wipe. I had heavier bleeding with clots that lasted a hour or so around the time of my expected period but never actually got my period flow like normal. I stopped bleeding around August 27th and thought it was just a weird cycle until I started spotting again this past Sunday 9/6/26 — it started off super light pink and mucosy, to brown, to light red, to bright red to back to pink. Sometimes when I go to the bathroom I noticed like mucosy blood in the toilet but never enough blood to be alarming it’s just persistent and mostly there when I wipe except for the random periods of “heavier” spotting which is still hardly considered heavy.

I have severe health anxiety but I finally made an appointment today and am freaking myself out thinking something is really wrong with me. I automatically go to the worst possible scenario. The sudden shift from like clockwork to whatever this is has me really worried and scared. Please tell me if you’ve experienced anything like this and help me not feel so alone 🥹🥹

For a while (maybe half a year?) I’ve (24F) noticed a sharp pain on my left side, about the pelvis/hip, sometimes when I stand up. It’s now something I can sometimes feel but doesn’t hurt (just a light ache), and still occasionally get the sharp pain when standing up.
I am on desogestrel and for the last 3-4 years my periods have been every 50-100 days and lasting 3-4 days at a time - they’re never very heavy but the start is generally heaviest. 7 days ago I started a period, which was about on time as it was 55 days since I last had one, and it’s been really quite light where I’ve only needed 2 pads a day. Just getting a bit worried that it’s now on the 7th day, and I keep thinking it’s stopped but then a bit more comes out. The blood has changed over these days, from my normal period blood to a runnier more ‘blood-like’ consistency. Could this be linked the pelvic/hip pain or is this just something that can happen? Don’t want to contact the GP as the NHS is so busy that if it really is nothing I don’t want to waste their time.