Recently, I asked women of the BuzzFeed Community to share the moment they realized their period pain/symptoms weren’t normal and they actually needed to seek medical attention. To say I was shocked by the responses is an understatement. From violent nausea to incredibly heavy bleeding and palm-sized blood clots, these women have been put through the wringer. Here are a few of the standout responses:
1.“I never got cramps or pain or anything. But the flow was SO FREAKING HEAVY. I can’t tell you the amount of underwear and pants and bedsheets I ruined because I bled so heavily. I thought this was the norm until my gynecologist put me on birth control. Also, when I started, I wasn’t regular. I would get maybe 6-7 periods a year??”
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2.“The last couple of years have been a battle! My periods were ‘normal’, but I gained a ridiculous amount of weight very quickly and all of a sudden had acne when neither were issues before. My doctor told me I was just fat and needed to lose weight despite zero changes in my lifestyle.”
“I found a new doctor who listened to me. Guess what? There are cysts allllll over my ovaries, as well as fibroids in my uterus. Most recently, I have been SICK the week before my period, which is not normal. Along with PCOS, I now have PMDD. Had I not advocated for myself and found a new doctor, I don’t think I would have ever figured any of this out.”
3.“When my period NEVER stopped. Just constant bleeding. Went to my first OB/GYN appointment to find out it was cancer. Meh…didn’t need that uterus anyway. Wasn’t using it…LOL.”
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4.“I had suffered from extremely heavy bleeding with large clots. It was so bad that I was anemic and needed IV iron treatments. My NP (a woman) kept telling me that it was normal. This went on for years until my husband came home and found me standing in a puddle of blood.”
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“I finally went to an OB/GYN who, within five minutes, told me I had a uterine fibroid. It ended up weighing six pounds! He did a hysterectomy, and I finally have relief! I knew things weren’t normal, but we’re told to trust medical professionals. I could have saved a lot of pain and suffering if I had just trusted what my body was telling me!!”
5.“I bled about three times the normal amount on my period (medical term is menorrhagia). It got to the point where I would have to change ultra tampons in the middle of the night, and still ended up bleeding through my clothes half the time.”
“I had the typical Georgia sex education (little to none). No one ever told me that menstrual disorders existed, let alone what to look for. I eventually got prescribed medication that reduced my bleeding significantly, but not until after so many clothes and sheets had been ruined.”
6.“Passing a clot the size of a loonie and bleeding through a pad, underwear, denim shorts, a mattress cover, and almost right through a five-inch foam mattress all with one gush wasn’t enough of a hint.”
“I’d been having worse and worse cramps with every period that painkillers couldn’t touch, and more than once spent a good part of my shift crouched down on the floor behind the cash register while hanging off the counter just trying to breathe through the pain, but when I was physically unable to stand for days on end and could barely eat or think straight because of pain and nausea, my mom looked at me and told me I needed to tell my boss I couldn’t come in, and took me to a walk-in clinic that afternoon. I was extremely lucky to have a female doctor who believed me right away, actually listened, and that same day she ordered some further testing and we made a treatment plan for what was most likely endometriosis. The first treatment we tried works well for me still six years later, and I am so grateful to have had the support I needed to get help.”
–Anonymous, 26 from Canada
7.“For YEARS, I was told it was normal to be in extreme pain to the point that I would faint, hyperventilate, turn green or white, vomit, break out in a cold sweat, be incapable of moving, bleed for a month or longer, bleed extreme amounts, and have random times of the month.”
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“I wasn’t allowed to talk about it. Going to the doctor meant the pediatrician with my mother in the room and one/both of my younger brothers. I gave birth at 26 years old. After having a cesarean, it hurt to have intercourse or use a tampon. My doctor did an ablation and told me I had endometriosis. I was dismissed for so long; I cried in front of him because I finally had someone tell me what I had known and pleaded with others about…something was definitely NOT right.”
8.“When I started having periods twice a month WITH an IUD. I started having cramps for the first time with heavy bleeding, depression so bad I couldn’t get out of bed or go to work, and I would bloat so badly there was a 10 pound difference.”
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My lower back would tighten so badly that a chiropractor couldn’t adjust me. After months, I was diagnosed with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). I eventually had an ablation and my tubes removed. I still take birth control to regulate my hormones, but everything else has resolved.
9.“When my appendix was perforated by an endometriosis growth.”
“Yep, TV and movies told me cramps were normal. It took almost going septic to learn that, no, this pain is not normal. My gyno is amazing and I don’t worry about those debilitating cramps (once again, not normal).”
10.“When my dad took me to the doctor multiple times because he said it wasn’t normal to bleed for months on end and get physically sick from cramps to the point where I’d be out of school for days at a time, multiple times a month. I had no idea that’s not how periods should be because whenever I talked to my mom. She dismissed everything I said. She told me sometimes periods are just like that. Turns out I had endometriosis, adenomyosis, uterine fibroids, and huge ovarian cysts. But yeah…periods just be like that.”
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—Anonymous, 37 from Georgia
11.“When my periods were more painful than my miscarriage, yet doctor after doctor told me the pain was normal. I spent 10 years advocating for myself despite the gaslighting, and it took an MRI for an unrelated issue to mention the word ‘endometriosis,’ a word not one doctor had mentioned to me in 20 years of visits.”
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“It took my life savings to find a specialist and get a proper diagnosis, which identified adenomyosis as well as stage 4 endo. Now I have a source for the incredible pain, backache, fatigue, and heavy depression.
12.“I’ve always had heavy/bad periods with cramps starting a day before, as well as pain in my breasts. Nothing unheard of. I was always told that it gets worse before it’s over (menopause). I was literally pushing out blood clots while in the shower and shoving them down the drain with my feet!”
“All the while thinking this was normal. I was in my 30s thinking this would one day end. I had bled through everything, including bed sheets multiple times, and cleaning up, thinking this was also normal. My then (asshole) boyfriend had enough and took me to the ER because I was bleeding so badly and in complete agony. Turned out I had a fibroid tumor the size of a grapefruit on my uterus! I had no idea for so long! I had to have the tumor removed surgically and was unable to work for three months! I still have recurring tumors, but none of them are cancerous, thank goodness! Always get checked out. I waited to long thinking this was normal.”
–Anonymous, 41 from Michigan
13.“I didn’t realize wanting to kill people and going nonverbal the week before your period wasn’t just PMS until I was diagnosed with PMDD about a month ago. Makes sense.”
14.“My periods started being awful around age 16. Migraines, painful ovulation, and periods. Finally, when I was around 22, I had a coworker with PCOS tell me that it wasn’t normal to need to miss 2-3 days of work a month because of my period and being barely conscious in bed. A couple of years after that, I was diagnosed with endometriosis. My mom had always told me it was normal…”
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15.“By the time I was 14, I would be up for most of the night writhing and sobbing in pain. My mom would give me warmed-up sherry with muscle relaxants and painkillers. By that point, I could take a whole pack of period pain analgesics a day, and it made no difference. When your mom starts giving you booze because nothing helps for the pain, it’s kind of a sign that things aren’t quite normal.”
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–Anonymous, 40 from South Africa
If you feel comfortable, please share your story in the comments. We want to hear about when you realized your menstrual symptoms were far from typical.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
