myowlismorehipsterthanyours:

vandigo:

bitch-jerk-assbutt-teamfreewill:

one-lastmiracle:

intangible-rice:

When I was 17 my appendix ruptured because I thought I was just having period cramps and didn’t go to the hospital so don’t tell me PMS symptoms are no big deal

this actually happened to me during my math final and i didn’t think anything of it and when i was later admitted to the hospital my math prof was asking me ‘you didn’t have to take the final! why didn’t you tell me it hurt?!?!’ and i told him i’ve had cramps worse.

he gave me 100

This is actually an extremely common occurrence simply because in sex ed they don’t teach you how to tell the difference between menstrual cramps and other more serious pains. The way to tell the difference between cramps and appendicitis is that while menstrual cramps are generalized toward the middle of the stomach below the belly button, pain from a swollen or burst appendix will start in the middle of the stomach and relocate to only the lower right side, even lower than menstrual cramps, and is a very localized pain. It also comes on extremely suddenly and will worsen over time or when you make a sudden movement, like a cough or a sneeze.

Basically, if you’re feeling any sort of pain, even if it’s menstrual cramps, don’t hesitate to tell the school nurse or a parent, or if you’re out of school and home even make a doctor’s appointment. Chances are if your cramps are that bad there’s something they can do to improve that as well.

I am boosting the shit out of that reply, because I am twenty-fucking-five years old and did not know how to tell the two pains apart

Also, learn what is normal for you.  Once upon a time, I had a really heavy first day of my period (usually the second day is my heaviest and the first is nothing).  I noticed that I was bleeding more in the course of an hour than I usually did in a day.  I made a gyno appointment and it turned out I had 6 ovarian cysts and a fallopian tube tumor that required surgery. 

If people won’t teach women about their own bodies, take the initiative and get intimately familiar with your own body.  Don’t let someone tell you it is gross to look at your vulva in a mirror or to keep track of how many tampons/pads/menstrual cup-fulls you usually bleed each day of your period.  Take care of yourself, because if you don’t no one will.