Beth has a menstrual thread in her forum at the moment. My response is below, but head on over there for other women's experiences and home remedies.

Wow, I'm sorry to hear so many people have so much trouble. I started an online menstrual diary a few years ago called Bleed because I wanted to see if there was a connection between my cycle and my mood. At the time I had a lot of people insisting that my/their/their coworker's/gf/mother's behavior was tied to the cycle. I was just starting to get to that point in my life where I allowed myself to be angry, instead of acquiescing to every twit who uses the old "are you on the rag" routine when I don't let them get away with B.S.

I discovered a lot about myself and others. I realized I had water retention which I'd never thought about before because a few pounds don't show up on me or make a difference in my clothes. As I told my boyfriend at the time, "it's like my pelvis has a cold and is all stuffed up." My cramps vary from vaguely there to doubled-over (though the latter is rare). I found out I was right, I tended to get pissed at people for genuine reasons, rather than because of my period. If anything, I discovered I was less likely to fly off the handle because I have a natural tendancy to reserve my energy for myself.

I don't remember anyone ever saying our periods should be empowering, unfortuantely, but I do think of it as a natural, obvious time to take better care of myself. I tend to be less social, more introspective. I tend to read, write and design more. So, I guess it does empower my creativity.

I find that the things I crave actually help my symptoms: red meat and spinach give me a little extra iron (I'm borderline anemic), chocolate (especially really fudgy brownies) seems to give me a little boost, water seems to keep my system flushed out (I drink more water than most people I know, anyway). Luckily, I'm not big on salt or any major sources of caffeine (besides the chocolate) and I can't believe it when I see friends buying a ton of tampons and salty snacks to prep for their Red Letter Days. I also drink chamomile tea if I need it. I usually don't because it's the one time I get plenty of sleep.

It was very interesting to me to hear the bear story. I think we sometimes forget how important menstruation and women's reproductive functions are to human civilization and development. I'm not saying we should be defined by it 100%, but it was the original foundation for mathematics, played an important role in our interest in astronomy, etc. Similarly, I think we don't often make the connection between cooking and healing -- isn't that where medicine came from? While I don't think women should be restricted to or defined by domestic roles, too often their significance is dismissed or not even considered relevant to the sciences, customs and other fields they created/inspired.
(link) posted by Erica Jackson 7/2/2000 06:12:37 PM