The Show Must Go On

Cassie B •  Plymouth, UK •  30

 

I remember too well when I first started my period. I was at my dance show and was experiencing stomach cramps. I never said or did anything…the show must go on!

Around 2am that night I woke desperately needing the bathroom. When I pulled my pants down, to my horror, I saw blood. I was 10 years old. We just started learning about periods at school and I was the first girl to start their period in my class.

I remember shouting out to my mum. Mum didn’t wake but I heard my nan coming in asking what was wrong. I shouted “I’m bleeding I’m bleeding!”

Cassie B First Period Story

My nan laughed and said "don't worry, you are starting your period." Then shouted out to my mum.... "your daughter is becoming a young lady in here haha!"

My mum and nan made sure I had all the things I needed and brought snacks and a hot water bottle to me throughout the next day.

I had the next day off school because I was in so much pain. I had cramps for over a week... Little did I know this was the start of my endometriosis journey. I remember all my friends asking me, "what is it like? Do you feel like a woman?" The truth was I hated it because it brought me so much pain.

Cassie B First period stories

A Whole New World

Honoka H •  Yokohama, Japan •  21

 

I was eleven when it happened. I felt so sick in the middle of the night that I puked and had super bad "stomach aches" for hours that I spent most of the night in the bathroom. I just assumed I ate something that was upsetting me so when I calmed down a bit I went to bed. The next day, I woke up and casually went to the bathroom only to find a huuuuuuuuuuge dark stain in my pink Disney princess underpants and I freaked out and cried and yelled.

Honoka H first period story

From where I'm from (Japan) periods are never discussed and it wasn't something I learned much about in school either so I was so so scared and I didn't know what to do that I took off my pink princess underpants and ran to my mom's room and tossed them at her (sorry for the bloody underwear toss mom). She was confused as to why her daughter was naked from waist down chucking her underpants at her until she realized that I was crying my eyes out and screaming "LOOK AT MY UNDERPANTS". After that she just gave me a pad and sent me back to the bathroom. And that was basically the start of a whole new world.

Honoka H first period stories

Pain Free? Not Me.

Cindy D •  Brampton, Ontario •  29

 

I knew what a period was long before I actually got mine. My mom would tell me about the agonizing details of her period and compared it often to the pleasant, pain free periods her sister would get. I always told myself, affirmed as a young kid, that my periods would be like my aunt's - pain free and pleasant. I woke up one morning in 8th grade and looked down... It caught be off-guard at first but I knew exactly what this was. My period.

Cindy D First Period Stories

So far, so good. I went to school that day and told myself that I'm going to be that girl who runs and plays and jumps on her period... Nope. Within minutes of hitting the pavement at recess, the pain struck. It struck again on my period after that one and after that one and after that one.

It took me 14 years to get diagnosed. I have endometriosis. The pain never went away and it never will.

Cindy D First Period Story