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.
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.
