A post from last year. A reminder to be grateful ladies. 😊

Really?  I can hear you women say… Grateful?  For that thing that hounds us monthly?  That can create monsters of the calmest souls? Can reduce us to tears at the drop of a hat?

Well, yes, I am, actually.

As I was going through the turmoils of puberty, I had a pretty erratic cycle.  So much so that months would pass without any sign of Aunt Flo, as we lovingly called her.  My friends would be envious, that I wasn’t sat in the common room , hugging my tummy monthly, popping pain killers, constantly running to the loos, to make sure that I hadn’t leaked… I was envious of then though, for other reasons.  I didn’t feel like I had grown up properly, I didn’t have a real excuse to get me out of P.E. and I couldn’t lie!

Still, I went through the teen years, not knowing when Aunt Flo would come visiting… that was another down side for me.  I had to always be prepared, and you can bet that the one day I was not, she would decide that was the day to pop in, and then I would have other emergencies to cater for!

I just put it all down to me just being unlucky, and never thought much about it.  The one visit to the GP that I had was that I just needed to let my body mature, and for the hormones to kick in, and if I was that worried, then they could give me a contraceptive pill, to give me a regular cycle.  No, I didn’t need that.  I’d just wait it out.

As I went through university, it started to get more annoying, and worrying.  When she came to visit, Aunt Flo was pretty abusive sometimes, she’d batter my insides, I’d ache for days, and felt like I had no more blood left in my body, then there were some visits that were more like a quick pop in, and a pat on the head, one day, then she would go again on her rounds of all her other nieces that she had to bother!

I saw another GP who had the same suggestion, the Pill.  It was a big thing to take that, especially as it wasn’t for the contraceptive reason, so after discussing it with my mum (this was something I would have hated for her to find me taking without prior warning, could you imagine the thoughts going through a mother’s head, if she found the contraceptive pill in her daughters belongings, and she wasn’t sexually active, or not meant to be, and on top of that she was INDIAN!! Indian girls don’t do that!!  Actually they do, but that’s another story!) I started this magic pill.

And within a month, I had joined the hallowed group of females who hosted an Aunt Flo Party every month!  I felt immediately grown up, like the adult I was meant to be! I could moan with my friends, honestly, and had an excuse to be moody in I felt the need!

But it was all a mask really.  As soon as I stopped taking it, the visits stopped too. Well, they stopped having any regularity again, in any case.  This was odd.  And when I was due to get married, I spoke to my GP, as a 25 year old woman, about to embark on marriage, and possible motherhood.  I had concerns that had always been there, but they were raising their heads much higher now. What if there was a problem? What if I actually couldn’t have children?

I was reassured that many women had irregular cycles, and given another pill to start, so I could be careful, once I was married.  This was all well and good, but those niggles, they were still there.  After a year or so of marriage, we decided that maybe now would be a good time to think of children.  Though we had been married for only a year we had been together for several years, as boyfriend and girlfriend, so there was no rushing into things.

And so the gamble started… when did we try? What were the optimal days?  Well, that would all make sense for those women who were blessed with a regular cycle.  Me? Nope, no joy there, it was pure guesswork, as we didn’t know what my body was up to!

Still, we had fun trying, until it had been a year nearly, and there was nothing happening.  That was when my niece, and best friend both suggested I go get checked out for PCOS. I had never heard of it before, but I was happy to see someone about it. And yes, after many tests, and umming and aaa-ing by the GP, I was diagnosed with PCOS. It’s not something that would have just started, it would have been there all through my pubescent years, and had any of the GPs that I had seen before, thought to check it out, I might have been able to do something about it earlier.

Still, I was given the medications, and as you know we were blessed with 2 children after struggles detailed in other posts of mine, and also, there were the 2 miscarriages, on top of losing one ovary and fallopian tube.

But that’s not the reason for this post.

This one is to really say to you ladies, be grateful for that monthly visit from Aunty Flo.  She is there to give you a reminder that your body is working as it should be, and if you have any issues, or worries, don’t leave it until you want to conceive, or until its too late. Go, get to a doctor, and get checked.  Sometimes she may still come visit regularly, yet there are other issues, and for that I cant advise, but I can only speak from experience, and I say if you have an irregular cycle, there could be a slightly more sinister reason behind it… So see someone.

Yup, I am suffering a visit from her right now, that is what triggered this post!  But instead of cursing her, I’m welcoming her in with a cup of tea and chocolate!  She doesn’t come to me often, but when she does, it’s a reminder that I an a woman!