Periods on the Spectrum

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Caveat: This article and report was produced by a company that makes feminine hygine products.

NEW REPORT BREAKS STIGMA AROUND AUTISM AND PERIODS THIS AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH

I've never felt embarrassed or unable to discuss my periods with female relatives and friends, even when I first started (I even talk to my boyfriend about periods). I knew about periods from about the age of 4, as my mum told me about it. So I was 100% ready when I started my periods at 13 years old.

The only thing I had trouble with was the cramps and the length of the periods. I didn't have really heavy bleeding as such, but I did suffer agonizing cramps that was like getting flu every month, and the period would last up to 10 days, still being painful during the last few days. So I had to go on the pill when I was 18 and I've been on it ever since. It's lessened the cramps to a more bearable limit.

The thing I do get really embarrassed about discussing is flatulence. I don't know why, because I know it's natural to fart and everything but I still get embarrassed about it. So this will probably result in me dying from an unrecognised cancer in my bowels due to avoiding the embarrassment of seeing a doctor and having colonoscopies.

I was really lucky that I lived in a state with good, comprehensive sex education and that I had access to the internet when I was growing up. No one in my family talked about things like this to me, and I wouldn't know how to deal with the issues I have with my period (heaviness, occasional irregularity, etc.) without it.

I learned about periods in sex ed, so that was helpful as I knew what to expect.

I did have one embarassing time though in 6th grade where it was a very heavy flow and I ran out of pads so the one I had overflowed and it was leaking through my underwear. It was at the end of the day and close to time to get on the bus. I knew I wouldn't last the hour bus ride home before it started leaking through my pants and I knew everyone would make fun of me and it would be horrible and I'd never live it down.

So I went to the office and had them call my mom to pick me up, they tried to refuse because i wouldn't tell them why(i was embarrassed) but I kept persisting that they had to. And yeah it even leaked a little in the car on the seat...for sure would have been way more embarrassing on the school bus.

In my case:

Learning what a period is, along with anatomy and it's biological mechanics is easy.
Learning what to do with the basics of hygiene, and other implements related to it is easy.

Learned all that before/did all after first day of my period. Which is at age 13, just before school started.
I didn't even had a sex-ed -- I just figured it out myself.

Products, in my experience, is easy -- I'm not one of the clumsy types, nor one of the easily squik types, nor am one of the easily irritated types.
I came from a part of the world where tampons are a rarity -- so we got pads instead. I had never used one, or actually seen one in real life my whole life.

Stocking a product at home is easy. Mainly because it's just women in my house.


However:

Learning and the thought about bringing at least a pad or two anywhere took me few years. 5+ years after, which is years during high school, just before college.

Learning to anticipate when the next period starts isn't. Because I started out as irregular. Therefore even a calendar period app won't do much for me.
Learning WHY and HOW my periods are usually irregular took me years -- over 10 years. And nothing official yet.

Learning to distinguish between sensory related migraines, period related stress and then noticing sensory sensitivities over an already sensitive sensory system is not easy.

Learning what signs of ovulation actually is for me is took me over 8+ years. There's knowing what ovulation is, and there's what ovulation feels like.
Learning that ovulation made me prone to insomnia and other symptoms took years.

Learning that gut related issues fluctuates along with the reproductive cycle is not easy.
Learning that cravings and other sorts of impulses that costed me both my daily functioning, time and resources are actually relate to my reproductive cycle took me years.
Over 13 years -- meaning it's very recent for me. And still barely controlling it.

Learning that during and after ovulation fluctuates my energy levels took years -- over 12+ years I say.
Learning what to do after ovulation and what to manage weeks before period, including and not limited to PMS -- I haven't been there yet.



What helped me??
Most of my SPED teacher's prodding over 8+ after my first period. Basically, when I was already over 20. While I say a little about it.
And it actually took me years to attempt to communicate about it.
Then after, what, almost 5-7 years of that, along with the poor attempts to track it, which is about, well, just this year -- I had tried to attempt to planning and trying.


I'd say I wouldn't just limit the topic of the whole cycle long issues to the particular 3-8 days long menstruation related part of the issues.

Oh, and I never been in a birth control before.
And mainly because I also never been checked by an OB GYN before.
Had years thinking about it. Barely communicating about it.

Gained Number Post Count (1).
Lose Time (n).

Lose more time here - Updates at least once a week.

I was an early developer and started menses at 11. I knew what it was on a general level, but it was never something to talk about. It just felt shameful and embarrassing. On top of it I would get nauseous and sick during due to a condition I found out decades later.
Puberty was hell. Not due to autism but definitely exacerbated by.

I was gifted a book called "For girls" written by a German lady (translated into Chinese) when I was little. So I've learned all about tips for European girls, which was not all that practical for communist China back then. Many women were still using wadded toilet papers and period garters. Anyway I modernized as soon as I could and started using digital tampons (O.B.). It's wonderful to not feel wet at all most of the time. It's certainly a lifesaver. I don't mind a bit of cramps or fatigue as long as I don't feel any leaking. Using pads would be like leaking and oozing all the time.

*Back then having periods was open information. You couldn't hide it exactly. Every girl got up to three days of exemption from PE class. You see a row of them sitting on the sideline chatting and know they all have periods. Plus the government kept records of our cycles. A log book was passed from girl to girl every month to document her latest period, date, length, number of pads used, any symptoms...etc. I was afraid I wouldn't remember so I kept my own period log. I still have it. It's got about 36 years of period data. This all seem so strange now. There was no stigma talking about health issues back then. Health care was covered 100% and you get all the time you need to take off to recover. Sick leave pay was 100% of your salary.

My mother didn't teach me anything about menstruation. I grew up pre-internet and only learned about periods by reading Judy Blume books. I had my first period a year before Sex Ed classes started at school, but those classes were useless anyway. They consisted of mimeographed drawings of the female reproductive system displayed on an overhead projector. It was far too abstract for me.

When I had my first period I was too uncomfortable to tell my mother so I hid it for a full week. When she finally saw my things in the wash, she told me that it wasn't my period because it didn't look right and that I was menstruating wrong. I have no idea what that meant, but that's the last time she ever discussed it. I had to figure out how to get to the shops and buy my own products, which I kept hidden out of sight.

To this day she hasn't taught me about sex either.

The first decades it was so painful. The irregularity in length and flow were/are difficult for me. It significantly impacts my moods (good and bad there). Every woman in my family has hormone-triggered migraines.

An NT friend instructed me in how to use a tampon.

I didn't learn what a period was until I had my first one...probably because my puberty onset was very precocious and it wasn't expected as soon as it was. I was almost 10 at the time and I started bleeding in class at school. I thought I was ill at the time and got really scared, so my teachers had to pull me to one side and explain it to me via social stories.

For governments to log periods though if that is true is extremely creepy