Content originally from R/AskReddit

1.

I’m VERY irregular. I was staying at my new boyfriends for the first time. We had been having sex and apparently that can bring about a period. Like jump start it I guess. Anyway I didn’t know I was going to start so we both fall asleep naked and cuddling. I’m an active sleeper. I move around a lot.

The next morning I woke up to a wet feeling between my legs and butt. And sometimes when I’m cold I stick my hands between my thighs and lay on my side for warmth. I opened my eyes and looked at my hands and they were covered in blood. I lifted the white sheets and looked down to a horrible scene. We were both covered in blood. It looked like I’d tried to kill him.

2.

I got my first period at 13 while on an 18 hour international flight. I didn’t know it could be brown so at first I thought I shit myself, but I figured it out by the time I got home.

3.

First period: was my sister’s roller skate birthday party. Went to pee and saw blood. I’d read Tamora Pierce’s Alanna books so I KNEW this made me a child bearing woman. Her protagonist flipped but I stayed chill. I wrapped my underwear in like 8 layers of tp.

I could’ve told my mother who (had her tubes tied more than a decade before) carried emergency pads for this very reason. Instead I used toliet paper for 3 more days because my best friend had just had a super embarrassing “first period/becoming a woman” party a week before. Cupcakes with raspberry filling. Condom party favors. (I am still not sure how those are supposed to be used. Implants/IUDs are the goddess’s gift)

My friend group snuck me pads for two months until my diving team practices started. I had to tell mom because no one knew how tampons worked (pro tip: not hard, way better than pads). She would’ve let me call in sick for every period. But since I’d proved I could deal with them, no dice.

4.

I had endometriosis so I got to experience the infamous “period cramps worse than labor” that a couple others have mentioned. I was in Walmart getting stuff for my dorm room my first semester of college…had my mom with me. We both popped into the bathroom at the back of the store, and I just remember turning to her and saying as we were walking out, “This is REALLY starting to hurt.”

Then I felt like I was having my right ovary ripped out with a white hot pair of tongs and I passed out from the pain.

I fell face first on the floor of the Walmart bathroom and the only thing that registered with me was that for some reason my tongue was hanging out and was pressed against the floor. I remember how awful the pain was but I mostly remember feeling completely grossed out. After the fact I was shocked that I didn’t catch something incredibly contagious and awful.

5.

In my younger years I was a model. I had this futuristic fashion shoot on the beach (was made to look all futuristic as was the craze back then.) Anyhow, I had just completed the shoot on the first outfit and was walking toward the beach house to change when I felt an itch on my upper thigh. I scratch, look at my fingers and they are covered in blood. I look down and my inner thighs and couture clothing are covered in blood! I scream bloody murder and run inside crying. It took a lovely assistant to come into the bathroom I am hiding in, help me change, and many overly kind words to bring me back to the photoshoot for the rest of the day.

The crew was beyond unfazed. No one cared. The designer was pissed but I sincerely apologized and explained I was a week early and she was ok. The pictures came out beautifully and the subsequent magazine print looked flawless.

I still shudder at the bloody horrors from that day. The shame still clings to me. Like period blood on my inner thigh.

6.

I’m a dude, and I have a period story.

Years ago, I awoke next to the woman I was dating at the time, early morning, I got out of bed and groggily made my way to the bathroom. I turn on the light and look down, dried blood all over me. Since I had just woken up, the logical centers of my brain were not yet functioning and I had come to the conclusion that my kidneys are failing and I must have pissed out some blood in my sleep. I came out of the bathroom about ready to drive myself to the hospital when I looked at my girlfriend, she was awake and had the most embarrassed look on her face, she squeaks out “I started my period”. “Oh thank god”, was my reply, I was immediately relieved. We laughed about it.

7.

Visiting family and staying at my sister’s house, with me that makes 3 adults and 4 kids. One bathroom.

Woke up on a particularly heavy morning and knew as soon as I gained consciousness that it was a stage 5 leak happening in the shark zone. The cup had not contained what ended up being a mammoth of a tidal wave. It was leaking down my, thankfully black, pajama pant leg before I even crossed the room. The bathroom door was straight across the hall, but my 3 year old nephew beat me by mere seconds. In agony I stood cross legged, waiting as minutes passed and he didn’t emerge. At some point he opened the door but lay in the entryway trying to wiggle into his pants. At this point about 7 minutes had passed, a few more minutes and someone appears and swoops him away. I lunge at the opportunity, my underwear and pj bottoms are soaked but I’m finally able to swap corks and plug the leak. I clean up with a tub of huggy wipes as much as possible and take the most ratty towel I can find in her linen cabinet. Darting back into my borrowed room I clean up further, which includes a couple of small puddle/bloody footprints in the oatmeal colored carpet. New underwear, new pants, I steal the towel and bundle up my ruined clothing so I can take it home the next day. I shower as soon as possible.

Later that morning I cause the arguably shoddy toilet to clog with a watery red soup, it won’t flush more than once every 5-10 minutes and someone had been in just before me. I manage to keep everyone out until my sister wakes up and can assist me. A few weeks later I explain over text to my sister where her missing towel is. She doesn’t want it back, but says that’s sort of her everyday life with the one bathroom.

8.

I was wearing a maxi dress w/o wearing underwear (rookie mistake) at work and my stomach felt upset, but that happens often so I ignored it. I work through my shift and go shopping at target, all the while pissed because my thighs are hella sweating (I live in a place where this is not uncommon.)

I put my groceries away at home and am still sweating on my thighs so i take a paper towel and wipe off the sweat. Pull my hand out from under my dress and it is bright red. It finally gave me the right image in my head when a character is described with their thighs “slick with blood.” It was disgusting. Dried and fresh blood all the way down to my shins. I spent almost an hour cleaning myself up.

9.

I passed an endometrial cast, and it was a big freaking chunk of tissue that looked absolutely horrifying.

I was having a bad period, bad pain, totally doubled over could barely walk. All of a sudden the pain really started increasing like I was going to pass a big clot, then a huge sudden attack of pain and I was holding on to the kitchen counter to steady myself.

Went to the washroom and it felt unnatural, weirder than passing a clot.

Looked down into the toilet paper after I wiped and I SCREAMED. I took a photo of it and then flushed it, and then went to the hospital because it looked like some horrible alien miscarriage.

When I showed the triage nurse the photo she quietly asked me if I had been pregnant. Luckily not, but I still don’t want to ever see something from the inside of my uterus in my hand ever again.

10.

I was out of state for a funeral when I was a senior in highschool, and the plane ride caused me to start my period unexpectedly. (Who knew that could happen?) I didn’t have any tampons or anything with me, so I needed to get some, but it was hard since I was with family and had no easy way to go to a store without getting someone to drive me in the unfamiliar area.

We needed some supplies for dinner and I was so relieved to volunteer to go to the store. I let my mom know quietly that I needed some tampons but she was busy and it seemed like she hadn’t heard. My 38 year old male cousin tapped me and said “Hey come here.” and walked me to the aisle with tampons and also bought me some chocolate. I hadn’t even met him before and we were all torn up about the death of our grandpa, but I thought it was really nice of him to help out.

It sounds creepy but he’s a really nice person with a mom, sister and girlfriend, so he was just being genuinely helpful and I was so happy, even though it was pretty embarrassing.

11.