Common knowledge that might not be common for fundies

[Shoobydoo]

PMS is unfortunately very real. I get that it's easy to question its validity when you've never experienced it, but it is real and it sucks. There are things you can do to alleviate it (diet, exercise, mental health and so on). Hormones do fluctuate during your cycle and for many women this manifests as what we would classically think of as 'PMS'. For women who have underlying problems such as anxiety or depression it can be even worse. I get that PMS is sometimes exaggerated and that men have used it to disparage women, but brushing it off as a social construct is not helpful, either.

Yes, I definitely used to get violent mood swings for exactly 3 days before my period that made me hate the world and everything in it because of a social construct. Until, you know, I went on BC that controlled my hormonal fluctuations and the problem completely disappeared. From my point of view, saying that PMS isn't real is as bad as saying things like depression don't exist and you should just hurry up and cheer up if you want to feel better. Some people will use ANYTHING as an excuse to be a terrible person. I had a "friend" in high school who, upon finding out that she had been diagnosed with ADHD as a child and her mother had concealed it from her, exclaimed "now I have an excuse to goof off!" Just because there are people like her in the world doesn't mean everyone is looking to take advantage of everything.

Speaking of common knowledge- my room mate, who is not fundy but grew up in a fundy town, didn't realize you don't pee out of your vagina until she started using tampons in her late teens. I didn't realize that the urethra is so mysterious that most people have never heard of it. :lol:

ETA: I get very noticeable ovulation cramps when I'm not on BC. It's like someone very carefully sticking a needle into your ovary. My mom gets the same thing.

[dawbs]

Interesting. I'm not sure I've ever had Mittelschmerz that I could notice. For me, cramps feel clearly like muscles doing something they shouldn't do, and Pilates and Kegel exercises between my periods diminish cramping, I assume because they strengthen the muscles. (Don't ask me how that corresponds to the fact that the cramps went away entirely after cyst removal, as that would imply a different pain mechanism. The workings of my body are occasionally irritatingly opaque.) How does Mittelschmerz differ in feeling for you?

It's kinda hard to quantify the difference for me--but it's definitely different. It's kinda like how a 'mild migraine' may be less painful than a 'severe headache' for me--and both are head pain, but the rest of what is making me feel crappy is different.

(obviously TMI to follow here folks) W/ cramps, I also get the 'normal' bloating, I flush/am feverish (and I do run 'hot'/mild fever for the duration--and, FWIW, my skin is 'glowing'--when I was in college, I'd always get the "why are you all made up at 6 am?" question from people who thought I had on foundation and blush. Nothing like looking your best while wanting to die), and I have both menstrual cramps and bowel related cramps @ the same time in *nearly* the same place, very very low on the abdomen--but it's a very general 'all of my abdomen hurts' pain.

W/ the mittelsmertz cramps, it's higher (closer to where the ovaries are), usually only one side at a time. And it's a very focused pain in one spot. I don't have the fever or digestive issues, and if I do something that's stimulating (during sex), it actually hurts more temporarily--and if I press hard on the spot, it eases considerably.

But all of that is kinda *hand wavy*/spacey-wacey/timey-wimey--the amount of pain is similar, they're both just plain "ow my tummy hurts", but the details are a bit different for me. (and, even then, I've mixed them up w/ e/o because my cycle is unpredictable. Luckily the IUD helps make the cycle exist less, so, currently, i rarely deal w/ either)

[debrand]

What the ever-loving FUCK?! Jesus I'm glad I was born in the 80s.

Having had a hysterectomy seem to be very common in older women. I've often wondered why. It seems like every illness was treated by removing the woman's uterus.

[love2scrap]

I dont have PMS and now after reading what everyone else has to say i feel like i miss out on it! :-D

I do hate my period though, it generally just feels icky "down there" and having to be really careful not to umm... leak... gah! i do believe stains on a girls skirt are the only knowledge fundie boys get of menstruation... they are SUPER clueless otherwise especially since the fundie girls i mixed with back then never even knew PMS existed.

back on topic, i'm just thinking if Olivia fresh modesty came here from her blog stats she would have hella secks edjucation (for a fundie girl) :-D

[DrWhat]

I have a really interesting coffee table book by Elissa Kim and Susan Kim called FLOW: The Cultural Story of Menstruation that I would recommend to any medically-minded feminist. In the chapter about PMS, they argue that today's cultural idea of PMS (NOT saying that no cyclical pain or mood changes exist) is a modern remnant of the idea of "hysteria" (same root as hysterectomy) that has existed for millennia and has been used to disempower women.

Hysteria was characterized by "out-of-control emotions, irrational fears, and unregulated, over-the-top behavior" in women, claim Kim and Kim. The American Psychiatric Association just dropped the term in 1952. Kim and Kim say that hysteria was "perhaps the greatest false diagnosis ever made in the history of Western medicine." A partial list of attributable symptoms includes: nervousness, insomnia, faintness, chills, fluid retention, heaviness in the abdomen,depression, headache, upset stomach, loss of appetite, shortness of breath, irritability, unexplained laughter or crying, anxiety, a choking sensation, muscle spasms, convulsions, fatigue, loss of appetite, cold hands, cold feet, loss of sexual interest, heaving of the chest, a sudden throwing back of the head or body, "the tendency to cause trouble" and pretty much any other unacceptable womanly behavior, and many more.

Many of the symptoms put together sounded a lot like "horniness" (erotic fantasy, lower pelvic swelling, vaginal lubrication), so the treatment for all of the above was marriage (sex). The authors even say that the idea may have gained so much traction in the Victorian Era because female sexuality was so repressed and so few women were sexually satisfied. Later, frigidity was blamed. Other explanations included a wandering uterus (corsets would keep it in place) or demonic possession.

For centuries, one of the most widespread treatments for hysteria was manually stimulated orgasm by a medical doctor. (!). They didn't call it an orgasm, but a "manual paroxysm," since the idea of intercourse was so male-oriented that clitoral stimulation was hardly even seen as sexual. Many treating physicians employed history's first vibrators to accomplish the task in the late 1800s.

The year after hysteria was removed from the psychiatric lexicon, premenstrual syndrome entered that of gynecology. The NHS apparently lists over 150 symptoms for PMS, and nearly all of them overlap with those of hysteria.

*Edited to REPEAT: despite this cultural analysis, I would NEVER dismiss ANY symptoms that a person claims to experience and I firmly believe that all sorts of peri-menstrual problems do exist. This is a commentary on society placing a diagnosis on women based on what THEY deem acceptable and invalidating the experiences, thoughts, feelings or usefulness of those women as a result.*

[argypargy]

The difference between cramps and "Mittelschmerz" is pretty indistinguishable for some of us--I've had both and it can be hard to distinguish. And in spite of what people tell you about it being 'ovulation pain', it can strike at any time during the cycle.

Post surgery, I get Mittelschmerz pain for a few days before my cycle. And a few days after. And sometimes during (I can now tell the difference between it and cramps. I think.)

This. I chart my basal body temperature so I can pinpoint ovulation. I always get cramping right around ovulation and throughout my luteal phase (time between ovulation and your period). I can also get mittelschmerz prior to ovulation in the form of sharp pangs and twinges. About midway through my luteal phase (when the progesterone levels start to dip), I will start getting a bit stronger cramps, tender breasts, irritability, etc. That's PMS.

You get to know a lot about your body when trying to get pregnant and charting BBT and other fertile signs.

[PurpleSheepleEater]

I was fundy til I was 27. I didn't learn was 69 was til I was 25 when high school students at the christian school I taught at were joking about it. So embarrassing. I also had to have my husband tell me what in the world was the sexual connotation that went along with the word Beaver when I was 31. I was seriously sheltered, that's just two of the most embarrassing situations I was in feeling really stupid and ignorant. Sometimes people start talking about pop culture things that happened before I broke free and I have to remind them I have no idea what they are talking about because it's from my black out period, lol.