August 17, 2023 • 29 mins
Kris and Andi share their decades of period problems and the various attempts that they have made to make it bearable. They still have not achieved this goal.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hey, I'm Chris, I'm Andy, and this is my Vagina said, what,
we're back, vagina.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Yes we are.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
If this is your first time, welcome, and if you
have been with us before and are in every day vagina,
We're glad to have you back.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome back. Today we're talking about periods, how we got them,
and how they evolved. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Okay, So to kick things off, Chris, how old were
you when you got your period?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
It came once when I was twelve, and then reappeared
again when I was about fifteen.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Wait, just not to interrupt you, but to prepare for episode,
I did a little period research and that's actually not
that uncommon. I didn't know that you could get it
at one age and then not show up at all
again for years.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
But that does happen.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I didn't know it was a thing. Was what was
happening to me at the time.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Do you know anybody else that happened to me?
Speaker 4 (01:04):
No?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I don't. All my friends got their period about thirteen
at the latest, and it was regular. Mine was not irregular.
It would come once every couple months, and then it
would be super heavy, like eight days cramping. It was rough.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
So if you first got your period when you were twelve?
Did you have boobs at twelve?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yes, okay, I remember having boobs in sixth grade because
I remember them hurting. I'll never forget a kid split
a paper across the table and my boobs are like
exactly table length, and the one sheet of paper tapped
my boobs and I was like, oh my god. Oh
so I'll never forget that paint.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
It must have been like in a gross burt.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
It must have been. For some reason. I feel like
I've always had boobs though.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Oh so, how did you when you got your period
at twelve? And well, I guess not until you were older.
Then how did you handle that? Did you tell your mom?
Do you tell your grandma?
Speaker 2 (02:06):
I told my grandma. She gave me pads, and then
after that it was up to me to go to
the store and get pads whenever I needed them.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Do you remember having to go to the store and
buy your first sanitary product?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Oh? Yeah, I actually didn't mind because it gave me
a chance to look at to look at all the
different products. So every time I would go, I would
pick something different because I wanted to try everything.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Oh my gosh, And I was there with like a hoodie,
black mass like, not wanting anyone to see me. I
still won't make eye contact. I do all self check out.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Oh no, I stand in the aisland, hold up wings
and go do these wings work?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
What about tampons? When did you try tampons?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Oh, this is a great story. So I'm in school
and my period comes. I go to the nurses station
and she's out of pats. All she has are these
slim tampons. I was like, I never used one. So
she gives me a tampon and the pamphlet with all
the information. So I scoured through it and read it
(03:18):
like it was the Bible.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
That nurse's backroom for a minute.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Oh yeah, I didn't care. I didn't care. I was
on my period and didn't have anything. I was freaking out.
And then so I put the I put the tampon in,
got up. It was painful. I was uncomfortable. I went
back to class, and the whole time I'm like, damn,
this hurts God, this really is bugging me. So then
I went back to the nurses station, her nurse's office,
(03:45):
and she gave me another one. I asked for the
pamphlet again because I thought I obviously I was doing
something wrong. So I j on, miss nurse, what was
she supposed to do? Stand out there and give me
an example.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Actually, yes, that is exactly what she was supposed to do.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
When you came back like this didn't work the pamphlet,
she would have probably been like, maybe I should help her.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
As how, I would not want that. I don't think
I would want her in the No, I didn't. I
was like, I'll figure it out. I'll figure it out.
So I go in there, read the pamphlet again, put
this one in. It goes in perfectly. I'm like, oh shit,
it doesn't feel like I'm on my period at all.
(04:32):
This is awesome. I wanted to do cartwheels down the halls.
I felt like everyone i'd be keeping this great, big
secret from me.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
What was the secret?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
The tampons are amazing.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Oh my gosh, did your grandma or momm use tampons?
Speaker 2 (04:48):
I believe my mom probably did.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Probably not grandma, No, not grandma.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
She didn't maybe even suggest them.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yeah, she didn't even think of it.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
For you, Andy, how old were you when you got
your period?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
I was fourteen and a half. It was right after
and a half way.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yeah, after swim season ended, and I was glad to
get it because I was literally didn't know anyone else
who hadn't got it at that point.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
But it was a mess. I would get it like
once every six months. It would be so heavy.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I couldn't manage it. It was like I couldn't change.
I would change in between every class period I would
still be getting it on my clothing. It was just unmanageable.
And it was like that for years, and then I
finally went to the doctor and they put me on
(05:45):
birth control to make the periods more manageable.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
You weren't birth control pills?
Speaker 3 (05:50):
I was when I.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Was maybe seventeen. I got on them after dealing with it.
My mom was probably tired of bringing me a change
of underwear.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
But I was so bad at taking them.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Oh they're ridiculous. Just you have to be on schedule.
I used to set an alarm for my birth control pills.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Did you take them right?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
I tried, and if I was an hour off, I
would start cramping really oh yeah, And if I didn't,
and if I had that hour stretched into half a
day or a day, my period would come.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I can't remember the pill I was on, but it
was super strong and if I would get sick on
it all the time, and then they'd be like, well.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Double up if you miss a day. Well, I would
miss a day like every other day.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Oh wow, you were terrible.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Oh I remember one time I started my fresh month
after getting my period, realized I had just taken all
the sugar pills I had upside, I cannot do it.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
You were terrible. I thought I was bad with my
alarm clock.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
I just never could do it. So then I had
the kids. Was still bad. And then finally after my
fourth kid, they got regular. They regulated to the point
of more predictability for the first time in my life.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah. Same here after my third pregnancy, like clockwork, and
it would be twenty every twenty eight days, and it
was light. It was everything it should have been when
I was mine.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Was still not light. I'm talking two super tampa.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
No in the bed now, how do you do that?
Speaker 1 (07:27):
It's a nighttime, full length pad. Double up the pad,
a towel on my bed, and I would have to
like settle arms and still be so heavy.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Did you have cramps?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
No?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Because when I would be heavy, I would have cramps
where I could feel it coming out like it would
cramp and be like, b really, yes.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
No, I didn't really have a problem with that, but
because this.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Is just like continued to be this huge problem, I
got an iud.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Oh okay, yeah, yeah, they work, they're nice. I love them.
So you have one, right I do. I've had three,
what like, you've done it?
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Three new ones?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Yes? Okay. The first one, the first one I got
after my first daughter. I had that in for about
three years and I went in to discuss discuss getting
it out because I was worried about my future fertility,
and they scared me. They told me all this stuff
as to how it can affect my future fertility. So
(08:29):
I don't know. I don't know, Okay, all I know
is they scared the crap out of me.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
And the commercials they're like, they show you don't want
a kid, you have that, you pull it out, you
get the kid.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Yeah, that's not how it happens. Definitely not how it works.
So they pulled it out. I did get pregnant, but
he told me I wouldn't get pregnant for at least
a year. I got pregnant in like three months.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Did it hurt to take it taken out?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
No? Not really not really, and they don't really hurt
to put in either.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Mine did.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I was gripping the table because he said I had
like a curved uterus, so he had a full pulled
down my uterus first and straighten it out and then
insert it.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yeah. I had a tilted uterus too, and they just
take the speculum thing and move it down. I don't know,
maybe my crap's so loose from all the kids I've
had that I didn't feel it.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Mine, mine was very, very uncomfortable, but ever since then
I haven't felt it. However, it was not the rosy
sunshine picture. Well, let's go back.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
To your story.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Oh you want me to finish that shirt. You had
your first, right, and then I got out Yes. And
then about four years ago I had one put in
after I had my last daughter, my last kid, no more,
and I kept spotting and over and over again, like
all the time. Not like just a couple of times,
(09:57):
you know, like once a month or whatever like that. No,
it was like ever day I'm spotting.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
What, Yes, your period.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
You would think it's a period, but it's every single
day continuously. So they sent me in for an ultrasound
and here it was dislodged. And for some reason, this
doctor had left the string long. I don't know why.
I don't remember why. I'm sure she told me why
she was leaving it long. I just don't remember why.
(10:25):
But the string was so long that when I would wipe,
I could feel it. Isn't that gross?
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Do you think when you were wiping it you were
moving it?
Speaker 2 (10:34):
No? I never thought about that. I feel it in No,
I couldn't feel it moving. I couldn't feel that it
was dislodged or anything. But once they told me it
was dislodged, I was like, well, I have the string here,
why don't I just pull it out myself. So I
pulled and I tugged and and I couldn't get it
to come out. So then I just kind of like,
(10:54):
I know, I.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Believe you tried to do that.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Well, I mean you know what happened.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Did you go to the doctor.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah? So I went and got it taken out and
got a new one put in, made sure they cut
strings very short. And like my period does not come,
you don't get I don't get a period at all,
just like with my first one, no period at all.
It's awesome.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
You are the success story that I was hanging my
hat on when I was going to get my ID,
because that is what I hear from so many people,
but that has not been my experience.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
So when I got.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Mine, I first of all, they did tell me it's
better to get an IUD inserted.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Or is that the right word?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
What inserted? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Okay, when you're on your period, because then your cervix
is softer.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Never heard that before, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
So they did that right, And then I got it inserted,
and I had my period for fifty.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Date Are you kidding me? Fifty date heavy?
Speaker 3 (11:57):
I would say no, I would say moderate.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Oh my god, but fifty days straight, day straight.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
And the nurse told me that after the first I
think three months, then that is typically how your body
is going to respond to it. So I've had my
period again since. So then I stopped after fifty days.
And then when did you get the ID physio?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
When you got the IUD, did it stop right away
or no?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I continue to have my period.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
I just never stopped because I got it inserted with period,
and then I never stopped having my period for fifty.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Days, oh my god.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
And then.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
So since then I've had my regular period, but it's not.
It's not as heavy as it was, but it's still
like eight days.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Long and moderate ow. So it was not a big improvement.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Well if it's only it's not fifty days.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Fifty days, but that was before I was on the.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I D oh, well, you know, but it's not like
long term. Eight days is eight days. At least it
has a beginning and an end, whereas before it.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
The girl who said my period is so terrible. When
I was a kid, that was for eight days long,
and now I don't have a period, but now I'm
so's the feel gratitude for at least not fifty days?
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah, but my eight days were like eight days of
super duper heavy yeah, and heavy cramping like it was miserable.
So your eight days is moderate. That's not that bad.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
I don't know. Makes me feel like I should get
another I D. I need two ID.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
You need two IUD. Maybe you have two uterses and
that's why you're still bleeding, because one has the iu
D and one doesn't. I probably do.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Actually, that is probably what has been.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Going on my whole life.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Double uters. Okay, on that note, let's take a commercial break.
We will be right back stick with us. We have
a lot more going on.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Okay, So, Chris, do you experience PMS?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Not really have you ever? Well, I think I did
when I was having my regular, my irregular heavy periods
when I was growing up. I think then I would
have PMS and I would turn into a raging hormone monster.
But since I since I've had kids, No.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah, I don't get it bad. I know a lot
of people suffer with like all the cramps and stuff.
I don't have that. I know. I don't think I
ever really experienced them.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Actually till I got older, and I would only know
it was PMS because I would feel.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Like I had no friends. I would think no one
likes me. And as soon as I would start feeling
like that, I'd be.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Like, oh, oh it's sensitive, you're getting your period.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Oh I remember that. I remember feeling like that. I
always would say when I was pmsing, I would always
say I had like one good week a month, like
it's the week before your period. No, it's two weeks
before your period. I think was the good week?
Speaker 4 (15:17):
No?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Was it the week after? Shit? I can't remember what
week it was.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
All I remember there's one good day one week there
was one good week every month because it was and
I think it was the week after after my period
would be my good week.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
And then the next week I would start pmsing in
different ways for the ovulation cycle to start over again
for the following month. And then you know, the week
before your period, all hell breaks loose because people get
cramping all that well, and during this time I would
I would have I had heavy cramping, and so yeah,
I would have PMS around. And but like I said,
(15:53):
once I had kids, no more PMS. I got pregnant
and my entire body change. Yeah, I have allergies, never
had allergies, all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Yeah, it is crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Did you ever did you ever try the menstruation am
I saying that right?
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Menstruation cups, menstrel oh, menstreul cups? Did you ever try them?
Speaker 2 (16:18):
I bought the menstrual cups. I don't know why I
bought them. I have no idea why I bought them, Honestly,
I just remember buying them, saying, why don't you give
this a try? Duh? So I bought the cup and
it was silicone and it wasn't too big.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Back to when Grandma would give you money, and you'd
go to the store. You probably always want to try
all the new things.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
That could be it. I like to try new things. Yeah,
so I so the cup was it was soft silicone,
and it wasn't too big, and the instructions were to
like fold it and put it in and then cut
it over your service right right. I could not get
it in. I couldn't get it to go where it
(17:01):
needed to go.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Oh do you how do you know it wasn't in
the right spot.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
I don't know, because I always wondered. I've never tried it, Yeah,
but I always.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Wondered, like what if it went inverted inside of you,
like if it wasn't cupping on the right.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Side, right, does that happen? I don't know. I don't know.
I don't think it would. I don't think would hurt
anything in silicone.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah, but you know those toys when we were little,
and it'd be the half ball, right, it would flip
it upside.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Down and then it would pop up. No, it's not
even that thick. No, it's really thin. It's really thin.
You fold it and you stick it in, and you
you're supposed to get it to cup and from what
I understand, from what I remember is that I did
not ever feel it cup, and it never really stayed
in right. Okay, so I didn't use it, so I
got rid of it.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Do any of you use the cup?
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Because please let us know. Maybe we can get some instructions.
You know me, I'm always willing to try something new.
So with your with your advice, sure, I'll try the
cup again if it's your favorite. If it's your favorite item,
what are you talking about?
Speaker 3 (18:06):
You don't even get your period anymore?
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Well, yeah, that's true. You pretend I can give it
to my daughter. Okay, she would hate for me saying
that out loud.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
What about the tampons with no applicator?
Speaker 2 (18:19):
What are they?
Speaker 3 (18:19):
I can't remember what they're called?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Ob ob obi. It's the way you should be. Keep
it simple and set yourself free from the extras that
you really don't need. Just try obi and you'll see.
I hope I don't ensued for singing their commercial song
marketing on there. I know, but I always thought to myself,
(18:42):
why why to what end? Why don't why why would you?
Why don't I need an applicator?
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Don't understand it either?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
What is the purpose of a tampon without an applicant.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
I have tried it, you bottom, of course, I bottom
my gosh, of.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Course I bought them. You know me. I'm gonna try
anything once. So I have a thing about blood on
my fingers. So the fact that I bought it was
I know, okay, I do. I really do have a
thing about the blood getting on my hands and stuff
(19:21):
for some reason, So buying an ob was really stupid.
It was a I guess I bought it on a
whim and I did get it in and it was fine.
I just need the applicator. I just don't see the
purpose of not having one. So I'm pretty sure they
expired or something in the bottom of my basket with
(19:42):
my sanitary products.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah, I have tried it, and I also it worked.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
It was fine, but I definitely didn't like it.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
And I don't understand why someone would choose that as
opposed to just the applicator.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Right, Like, why not have an applicator? I don't know
what is purpose. And I guess less trash if you're,
you know, environmentally conscious, you don't want to have that
much trash and listeners.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Are you environmentally conscious and that's why you don't like
the applicator.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Or is it because you don't like the applicator it
doesn't work for you.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Maybe for some people the applicator too far. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
No, that's not possible.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
I don't know. Hey, listeners, if any of you have
experienced the applicator putting the tampon up too far, please
let us know dm us on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
How about those situations when we have run out of
product and we have nothing. I mean, we learn from
a very young age right toilet paper instantly learn that one.
Can you think of other things that you have had
to use most situations?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
No, not really. I used totalpaper. Okay, So here's the situation.
It's my first day on a temp assignment, so I
don't know anyone in the office, and my period comes.
It's really heavy and I'm freaking out. So I start
with the toilet paper wadded up, probably half the damn
roll stuck up between my legs, and it feels worse
(21:19):
than a pack. It's just so bulky. Yeah, and then
it's not absorbing, so like fifteen minutes later, I'm running
back to the bathroom. So after doing that a couple
of times, I got really desperate, And I had a
pair of fuzzy socks in my purse, and I rolled
up in toilet paper and shoved it in the fuzzy
(21:41):
sock and then used the fuzzy sock as a pad.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Oh, that was a good idea.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
And then through that shit in the trash when I
got home.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
That is a good idea.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Desperate though I was. I was embarrassed. I was nervous.
Who wants to bleed on the first day on the job.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
And who wants to go to the bathroom fifty times?
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (21:59):
It was. It was embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I'm trying to think what other methods I have used.
I definitely have gotten better with the toilet paper to
the point where I'll take it out and wrap so
make a pad with the paper that's kind of like
a rectangular pad.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
And then I'll take toilet paper and wrap it all
around the front and bottom it to kind of keep
it in place.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Okay, doesn't it turn into like a ball.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Yes, But when you're stuck, you're stuck.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
You're stuck. And then and then here's the thing. When
you have a toilet paper pad on, you have to
be careful when you go to sit on the toilet
that it doesn't fall into the toilet because it's so
much damn toilet paper, it'll clog the toilet.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
You only have public pressures, so you have to.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Like grab it, and it's and and and you pull
it out and you wrap it and throw the trash can.
Then you're fine. But when you sit down, you know,
and I'm not gonna lie. Yes, it has fallen in
the toilet on me, and I've had to dig it
out of the toilet and put it in the trash.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Sick.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Also, but so much money is spent.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
On period feminine products.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
It is, and when we think about how heavy are
periods are, think about how much more money, you know,
we would have spent.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
I did a little research.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
I found out that the average woman spends about thirteen
dollars and twenty five cents a month on menstrual products.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
That's not a lot.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Between the ages of twelve and fifty two.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
So that's like sixty three hundred dollars in a woman's
reproductive lifetime.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
I don't know if that.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Is accurate because I have to buy a box and.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Pads.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Oh yeah, yeah, I have to buy a box tampons,
and then the pads and then the pantyliners.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Yeah, so I think that that's a little low, a
little low. But did you know there's something called period poverty.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I did not.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
It's basically this.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Idea that there was a survey done of two thousand
women and it found that forty nine percent of them
have faced a lack of access to sanitary products, mentroal
hygiene education.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
We lacked that a lot.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Definitely art holy cow.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
But like handwashing, you know, just the basic necessities that
you need as a woman who's a period.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
You mentioned real quick handyliners.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
When I was in college, I had a roommate she
wore a pantyliner every single day.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
So because of that, there were.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Wrappers all over and I made a border around our
door room of her pantyliner wrapper.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
That is awesome. You were a great roommate. Well, speaking
of poverty, it's sad to think that there are those
that can't afford their sanitary products. I know, I never
thought about it. Have you ever heard of the pink tax?
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Wait, say tell me.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Okay, So the pink tax is supposed to be the
belief that items are charged. We are charged more for
items than men are like, if you look at our razors,
our pink razors as opposed to the men's razors, ours
costs more. Why because they're pink. There's no other difference.
And the same goes for our sanitary products. Men don't
(25:35):
think that our products are necessity, so they consider them
a luxury.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
Item, so they price them.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Course, so they price them as a luxury item.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
And right, and we're paying taxes, and we then pay
taxes on those.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Ends, right, and it's not a luxury, it's it's definitely
a necessity. That's really.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Did you have you ever got in the shot? The
birth control shot? Yes? What what was that about?
Speaker 2 (26:02):
I got sick of missing my pills and messing them up,
and so I got shot and it made me fat, sure, fatter.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
I'm the one who would get every was it.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Every three months? Yeah? And it made me fatter. So
how many times did you do it? I only did
it once because once I gained all that weight, I
was like, oh, I'm not doing this anymore. And then
I was told at nineteen that I could not eighteen.
I was eighteen. She told me that I would probably
never carry a kid, a baby to full term because
(26:37):
my units was tilted. She was wrong.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
That's why west each other more.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
I don't know, So, Andy, what is your vagina saying
to you today?
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Get it under control, lady?
Speaker 1 (26:50):
I the period problems when I think about it, have
been going on for thirty years, right, and there's still
really difficult.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
And I don't know.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Oh, I don't know if.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
There's something else out there. I need to try. I
need to hear from you. I have heard of ablasions.
I don't know a ton about them.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
I never heard of it.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
It's something about they burn the Is it the inside
of your uterus lining so that you don't shed as much?
So I don't know if that is a better alternative
for me, But that seems pretty painful.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
It does sound painful.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
What is your vagina saying to you?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
My vagina saying thank you Mama A positive lady?
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Why?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah. So for a couple of weeks I had had
this issue with moisture. It wasn't sweat, it wasn't a discharge.
It was just slightly damp. It wasn't even peak. I
know what you mean, You know what I mean? Yeah,
And it got to a point where I was uncomfortable
and I was scratching. So I messaged my doctor and
(27:56):
gave her and we had a video appointment and gave
her the sis and she said, it sounds like a
bacterial infection. Let me give you some cream. She's like, now,
you can take the three day pills but you can't drink,
or five days of a suppository and you can drink
all you want. So which one do you think I chose?
Speaker 3 (28:15):
You went the suppository route.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Goddamn right. Tell me I can't drink makes me want
to drink more. So I use the suppositories for five
days and it all went away.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
So it was bacterial.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
It was bacterial, And that's not an east infection. It's
just the symptoms show up a lot different. East infection,
especially for me, is just a lot more severe. It's itchier.
There is a discharge with the east infection. Yeah, a
bacterial infection is just a you know, a disruption in
the pH Oh interesting. Yeah, I've learned a lot today,
(28:53):
me too. Thank you for listening to what our vaginas
they're saying. For questions, comments, or to let us know
what your vagina is saying, email us at my vagina
said what at gmail dot com. Dm us on Instagram
and follow us at hashtag my vagina said, What Listen,
Subscribe and rate us on Seneca Women, in iHeartRadio, or
(29:15):
wherever you listen.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Our vagina knowledge is based solely on our experience as
vagina owners. Please see your doctor if you have any
concerns about your vagina.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
What
Hey, I'm Chris, I'm Andy, and this is my Vagina said, what,
we're back, vagina.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Yes we are.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
If this is your first time, welcome, and if you
have been with us before and are in every day vagina,
We're glad to have you back.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome back. Today we're talking about periods, how we got them,
and how they evolved. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Okay, So to kick things off, Chris, how old were
you when you got your period?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
It came once when I was twelve, and then reappeared
again when I was about fifteen.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Wait, just not to interrupt you, but to prepare for episode,
I did a little period research and that's actually not
that uncommon. I didn't know that you could get it
at one age and then not show up at all
again for years.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
But that does happen.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I didn't know it was a thing. Was what was
happening to me at the time.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Do you know anybody else that happened to me?
Speaker 4 (01:04):
No?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I don't. All my friends got their period about thirteen
at the latest, and it was regular. Mine was not irregular.
It would come once every couple months, and then it
would be super heavy, like eight days cramping. It was rough.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
So if you first got your period when you were twelve?
Did you have boobs at twelve?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yes, okay, I remember having boobs in sixth grade because
I remember them hurting. I'll never forget a kid split
a paper across the table and my boobs are like
exactly table length, and the one sheet of paper tapped
my boobs and I was like, oh my god. Oh
so I'll never forget that paint.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
It must have been like in a gross burt.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
It must have been. For some reason. I feel like
I've always had boobs though.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Oh so, how did you when you got your period
at twelve? And well, I guess not until you were older.
Then how did you handle that? Did you tell your mom?
Do you tell your grandma?
Speaker 2 (02:06):
I told my grandma. She gave me pads, and then
after that it was up to me to go to
the store and get pads whenever I needed them.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Do you remember having to go to the store and
buy your first sanitary product?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Oh? Yeah, I actually didn't mind because it gave me
a chance to look at to look at all the
different products. So every time I would go, I would
pick something different because I wanted to try everything.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Oh my gosh, And I was there with like a hoodie,
black mass like, not wanting anyone to see me. I
still won't make eye contact. I do all self check out.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Oh no, I stand in the aisland, hold up wings
and go do these wings work?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
What about tampons? When did you try tampons?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Oh, this is a great story. So I'm in school
and my period comes. I go to the nurses station
and she's out of pats. All she has are these
slim tampons. I was like, I never used one. So
she gives me a tampon and the pamphlet with all
the information. So I scoured through it and read it
(03:18):
like it was the Bible.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
That nurse's backroom for a minute.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Oh yeah, I didn't care. I didn't care. I was
on my period and didn't have anything. I was freaking out.
And then so I put the I put the tampon in,
got up. It was painful. I was uncomfortable. I went
back to class, and the whole time I'm like, damn,
this hurts God, this really is bugging me. So then
I went back to the nurses station, her nurse's office,
(03:45):
and she gave me another one. I asked for the
pamphlet again because I thought I obviously I was doing
something wrong. So I j on, miss nurse, what was
she supposed to do? Stand out there and give me
an example.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Actually, yes, that is exactly what she was supposed to do.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
When you came back like this didn't work the pamphlet,
she would have probably been like, maybe I should help her.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
As how, I would not want that. I don't think
I would want her in the No, I didn't. I
was like, I'll figure it out. I'll figure it out.
So I go in there, read the pamphlet again, put
this one in. It goes in perfectly. I'm like, oh shit,
it doesn't feel like I'm on my period at all.
(04:32):
This is awesome. I wanted to do cartwheels down the halls.
I felt like everyone i'd be keeping this great, big
secret from me.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
What was the secret?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
The tampons are amazing.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Oh my gosh, did your grandma or momm use tampons?
Speaker 2 (04:48):
I believe my mom probably did.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Probably not grandma, No, not grandma.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
She didn't maybe even suggest them.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yeah, she didn't even think of it.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
For you, Andy, how old were you when you got
your period?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
I was fourteen and a half. It was right after
and a half way.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yeah, after swim season ended, and I was glad to
get it because I was literally didn't know anyone else
who hadn't got it at that point.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
But it was a mess. I would get it like
once every six months. It would be so heavy.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I couldn't manage it. It was like I couldn't change.
I would change in between every class period I would
still be getting it on my clothing. It was just unmanageable.
And it was like that for years, and then I
finally went to the doctor and they put me on
(05:45):
birth control to make the periods more manageable.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
You weren't birth control pills?
Speaker 3 (05:50):
I was when I.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Was maybe seventeen. I got on them after dealing with it.
My mom was probably tired of bringing me a change
of underwear.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
But I was so bad at taking them.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Oh they're ridiculous. Just you have to be on schedule.
I used to set an alarm for my birth control pills.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Did you take them right?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
I tried, and if I was an hour off, I
would start cramping really oh yeah, And if I didn't,
and if I had that hour stretched into half a
day or a day, my period would come.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I can't remember the pill I was on, but it
was super strong and if I would get sick on
it all the time, and then they'd be like, well.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Double up if you miss a day. Well, I would
miss a day like every other day.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Oh wow, you were terrible.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Oh I remember one time I started my fresh month
after getting my period, realized I had just taken all
the sugar pills I had upside, I cannot do it.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
You were terrible. I thought I was bad with my
alarm clock.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
I just never could do it. So then I had
the kids. Was still bad. And then finally after my
fourth kid, they got regular. They regulated to the point
of more predictability for the first time in my life.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah. Same here after my third pregnancy, like clockwork, and
it would be twenty every twenty eight days, and it
was light. It was everything it should have been when
I was mine.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Was still not light. I'm talking two super tampa.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
No in the bed now, how do you do that?
Speaker 1 (07:27):
It's a nighttime, full length pad. Double up the pad,
a towel on my bed, and I would have to
like settle arms and still be so heavy.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Did you have cramps?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
No?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Because when I would be heavy, I would have cramps
where I could feel it coming out like it would
cramp and be like, b really, yes.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
No, I didn't really have a problem with that, but
because this.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Is just like continued to be this huge problem, I
got an iud.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Oh okay, yeah, yeah, they work, they're nice. I love them.
So you have one, right I do. I've had three,
what like, you've done it?
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Three new ones?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Yes? Okay. The first one, the first one I got
after my first daughter. I had that in for about
three years and I went in to discuss discuss getting
it out because I was worried about my future fertility,
and they scared me. They told me all this stuff
as to how it can affect my future fertility. So
(08:29):
I don't know. I don't know, Okay, all I know
is they scared the crap out of me.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
And the commercials they're like, they show you don't want
a kid, you have that, you pull it out, you
get the kid.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Yeah, that's not how it happens. Definitely not how it works.
So they pulled it out. I did get pregnant, but
he told me I wouldn't get pregnant for at least
a year. I got pregnant in like three months.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Did it hurt to take it taken out?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
No? Not really not really, and they don't really hurt
to put in either.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Mine did.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I was gripping the table because he said I had
like a curved uterus, so he had a full pulled
down my uterus first and straighten it out and then
insert it.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yeah. I had a tilted uterus too, and they just
take the speculum thing and move it down. I don't know,
maybe my crap's so loose from all the kids I've
had that I didn't feel it.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Mine, mine was very, very uncomfortable, but ever since then
I haven't felt it. However, it was not the rosy
sunshine picture. Well, let's go back.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
To your story.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Oh you want me to finish that shirt. You had
your first, right, and then I got out Yes. And
then about four years ago I had one put in
after I had my last daughter, my last kid, no more,
and I kept spotting and over and over again, like
all the time. Not like just a couple of times,
(09:57):
you know, like once a month or whatever like that. No,
it was like ever day I'm spotting.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
What, Yes, your period.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
You would think it's a period, but it's every single
day continuously. So they sent me in for an ultrasound
and here it was dislodged. And for some reason, this
doctor had left the string long. I don't know why.
I don't remember why. I'm sure she told me why
she was leaving it long. I just don't remember why.
(10:25):
But the string was so long that when I would wipe,
I could feel it. Isn't that gross?
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Do you think when you were wiping it you were
moving it?
Speaker 2 (10:34):
No? I never thought about that. I feel it in No,
I couldn't feel it moving. I couldn't feel that it
was dislodged or anything. But once they told me it
was dislodged, I was like, well, I have the string here,
why don't I just pull it out myself. So I
pulled and I tugged and and I couldn't get it
to come out. So then I just kind of like,
(10:54):
I know, I.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Believe you tried to do that.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Well, I mean you know what happened.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Did you go to the doctor.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah? So I went and got it taken out and
got a new one put in, made sure they cut
strings very short. And like my period does not come,
you don't get I don't get a period at all,
just like with my first one, no period at all.
It's awesome.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
You are the success story that I was hanging my
hat on when I was going to get my ID,
because that is what I hear from so many people,
but that has not been my experience.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
So when I got.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Mine, I first of all, they did tell me it's
better to get an IUD inserted.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Or is that the right word?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
What inserted? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Okay, when you're on your period, because then your cervix
is softer.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Never heard that before, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
So they did that right, And then I got it inserted,
and I had my period for fifty.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Date Are you kidding me? Fifty date heavy?
Speaker 3 (11:57):
I would say no, I would say moderate.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Oh my god, but fifty days straight, day straight.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
And the nurse told me that after the first I
think three months, then that is typically how your body
is going to respond to it. So I've had my
period again since. So then I stopped after fifty days.
And then when did you get the ID physio?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
When you got the IUD, did it stop right away
or no?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I continue to have my period.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
I just never stopped because I got it inserted with period,
and then I never stopped having my period for fifty.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Days, oh my god.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
And then.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
So since then I've had my regular period, but it's not.
It's not as heavy as it was, but it's still
like eight days.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Long and moderate ow. So it was not a big improvement.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Well if it's only it's not fifty days.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Fifty days, but that was before I was on the.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I D oh, well, you know, but it's not like
long term. Eight days is eight days. At least it
has a beginning and an end, whereas before it.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
The girl who said my period is so terrible. When
I was a kid, that was for eight days long,
and now I don't have a period, but now I'm
so's the feel gratitude for at least not fifty days?
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah, but my eight days were like eight days of
super duper heavy yeah, and heavy cramping like it was miserable.
So your eight days is moderate. That's not that bad.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
I don't know. Makes me feel like I should get
another I D. I need two ID.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
You need two IUD. Maybe you have two uterses and
that's why you're still bleeding, because one has the iu
D and one doesn't. I probably do.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Actually, that is probably what has been.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Going on my whole life.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Double uters. Okay, on that note, let's take a commercial break.
We will be right back stick with us. We have
a lot more going on.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Okay, So, Chris, do you experience PMS?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Not really have you ever? Well, I think I did
when I was having my regular, my irregular heavy periods
when I was growing up. I think then I would
have PMS and I would turn into a raging hormone monster.
But since I since I've had kids, No.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah, I don't get it bad. I know a lot
of people suffer with like all the cramps and stuff.
I don't have that. I know. I don't think I
ever really experienced them.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Actually till I got older, and I would only know
it was PMS because I would feel.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Like I had no friends. I would think no one
likes me. And as soon as I would start feeling
like that, I'd be.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Like, oh, oh it's sensitive, you're getting your period.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Oh I remember that. I remember feeling like that. I
always would say when I was pmsing, I would always
say I had like one good week a month, like
it's the week before your period. No, it's two weeks
before your period. I think was the good week?
Speaker 4 (15:17):
No?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Was it the week after? Shit? I can't remember what
week it was.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
All I remember there's one good day one week there
was one good week every month because it was and
I think it was the week after after my period
would be my good week.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
And then the next week I would start pmsing in
different ways for the ovulation cycle to start over again
for the following month. And then you know, the week
before your period, all hell breaks loose because people get
cramping all that well, and during this time I would
I would have I had heavy cramping, and so yeah,
I would have PMS around. And but like I said,
(15:53):
once I had kids, no more PMS. I got pregnant
and my entire body change. Yeah, I have allergies, never
had allergies, all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Yeah, it is crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Did you ever did you ever try the menstruation am
I saying that right?
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Menstruation cups, menstrel oh, menstreul cups? Did you ever try them?
Speaker 2 (16:18):
I bought the menstrual cups. I don't know why I
bought them. I have no idea why I bought them, Honestly,
I just remember buying them, saying, why don't you give
this a try? Duh? So I bought the cup and
it was silicone and it wasn't too big.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Back to when Grandma would give you money, and you'd
go to the store. You probably always want to try
all the new things.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
That could be it. I like to try new things. Yeah,
so I so the cup was it was soft silicone,
and it wasn't too big, and the instructions were to
like fold it and put it in and then cut
it over your service right right. I could not get
it in. I couldn't get it to go where it
(17:01):
needed to go.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Oh do you how do you know it wasn't in
the right spot.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
I don't know, because I always wondered. I've never tried it, Yeah,
but I always.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Wondered, like what if it went inverted inside of you,
like if it wasn't cupping on the right.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Side, right, does that happen? I don't know. I don't know.
I don't think it would. I don't think would hurt
anything in silicone.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah, but you know those toys when we were little,
and it'd be the half ball, right, it would flip
it upside.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Down and then it would pop up. No, it's not
even that thick. No, it's really thin. It's really thin.
You fold it and you stick it in, and you
you're supposed to get it to cup and from what
I understand, from what I remember is that I did
not ever feel it cup, and it never really stayed
in right. Okay, so I didn't use it, so I
got rid of it.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Do any of you use the cup?
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Because please let us know. Maybe we can get some instructions.
You know me, I'm always willing to try something new.
So with your with your advice, sure, I'll try the
cup again if it's your favorite. If it's your favorite item,
what are you talking about?
Speaker 3 (18:06):
You don't even get your period anymore?
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Well, yeah, that's true. You pretend I can give it
to my daughter. Okay, she would hate for me saying
that out loud.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
What about the tampons with no applicator?
Speaker 2 (18:19):
What are they?
Speaker 3 (18:19):
I can't remember what they're called?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Ob ob obi. It's the way you should be. Keep
it simple and set yourself free from the extras that
you really don't need. Just try obi and you'll see.
I hope I don't ensued for singing their commercial song
marketing on there. I know, but I always thought to myself,
(18:42):
why why to what end? Why don't why why would you?
Why don't I need an applicator?
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Don't understand it either?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
What is the purpose of a tampon without an applicant.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
I have tried it, you bottom, of course, I bottom
my gosh, of.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Course I bought them. You know me. I'm gonna try
anything once. So I have a thing about blood on
my fingers. So the fact that I bought it was
I know, okay, I do. I really do have a
thing about the blood getting on my hands and stuff
(19:21):
for some reason, So buying an ob was really stupid.
It was a I guess I bought it on a
whim and I did get it in and it was fine.
I just need the applicator. I just don't see the
purpose of not having one. So I'm pretty sure they
expired or something in the bottom of my basket with
(19:42):
my sanitary products.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah, I have tried it, and I also it worked.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
It was fine, but I definitely didn't like it.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
And I don't understand why someone would choose that as
opposed to just the applicator.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Right, Like, why not have an applicator? I don't know
what is purpose. And I guess less trash if you're,
you know, environmentally conscious, you don't want to have that
much trash and listeners.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Are you environmentally conscious and that's why you don't like
the applicator.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Or is it because you don't like the applicator it
doesn't work for you.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Maybe for some people the applicator too far. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
No, that's not possible.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
I don't know. Hey, listeners, if any of you have
experienced the applicator putting the tampon up too far, please
let us know dm us on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
How about those situations when we have run out of
product and we have nothing. I mean, we learn from
a very young age right toilet paper instantly learn that one.
Can you think of other things that you have had
to use most situations?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
No, not really. I used totalpaper. Okay, So here's the situation.
It's my first day on a temp assignment, so I
don't know anyone in the office, and my period comes.
It's really heavy and I'm freaking out. So I start
with the toilet paper wadded up, probably half the damn
roll stuck up between my legs, and it feels worse
(21:19):
than a pack. It's just so bulky. Yeah, and then
it's not absorbing, so like fifteen minutes later, I'm running
back to the bathroom. So after doing that a couple
of times, I got really desperate, And I had a
pair of fuzzy socks in my purse, and I rolled
up in toilet paper and shoved it in the fuzzy
(21:41):
sock and then used the fuzzy sock as a pad.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Oh, that was a good idea.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
And then through that shit in the trash when I
got home.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
That is a good idea.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Desperate though I was. I was embarrassed. I was nervous.
Who wants to bleed on the first day on the job.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
And who wants to go to the bathroom fifty times?
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (21:59):
It was. It was embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I'm trying to think what other methods I have used.
I definitely have gotten better with the toilet paper to
the point where I'll take it out and wrap so
make a pad with the paper that's kind of like
a rectangular pad.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
And then I'll take toilet paper and wrap it all
around the front and bottom it to kind of keep
it in place.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Okay, doesn't it turn into like a ball.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Yes, But when you're stuck, you're stuck.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
You're stuck. And then and then here's the thing. When
you have a toilet paper pad on, you have to
be careful when you go to sit on the toilet
that it doesn't fall into the toilet because it's so
much damn toilet paper, it'll clog the toilet.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
You only have public pressures, so you have to.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Like grab it, and it's and and and you pull
it out and you wrap it and throw the trash can.
Then you're fine. But when you sit down, you know,
and I'm not gonna lie. Yes, it has fallen in
the toilet on me, and I've had to dig it
out of the toilet and put it in the trash.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Sick.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Also, but so much money is spent.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
On period feminine products.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
It is, and when we think about how heavy are
periods are, think about how much more money, you know,
we would have spent.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
I did a little research.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
I found out that the average woman spends about thirteen
dollars and twenty five cents a month on menstrual products.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
That's not a lot.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Between the ages of twelve and fifty two.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
So that's like sixty three hundred dollars in a woman's
reproductive lifetime.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
I don't know if that.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Is accurate because I have to buy a box and.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Pads.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Oh yeah, yeah, I have to buy a box tampons,
and then the pads and then the pantyliners.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Yeah, so I think that that's a little low, a
little low. But did you know there's something called period poverty.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I did not.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
It's basically this.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Idea that there was a survey done of two thousand
women and it found that forty nine percent of them
have faced a lack of access to sanitary products, mentroal
hygiene education.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
We lacked that a lot.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Definitely art holy cow.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
But like handwashing, you know, just the basic necessities that
you need as a woman who's a period.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
You mentioned real quick handyliners.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
When I was in college, I had a roommate she
wore a pantyliner every single day.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
So because of that, there were.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Wrappers all over and I made a border around our
door room of her pantyliner wrapper.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
That is awesome. You were a great roommate. Well, speaking
of poverty, it's sad to think that there are those
that can't afford their sanitary products. I know, I never
thought about it. Have you ever heard of the pink tax?
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Wait, say tell me.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Okay, So the pink tax is supposed to be the
belief that items are charged. We are charged more for
items than men are like, if you look at our razors,
our pink razors as opposed to the men's razors, ours
costs more. Why because they're pink. There's no other difference.
And the same goes for our sanitary products. Men don't
(25:35):
think that our products are necessity, so they consider them
a luxury.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
Item, so they price them.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Course, so they price them as a luxury item.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
And right, and we're paying taxes, and we then pay
taxes on those.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Ends, right, and it's not a luxury, it's it's definitely
a necessity. That's really.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Did you have you ever got in the shot? The
birth control shot? Yes? What what was that about?
Speaker 2 (26:02):
I got sick of missing my pills and messing them up,
and so I got shot and it made me fat, sure, fatter.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
I'm the one who would get every was it.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Every three months? Yeah? And it made me fatter. So
how many times did you do it? I only did
it once because once I gained all that weight, I
was like, oh, I'm not doing this anymore. And then
I was told at nineteen that I could not eighteen.
I was eighteen. She told me that I would probably
never carry a kid, a baby to full term because
(26:37):
my units was tilted. She was wrong.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
That's why west each other more.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
I don't know, So, Andy, what is your vagina saying
to you today?
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Get it under control, lady?
Speaker 1 (26:50):
I the period problems when I think about it, have
been going on for thirty years, right, and there's still
really difficult.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
And I don't know.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Oh, I don't know if.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
There's something else out there. I need to try. I
need to hear from you. I have heard of ablasions.
I don't know a ton about them.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
I never heard of it.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
It's something about they burn the Is it the inside
of your uterus lining so that you don't shed as much?
So I don't know if that is a better alternative
for me, But that seems pretty painful.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
It does sound painful.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
What is your vagina saying to you?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
My vagina saying thank you Mama A positive lady?
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Why?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah. So for a couple of weeks I had had
this issue with moisture. It wasn't sweat, it wasn't a discharge.
It was just slightly damp. It wasn't even peak. I
know what you mean, You know what I mean? Yeah,
And it got to a point where I was uncomfortable
and I was scratching. So I messaged my doctor and
(27:56):
gave her and we had a video appointment and gave
her the sis and she said, it sounds like a
bacterial infection. Let me give you some cream. She's like, now,
you can take the three day pills but you can't drink,
or five days of a suppository and you can drink
all you want. So which one do you think I chose?
Speaker 3 (28:15):
You went the suppository route.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Goddamn right. Tell me I can't drink makes me want
to drink more. So I use the suppositories for five
days and it all went away.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
So it was bacterial.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
It was bacterial, And that's not an east infection. It's
just the symptoms show up a lot different. East infection,
especially for me, is just a lot more severe. It's itchier.
There is a discharge with the east infection. Yeah, a
bacterial infection is just a you know, a disruption in
the pH Oh interesting. Yeah, I've learned a lot today,
(28:53):
me too. Thank you for listening to what our vaginas
they're saying. For questions, comments, or to let us know
what your vagina is saying, email us at my vagina
said what at gmail dot com. Dm us on Instagram
and follow us at hashtag my vagina said, What Listen,
Subscribe and rate us on Seneca Women, in iHeartRadio, or
(29:15):
wherever you listen.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Our vagina knowledge is based solely on our experience as
vagina owners. Please see your doctor if you have any
concerns about your vagina.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
What
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