Tampons make me say, "Ugh, I think I'm dying."

I remember having my period during my adolescence and early adulthood. My period was horrible. Awful. My cramps hurt. And I complained. Boy, did I complain! I whined, “Ugh, I think I’m dying!” on a regular basis.

It was horrible. At some point, many years back I switched to using a menstrual cup instead of tampons. It’s funny how quickly I forgot how awful periods were. I loved my menstrual cup for so many reasons, but in my excitement over the novelty of the cups, I clearly didn’t realize how much pain I was being spared.

Then, last month, a series of events led me to a situation where I had to bum a tampon off of a co-worker.

I’ll try to sum this up.

I had been having bladder issues since my daughter was born.  Basically, nerves were ruined, organs were displaced, nothing worked like it should and my OB/GYN told me that it was normal and that a large percentage of women who delivered vaginally just had to deal with it. Surgery was an option, but it often had to be done over several years later.

Then, last month, I was recommended the homeopathic remedy Pulsatilla to solve my peeing woes. Pulsatilla works on a number of female issues. It’s not the only remedy that is indicated for gynecological issues, but it was the remedy that worked for me. It did work too in less than a day, I peed normally again for the first time in over two years. I didn’t take into account how with a healthier “down there area” that perhaps my periods would start on time again. So, I had planned for my period to arrive on cycle day 32… only, with my new found healthy girly region, it arrived on day 28, like it used to before my daughter was born.

I work another non-writing job out of the house two days a week. Day 28 of this last period happened to fall on a day that I was at my other job. But I was completely unprepared.

So, I asked a co-worker for a tampon… since most people don’t carry around extra menstrual cups or mama pads.

It wasn’t long before I felt the cramping coming on. While I had forgotten how awful period cramps were, the sensation was all too familiar when I was experiencing it again. It was an ache in my whole lower abdomen and my vaginal area felt like it was being ripped apart. The pain made me feel nauseated. I wanted to vomit. I have been listening to girls complain about cramps for a few years now and I am embarrassed to say, it had been so long since I felt real cramps that I kind of thought they were being wimps. I kind of thought they were exaggerating their pain.

I know, that’s awful, but I’m just being truthful.

At any rate, the pain was agonizing and finally, I muttered those ridiculous words: Ugh, I think I’m dying.

After I said it, I corrected myself in my head very condescendingly. “Really Dawn? Dying? Don’t you think that’s a bit much?” I tried to talk myself out of my misery to no avail.  With only an hour left of work, I took the tampon out and replaced it with a huge wad of paper towel to line my underwear with. The pain wouldn’t stop though.

The car ride home, all I could think about was getting to my Hyland’s Remedy Chest and using the little booklet in it to find a remedy that would take away my pain.

Thanks to Hyland’s, I took three pellets of  Veratrum Album within moments of walking through my front door and fifteen minutes later the pain was gone… this time though, never to be forgotten.

I’ve decided I need two menstrual cups now. I will have one for my purse to be used only in an emergency and one for regular use.

That pain is never going to happen to me again.