Why Does My Body Hate Me?

Hello everyone! Welcome back to @theperiodtalks. We know it’s been a minute, but, pandemic, jobs, life! Just because we’ve been away doesn’t mean we have stopped thinking of new ways to help normalise period talk and fight period poverty, we have continued to actively participate on and offline.

We can’t believe we’ve made it to 1000 FOLLOWERS! Thank you all for sticking around. Now we’re back, let’s normalise periods together.

Anyway, enough of that… We thought we would return with a casual blog that we're sure everyone can relate to...

I am currently writing to you from bed with a raging headache and swollen stomach. It is day one of my period. And it has me thinking why does my body hate me?! Surely there is some logical explanation as to why a period hurts so damn much. For something so natural, I do not enjoy feeling like a Heffalump! So I have decided to do some research to find out why my body hates me.

CRAMPS: Uterine muscle contractions… this almost sounds worse than they are (not poss!). But yes, cramps on your period are literally contractions! Though they’re not quite birthing contractions, we think they warrant (nearly) the same amount of sympathy.

FATIGUE & HEADACHES: HORMONES! Literally will they bog off! Hormones are on a field day during our period. And thanks to them, our oestrogen levels are bouncing all over the place. The constant change in hormone levels is a challenge for our heads to keep up with… I have a headache just thinking about it.

CHOCOHOLISM: Chocolate! I can’t stop eating chocolate. Or anything else for that matter. Why? Once again hormones... that evil oestrogen is out to get us! A drop in oestrogen levels doesn’t just make us really really tired; and give us really really bad headaches; it also decides to trick our brains into thinking we are 1000x hungrier than we really are (don't quote me on that one). When we feel hunger like this it is because our hormones are playing games with our insulin, whereby our brain decides it wants to play 'Willy Wonka' this week AND WE'RE THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY.

So, after taking the time to research and really think about the side effects of my period, I have changed my mind… My body doesn’t hate me! It’s just working through all sorts of conditions all at once, no wonder we’re so tired! I’ve now decided I’m proud of my body for getting through that every month!