This is a follow up article after my whole Nexplanon debacle (see other post for the juicy details) I want to share some of my thoughts around the issues of hormone imbalances and well the mystery of PMS…
My Nexplanon journey highlighted some personality flaws that prevented me from taking action early such as; my super resilient superpowers and butt headedness. But through this process I have come to learn sayings like; 'you have made your bed so you better lie in it.' Well, it shouldn’t be your thought process when it’s affecting your wellbeing. I’ve also been thinking about other reasons of why I couldn’t communicate my problems very easily.
I have a friend that is more in tune with me than most or shall I say, he has an interest in observing how people behave. He would always ask me about my agitations and nervousness and well, quite frankly why I couldn’t get my shit together? I would always reply I don’t know, I’m not sure why I’m like this. I’d reply this way as it felt weak to say, I think I’m behaving like this because of my implant. It just sounds like an excuse to me, do woman not say that to avoid the real problem? But what is that exactly? I couldn’t admit to myself or others that I didn’t have control over my own mind and body.
So, I decided to keep combing through self-improvement articles and podcasts and make good lifestyle changes to try and improve my behaviour and quite frankly nothing was working. I couldn’t control how out of control I was on the run up to menstruation.
I feel like society as a whole has taken the importance away from hormone imbalances around a woman’s cycle. After my episodes I started doing some research into hormones and PMS and it turns out only 3 to 8% of woman actually suffer with PMS! That’s a much lower number than I was expecting. But how many women in today’s society blame their daily problems on periods? And how many men ignore their girlfriends’ agitations with them and put it down to periods instead of asking them what’s wrong? It is true most women will feel more emotional and have mood swings due to menstruation this is fact, but these symptoms do not mean a mental disorder or a hormone imbalance…
I feel a lot of the stigma around periods could be eradicated with more open communication and taking ownership of our actions or in actions. We shouldn’t use periods as an advocate for our problems because its scary to have the real conversation. Having an outburst and expressing what you feel during menstruation isn’t something to be ashamed of, taking something back because the outburst wasn’t received well then blaming it on a period just devalues your problem. So, who’s benefiting?
Not our sister from another Mr that is now being looked at as a drama queen when they’re really suffering quite badly.
So, Ladies let’s not make our woman hood derogatory by using it as an excuse and men take the time to ask your partner the real reason, they are annoyed at you. It won’t just be because they’re about to flow like Niagara Falls, there will be some underlying issue there that needs some communication. This doesn’t go to say that women don’t have issues surrounding their period they do. Hormones are very real, but its also not a disorder that is quite as common as society, media and the medical industry proclaims.
Let’s help our sisters out by saluting the vagina and having more conversations. Also chocolate and cake will probably be well received.
Well anyways that’s my twenty pence and thoughts of the day and for those that were wondering it’s been a week since I had my implant taken out and I’m feeling much better! Also very inspired by all the ladies that reached out to me… periods who knew.