19 Facts I'm Pretty Sure You Didn't Know About Periods That Are Disturbing, Horrific, And Painful To Read

Sorry fellow wombmates.

1. Periods have been known to make people bleed from their eyes (oh good).

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It's very, very rare, but the fact that it's happened at all is too much for moi. The grim condition is caused by something called vicarious bleeding where, due to conditions like endometriosis, you get a 'period' in parts of your body outside of the womb. For some people, the uterine-like tissue grows around their eyes, meaning they bleed from their peepers around that time of the month.

2. Some people also bleed from the nose, ears, urethra, and/or rectum while on their period.

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And yep, the incredibly rare instances happen for more or less the same reason. Luv 2 own a womb!!! 

3. Being on your period can change your voice (because I guess the whole process is just a giant cosmic joke).

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Scientists think that people's voices might change when they're on their period, and papers have been written about how wombmates' singing voices differ while riding the red wave. They termed the condition dysphonia premenstrualis, which causes symptoms including "decreased vocal efficiency, reduced flexibility, breathiness, fatigued voice, loss of high notes, hoarseness, intonation problems, and muffled voice."

4. In fact, European opera houses used to offer singers "grace days" while they were on their period for this reason.

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Some opera houses in the Ukraine still do, according to a 2018 article from CBC. After all, "symptoms of premenstrual vocal syndrome include the loss of vocal power, range and harmonics, and a reduced ability to sing pianissimo. Also, drier vocal chords during menstruation make it more difficult to control vibrato,"  speech pathologist Jean Abitbol writes.

5. Period cramps are essentially your womb strangling itself.

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To get the uterine lining out of your womb during your period, your uterus has to contract. Sometimes, when the contractions are stronger, your womb squeezes its blood vessels so tight that oxygen can't reach them, which sends pain signals to your brain (ouch).

But wait, there's more – this process increases your production of chemicals called prostaglandins, which encourage more contractions of the uterus. There really is no mercy.  

6. Periods are often worse in winter (even though I hate, loathe, and despise a summer period, too).

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Of course, not everyone who's involuntarily bought a 40-year subscription to painandblood.net will suffer more in the wintertime. But GP Sarah Jervis told Red (ayy) that "Blood vessels constrict in the cold, reducing blood flow. If the blood flow from your period is interrupted, it could increase period pain." She adds that "it's also possible that pain receptors are more sensitive in cold weather." Ah, lovely.

7. People who get periods spend, on average, seven precious years of our finite lives menstruating. It's like nobody cares whether or not we're good people...

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The fact comes via Unicef, but I feel like my fellow abdominally agonised people will have come to that conclusion ourselves. Because when you think about it, if your period lasts a week, that's just under a quarter of your whole month gone. Five days? You've clocked in for a whole business week! And the pay stubs never arrive!!! 

8. Using a menstrual cup might sometimes move an IUD out of place.

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Why this insistence on babies from my womb? First, the monthly tantrums over not getting pregnant. Now, the menstrual cup comes for my IUD. One paper found that those who used menstrual cups were more likely than those who used pads or tampons to dislodge their IUD over time. It's only one paper, but Shieva Ghofrany, MD, told WebMD that it warrants some caution. They explain the safest method of menstrual cup use for IUD users here.

9. Periods can make your asthma worse.

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Between 19-40% of asthma sufferers who menstruate experience worse symptoms in the week leading up to their period, one paper found. They called the condition "perimenstrual asthma," and it differs from regular asthma.  Perimenstrual asthma sufferers face "aspirin sensitivity, less atopy, and lower lung capacity" in addition to their regular asthma. The study authors could only really theorise that it was down to hormones. Stun!!!! 

10. Most menstruators (54% of us) have had every single pair of our underwear ruined by period stains.

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NGL, this figure made me feel less alone (but more distressed). The numbers come from THINX, who surveyed 36,000 menstruating people — the majority (54%) said that period stains had ruined just about every pair of panties they owned. 

11. If you ever get toxic shock syndrome, you're advised to never use a tampon again.

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Most of us will have heard about the condition, which occurs when a strain of bacteria that can come from a tampon being left in your body for too long sets your body into life-threatnening shock. Symptoms include vomiting, a high fever, dizziness, diarrhea, a sore throat, muscle aches, faintness or weakness, and a sunburn-type rash; call your doctor immediately if you notice these. And after sufferers have been treated, the Mayo Clinic recommends they never use tampons again.

12. Ancient Europeans thought period blood could cure leprosy.

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A nun named Hildegard von Bingen, born in what is now Germany in 1098, wroe that if "a person becomes leprous from lust or intemperance… He should make a bath…and mix in menstrual blood, as much as he can get, and get into the bath," she wrote. Well, then.

13. Being close to your period can put you in a cleaning overdrive.

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I thought I was the only one who could tell when my period was on its way because of how badly I felt the urge to deep-clean, but nope. It's to do with our serotonin levels, which drop just before our period starts.

When they do, they can make us more irritable, sadder, or (you guessed it) more obsessive and compulsive. Combine this with the nesting urges that come with lowered progesterone, and it makes sense that some of us itch to get the rubber gloves out just before that time of the month.

14. Dysmenorrhea, or period pain, can cause people to faint.

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Other symptoms include cramping, vomiting, low back pain, nausea, fatigue, diarrhea, headaches, weakness, or pain spreading down the legs. Of course, if any of these are severe, it's worth visiting your doctor. And if your period is causing you to faint, definitely check in with a professional.

15. The French used to think period sex would lead to monster babies.

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According to The Curse: A Cultural History Of Menstruation, an old French belief suggested that having period sex would lead to "puny, languid, and moribund, subject to an infinity of fetid maladies, foul and stinking" kids. Okay, then.

16. Apparently, Pliny the Elder isn't rocking with anyone who menstruates.

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He's dead, though, so it's fine. The famous writer and ~alleged~ thinker wrote that people on their periods could stop hailstorms, dim mirrors, ruin crops, kill bees, and blunt weapons. He also reckoned menstrual blood drove dogs mad — and I guess back then, there weren't enough literate people to say "thee fvck dost thou meane?"

17. There's a reason why period poops are... Like That.

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Remember earlier when we were talking about prostaglandins? Yeah, well, as you might have guessed, they aren't exactly the most precise hormones in the world. The chemicals can cause other parts of your body, like your bowels, to constrict too — leading to the dreaded Toilet Bowl of Enormous Anguish.

18. In 1946, Walt Disney produced a film titled The Story of Menstruation, which is widely considered to be one of the earliest films to include the term "vagina."

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I mean, it's a sort of addictive watch.

19. And finally, we might have wayyyy more periods now than our ancestors did.

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In modern industrialized societies, the average menstruator has, on average, 450 menstrual cycles. However, in prehistoric times, people might have menstruated way less. Historians think that this could be because lots of women were malnourished, and "Menstrual regularity was also impacted by the fact that most women spent a larger part of their reproductive life either pregnant or breastfeeding, compared to today," History Extra says.

Editor's note: this post is not intended as medical advice, as we are not medical professionals! Please seek a medical professional if you have any concerns about your periods.

Do you know any other mind-boggling period facts? Let us know in the comments below!