Here Are 21 Period Nightmares That Prove Periods Are The Absolute Worst

"I had to pry my tampon out of that little bastard's mouth."

We asked the members of the BuzzFeed Community for their most traumatic period horror stories and, wow, did they deliver! Here are the cringeworthy results:

1. A Smelly Surprise

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"I was visiting my boyfriend in Barbados, and we went for a ride on his motorcycle. I told him to find a place to stop so I could change my tampon. We stopped at a building a friend of his was renovating. Not only was my period full on like a faucet, but I had one of the worst period poops of my life. I tried to do a courtesy flush as the smell was getting worse in the hot Caribbean sun. IT DIDN'T FLUSH. Panicked, I took the lid off the tank and realized there was no water in it. The water must have been shut off for the renovations. I went outside to tell my boyfriend I was good to go. I am horrified looking back thinking about what his friend must have thought upon finding the unspeakable terror in that toilet."

—poochiellama

2. The Period Puppy

Morgan Sloss

"I was at a pool party with a guy I had been seeing for a month. It was his nephew's birthday party so I was meeting his extended family for the first time. I changed my tampon in the bathroom after swimming and went about my life. As we were all standing around talking, the hostess' dog came parading into the center of the room with something hanging out of his mouth. To my horror, it was my bloody tampon!! I had to pry my tampon out of that little bastard's mouth in front of this guy and his ENTIRE FAMILY!"

—shysunflower30

3. Worst Teacher of the Year Award

20th Century Fox

"So when I was in Grade 9, I was in school and felt my period start during class. The teachers were VERY strict about not letting us go to the bathroom during class time. I had an oral presentation and while standing in front of the whole class, I sneezed and blood started running down my leg. The teacher profusely apologized afterwards for not letting me go to the bathroom, which I guess was nice, but I also shouldn’t have had to go through that embarrassment."

—antisocialachromatic

4. Downward Dump

Sidus FnH

"Things were just a little loosey goosey in downward dog. I felt cramps and thought it might have been a little toot to squeeze out silently. Well it was a squirt, and I literally collapsed on my mat. Pooped my pants doing yoga on my period. I scurried off to the bathroom to quickly throw out my underwear and die of shame in the stall."

—cocopa

5. The Red Wedding

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"My wife and I took our twins to swim at a hotel in Vegas. My period was heavy that day, and there happened to be a wedding going on in the pool area. There was a puddle of blood under my chair. People were looking at me funny, and it snapped in my brain, and I got so red in the face. I wrapped a white towel around my waist and had to walk through the wedding dripping blood. They cleared a path like the Red Sea and stared down at the Red Sea I was producing as I walked by in embarrassment."

—rxmanu

6. These Is Bloody Shoes

Poshmark / Via poshmark.com

"I do therapy with kids. I stood up to take my client into the dining room, and I felt this HUGE gush straight down my leg and into my shoe! I took my sweater off and tied it around my waist, but the blood was visible on the back of my thigh and calf. I knew if I sat, I would bleed right through the sweater and onto their chair. I awkwardly stood next to the table for 15 minutes as blood slowly trickled down my leg. I only had 30 minutes before my next session so I went to the store to buy the cheapest pants I could find. A woman asked me if I was okay because she noticed my LEG was bleeding. I had to pull a tissue out of my purse to wipe the blood drops off the aisle floor because my shoe was DRIPPING."

—deejaymomd3

7. Diaper Mom

Nerdist/ Geek and Sundry

"When I got my period back after my first kid, I was at an amusement park with my in-laws. They gathered in the lobby and watched my baby while I ran to use the restroom. Of course, I was grossly unprepared and had to text my hubby to sneak a newborn diaper back to me. I went the rest of the evening waddling around wearing a literal diaper!"

—17surprisingfactsaboutme

8. Mother Daughter Bonding

Amazon / Via amazon.com

"I stayed at my dad and step-mums' house and shared a bed with my 10-year-old daughter. In the morning, I stood up on the bed to climb over my daughter, and my period literally whooshed and poured down my legs. Blood all over the white sheets and all over my daughter. She screamed. I grabbed the first thing I could see and tried to stop the flow and it was unfortunately my daughter's t-shirt. She screamed more. My very stuffy and old-fashioned dad rushed into the room to see what basically looked like a massacre had taken place."

—leturner80

9. Kiss Your Dreams Goodbye

Amazon / Via amazon.com

"I was interning at a publishing house and worked with the Director of Marketing at her house for the day. I sat down all morning on her beautiful, velvet-topped chair and stood up, only to see a hand-print-sized leak on the fabric. I told her and asked if she had anything I could use to clean the seat cushion. She was really awkward about it and intimated that she’d gotten over that kind of thing when she was 13. I was 27 at this point. I was so humiliated that I barely looked anyone in the eye for the rest of the internship – needless to say, I left without a job."

—lyndsayw42510ff78

10. Boats and Blood

Sony Pictures

"I was on a boat with my teacher and classmates on a school trip. I started my period the day before and, since we were going swimming, I put a tampon in. We were sitting and chatting in our bathing suits, and all of a sudden, I saw the water underneath where I was sitting was pink. I tried to move a bit more, but the water continued to turn pink, and everyone noticed. I was mortified and ran into the bathroom to change. The teacher had to get a hose to clean it all up."

—akaganator3000

11. A Reminder to Lock Your Door

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"My mother equated tampons to masturbation and heartily disapproved of walking around all day while getting off. I believed what she told me until a friend told me the truth when I was 15. I decided to give tampons a try. My mother walked into my room to find me laying on a bloody towel on the floor with an array of mirrors set up because I was certain that I was going insert it into the wrong hole. A YouTube video of women sticking tampons into inflatable swim wings (meant to model the vagina) was playing on my laptop."

—pks0

12. Seagull Heaven

Disney

"When I was in high school, I started having very painful periods that would cause me to throw up. I could always tell when I was going to be sick and during a lesson, asked to be excused. My friend came with me to make sure I was okay and on our way to the nurse’s office, I threw up in the middle of the playground and all over her. I was mortified, but the worst part was walking back across the playground after being allowed to go home and seeing a swarm of seagulls eating my vomit."

—laurs0901

13. Red Velvet Lies

Netflix

"I started my period when I was 10. I was mostly friends with boys and went to one of their houses for the weekend. It was me and four boys, and we liked to wrestle. Everyone was kicking and fighting. It was fun until I started to fight with my friend who wore a white shirt, and I pinned him on the floor. I got blood on his shirt, and his mom said it was the red velvet cake we all had the night before which must have gotten on my pants. Now we are all 17, and the other day he mentioned it to me. Now we just laugh about it, but I’m still really embarrassed."

—unicorns504

14. World's Best Dad

Netflix

"It was the first week of sixth grade. I was called up to write on the blackboard and thought I was super cute in my new white shorts. As soon as I got to the board, the whole class started laughing. I started my period and bled through my white shorts. I was sent to the nurse's office to have my parents bring me a change of clothes. My poor dad was the one who got the call. He was so flustered he entered through the cafeteria door carrying four bags of feminine products while yelling, 'Does anyone know where to find Michelle? My baby girl is now a woman and needs supplies.' Basically every student, teacher, and staff member was well aware that I got my first period. Bless his heart, he was trying."

—michellel4b3b642fe

15. Red Wings

Warner Bros.

"A boyfriend was going down on me. After we were done, we got dressed and went to the club. I suddenly realized that I was feeling very periody. So I requested that we stop by the store, and he said, 'Yeah I kind of figured.' Turns out I started my period in his mouth, and he was way too nice to stop. I still think about it and cringe."

—d4b7d1a273

16. Cambodian Nightmare

Warner Bros.

"I was doing a bike tour of Cambodia, and it was the night of my rural homestay. This family had our group over and cooked us an incredible meal. I stayed in their lovely house in their wooden bed with one white sheet. I suddenly got my period in the night and bled absolutely everywhere. I tried really hard to get the stain out the next day but made it worse. I tried to explain to the woman when we left, but she had no idea what I was talking about, and I had to go to catch the bus. I still feel bad about it because I don't think the house had a modern washing machine."

—mspricklefinger

17. The Accidental Nose Job

DreamWorks Pictures

"I got up in the middle of the night on my period, which are really heavy and notoriously make me feel faint. I sat on the toilet and fainted, falling off the toilet face-first and BROKE my nose. I came to on the bathroom floor, blood pouring out my nose and my vagina, literally looking like I've stepped out of a slasher film. My half-asleep self just managed to clean up the blood and stuff tampons in my nose and vagina before I went back to sleep. Needless to say when people asked what I did to my nose, I didn't tell them the whole story."

—niamha4702e27e2

18. McDonald's Is Not Lovin' It Anymore

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"I was at McDonald's having lunch when I needed to use the restroom. I felt like I was about to pee on myself. When I got to the restroom, I barely made it on the toilet when it came rushing out of me. It was horrible. I stood up to find what looked like a murder scene all over the toilet and on the floor. It was a huge mess. I tried to clean it up, but I just kept bleeding and bleeding. I was unprepared for a period so I had to leave. As I was washing my hands, an employee came in and went straight to that stall. I was so embarrassed when I heard her gasp and exclaim "OMG!" I got out of there as fast as I could. It still haunts me to this day!"

—carriet3

19. The Theatre Flop

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"I was in theatre class one time and my period came. I didn't have enough pads because the second day is a bucket full of blood. It stained through my pants, and they were black, but I sat up and there was this stain on the white tiled floor and EVERYONE SAW IT. I had to flee, grab wet tissues, and run back to wipe it up WHILE EVERYONE WATCHED."

—destructivebomb1989

20. The Makeshift Bathroom

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"I was 16 and on vacation with my family in Cabo. We took a day trip to this cool island where you can snorkel and picnic. All of a sudden, I was bleeding down my legs. My uncle pointed it out to me but there were no bathrooms anywhere. I ended up having to change my tampon in the sand with my mom holding a towel around me and about 1,000 tourists around me. I had to bury the tampon in the sand (sorry environment, still feel guilty about this). Praying no one found it."

—clairee1234

21. And The Piggyback Fail

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"I was on my first date 10 years ago. This guy offered to give me a piggy back ride off the beach. My tampon failed me, and I left a pink spot on the tail of this poor guy’s crisp white t-shirt. If that wasn’t enough – we were both mortified by this point – we stopped for pizza and despite shoving a wad of toilet paper into my shorts, I had a bright red spot on my crotch that continued to bloom. Our friends teased us, and I was devastated and convinced there would be no second date. Fortunately, we just pulled off our dream wedding a week ago."

—monicas44f178c49

Note: Submissions have been edited for length and clarity.