#menstruation ///

[official-period-posts]

Official Period Post

anyone on their period in the summer should be allowed to do whatever they want

[spamdelta]

VERY indulgent spamtenna post below (warning: menstruation mention so if thats not ur thing feel free to scroll past)..... beware

okay so like i got my period today and it sucked BUT as a way to cope i started imagining tenna comforting bg spamton during his period while i was making lunch.. imagine

[sayruq]

Palestinian girls and women are forced to use tents as pads. People boost. Donate if you can

[animentality]

[endless-elysium]

I think it can also connect you to Deities associated with fertility! Even if you aren't planning on having children.

But as you said, perfectly alright to pray during your period, or to do casual devotion, or choose to take a break!

Hellenism and Menstruation

I see, pretty often, people thinking they're not allowed to worship or pray when they're on their period, and since I'm currently on mine, I figured I'd clear this up a little, especially for new worshippers who may not know yet.

It's a common misconception that being on your period makes you dirty, unclean, and that you shouldn't pray during this time. I've even seen people claim that it's miasma.

These ideas are ancient and from a very misogynistic society. Not only that, but they didn't have the same hygiene practices and products we do today. So back then, women, more commonly poorer women, would likely just free bleed at home, which, as you can imagine, was messy.

Today, we have better hygiene practices, products, and we know how things like diseases transmit.

As long as you are clean and hygienic, it's fine. It's why we wash our hands and faces before we touch the altar or pray, we just have to be clean and presentable.

As long as you're not somehow getting blood on the altar, it's okay.

To add to this, I've even seen some sources that say that our periods are sacred, powerful, and connect us to Lady Artemis, as it is feminine (if you are transmasc, this part doesn't have to apply to you 🫶), and like the phases of the moon, it is a monthly cycle.

I've seen that this time of the month is a time for us to rest, and that bleeding is sometimes seen as the body's way of naturally cleansing itself.

I do not believe that you're "not allowed" to pray if you are menstruating. I believe that this is a time where you are encouraged to rest and take care of yourself, especially if your periods are particularly painful.

I always take this time to rest and take a break from my practice, not because I think I'm not allowed, or like it's misasmic, but because I always feel gross on my periods.

I'm hot, I sweat much more than the average person, I'm lethargic, I sometimes don't have the energy to change my clothes, I get nauseous, I get easily irritated which to me, isn't the right headspace for deity worship. But this is personal, so if you were blessed with non-painful periods and you can function on them, you do what feels best for you.

The closest I got to worship today was thinking of Asclepius as I took pain meds, and that's okay.

And if you're new and coming from a Christian background, no, the gods will not be mad at you if you take a break. They've been around for forever, they've seen humanity grow and evolve. They've seen us at our lowest moments, and for some people that includes being hunched over in pain or laying in bed all day because you're on your period.

They will understand, no one will get mad at you for a bodily function that's out of your control. It is pretty hard to anger a god unless you're actively defying or disrespecting them, or unless you've murdered someone in cold blood.

You're fine. You'll be okay.

[woof-woop]

[shamebats]

[reasonsforhope]

"A medical technology company in Australia is aiming for a world-first: it wants to launch a blood test for endometriosis (sometimes called 'endo' for short) within the first half of this year [2025].

In a recent peer-reviewed trial, its novel test proved 99.7 percent accurate at distinguishing severe cases of endometriosis from patients without the disease but with similar symptoms.

Even in the early stages of the disease, when blood markers may be harder to pick out, the test's accuracy remained over 85 percent.

The company behind the patent, Proteomics International, says it is currently adapting the method "for use in a clinical environment," with a target launch date in Australia for the second quarter of this year [2025].

The test is called PromarkerEndo.

"This advancement marks a significant step toward non-invasive, personalized care for a condition that has long been underserved by current medical approaches," managing director of Proteomics International Richard Lipscombe said in a press release from December 30.

Endometriosis is a common inflammatory disease that occurs when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows in other parts of the body, forming lesions. The disease can be very painful, and yet the average patient often suffers debilitating symptoms for up to seven years before they are properly diagnosed.

While there are numerous reasons for such a long delay, symptoms of endometriosis are often highly variable, unpredictable, difficult to measure or describe, and dismissed or overlooked by doctors.

Today, the only definitive way to diagnose endometriosis is via keyhole surgery called a laparoscopy, which is expensive, invasive, and carries risks.

Proteomics International is hoping to change that.

In collaboration with researchers at the University of Melbourne and the Royal Women's Hospital, the company compared the bloodwork data from 749 participants of mostly European descent.

Some had endometriosis and others had symptoms that were similar to endo but without the lesions. All participants had a laparoscopy to confirm the presence or absence of the disease.

Sifting through the bloodwork, researchers ran several different algorithms to figure out which proteins in the blood were best at predicting endometriosis of varying stages.

Building on previous research, a panel of 10 proteins showed a "clear association" with endometriosis.

For years now, scientists have investigated possible blood biomarkers of endometriosis to see if they could differentiate between those who have endo and those who do not. Similar to cancerous tumors, endo lesions can establish their own blood supply, and if cervical cancer can be diagnosed via a blood test, it seemed possible that endometriosis could be, too...

Proteomics International claims patents for PromarkerEndo are "pending in all major jurisdictions," starting first in Australia.

It remains to be seen if the company's blood test lives up to the hype and is approved by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). But that's not outside the realm of possibility.

In November of 2023, some researchers predicted that a "reliable non-invasive biomarker for endometriosis is highly likely in the coming years."

Perhaps this is the year."

-via ScienceAlert, January 9, 2025

--

Note: As someone with endometriosis, let me say that this is a HUGE deal. The condition is incredibly common, incredibly understudied, and incredibly often dismissed. Massive sexism at work here.

I got very lucky and got diagnosed after about 6 months of chronic pain (and extra extra lucky, because my pain went away with medication). But as the article says, the average time to diagnosis is seven years.

Being able to confirm endometriosis diagnoses/rates without invasive surgery will also lead to huge progress in studying/creating treatments for endo.

And fyi: If you have a period that is so painful that you can't stand up, or have to go home from school/work, or vomit, or anything else debilitating (or if any of those things apply if you forget to take pain meds), that is NOT NORMAL, and you should talk to a competent gynecologist asap.

[irhabiya]

i'm curious how many people also don't experience cramps as their main symptom, because back pain is the worst for me by far it's usually how i can tell my period is coming up too

[incognitopolls]

Anon feels like getting their first period was almost traumatic because of how deeply ashamed they felt about it, even though everything about it was normal and they knew it would happen.

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We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[the-angry-acrobat]

having a body is so fucking high maintenance

[xaeyrnofnbe]

new period poll but i remembered to change the duration this time

once again, don’t want any terfs touching this. also: doing this a second time bc a lot of people found the old one after it was done (i forgot to change the duration from day to week. this new one will last a week)

[sayruq]

CONT the delivery of essential items into Gaza.

[rosequartzmushrooms]

Reproductiverights.gov website has been taken down since the inauguration. I have also been seeing an increase in advertisements for period tracker apps. If you are a person with a uterus in the United States, DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY PERIOD TRACKER!!!

[3liza]

the number of afab people replying to the pain poll going "yeah I've broken limbs and had 1st degree burns and given birth but nothing tops my menstrual pain" is so fucked up it is unbelievable. and I was right there with everyone else until I stumbled on a low dose progestin regimen that just made me stop menstruating. which I would recommend to everyone except it just doesn't work for everyone. ask your doc about it though, it won't cause permanent side effects or injury to try it out. i take norethindrone 2.5mg 2x/day. this dose has to be different for each patient to work correctly, that's just what I take. there's some research to suggest synthetic progesterone like norethindrone is carcinogenic so I'm going to look into switching. anyway i just got extremely lucky. there is seriously nothing like it. it was the worst pain I ever felt until the urology incident and frankly I think the menstrual pain was already a factor in the outcome of the urology incident