The Shedding of the Uterine Lining

Week One

The "PRE" week

Bloating turns your stomach into a helium filled balloon

Irritability is more difficult to wrangle in

More susceptible to aches and pains

Energy depletes at a faster rate than usual

Assaulted with flashes of cramping

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Week Two

THE week

Hell Week

Menstruation has begun

Bloating is even more prominent and stubborn

Mood is fluctuating at an absurdly rapid pace

Leaving you at times unable to identify which one is more prominent

And making you work unremittingly to suppress the mania

Cramping is here

Your insides are writhing

Literal shooting pains in your anus have begun

Laying on your back may not bring relief because your lower back feels left out and wants to cause suffering as well

Fatigue is weighing you down like sandbags are sewn to your limbs

Panties and sheets will occasionally be ruined

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Week Three

The "POST" Week

The comedown

You're not bleeding anymore

Bloating is still hovering

Energy sustainability is climbing uphill

You don't have to work as fervently to manage your mood

You're not quite feeling human yet though

-

You get one week of peace

Of hope

Of normalcy

Of control

And the instant you slide into a beautiful groove

Of confidence

Of productivity with less obstacles

Of comfort in your body

Just when you're feeling capable physically and emotionally

When you're moving freely

With less apprehension

The three week cycle slithers through your body again

-

For years

For decades

This persists

-

And it will present itself differently as you age

Maybe your cycle would start in the evening for years

Then you hit 30 and it's greeting you midday

Maybe you'd start with a heavy flow

Then 15 years in, it's dark brown, Red Sea, then dark brown

Maybe you're stressed and it vanishes for several months

Then barges back in after you forgot the warning signs of the "PRE" week

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It configures to your everchanging body and mind

The teens, 20's, 30's, and 40's

Each summon something different out of it

We will not discuss perimenopause and menopause because those are states of being rather than a cycle