As a 30-year-old woman, I can safely say that I am still learning (or should I say Googling) about the changes that continue to occur in my body. Luckily, I am not alone in this. BuzzFeed Community recently sharing things their bodies have experienced that they didn’t even know were possible. Here’s what some shared:
Note: Some answers have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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1.“For the first time, I started gaining a little weight. I was underweight, so I thought it was my body adjusting to my illness, but I wasn’t really losing any weight, even though I’m EXTREMELY active. Then my libido went from 100 to 0, almost overnight. No one listened to me. An OB-GYN (a woman, no less) said to me, ‘Maybe you don’t want to have sex anymore because you’ve gained weight.’”
“Eventually I started having really bad hot flashes at night, and I said to my GP, ‘OK, I KNOW this isn’t normal anymore,’ and she agreed and ordered more blood tests. It took her a long time to get back to me, and then she called me, which is not a good sign that SHE called instead of a nurse, but she said, ‘Well, this is a first… this is menopause. I asked other people to watch it too, because I couldn’t believe it; they couldn’t believe it.
“You’re not the only person in the world, but this is definitely the first time I’ve seen this kind of thing, and for many other doctors, it’s the first time I’ve seen it!” I felt like I was being hit with a ton of bricks. No, I don’t want any more children. I have one child and I’m very happy with him, but the choice is taken away from me, the change is total, my body changes so much, my metabolism does a complete 180? I’m 35 in July.”
2.“Heavy bleeding: You are very susceptible anemic. Don’t take iron (you might throw up or never poop again). Try ferrous gluconate. It made my life a lot better. I took it every day.
“I had periods that lasted seven days, including one day when they were so heavy that I couldn’t leave the house because I had to change my cotton pads every 20 to 30 minutes. Doctors didn’t believe me for years. I was also told that the pain was normal and that heating pads and a walk would help. Self-adhesive compresses for muscle cramps helped while I was working. When I started using a menstrual cup, I was suggested to have an endometrial ablation.”
3.“Nobody told me women went crazy. nose hair “I’m nearing menopause. My mother told me about my chin and upper lip hair, but she NEVER told me about my nose hair until she was dying. It was very important to her to keep it a secret.”
“Also, I’m sure this has been mentioned, but you can get hyperemesis during pregnancy “I couldn’t stop throwing up 20 times a day. I even broke a rib in my third trimester. I remember crying my eyes out thinking she wouldn’t survive and feeling a devastating sense of guilt thinking my body wasn’t up to the challenge.”
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4.“Carpal tunnel. I had horrible pain in both arms during my twin pregnancy. I had to wear arm braces almost 24/7. The week after I had my babies, it went away. Same with morning sickness. I had to take diclegis (a morning sickness medication) just to eat more than crackers, ginger ale, and lightly seasoned chicken. Both of those went away almost immediately after birth. I remember seeing orthopedic doctors to schedule appointments after I gave birth because I didn’t think it would ever get better and I was terrified of losing feeling in my arms.
—too many children, not enough time
5.“While breastfeeding my second child, I developed an aversion to fish. It was like I was allergic to shellfish. If I ate fish or shellfish, I would throw up. I had tons of allergy tests. No allergies. I stopped breastfeeding and can eat shellfish and fish again. The doctor said there is so much we don’t know about women’s bodies.”
6.“I have sensory problems related to menstruationso I just wear disposable gloves when I have to deal with it. I know it’s not very eco-friendly, but it does wonders for my mental health.”
7.“One of my two daughters receives hormonal migrainesWe didn’t realize it for the first couple of years because she didn’t have a regular cycle yet. But when she was about 13, we finally figured it out. Her wonderful ob-gyn had her try a few low-dose hormonal birth control pills until we found one that worked for her.
—pahz
8.“During college, I had severe abdominal pain on my lower right side, which took me to the emergency room. The doctors did an ultrasound of my appendix and said it was fine, so they sent me home. The next day, I was still in a lot of pain, so I went back to the emergency room. The ER surgeon insisted it wasn’t my appendix and told me about her training at Stanford, but said she would remove it to be safe. After surgery the next day, I came out of anesthesia with even more pain. The doctor started prescribing more morphine and told my mom that my pain threshold must be low.”
“My mother told them I had blown out my kneecap and it hurt less than after surgery. My blood pressure was so low from the morphine that I passed out. Finally, a nurse had the idea to ask the doctor to check my ovaries. I had a HUGE cyst that was almost 4 inches and my ovaries had twisted. I had to go back under the knife to drain it. Over ten years later, I have fertility issues because a surgeon decided he knew everything.”
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9.“I had an abnormal pap smear a few years ago despite having the HPV vaccine and never having been sexually active. I went through a colposcopyand of course the doctor didn’t believe me when I told him I was a virgin. My next pap smear was normal, and I never figured out what happened.”
ten.“I had gestational diabetes with my second son and preeclampsia with both. Almost as soon as I found out I was pregnant with my youngest, my blood pressure skyrocketed and I had to take blood pressure tablets for three bleeds, which they desperately tried to time to coincide with my period. They never found out why.”
“Distant pubic symphysiswhere the cartilage passes between the two front parts of the pelvic girdle, allows the baby to lower its head without physiotherapy, support or crutches. It’s just very painful, and I didn’t know that you had to do exercises after birth to repair the muscles. Hyperemesis gravidarum “I always had a child with me. I was not listened to. The theory is that all these things can happen because pregnancy can make your body weaker. I think I had PCOS, but in the 1980s, here, no one really listened.”
11.“I remember getting my first period when I was 11. I had periods that lasted two weeks and terrible cramps that got worse every month. After a year, I was told that it was normal, that I didn’t need to do anything and that if it lasted more than two years, I would have to come back. So I came back the following year and by then my cramps had become so debilitating that I was missing school a lot.”
“My doctor prescribed me a birth control pill that worked for a few months, but every time I took a week off to get my period, it came back worse than before. My cramps persisted throughout the month with the pills. So we decided to try the injection. depositAfter a while, I had abnormally heavy periods. When I got the vaccine, I stopped having my period for a few days before finding myself bleeding constantly for four whole months. I had my period for 120 days.
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12.“I’ve had post-concussion syndrome for two and a half years. My neurologist thinks menopause might be my only respite from headaches at this point. I’m looking forward to menopause, and that’s saying something.
13.“I had four ureteral stents “I had these implants placed when I was pregnant. My body would calcify them within a week. After four weeks, my urologist stopped placing them. He was worried that the sedation, X-rays, and everything else, over and over, would be too risky for the baby and me. Plus, they never lasted. From the minute he was born, I felt like a new person.”
14.“Nobody told me that large clots “Blood clots are common after a cesarean delivery. I don’t know if they’re normal after a vaginal delivery because I’ve never had one. But a blood clot the size of the palm of my hand came out of my body and during an emergency visit to my gynecologist I learned that it was part of the game and to come in if the clots were bigger than the palm of my hand. Holy shit, I thought I was going to die.”
If you have your own story, share it with me in the comments below!
