[rant]

Have spent the last couple of days curled up in bed with a heating pad over my belly for cramps. I feel pretty wrung out this month. I am the only woman I know who is actually waiting breathlessly for menopause, so I do not have to feel so absolutely rotten for one week of every month. I think those old time cultures who allowed woman to seclude themselves during their monthlies had a pretty good idea. I know some women have very light periods, and that they can go about their normal business without a second thought -- but some women have a horrible time with theirs, and I am one of the latter. I am sick of being exhausted, sick of having to sleep on top of a pile of towels (even while using industrial strength overnight pads), sick of having to change those "overnight" pads every 2-3 hours so my clothes are not stained and ruined, sick of the cramping, sick of passing blood clots as big as the palm of my hand, sick of feeling cold no matter how many blankets I curl up in every night that week, sick of the way my body swells up like a water balloon, sick of the way my asthma gets worse for that week, and sick of the constant back ache.

[/rant]

As you can tell, I am a bit tired and out of sorts this weekend.