Sensory Overload from Menstruation and Halloween Costume

Content Warnings: periods, blood, unsanitary (all text, no photos. that would be gross. there is a photo of my costume though!)

Everyone who experiences menstruation agrees that it totally sucks.

For non-binary and "trans masculine" folks, there's the added edge of dysphoria. For autistics and others with sensory processing disorder, the physical pain is unbearable.

If you fall under both of those categories, like myself, you're looking at a recipe for a major meltdown. And whenever my faulty uterus decides to menstruate, that's almost all I experience for both three days before it happens, and the entire timeline of my cycle.

When I say "faulty", I mean I rarely have 3 periods in a row. This month marks the first time this has happened in over a year.

It doesn't exactly help that my cycle is heavy and erratic. I can bleed through overnight pads in less than two hours, I frequently take the absolute maximum dosage of both ibuprofen and Tylenol (guess what, neither of them touch my cramps), and I get very sick.

In the three days before my cycle starts, I become even more of an emotional roller coaster than usual and get near-constant motion sickness. Thanks to pre-menstrual cramps, you can catch me in my PJs crying from unnecessary pain.

When it finally happens, it's so painful and I can barely walk or eat. Earlier today, for example, I had a meltdown while trying to clean myself up from a combination of pain, mess, and embarrassment.

The white jeans I had been wearing (dangerous decision) for my Homestar Runner costume were absolute hell to have anywhere on my body because of how awkwardly they fit, and had a couple blood spots, so those had to be changed.

I'd bled so much that the entire right leg of my boxer briefs was soaked (surprisingly, that didn't leak through my pants), so I needed new underwear as well.

At this point, I couldn't stand the feeling of my Homestar shirt any longer, so I needed a new T-shirt, preferably a soft one.

But of course, when I went to the bathroom to clean up, I forgot all of that.

Thankfully, my favourite jeans were already on the floor in there, but I had to awkwardly waddle to my room to get a shirt and underwear. Once I made to my room, I lost it. I couldn't take the sensation of all that blood and pain any longer and spent the better part of an hour uncontrollably sobbing.

It was definitely one of my more mellow meltdowns, considering nothing got thrown and I didn't bite through any clothing. I attribute that to the fact that I was home alone during that time.

After I calmed down enough to go through the motions of getting cleaned up and getting dressed, I slept for four hours. Meltdowns are exhausting.

I had a decent day as Homestar, though! I take every opportunity to talk like him I can get.