I've been waking up in the night a lot lately. It's been weird.

Usually it's just to go to the bathroom (I used to *never* wake up to go to the bathroom, *ever*).

This morning, though, oh *god*.

I woke up with cramps.

Probably the worst cramps I'd had in over a year.

It felt like my knees were being twisted, and the bones of my thighs were undergoing incredible inhuman stress. I don't remember much. I just remember waking up in unbearable pain.

Sometimes if I rock it helps, so I rocked back and forth while Loren slept, his arm draped across my waist.

He said he slept right through it. I told him I wish he got period pains.

"Is that because you hate me?" he asked, mournfully.

I smiled cheerfully. "Yes. Yes it is."

I eventually got up and stole one of his roommate's ultra strength painkillers. Not even extra strength. ULTRA.

Didn't feel any different.

But I love painkillers at times like that.

I layed on my back, knees up (it improves circulation), and waiting for the painkillers to kick in.

I can feel it coming on. It comes in waves.

First a short wash of relief, but the pain comes back pretty quickly.

Then another, longer wave.

Then pain.

It repeats like that, with longer and longer waves (about a half dozen), until it's just a wash of relief, and it feels like I never hurt before at all, nothing lingering.

That's why I love painkillers.

Mind you, I'd also like to note, that I only use painkillers if the pain is causing me to not function properly. Mild cramps and even medium cramps I can deal with, either by ignoring, or a hot water bottle and lots of things to drink (hydration and area warmth increases blood flow and eases cramps).

But when it gets really bad like that...

I remember one of my foster sisters collapsed on the floor one day when she first experienced leg-cramps during her period.

I didn't have a lot of sympathy. Mostly because she was a whiner.

Hey, now. Don't get me wrong. I have a certain degree of sympathy for foster kids just because of their position in life, but there's a point where it ends. If they don't want or try to help themselves, I have no sympathy for them. It's partially up to them to make a better life for themselves.

She was fourteen, I think, and one of the worst.

We had a lot of really bad ones. We also had a number of really good ones. Zaralee was one of my favorites. So was Lena, and Christie. They were all really nice. Lena caused a little harmless trouble now and then, but she was nice, didn't steal, and treated me and my parents with respect.

Anyway, the painkiller was nice. And I fell asleep again about a half hour later.

::WARNING: Disgusting mental images of my period ahead. Read at own risk.::

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I think my cramps were so bad, because I suddenly emitted a lot of tissue.

Those men or young girls that don't know yet, yes, blood makes up the majority of a girl's period. However, a girl's body is also ridding itself of the soft tissue it monthly lines its' uteris (or in my case, that'd be plural, 'uteri') with in preparation for a baby.

Sometimes, even if a girl is pregnant, she'll do what's called 'spotting', where blood will come out, though it's not really her period, because she's pregnant and therefor no tissue.

I'd been bleeding almost strictly blood for the past two or three days, no tissue. So I was worried a little bit. Despite the bad pain this morning, I was very pleased to see a lot of tissue.

Hoorah!

...my knees are starting to ache again. The painkiller is wearing off. I think I'm going to go get another painkiller before it gets too bad.

Toodles.

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Rosie.

PS, I won the strand of pearls I was bidding on on Ebay. I'm pleased. I'm tempted to give it to Judy as a gift, but we'll see when it gets here.

Before&After