Hesperian Health Guides
Monthly bleeding (period, menstruation)
HealthWiki > A Health Handbook for Women with Disabilities > Chapter 4: Understanding your body > Monthly bleeding (period, menstruation)
Almost all girls and women with disabilities will have the same monthly bleeding cycle as women who are not disabled. Monthly bleeding is a sign that you can become pregnant. No girl can know exactly when she will get her first monthly bleeding. It usually happens after your breasts and the hair on your body start to grow. Also, several months before your first monthly bleeding, you may notice some wetness coming from your vagina. It may stain your underclothes. This is normal.
You may feel stomach cramps, get a headache, pain in your lower back or breasts, or feel mood changes just before your monthly bleeding starts. For example, you may feel overly sensitive or easily lose your temper.
If you are blind or have difficulty seeing, or if you have difficulty moving your arms or legs, ask your family or friends you trust to help you manage your monthly bleeding. See how to help a girl or woman who has difficulty understanding or learning about monthly bleeding. See how to care for yourself during monthly bleeding and also information on sexual health and monthly bleeding.
As a woman grows older, her monthly bleeding will end. For most women, this change happens when they are between 45 and 55 years old. See “When monthly bleeding stops.”
different names for their monthly bleeding.
moon.
habit is here.
visitor from
Russia.
monthly
bleeding.
period.
crying.
visiting.
The monthly cycle (menstrual cycle)
The monthly bleeding cycle is different for each woman. For most women, the whole menstrual cycle takes about 28 days—just like the cycle of the moon. But some women bleed as often as every 20 days, or as little as every 45 days. During the first year you get your monthly bleeding, it will probably come at a different time each month. This is normal. It will take several months for you to start having a regular cycle.
About 14 days before the end of your monthly cycle, an egg is released by one of the ovaries. This is called ovulation. At this time, the hormone progesterone causes the lining of the womb to become thicker and to get ready for the possibility of pregnancy.
 egg
|
When an ovary releases an egg, the egg travels through the fallopian tube into the womb. During this time a woman is fertile, and if she has sex with a man, his sperm may join with her egg to fertilize it and start a pregnancy. | |
 egg |
Most of the time, the egg is not fertilized so the thick lining of the womb is not needed. The lining breaks down into a bloody fluid that flows out of the body through the vagina during the monthly bleeding. Then the cycle starts over again. |  blood |