You can't go upside down when you menstruate?

sharann, BSN, RN · Aug 5, 2005

MEN[-tal illness

Actually I take Yoga regularly and asked this question. My instructor's answer was that when upside down we are preventing a downward flow and this is considered "unhealthy". I never much cared for this unscientific answer but that was all she had. HOWEVER, apparently even the Yogis and Yoginis have started saying that this is not true anymore and that it is fine to do inversions dluring our period. HOWEVER, it is still contraindicated if one has high BP or certain types of glaucoma(inversions raise the pressure and blood flow to the brain and vessels...think headstand.

2rntish · Aug 5, 2005

During menstruation one has to lessen physical exertion including walking, dancing or heavy house-hold work. The body demands rest and relaxation and one needs to provide that.

That would be after all the a** chewing you did during the 1-3 weeks of PMS

kbclary4 · Aug 5, 2005

I remember when I was a little girl being told by a neighbor to not go into a garden (vegetable or flower) if I was menstruating or the veggies and flowers would die. :confused: Has anyone ever heard of that before?

Not that one, but I do remember my grandmother insisting my sister and I not use tampons so we would still be virgins. :uhoh3:

She still believes it to this day. Fortunately, I had an aunt who told me otherwise.

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Aug 5, 2005

I remember when I was a little girl being told by a neighbor to not go into a garden (vegetable or flower) if I was menstruating or the veggies and flowers would die. Has anyone ever heard of that before?

Not that one, but I do remember my grandmother insisting my sister and I not use tampons so we would still be virgins. :uhoh3:

She still believes it to this day. Fortunately, I had an aunt who told me otherwise.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

My mother told me that one and I believed her for a couple of weeks and then I didn't care-I'd rather use tampons and be deemed a scarlet girl

nightmare, RN · Aug 5, 2005

Never heard the one about the garden but we were always told you couldnt bath or go swimming during a period,both of which I used to do regularly.My mother swore by anadin for period cramps she said it had quinine in it to break up the "lumps"!

RNpandoraRN · Aug 5, 2005

This sounds like the old warning I was told as a child - never share a swimming pool with boys because you could get pregnant! LOL!!!

BabyRN2Be · Aug 5, 2005

As far as not walking into temples and stuff like that, I wonder if that might be because women used to not wear any underwear. I have 3 daughters and I'd hate to have them walking around bleeding all over my carpet and furniture. Still, wouldn't just wearing a rag work a whole lot better than sending them out to to storage shed to bleed on our lawn equipment? :chuckle

:rotfl::rotfl:

I'm laughing sooo hard here... Thanks for the laugh!!

Has anyone ever read "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant? It's a book about the Old Testament brothers, Jacob and Esau, about their descendants (the girls). One of them becomes a midwife - haven't got to that part yet. In biblical times, women were sent to a sent filled with hay during their menses. I don't think that they'd keep lawn equipment in there in the middle of the desert.

Weighing in on the upset down argument: I can see why there might be some risk of retrograde flow, there's some things that I'm not buying in the article.

Now the rest and relaxation part during menstration, yeah, I'll buy that!

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Aug 5, 2005

Many many years ago my mother told me that she would be able to read it in my face when I lost my virginity. When I did I spent the next 48 hours staring in the mirror!!! :chuckle

palesarah · Aug 5, 2005

:rotfl::rotfl:
Has anyone ever read "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant? It's a book about the Old Testament brothers, Jacob and Esau, about their descendants (the girls). One of them becomes a midwife - haven't got to that part yet. In biblical times, women were sent to a sent filled with hay during their menses. I don't think that they'd keep lawn equipment in there in the middle of the desert.

I loved that book!!! Was going to mention it myself reading this thread :)

Morning-glory · Aug 5, 2005

You guys are just too funny. Fortunately for me in this case, I was brought up by my dad and I didn't start my period till I was 16. I had a cousin who was sensible enough to tell me all about periods when I was 10, so by the time I actually started, I had walked some of my friends through it. One girl actually thought she was dying. Her mom hadn't told her about it at all.

Yoga is quite helpful for the cramps, but you wouldn't catch me upside down on a good day!!!

RNpandoraRN · Aug 5, 2005

Maybe and just maybe, in days gone when you didnt wear underwear............................It wouldn't be a pretty site now would it. :chuckle

Underwear has always been around, mostly for men at first, and not as the Victoria's Secret line we know today. In ancient times it was simply called a loincloth, and then drawers (I know a few people who still use that word) and for women there were bloomers, knickers, pantaloons, etc.

As for making a mess back then, well the ancient Egyptians invented the first tampon and the ancient Greeks had a version, too. And other cultures used animal pelts, grasses, mosses, sea sponges, etc. And of course, there was use of old rags, which could be washed and reused - hence the phrase, "on the rag."

Nothing is "new".

sharann, BSN, RN · Aug 6, 2005

Yeah, my mom still belives in the tampon=non virgin myth. After I got married she said it was probably ok to use them. HA, I'd been using them since I was 15. One time though I had one in too long I think(junior high brains here) and it was a brand that just swelled up like a baloon. I spent 20 very nervous minutes in the BR at home trying to remove it. I could just imagine having to tell her and be accused of "foul play".

Being a woman is marvelous though isnt it!