Valerie’s post on “The Power of the Period” has brought forth so many personal, funny, moving reader stories of the first time “Aunt Flo” came to visit. Reading them, I had a major flashback not to my first period, which didn’t come until I was 14, but to 6th grade sex ed class, which is when I learned to be terrified of tampons.

Ms. P., my fabulously no-nonsense teacher, was tasked with explaining birds, bees, etc. to us girls.  When it came to menstruation, she decided to demonstrate for us how a tampon works.

She filled a glass with water, unwrapped a tampon, and plunged it in. As she explained, “this is what happens in your body,” the thing poofed open like a parachute–pop! 

Yeah, long story short….I was 20 before I even attempted to use one.  That first encounter with that cotton tube was so imprinted on my brain, I couldn’t imagine subjecting my already-cramping body to anything so similar to a punch to the gut. 

Eventually, I did use tampons for many years, but recently, my acupuncturist has me back on the pad (TMI?). She says that tampons stop up the natural flow that your body is trying to accomplish at the end of its cycle, stagnating the chi that’s trying to move out and make room for a fresh start.

Have you heard this before? What’s your relationship with the tampon?

(image: http://nataliaantonova.wordpress.com/2009/01/15/the-fainting-couch-lessons-in-public-humiliation/)