The "Period Flu" Is No Joke

Is the period flu real? Asking for a friend who just took two Motrin and set an alarm so she could nap between meetings.

As I've mentioned on numerous occasions, I never used to get a regular period. PCOS meant my cycle showed up whenever it felt like it, sometimes every 60 days, sometimes not at all. So when I tell you I just had my second "normal" cycle in a row, you'd think I'd be celebrating. And I am, truly. Except that both times, on cycle day 1, I could not get out of bed.

Not ideal when you have three little kids and are running a business.

Apparently, this is a thing. "Period flu" isn't an official diagnosis — which feels a bit like a personal attack — but it describes the wave of flu-like symptoms that can hit right before or during your period. Body aches, chills, nausea, and that trudging-through-mud fatigue where you can't tell if it's a cold, allergies, or just your uterus doing its thing. The culprit is prostaglandins, compounds your uterus releases to shed its lining (that occasionally go rogue and take the rest of your body down with them). And it's more common than anyone talks about. 

Painful periods are the leading cause of lost time from school and work among women of childbearing age, and about 10% are fully incapacitated for up to three days a month. So there are a lot of us out here, alarm set, horizontal, hoping nothing urgent comes up while we're snoring on the couch.

I spent years wishing for a normal cycle. Apparently I should have been slightly more specific.