#amtgard
Disenjangle (VERB):
The process of stripping your belt of favors, pouches, bells, tokens, drinking vessels, weapons, etc before visiting the toilet. Necessary to avoid piddling on one’s accessories while wearing garb.
Because it is like, the worst.
OKAY, SO THIS IS EXCELLENT REAL TALK. Let’s also add:
- If you’re on hormonal birth control pills, and you have an upcoming event that coincides with a placebo week and thus a period, you can SKIP YOUR PERIOD by just starting your new pill pack early. You go straight from week 3 of your active pills in your old pill pack to week 1 of your new pill pack. You might have to ask your pharmacist to refill your prescription early, but it’s TOTALLY WORTH IT. Here are more detailed instructions!
- If you’re caught with cramps while you’re out camping, fill a hard-sided water bottle with hot water for an ad hoc heating pad. (You can use this same method to sleep warm during cold-weather campouts– water holds heat for a LONG time!) Just make sure your bottle has a sturdy, trustworthy lid, so you don’t drench your sleeping bag or clothes! I use a big 32 oz Nalgene, and it works perfectly.
- Build yourself a Bag of Necessity! This is just a little kit of things I often desperately need but always forget, all stored together in a waterproof container. Mine is a quart-sized Ziplock that fits into my in-character shoulder bag. It contains many small necessities (hair ties, bandaids, gum, etc), but for uterus-emergencies, the relevant items are:
- a tampon
- a pad
- hand sanitizer
- ibuprofen, and
- chewy ginger candies for nausea.
Fighting while being on your period isn’t enormous fun, but it doesn’t have to be awful. Do your best to be prepared, and help your fellow uterus-havers out!
