periods

I used to believe that you got periods through your belly button, I got images of women on the beach, with blood poring from their belly buttons!
I have no idea where I got this idea from!
I used to wonder how you used to get tampons in your belly button, I even tried this once when I was ten, only to realise this wasn't possible!

x_ella_x

I was in Grade 7 and we were learning about internal injuries in our First Aid Class. The symptoms were:
Headache
Persistent pain in the abdomen that does not go away
Vomiting/vomiting blood
Passing blood (Like when you pee)

A day later, I woke up with a headache and stomachache, they didn't go away. When I went to school, the stomachache got so bad that I threw up, so I had to go to the nurse. I found some blood in my underwear and in the toilet. So I was convinced I had like punctured my stomach or something and told the nurse so. Except then she told me I got my period. Huh. Imagine that. And the worst part is that I knew everything about getting your period, so it's not like I was clueless or anything.

Oh Canada!

I used to believe that a menstral cycle was a cycle in the washing maching. (my sister told me that)

Anon

when I was 13 one of my guy friends asked if it hurts to take off your pad..meaning sanitary pad. I wondered why on earth he thought it would hurt and he explained that it must hurt to tear the sticky side off your crotch. we had a good laugh and had to explain to our buddy that we don't stick it to our own skin but it actually sticks to the underwear. it was an enlightening moment for him that day. lol.

Jane

when i was 5 i thought menopause was when men pauses in life

princess

My cousin got into my purse and found pads and asked if she could have one. I told her "stop! put those away! and stop playing around!" (I thought she knew what a period was shes 10) Then she asked "what is this any way? Is this sticker?" I later asked her if she knew what a period was and she said she thought it had to do with her armpits.

Anon

When I was younger (6-7) I found my mum's tampons in the bathroom cabinet.
I thought they must be toy umbrellas or parachutes of some kind, since they had a string and well, they are shaped similar to an umbrella.

So I unwrapped one and tried pulling the string to open out the 'parachute'. When it didn't work I was incredibly frustrated, but still tried with most of the box. After a while I got fed up and threw them away.

Mum had quite a shock later when she came into my room and saw all these destroyed tampons in the bin!

anon

Up until the sixth grade I thought tampons were a form of birth control. My teacher laughed at the idea, explaining that if you tried that, it wouldn't leave any room for the penis. In hindsight, I guess you could give me partial credit.

Tom

i used to believe that if you held on to your pee you would get your period. I was told this when i was 10 and i held on to my pee so much one day i couldnt hold it anymore and i peed on myself in the street.

Poppy

before i started my periods, i used to be terrified of starting while i was out because i thought it would all just start rushing out!!

mya

I thought pads sucked blood from women. It wasn't until later in life that I knew their actual purpose

Anon

After seeing my mother in the bath when I was a very young child, I thought that when I grew up, I would have a cord coming out from my pee pee too.. I kept checking..

Tallulah

I never knew how tampons worked, I always thought they would fit in a female flat, like a hot dog.

only me

One year my mom's friend underwent a hysterectomy (sp?). As a joke, she sent all her now unnecessary pads and tampons to my mom as a Christmas gift. I had no idea what they were at that point and thought they were candy. I begged my mom for "just one, PLEASE!" She explained they were for "Special Occassions" only.

ilikecows13

(I hope this isn't offensive.) When I was 10 years old I wanted to go to the neighborhood pool with my friend. She told me she couldn't because she was "on the rag". I said to her, "Tell your mom you'll do the dishes later." I thought that "on the rag" meant that she had dish duty. Haha!

akg

I used to believe that menstruation fluid was blue because of the way TV commercials showed it.

matias

When , as a boy, I first started to hear about the strange phenomena of "periods" I assumed that women all had their monthly cycle on exactly the same day. Yes, all 3 billion...

Martin

I read about a girl getting her period in a book. When I asked my sister what it was, she said it's when you pee blood. Close, I guess. Somehow I got the impression that you had your period for seven days, then had one day of relief, followed by another seven days.... Yeah, my mom had a good laugh while explaining THAT.

Older and less confused

My mum told me that only married women used tampons(!)........I used to believe that you had to show your marriage certificate to buy them....My mum was a firm believer in the 'no sex before marriage' dogma!!!

Jill

I knew a man who never got the sex education in school right. He thought periods were for girls who were sexual active, so virgins didn't get periods.

Linda from Southern California