
While it's true that our periods can be a total drag — mood swings, pimples, and cramps — I've heard women say they get extra horny during their time of the month — perhaps it's all those hormones pumping through their veins! Sure, it can be messy, and many men get grossed out by the idea of getting it on when
Aunt Flo's in town, but tell me, where do you stand on having sex when you're on your period?
Source

Though I do think hormonal birth control options, like
the pill and
Nuvaring, are great methods of contraception, I’ll be the first to admit that the fluctuation in hormones can definitely cause feelings of irritability and depression. Of course much of it depends on the dosage, as well as how your body handles it. So ladies, do tell: Have you found yourself fighting with your moodiness after going on hormonal birth control?

Although our periods serve a fabulous purpose, they also comes with a plethora of nasty PMS symptoms: mood swings, volatile emotions, crabbiness, food cravings, bloating — the list goes on and on. And since our period, and everything that comes along with it, only affects us women, it can be an easy target of blame from men. I know from experience how infuriating it is to have your significant other blame your actions on your monthly friend when in fact, your period has absolutely nothing to do with it.

After working with your gynecologist to find a birth control method that’s better at preventing your terrible PMS and cramps, you’ve finally decided on one that sounds promising. And after taking it for only a few months, you notice some big changes, both good and bad. Would it be worse if .

For most women, getting our
period is something we've come to terms with. While it doesn't leave us feeling all that great, it's something we can't change, at least right now!
Your period comes and goes every month, and you probably don't give it much thought, aside from putting tampons on your grocery list, so take this quiz to make sure you know what should and shouldn't be happening to your body during that time of the month.

I'm sure many of you are so in tune with your bodies that you know exactly when Aunt Flo is going to pay you a visit. Some women count days and keep track of their periods on their calendar, some women record the details of their cycles on a
fertility awareness chart, and others just know based on their birth control (how many pills they have left in their pack or how long they've been wearing their Nuvaring). Of course PMS and the responses our bodies give us are a great indication (did someone say sore boobs?), but how do you keep track of your cycle?

Graphic designer
Tim Fraser Brown created a reproduction of Édouard Manet's "
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère" entirely out of old Pantone chips. He painstakingly color matched over 5,000 chips onto a blank canvas over the course of four nights. The result is a bit Impressionism meets Pointillism, taking PMS to a new level of literalism.
With so many
different kids of pills out there, it's just a matter of time before finding one that's
right for you. Now some women are on the pill for the good old-fashioned reason of preventing pregnancy, but other women are on it to clear up their skin or to have lighter periods, know what day and time they'll get it, or perhaps they like the option of skipping it all together. This hilarious
video pretty much sums up the new rationale for being on the pill, but tell me, all you pill-goers out there, why are you on it?

Cramps during that time of the month can be debilitating — so much so that the last thing you want to do is hit the gym.
One thing you should know is that exercise can actually help relieve those painful cramps.
Here's WebMD's explanation:
Exercise relieves cramps because it helps release beta-endorphins, which are internal opioids -- your own “human morphine,” according to Gustavo Rossi, MD, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington.

Even though most women get their periods every month, for some reason a lot of us feel the need to talk about it like it's a new phenomenon. Since we all experience
cramps, bloating, and the occasional shed tear, I don't understand why so many women want to draw any more attention to that time of the month than they have to. I seldom complain about
PMS but do you openly discuss your period in front of your friends, your significant other, or even your co-workers?