Name: Kei Clark
Age: 28
Work: Marketing Specialist, VIPKid Teacher, Future Flight Attendant
Period Type: Is there a category higher than heavy?
Instagram Handle: @lisakei
Preference: Both, not a preference but because I have to.
Do you remember when you first got your period?
I do remember getting my period later than all of my friends. I think I was maybe 14 or 15. And I used to pretend that I already got mine because somehow I thought it was cool and I needed to experience it to feel like a real teenage girl. Now I’m over the moon grateful that it started so late and feel like an idiot for praying for it to come.
The worst experience you had with your period:
I remember the sharp pains being so unbearable that I had to army crawl to my grandmother’s bathroom in Japan just bawling my eyeballs out. My mom just watched. She’s always felt so bad for me because she’s never had cramps, at all. She’s also never had to shave her legs or underarms EVER, but that’s another story. That was hard for me because the one person I always went to for advice couldn’t relate.
What is the worst part of having a period? Physically? Emotionally?
It hurts. I feel gross. Sometimes I’ll cough or sneeze and feels like World War III down there. It’s just bleh.
How you currently try to combat problems regarding your period:
Unfortunately, I have to use both an ultra tampon and a night time pad and change every hour for the first heavy day. I have a bag of rice that I heat up for the seven days and sleep with. I don’t get down on myself for not being able to go out or do things anymore. There’s so many articles that say exercise while you’re on your period and I’d always feel guilty. As if I was putting myself through this pain because I wasn’t jumping on the treadmill during my period. That is pure BS. Listen to your body.
What’s your period “hack”?
I’ve finally started to tell my employers about my period pain. Instead of trying to make up a sick day excuse during the same time every month, I’m just open and honest about it. That’s changed my life.
What do you wish other people understood about having a period?
For the men, especially. Just because you have witnessed your wife, sister, best girl friend’s periods, doesn’t mean you understand all periods. We’re not being dramatic. We’re not blaming everything on PMS. Birth control is not an option for everyone. It is a big deal, it is hard, and just let us be. And if you do not have a uterus and you joke about being on your period or it being your time of the month, so help me….
What do you wish you understood when you were younger about having a period? What would you tell yourself?
It’s okay not to be okay.