Heavy bleeding is no joke - my best friend was losing so much blood, and not building it back up enough between TOMs, that she collapsed and nearly died. She had nearly no blood pressure, was severely anemic, had to be hospitalized and transfused. She is now in menopause and doesn't TOM at all, thank goodness.l

Think about it... if nature were allowed to take its course we'd be pregnant a LOT of the time, and wouldn't live as long. I don't think we are intended to have as many TOMs as we do.

@Angelic - Me Personally would stick to soup and water and oranges juice and try to be reasonable, until you're don't have the flu. I don't know much about slim fast, but isn't it kinda of thick? I didn't think that was good if you have a fever(of course I don't know if you have a fever. Do you have a dr you can call and ask?

My TOM has gotten better as I have lost weight. But now that I have lost weight my crazy doctor has changed my hormones so who knows what will happen next.

Where do I sign up for the chocolate covered steak?

TOM is totally when I go bonkers with the cravings. I try to remember to take a prenatal multivitamin. My doc suggests that to all menstruating women for the extra iron -- and it helps some.

Hang in there!
A.

Not sure about the chocolate covered steak, but its the one time of the month I go out and have a steak.

ok my continued derailing of this thread. it is worse before or during in terms of cravings?

For me during. :/

The cravings are worse 'during' for me, too, with the first two days being the worse.

Omg, TOM is horrible! I want to eat everything I see! It's the one time of the month I will get fast food. I crave salty and starchy food and steak! It's like I can eat and eat and not get full. At least it only lasts about a day or two, but still, it's awful!

You know, I shouldn't be surprised (but I am) that others are like me - during the week before TOM, I totally go into red meat mode. I eat steak. And I thought I was weird....

I would love to eat chocolate then, but I settle for the red meat and trying not to eat everything in sight. One of the benefits of the steak is the satiation factor...

Yes, this sounds wiser than my original plan, I'll nurse my flu first. My exercise "recovery week" is in 2 weeks, I'll do my "cleanse" then. Thanks!

LOL! I've never had a craving for both at the same time, but Hubby (awesome cook) has teased me about this too - saying he was going to make me a box of chocolates with beef filling. Or he'd make me beef wellington with chocolate fudge in place of the foie gras.

Eww beef and chocolate..haha!

I also get bad cravings and bloat like crazy. I gained 1.5 pounds last week and I was on my TOM. I usually crave salt, chocolate and fast food. Along with being totally bloated, I'm not usually hungry the first few days, but the few days before I am so hungry. I hate knowing that time will come again and hope to learn how to control what I eat at that time of month if possible.