This is what it’s like to start your period at age seven

It was a lazy Saturday morning in 2009 when I vividly remember experiencing what I thought was a stomach ache.

Suddenly, I’m in the bathroom looking puzzledly at my white shorts that were not so… well, white anymore.

Shorts in hand, I approach my mother and ask, “What’s this?” as if she painted them red on purpose. Dumbfounded, she panics and calls 111. Ironically, they panic too.

Aged just seven, I had no idea what was going on. We went to the children’s hospital, and they began a long medical investigation.

Many blood tests later, Mum and I were told that I had undergone precocious puberty – a condition where the body goes through puberty before it’s meant to.

There’s no specific cause other than rare cases, such as tumours or brain complications, but thankfully, I was in the clear. I’ve since learned that it’s orchestrated by the brain instructing the ovaries to produce estrogen when a particular hormone reaches the pituitary gland.

However, going through this at such a young age caused me a lot of emotional confusion. I went into the hospital every three months to receive injectional inhibitors to stop the periods, while also having brain MRIs, bone scans and ultrasounds for further tests.

It took two hours to get my first injection because I wanted to refuse ‘hormones’ in my body. They had no choice but to give me oxygen to calm me down.

At school, I sometimes had to skip classes for hospital appointments. Then there were the days I would get unexpected periods in class, as my body was still adjusting to the injections. It was embarrassing and instead of asking my classmates for pads, I’d go to the 25-year-old teachers. It’s safe to say they didn’t expect that either.

My height stunted at 4’9, as it still is. I had the usual rollercoaster of weight gain and loss as my body transformed into its womanly shape way earlier than it should. I also experienced hair growth usually seen in teens and was constantly trying to manage it through painful waxing sessions. Then there was the severe acne which started at eight and went on for two years… All these things caused me huge body anxiety.

When I was 14, the injections stopped so my periods could start and doctors reccomended the contraceptive pill to deal with the menstrual pain that came with them. For four years, I resisted, and it became the norm for my periods never to fail to debilitate me. I was constantly bed-bound, sick and in immense agony.

WhenI went to university at 18, my periods became undoubtedly worse and I’d had enough of them controlling my life. Aware of what the pill was for but uneducated about the side effects, I started it in March 2021 as a desperate ‘quick fix’.

Instead of asking my classmates for pads, I’d ask the 25-year-old teachers

However, it took a long time for my body to adjust. I faced terrible gut problems, intense nausea, bloating, weight gain and regular migraines that I’d never experienced before. I was also dealing with more emotional struggles with mental health. But I couldn’t complain – I’d gotten what I wanted: no periods.

I kept changing the type of pill to better these symptoms, but nothing worked and in September 2022, I realised that mentally and physically the pill just wasn’t for me.

Of course, I relied on the pill and was scared to go off it. But I no longer wanted artificial hormones running free in my body. It was enough at seven years old, let alone now.

I also wanted to find out why I had such horrendous periods in the first place. I suspected a hormonal abnormality, so kept seeing doctors until I was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in April 2023.

I also learned that suffering hormonal conditions, such as PCOS, after quitting birth control was more common than I thought, with up to 70% of women worldwide living unknowingly with one at some point.

But even after this new diagnosis, I had no urge to go back on the pill.

Instead, I educated myself and discovered that the pill can affect not only the body but the brain in some people, too. I came across Dr Sarah Hill, a psychologist who undertook PhD-level research on this topic.

Her book This Is Your Brain On Birth Control gave me shocking revelations that felt relevant to all women.

Hill explains there are so many side effects that not enough people talk about, let alone are aware of.

The most shocking takeaways that I found were, firstly, the stress hormone profile of some pill-taking women is similar to those who have experienced chronic stress.

Secondly, if you take a pill that hinders estrogen, it could drastically change your serotonin and dopamine levels. This removes the rewarding feeling triggered by simple hobbies and interests.

It also worries me, with millions of women in England now being able to access free contraceptive pills by going to their local chemist without having to see a GP.

The idea is that it will free up NHS appointments and gives women more independence, but it also raises concerns about the lack of pill consultations, leading to a reliance on self-education.

Going through this journey has taught me one vital thing: it is a woman’s right to be informed and educated about their health.

I can now say I’m happy to have stopped taking the pill, and my PCOS symptoms are far less severe. For me, this was the best decision I’ve made, as my body is now happily free of artificial hormones.

For some women, the pill can be a godsend. For others, like me, it’s really the opposite. So if you take anything away from this, it would be to trust your gut, stay persistent and find what works best for you.

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