I’m right there with you anon and it does suck. What helps me is showering a lot, like twice a day if I can when I’m on my period. Just feeling clean helps my dysphoria for some reason. Also the heat form the water feels really good if you’re having cramps.
Try to keep ahead of your cramps. I know for me that when I’m hurting really bad my dysphoria is worse bc all I can think about is how my body is wrong. Try to prevent that by taking ibuprofen every 6 hours even if your aren’t hurting yet. If I keep up on those doses in the first couple days then I find that my cramps are almost non-existent and that helps me a lot.
Male underwear! I wear boxer briefs and those aren’t really great for pads. So for the longest time I just wore my feminine underwear when I was on my period. This is a helpful guide for converting your boxer briefs to be pad friendly if you’re feeling craftsy.
Making sure I continue to dress as masculine as I can really helps me battle my dysphoria when it comes to my period.
I hope this helps!
-Cameron
For those of you with trans men as significant others, make sure you stay on top of asking what they need from you to help them. It’s a really hard thing for them to deal with and you are important to them and your help will mean a lot, even if its just asking what they need from you, the fact that you’re willing to help can sometimes make the difference even if they say “nothing”
A lot of the times however I find that they don’t necessarily know or can’t pinpoint what they need- thats ok. What you can still do for them is
-Use their name. Remind them who they are and that it hasn’t changed just because they are going through a rough patch.
-reaffirm their masculinity. Tell them how glad you are that they are your man or how manly it is that they can handle this kind of pain. Remind them that you know they are a man, you can still see it even if they can’t.
- be affectionate, try to keep their mind off of it. Watch a movie cuddled up together, play a game, just talk. Sometimes keeping their mind off of it can help a huge amount.
The most important thing is that they are reminded that they are still a man no matter what is going on with their body at the moment. Sometimes they can’t believe it and back track during this time, remind them that you CAN see it and you KNOW they are a man. Don’t waver. Be their rock, their tie to home.
-Elsa