# At what age did you start menstruating?



## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

There was an article in the NYTimes recently about early puberty and it got me kind of curious.

I got my first period 2 or 3 months before turning 12. They also say that puberty slows down and eventually stops your growth. So perhaps girls who get their periods earlier may be shorter than average. I'm 5'3 and I got my period a bit earlier than average (12.5 years).

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/magazine/puberty-before-age-10-a-new-normal.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menarche#Timing










http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sekihan


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## Perfectionist (Mar 19, 2004)

Ohhhh interesting.

Uh. Eleven? I'm 5'8" or 5'9"

As an aside: so many men are going to click on this thread in spite of themselves.


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## yourfavestoner (Jan 14, 2010)

Who else misread the title as 'masturbating' ?


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## GaaraAgain (Oct 10, 2011)

Few months before 11 I think. It was on Christmas though... What a present :|


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Perfectionist said:


> Ohhhh interesting.
> 
> Uh. Eleven?
> 
> As an aside: so many men are going to click on this thread in spite of themselves.


That's why I put the, "I have never menstruated." option in the poll.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

yourfavestoner said:


> Who else misread the title as 'masturbating' ?


Has there been a poll made about first masturbation?


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## yourfavestoner (Jan 14, 2010)

komorikun said:


> Has there been a poll made about first masturbation?


Not sure, but I must admit I'm flirting with the idea of one.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

*Interesting Quotes from the article*



> One day last year when her daughter, Ainsley, was 9, Tracee Sioux pulled her out of her elementary school in Fort Collins, Colo., and drove her an hour south, to Longmont, in hopes of finding a satisfying reason that Ainsley began growing pubic hair at age 6. Ainsley was the tallest child in her third-grade class. She had a thick, enviable blond-streaked ponytail and big feet, like a puppy's. The curves of her Levi's matched her mother's.





> In the late 1980s, Marcia Herman-Giddens, then a physician's associate in the pediatric department of the Duke University Medical Center, started noticing that an awful lot of 8- and 9-year-olds in her clinic had sprouted pubic hair and breasts. The medical wisdom, at that time, based on a landmark 1960 study of institutionalized British children, was that puberty began, on average, for girls at age 11. But that was not what Herman-Giddens was seeing. So she started collecting data, eventually leading a study with the American Academy of Pediatrics that sampled 17,000 girls, finding that among white girls, the average age of breast budding was 9.96. Among black girls, it was 8.87.
> 
> Meanwhile, doctors wrote letters to journals criticizing the sample in Herman-Giddens's study. (She collected data from girls at physicians' offices, leaving her open to the accusation that it wasn't random.) Was the age of puberty really dropping? Parents said yes. Leading pediatric endocrinologists said no. The stalemate lasted a dozen years. Then in August 2010, the conflict seemed to resolve. Well-respected researchers at three big institutions - Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Kaiser Permanente of Northern California and Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York - published another study in Pediatrics, finding that by age 7, 10 percent of white girls, 23 percent of black girls, 15 percent of Hispanic girls and 2 percent of Asian girls had started developing breasts.


..


> One main risk for girls with true precocious puberty is advanced bone age. Puberty includes a final growth spurt, after which girls mostly stop growing. If that growth spurt starts too early in life, it ends at an early age too, meaning a child will have fewer growing years total. A girl who has her first period at age 10 will stop growing younger and end up shorter than a genetically identical girl who gets her first period at age 13.
> 
> That morning one of Greenspan's patients was a 6½-year-old girl with a bone age of 9. She was the tallest girl in her class at school. She started growing pubic hair at age 4. No one thought her growth curve was normal, not even her doctors. (Eight used to be the age cutoff for normal pubic-hair growth in girls; now it's as early as 7.) For this girl, Greenspan prescribed a once-a-month shot of the hormone Leuprolide, to halt puberty's progress. The girl hated the shot. Yet nobody second-guessed the treatment plan. The mismatch between her sexual maturation and her age - and the discomfort that created, for everybody - was just too great.





> Girls who are overweight are more likely to enter puberty early than thinner girls, and the ties between obesity and puberty start at a very young age. As Emily Walvoord of the Indiana University School of Medicine points out in her paper "The Timing of Puberty: Is It Changing? Does It Matter?" body-mass index and pubertal timing are associated at age 5, age 3, even age 9 months. This fact has shifted pediatric endocrinologists away from what used to be known as the critical-weight theory of puberty - the idea that once a girl's body reaches a certain mass, puberty inevitably starts - to a critical-fat theory of puberty. Researchers now believe that fat tissue, not poundage, sets off a feedback loop that can cause a body to mature. As Robert Lustig, a professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco's Benioff Children's Hospital, explains, fatter girls have higher levels of the hormone leptin, which can lead to early puberty, which leads to higher estrogen levels, which leads to greater insulin resistance, causing girls to have yet more fat tissue, more leptin and more estrogen, the cycle feeding on itself, until their bodies physically mature.
> 
> In addition, animal studies show that the exposure to some environmental chemicals can cause bodies to mature early. Of particular concern are endocrine-disrupters, like "xeno-estrogens" or estrogen mimics. These compounds behave like steroid hormones and can alter puberty timing. For obvious ethical reasons, scientists cannot perform controlled studies proving the direct impact of these chemicals on children, so researchers instead look for so-called "natural experiments," one of which occurred in 1973 in Michigan, when cattle were accidentally fed grain contaminated with an estrogen-mimicking chemical, the flame retardant PBB. The daughters born to the pregnant women who ate the PBB-laced meat and drank the PBB-laced milk started menstruating significantly earlier than their peers.
> 
> ...


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## Kuhle (Oct 29, 2011)

I was 10. It was right before I left for my grandma's house for a few days, too. I felt weird about telling my dad or anyone at my grandma's house, and my mom was at work when I found out, I had a pretty miserable time trying to hide it while I was there.


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## Bbpuff (Sep 1, 2010)

About one month after turning 12. I'm so lucky I got it on a weekend.. Come to think of it, I almost, always get my periods on the weekends.. Coincidence?


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## Resonance (Feb 11, 2010)

I'm still waiting


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## AussiePea (Mar 27, 2007)

me toooo.

I wonder if guys keep track of the first time they ejaculated like girls do with menstruation....I don't tbh but some might!

Anyway, as you were.


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## RawrJessiRawr (Nov 3, 2010)

13, I was in science class >.> thought I was dying at first lol cramps suck


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## Meli24R (Dec 9, 2008)

komorikun said:


> I got my first period 2 or 3 months before turning 12. They also say that puberty slows down and eventually stops your growth. So perhaps girls who get their periods earlier may be shorter than average. I'm 5'3 and I got my period a bit earlier than average.


Same here, I think it was about 3 months before turning 12. And I'm 5'4"


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## Double Indemnity (Aug 15, 2011)

Age 12. I'm 5'4.5" 

I was freaked out about starting it at that age because I felt it was too soon. Periods seemed like something for older girls. I didn't want to deal with it. When my mom told me that my best friend had started hers I felt better about it (my mom was friends with her mom).


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## Secretaz (Sep 10, 2011)

I was 14. I still remember how I was screaming in shock at that morning when I realized it has started.


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## Nogy (Feb 13, 2011)

Perfectionist said:


> As an aside: so many men are going to click on this thread in spite of themselves.


 Guilty.


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## momentsunset (Nov 10, 2009)

13. most of my friends did at like 11 though and i used to be jealous and stupid bc i wanted to fit in with them. but once i figured out all the pain associated with it i was glad i didn't start any earlier than i did.


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## melissa75 (Feb 16, 2010)

13. It was the FIRST week of school, and I was mortified. So, I stayed home that entire week. 

I'm 5'6", which is the height I reached around 13. 

Those are interesting articles.


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## Farideh (Nov 13, 2011)

I was 13.


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## AnxiousA (Oct 31, 2011)

9, in primary school. Wasn't overly traumatic, luckily my Mum was pretty on the ball and so I was perfectly prepared and educated. I did get a telling off for dropping tampons in the bath, I was fascinated with how they swelled up so much!


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## heyJude (Aug 1, 2009)

Well, I'm 5'4" now and was 11 years old and in the middle of 5th grade language arts class when I got it all over the back of my overalls and kept telling kids I sat in ketchup. Embarrassing. I told my teacher and had her escort me to the nurse's office for help. I didn't really understand what was going on and was wondering why I kept bleeding for days...guessed it was only supposed to be a quick one hour thing, boy was I wrong! I was 5'2.5" then and have only grown and inch and a half during my teens. Hmm, interesting.


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## GaaraAgain (Oct 10, 2011)

GaaraAgain said:


> Few months before 11 I think. It was on Christmas though... What a present :|


Also, I'm 6' 1" but I only get my period 2-4 times a year since it started.


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## gusstaf (Jan 1, 2012)

The connection between height and menstruation is really interesting. As in most things, I was a bit of a late bloomer with this...didn't happen until two months before I turned 14. I was only 5'1 at the time but grew to be 5'5 by age 17.


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## shelbster18 (Oct 8, 2011)

My first time was on October 31, 2003 when I was 10 years old. No joke. :blank

Also, I'm like 5'2.


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## PickleNose (Jul 11, 2009)

komorikun said:


> That's why I put the, "I have never menstruated." option in the poll.


 You should have added one for "I have never menstruated.....but I always wanted to"


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## Addler (Apr 28, 2011)

I was 12.5. I'm between 5'0 and 5'1, but the shortness is a family pattern going back at least to my great-grandfather.


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## IllusionOfHappiness (Sep 6, 2007)

I think I was 13. I'm 5'1 or so. I remember in junior high it was like this big thing if you got it. Pretty silly, looking back.


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## diamondheart89 (Mar 21, 2011)

11, I thought I had stomach cancer.


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## northstar1991 (Oct 4, 2011)

I was 10 when I started menstruating. I thought it was too early.


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## ohgodits2014 (Mar 18, 2011)

komorikun said:


> They also say that puberty slows down and eventually stops your growth.


I was 12 and I'm 5'8 so I'm thinking no.

My classmates at the time were surprised that I didn't get it earlier, though. Apparently, I just looked like someone who would've gotten it as early as fifth grade. I still don't know what that's supposed to mean.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

rednosereindeer said:


> I was 12 and I'm 5'8 so I'm thinking no.
> 
> My classmates at the time were surprised that I didn't get it earlier, though. Apparently, I just looked like someone who would've gotten it as early as fifth grade. I still don't know what that's supposed to mean.


When you were 12, were you close to being 5'8?

It does seem to be to be a bit more complicated. Just found this:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1070801/



> *Myth: menarche means the end of growth is near*
> The reality is that the average gain in height after menarche is about 7 cm (3 inches), and it is even greater for girls who menstruate on the early side of normal. Follow-up data from the Fels Longitudinal Study show that girls who start menstruating at age 10 grow, on average, 10 cm (4 inches), while those in whom menarche is delayed until age 15 grow, on average, 5 cm (2 inches). Additional reassurance is provided by data suggesting that earlier thelarche is associated with a increased interval before menarche: for example, an 8- or 9-year-old girl who has just started developing breasts will have an average time to menarche that is closer to 3 years than 2. The combination of a longer time before menarche and greater height gain after the start of menstruation may explain why girls who start puberty at about 6 to 8 years old do not end up short as adults. Conversely, the lesser gain in height after menarche and shorter interval between thelarche and menarche in girls with pubertal delay may explain why the pharmacologic delay of puberty (using depot gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist preparations) has inconsistent and limited effects on increasing their final height.


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## Nekomata (Feb 3, 2012)

Around 13, I think. It wasn't really a noteworthy occasion though, so I don't remember it all that well....


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## andy1984 (Aug 18, 2006)

happily, i have never menstruated.

why is there a photo of rice?


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## Stilla (May 13, 2009)

10 perhaps. My friend got it maybe a year earlier than me and she was the tallest girl in class. I'm 160 cm and the school nurse said I was gonna be about 165 when I would stop growing... SHE LIEEEEEED :rain


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## pita (Jan 17, 2004)

I was 12. I was 5'6" then and I'm 5'6" now.


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## Who (Jul 29, 2010)

11 I think.

Fun fact: I still don't have underarm hair :wtf


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## meganmila (Jul 25, 2011)

13. Remember getting up in the morning for middle school and blood on my jeans :/ I was like "mom, what's happening?" My boobs didn't really grow though until maybe sophmore or junior year of high school geez. Well I had them they just looked weird. I guess 13 is average age to get it. I hear girls having it earlier blah... I'm 5'3" if everyone else is posting their height.


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## Double Indemnity (Aug 15, 2011)

I'm sure one of the articles mentioned this, but the later you get it, the better, right? At least in terms of breast cancer risk?


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Double Indemnity said:


> I'm sure one of the articles mentioned this, but the later you get it, the better, right? At least in terms of breast cancer risk?


Yeah, early menarche and not having kids or having kids late in life are risk factors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_factors_of_breast_cancer#Hormones



> Persistently increased blood levels of estrogen are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, as are increased levels of the androgens androstenedione and testosterone (which can be directly converted by aromatase to the estrogens estrone and estradiol, respectively). Increased blood levels of progesterone are associated with a decreased risk of breast cancer in premenopausal women. A number of circumstances which increase exposure to endogenous estrogens including not having children, delaying first childbirth, not breastfeeding, early menarche (the first menstrual period) and late menopause are suspected of increasing lifetime risk for developing breast cancer.
> 
> However, not only sex hormones, but also insulin levels are positively associated with the risk of breast cancer.
> 
> ...


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## DeeperUnderstanding (May 19, 2007)

I have never menstruated.


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## Double Indemnity (Aug 15, 2011)

komorikun said:


> Yeah, early menarche and not having kids or having kids late in life are risk factors.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_factors_of_breast_cancer#Hormones


Yikes. Let's get crackin' on those babies.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Double Indemnity said:


> Yikes. Let's get crackin' on those babies.


They also say that alcohol is a risk factor.....ack..... god, help me. :afr


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## Double Indemnity (Aug 15, 2011)

komorikun said:


> They also say that alcohol is a risk factor.....ack..... god, help me. :afr


I was on hormonal birth control for years. :afr


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## Akane (Jan 2, 2008)

Let's guess 10. It could have been earlier. I don't even remember the exact age I was when I first had sex which was a lot more recent how am I suppose to remember that. I do remember it happened while at horse camp which sucked and I learned how to make pads out of toilet paper. Useful life skill.

My family is fully mature and done growing by 12. We were the tallest kids in school until 12 and my sister being 5'6 really looked odd. She was double the height of many of the guys. Then none of us grew an inch after that and were on birth control pills by highschool of which I don't think either of us has taken more than a year break from.


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## fanatic203 (Jun 23, 2010)

13. At school... despite literally praying for over a year that it wouldn't happen there.

I was later than most girls.



IllusionOfHappiness said:


> I remember in junior high it was like this big thing if you got it.


So true. Socially, it was what it was all about. Cue social anxiety.


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## Revenwyn (Apr 11, 2011)

I was 9, I was at school and it was totally unexpected. I went to my PE teacher when it happened, who also noticed I really needed a bra. My mother didn't get hers until she was 21, so she wasn't expecting me to get it for another three to five years. I'm adopted and so not biologically related to her, but it was still a shock to her. 

I'm 5'4". My mom is 5'0".

Then I lost it at 15 and didn't get it again until 26, thanks to the vegan, 800 calorie diet my family put me on because I was no size 6. Ironically it made me a size 22, up from a 12.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Interesting how some people lose their period for a few months. I don't think I've ever missed a period other than the time I got knocked up. So that's over 23 years of periods.

Well, I take that back. I may have missed a couple months when I first started my period. There was blood for only one day and then it disappeared for whatever reason. I blocked out this memory cause I was rather horrified by it. I knew what it was and everything but still rather traumatizing. The laundry bucket was in my bathroom and I'd see my mom's blood stained undies sometimes. Not to mention I had read my mom's copy of "Our Bodies Ourselves."


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Double Indemnity said:


> I was on hormonal birth control for years. :afr


I don't think you have to worry about the pill.



> Recent use of birth control pills: Studies have found that women who are using birth control pills have a slightly greater risk of breast cancer than women who have never used them. This risk seems to go back to normal over time once the pills are stopped. Women who stopped using the pill more than 10 years ago do not seem to have any increased risk. It's a good idea to talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits of birth control pills.


http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/BreastCancer/OverviewGuide/breast-cancer-overview-what-causes

And it actually decreases your risk of ovarian cancer.



> The odds of ovarian cancer were reduced by up to 80% among pill users, depending on the oral contraceptive formulation. Furthermore, the lower the dose of one particular progestin, the lower the risk of ovarian cancer. If all women had used some type of birth control pill, an estimated four in 10 malignancies might have been avoided; if all had used low-dose pills, that proportion would have been almost three-quarters.


https://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3308907.html


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## KelsKels (Oct 4, 2011)

Hm.. I think I was 11. I just remember I was staying with my cousin because my parents were out of town. I really didn't want to have a period. I didn't feel like an adult, and it freaked me out that my body was able to have sex and babies. I wanted it to stop lol. And I don't mean to brag, but is it normal to have cramps? Because I never have... :um


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## therunaways (Nov 21, 2010)

When I was 13. I just remember having bad cramps a couple of weeks before I started, thankfully it was during the Summer though so I wasn't at school. And I remember during that first long week the cramps were unbearable.


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## nikki1995 (Feb 14, 2012)

week of my13th bday.... and my mom freaked out and told the whole family like it was sum present lol


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

KelsKels said:


> Hm.. I think I was 11. I just remember I was staying with my cousin because my parents were out of town. I really didn't want to have a period. I didn't feel like an adult, and it freaked me out that my body was able to have sex and babies. I wanted it to stop lol. And I don't mean to brag, but is it normal to have cramps? Because I never have... :um


I don't get cramps very often either.


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## sansd (Mar 22, 2006)

I got dried-up-seeming stuff that I wasn't really sure about when I was 13.5ish (is that how it normally starts?). I got that a couple of more times, with a lot of time in between, and then got a monthly, normal period after I turned 14. I'm 5'7". I think my sister got hers at 14. She's around 5'10".

I didn't need pads or anything before the normal blood came, and when it did, I ended up getting yelled at pretty meanly by my history teacher for being late to class after I'd had to go buy tampons for the first time and then hadn't been able to get them in. I'm still upset about it.


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## Jinxx (May 10, 2011)

12. It was so close to my 13th birthday but I was over with my first cycle by time I turned 13.


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## arnie (Jan 24, 2012)

Ospi said:


> me toooo.
> 
> I wonder if guys keep track of the first time they ejaculated like girls do with menstruation....I don't tbh but some might!
> 
> Anyway, as you were.


Of course. I remember the moment vividly. I was very excited about it. :um


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## scriabin221 (Nov 16, 2008)

I was about 11. I was in an airport.


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## laura024 (Aug 11, 2006)

13. August 1st.


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## Neptunus (Oct 29, 2007)

15


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## Miss Apprehensive (Jul 17, 2009)

13. It was a late birthday present.


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## Allegory (Jan 8, 2011)

I've never menstruated, because i'm not female.


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## Insane1 (Jul 25, 2011)

At 14.. I wake up and I was like woah..


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## equiiaddict (Jun 27, 2006)

I was 12 and a half.


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## Olesya (May 8, 2011)

At 15. It started when I was on a camping trip, and I was like: Damn! It had to happen in the middle of the forest!


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## BehindTheseHazelEyes (Oct 27, 2009)

I got mine a little over a month after I turned 14... & I'm 5'3'' if it matters.


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## Kennnie (Oct 21, 2010)

i had my first boner when i was 8


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## Lasair (Jan 25, 2010)

I read that girls that grow up with just a father start their period earlier then girls who have a mother!


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## lyssado707 (Oct 29, 2004)

12


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## arnie (Jan 24, 2012)

Hasn't happened yet...


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## meganmila (Jul 25, 2011)

Why are guys commenting in here? Duh you haven't menstruated lol


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## xTaylor (Aug 18, 2011)

Exactly a month after my 13th birthday, it was during the summer.

What was weird was some boy asked me if I got it yet earlier that day and I was like lol no. And then a few hours later it came.

I'm 5'3, 103 lbs.
Was probably like 95 lbs and 5'2 at that time it happened though.


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## kosherpiggy (Apr 7, 2010)

11. i'm 5'0. i have the most screwed cycle though cuz it's been over 60 days and i'm a virgin. i think i have polycystic ovary syndrome though.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

arnie said:


> Hasn't happened yet...





Insane1 said:


> At 14.. I wake up and I was like woah..





Allegory said:


> I've never menstruated, because i'm not female.





WintersTale said:


> I have never menstruated.


Have you guys ever seen menstrual blood first hand?



andy1984 said:


> happily, i have never menstruated.
> 
> why is there a photo of rice?





> Japanese families traditionally commemorate a daughter's first menstrual period by eating red rice and beans.


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## arnie (Jan 24, 2012)

andy1984 said:


> happily, i have never menstruated.
> 
> why is there a photo of rice?


http://thesoulofjapan.blogspot.com/2010/03/sekihan-menarche.html


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## Col (Mar 18, 2012)

I believe around 14-15. I remember friends talking to me about how much their period sucks, and I just had to fake that I knew wtf they were talking about.


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## Witan (Jun 13, 2009)

Never have. Must be a late bloomer :b

Okay, I'll leave now :um


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Are you kidding?
I am pregnant right now!
I don't even know who the mother is!


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## vanwa (Apr 17, 2012)

komorikun said:


> There was an article in the NYTimes recently about early puberty and it got me kind of curious.
> 
> I got my first period 2 or 3 months before turning 12. They also say that puberty slows down and eventually stops your growth. So perhaps girls who get their periods earlier may be shorter than average. I'm 5'3 and I got my period a bit earlier than average (12.5 years).
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/magazine/puberty-before-age-10-a-new-normal.html


thats really funny actually.
im about 5'4" and i got mine right around the same time too!


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## Queen of Spades (Mar 17, 2012)

When I was 12.


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## Who (Jul 29, 2010)

meganmila said:


> Why are guys commenting in here? Duh you haven't menstruated lol


...and they wonder why they aren't having any luck with the ladies =_= srsly :roll


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## Dark Alchemist (Jul 10, 2011)

13


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## Insane1 (Jul 25, 2011)

Who said:


> ...and they wonder why they aren't having any luck with the ladies =_= srsly :roll


That has nothing to do with what I've said. It's not like I'm going in real life and asking girls about menstruation lol..


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## Who (Jul 29, 2010)

Insane1 said:


> That has nothing to do with what I've said. It's not like I'm going in real life and asking girls about menstruation lol..


lol it's just that sometimes guys sound like little boys by doing silly things like this :rub


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## Insane1 (Jul 25, 2011)

Who said:


> lol it's just that sometimes guys sound like little boys by doing silly things like this :rub


I've heard that before..  I'm sorry for that joke.:squeeze


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## Furious Ming (Dec 13, 2011)

Wow, I voted on this poll thinking it said masturbating. :haha


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## HarryStanluv25 (Jan 26, 2012)

I was either 9 or 10 but I think it was 10. I think it wasn't long after my tenth birthday. I remember spotting blood in my underwear and freaking out that I went a whole day without peeing until night or something. Then my mom was doing laundry and well, found out that way... I was crying I was so upset. I did not want to start ever.

And I had every right to be. They have been rough for me.


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## strawberryjulius (Jun 28, 2009)

a few months before my 11th birthday. i'm 4'9.


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## lettersnumbers (Apr 15, 2012)

I'm 5ft 7 and I got it when I was 13 or 14


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

Perfectionist said:


> As an aside: so many men are going to click on this thread in spite of themselves.


And I'm one of them. I decided not to vote though. I still haven't started and I'll be 39 next week.


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## MidnightBlu (Jun 11, 2006)

A few weeks after I turned 12.


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## MidnightBlu (Jun 11, 2006)

Furious Ming said:


> Wow, I voted on this poll thinking it said masturbating. :haha


HAHAHA! Thanks for the great laugh!


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## imaginaryjanuary (Jun 27, 2012)

komorikun said:


> There was an article in the NYTimes recently about early puberty and it got me kind of curious.
> 
> I got my first period 2 or 3 months before turning 12. They also say that puberty slows down and eventually stops your growth. So perhaps girls who get their periods earlier may be shorter than average. I'm 5'3 and I got my period a bit earlier than average (12.5 years).
> 
> ...


I was 10 and am 5 feet and a half inch tall so maybe the article is right.


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## Invisiblehandicap (Jul 31, 2011)

11 yrs


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## Bianca12 (Apr 29, 2012)

I was 12 when it started. Two days before my first period, my mom bought some pads for me and showed me how to use them so I was very prepared.


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## cybernaut (Jul 30, 2010)

12..in the 6th grade.


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## Amorphousanomaly (Jun 20, 2012)

I was 17 and am 5'9".


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## losinghope (Mar 29, 2011)

I was 11, My first period lasted 21 days too. Always been irregular. And i am only 5 "2" always wanted to be a bit taller.


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## arnie (Jan 24, 2012)

Who said:


> ...and they wonder why they aren't having any luck with the ladies =_= srsly :roll


It's the standard line for male bashing. Why should our self worth be based on how the opposite sex judges us. What if I reversed that line and mocked ugly girls by saying "She doesn't even try to lose weight and she wonders why she isn't having any luck with the guys" Not so funny now is it? srsly :roll


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## wrongnumber (May 24, 2009)

This first article just confused me. I wasn't sure when they were referring to girls who simply developed boobs early or had menarche early. I got my period at 14 but breast development started at 10. I think the article said it's supposed to be only 2 years difference between them. I'm 5'6 which is normal female height for my family, and was a skinny kid.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

wrongnumber said:


> This first article just confused me. I wasn't sure when they were referring to girls who simply developed boobs early or had menarche early. I got my period at 14 but breast development started at 10. I think the article said it's supposed to be only 2 years difference between them. I'm 5'6 which is normal female height for my family, and was a skinny kid.


I think they were referring to boob development.



> While studies have shown that the average age of breast budding has fallen significantly since the 1970s, the average age of first period, or menarche, has remained fairly constant, dropping to only 12.5 from 12.8 years. Why would puberty be starting earlier yet ending more or less at the same time?





> One main risk for girls with true precocious puberty is advanced bone age. Puberty includes a final growth spurt, after which girls mostly stop growing. If that growth spurt starts too early in life, it ends at an early age too, meaning a child will have fewer growing years total. A girl who has her first period at age 10 will stop growing younger and end up shorter than a genetically identical girl who gets her first period at age 13.





> Social problems don't just increase the risk for early puberty; early puberty increases the risk for social problems as well. We know that girls who develop ahead of their peers tend to have lower self-esteem, more depression and more eating disorders. They start drinking and lose their virginity sooner. They have more sexual partners and more sexually transmitted diseases. "You can almost predict it" - that early maturing teenagers will take part in more high-risk behaviors, says Tonya Chaffee, associate clinical professor of pediatrics at University of California, San Francisco, who oversees the Teen and Young Adult Health Center at San Francisco General Hospital. Half of the patients in her clinic are or have been in the foster system. She sees in the outlines of their early-developing bodies the stresses of their lives - single parent or no parent, little or no money, too much exposure to violence.


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## MsDaisy (Dec 27, 2011)

Every time I see this thread title in the forums, it makes me want to throw up. Die already!


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## Who (Jul 29, 2010)

arnie said:


> It's the standard line for male bashing. Why should our self worth be based on how the opposite sex judges us. What if I reversed that line and mocked ugly girls by saying "She doesn't even try to lose weight and she wonders why she isn't having any luck with the guys" Not so funny now is it? srsly :roll


Nope. Your self worth doesn't have be based on how the opposite sex judge you (though in this forum a lot guys seem to think so with all the "I can't get a girlfriend, I don't want to live anymore" threads). It's simply an honest opinion that guys responding like that gives off a very immature annoying little brother-ish impression.

"She doesn't even try to lose weight and she wonders why she isn't having any luck with the guys" That's very true actually. I would think that too if there's a fat girl asking why she can't find a boyfriend. Only a very small percentage of guys actually like chubby or fat girls. A lot of guys say they do like a bit of meat on a girl but really, irl, chubby or fat girls do get less attention than skinny girls.

You seem to be judging yourself based on the opinion of opposite sex if my opinion offended you so much.


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## arnie (Jan 24, 2012)

Who said:


> You seem to be judging yourself based on the opinion of opposite sex if my opinion offended you so much.


Your opinion offends me because you assume that just because you are female that you are entitled to pass judgement on any male. We have better things to do than listen to girls like you.


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## Who (Jul 29, 2010)

arnie said:


> Your opinion offends me because you assume that just because you are female that you are entitled to pass judgement on any male. We have better things to do than listen to girls like you.


You guys just think "oh period funny lol I never had it"

Every month a girl has to go through cramps, headaches and breakouts something you guys would never have to experience every month and you just joke about it like it's nothing. Then when a girl says that's immature you call it man-bashing? :roll

There's your male dominated world. There's the current state of equality.
You really can't hear how immature that sounds? I know I am not wrong.

Since you're so immature here's something you can understand "You started it!". Posting insensitive, trivialising and immature reply in a thread not made for males. 1) Inappropriate 2) rude 3) Insensitive 4) Immature.

You really are so stuck in your head that you don't even see what's wrong and now you get offended over a reaction to you reply. :roll


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## arnie (Jan 24, 2012)

Who said:


> ...and they wonder why they aren't having any luck with the ladies =_= srsly


I never said you can't criticize guys for making jokes.

Where you crossed the line is when you trotted out that selfish and shallow insult judging guys buy their success with "the ladies"

It comes from a self-entitled attitude that the female gender is better than ours so you get decide who is worthy of scorn and ridicule by our "luck with the ladies". As if we should be so blessed. This attitude disgusts me.


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## Who (Jul 29, 2010)

arnie said:


> I never said you can't criticize guys for making jokes.
> 
> Where you crossed the line is when you trotted out that selfish and shallow insult judging guys buy their success with "the ladies"
> 
> It comes from a self-entitled attitude that the female gender is better than ours so you get decide who is worthy of scorn and ridicule by our "luck with the ladies". As if we should be so blessed. This attitude disgusts me.


You are the one who determines what's success to you. I never said you can't get any girl therefore you are an unsuccessful person.

I said and they wonder why they aren't having any luck with the ladies which is true because saying insensitive and trivialising things like that does automatically give a very immature impression and so, you will probably not be so "lucky" with ladies. I see all these threads here where guys wonder all sorts of things like "Is it my face/ body/ height/ race?" when really it's more the things they do and say.


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## BrookeHannigan (Mar 29, 2012)

Who said:


> You guys just think "oh period funny lol I never had it"
> 
> Every month a girl has to go through cramps, headaches and breakouts something you guys would never have to experience every month and you just joke about it like it's nothing. Then when a girl says that's immature you call it man-bashing? :roll
> 
> ...


not all girls go through cramps headaches and such,
its not like a terrible torture once a month
seriously I think a lot of girls are over reacting about being on their period,
unless you like cant function normally anymore, but than its usually because theres something wrong with you. then yes I can understand.
periods shouldnt effect nor hinder your daily life,
on topic I got mine at 12/13.


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## matmad94 (Jun 8, 2012)

Voted thinking it said masturbating not menstruating... '^_^


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## Who (Jul 29, 2010)

BrookeHannigan said:


> not all girls go through cramps headaches and such,
> its not like a terrible torture once a month
> seriously I think a lot of girls are over reacting about being on their period,
> unless you like cant function normally anymore, but than its usually because theres something wrong with you. then yes I can understand.
> ...


Even if it's not as bad for you it's still more than what guys have to go through and not by choice. A woman and a man can both be going through the same bad situation but on top of that, a woman also has to deal with having a period and sometimes that would be a untimely disadvantage like a cramp while you have give a presentation or dealing with fatigue when you have to finish a project at the same time as a man. However little it's still more on top than something that guys don't ever have to go through.


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## Just Lurking (Feb 8, 2007)

x


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Who said:


> Even if it's not as bad for you it's still more than what guys have to go through and not by choice. A woman and a man can both be going through the same bad situation but on top of that, a woman also has to deal with having a period and sometimes that would be a untimely disadvantage like a cramp while you have give a presentation or dealing with fatigue when you have to finish a project at the same time as a man. However little it's still more on top than something that guys don't ever have to go through.


I think men have more problems with age. Most get an enlarged prostate eventually and erectile dysfunction.



> When sufficiently large, the nodules compress the urethral canal to cause partial, or sometimes virtually complete, obstruction of the urethra, which interferes with the normal flow of urine. It leads to symptoms of urinary hesitancy, frequent urination, dysuria (painful urination), increased risk of urinary tract infections, and urinary retention. A





> Adenomatous prostatic growth is believed to begin at approximately age 30 years. An estimated 50% of men have histologic evidence of BPH by age 50 years and 75% by age 80 years; in 40-50% of these men, BPH becomes clinically significant.





> 2% reported first experiencing ED before age 40
> 4% reported first experiencing ED between ages 40 to 49
> 26% reported first experiencing ED between ages 50 to 59
> 40% reported first experiencing ED between ages 60 to 69


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## Who (Jul 29, 2010)

komorikun said:


> I think men have more problems with age. Most get an enlarged prostate eventually and erectile dysfunction.


Yea but do you think a girl would go in thread about enlarged prostate and erectile dysfunction and go "hasn't happen yet" or "I have never had erectile dysfunction"? The girls would probably be like " That's sad..." . Yet guys just post in a thread about menstruation as if it's a joke thread and it's totally fine and ok to do so.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Who said:


> Yea but do you think a girl would go in thread about enlarged prostate and erectile dysfunction and go "hasn't happen yet" or "I have never had erectile dysfunction"? The girls would probably be like " That's sad..." . Yet guys just post in a thread about menstruation as if it a joke thread and it's totally fine and ok to do so.


Yeah, it's kind of immature but male humor is often simplistic and immature like that. Would be funny if women did reply to a thread about ED, "my penis is fine. hahahhaha. no problems here. hahahhaha." That does go through my head when I get one of those spam emails for viagra.

I guess I don't take it very seriously either cause my period isn't painful or anything, it's just messy and an inconvenience. Maybe for some women it's more serious since they have more complications.


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## Perkins (Dec 14, 2010)

Thirteen. I got my first signs of it (pains) on my 13th birthday that lasted for a good 2 weeks. Three weeks after my birthday the devil came knocking on my door. :|


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## asdf (Jan 19, 2008)

I've casted my vote


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## Shauna The Dead (Jun 16, 2005)

Around 10 I think


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## Amethyst Forest (Jul 29, 2012)

I was 11 and 5'0'' when I started and now I'm 5'7'' and I've been that height since I was 15.


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## Elixir (Jun 19, 2012)

I was 14 years old, during my exams and the bleeding lasted for about FOURTEEN days. It was hell!!!

Btw, I'm slightly less than five feet 3 inches tall.


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## blue the puppy (Jul 23, 2011)

i was 12 .. but hid it from everyone (including my mom) for over a year. i was so embarrassed about it.


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## lisbeth (May 18, 2012)

I got it two days before my twelfth birthday. I cried all day.


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## Resonance (Feb 11, 2010)

Four and a half.

_You weren't there man, you weren't there!_


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## ApathyDivine (Feb 28, 2012)

I think 11, but I don't know for sure. I didn't get them often, and still rarely do


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## DeniseAfterAll (Jul 28, 2012)

I have never menstruated


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## Freiheit (Dec 8, 2008)

I got it a few weeks before turning 13. I'm 5'5". I was around 5'3" when I got it.


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## Cashew (May 30, 2010)

Interesting! I was 13 when I got it, and I haven't really grown since then. I'm 5'.


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## mdiada (Jun 18, 2012)

i was 11. i didn't have any cramps or anything, lol my mom was worried it was a bladder infection because of the no cramps and my age (everybody else in my family except for one cousin all started when they were 13 or 14) :b


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## zeya16 (Aug 14, 2012)

10 going on 11 it sucked


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## LynnNBoys (Jul 13, 2011)

I was 11.


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## littlemisshy (Aug 10, 2010)

2 months after my 12th Birthday. I am 5ft1".... I grew only another inch after 12 to my disappointment!


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## Charmander (Sep 5, 2012)

13. I was really excited because I felt all grown up. 5 hours later it was a different story...


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## Marleywhite (Aug 24, 2012)

I was 9. That explains why i am short D:


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## louiselouisa (Jul 12, 2012)

14 and I'm 5'5


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## Charmander (Sep 5, 2012)

Jeez, it must suck to start at 8...


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## LoneLioness (Nov 16, 2003)

I was 11 and I'm 5'4 now.


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## mysterioussoul (Jul 17, 2010)

I was a late bloomer and still am in other aspects but I think it started when I was 16/17.


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## Ben Williams (Sep 9, 2012)

I havn't started yet and im 24.... is there something wrong with me?


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## BrookeHannigan (Mar 29, 2012)

seriously guys stop posting in this thread,
so freakin childish and not funny,
we're not gonna post in a ''how long is your penis?'' topic either.

ot. 13


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## arnie (Jan 24, 2012)

BrookeHannigan said:


> seriously guys stop posting in this thread,
> so freakin childish and not funny,
> we're not gonna post in a ''how long is your penis?'' topic either.
> 
> ot. 13


You kid, but that topic actually exists and yes there are girls posting in it:

http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/forum/groups/18-d3296-average-girth.html


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## musiclover55 (Feb 7, 2011)

I got mine when I was 11.
I tried to hide it from my mom because I was so embarrassed! Luckily she quickly found out before i went to school and told me how to use a pad. 
It took a few years for the embarrassment stage to go away though.


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## Grey0 (Oct 3, 2012)

I was 10 and I didn't stop growing after it, I'm 5'11 now


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## INFJGirl (Nov 23, 2013)

I was one month past 11. I remember I was only one of a handful of girls to be getting theirs at the time. I remember that sinking feeling that I wasn't a kid anymore. It was depressing. Oh yeah and I'm 5'5".


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## Kalliber (Aug 18, 2012)

yourfavestoner said:


> Who else misread the title as 'masturbating' ?


Me ._ .


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## AmandaMarie87 (Apr 24, 2013)

13 1/2. I'm also about 5'3'' like the OP.


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## Amethyst Forest (Jul 29, 2012)

I was 11 and 5'1'' when I started, but I grew about 7 more inches afterwards. I think I stopped growing around 16 or 17.


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## AceEmoKid (Apr 27, 2012)

Hmm, I think I was 12 or 13. Dates are fuzzy in my memory. :con


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## yna (Jul 27, 2012)

I am 5'2" and I also got mine at around 12. My mom is 5' though and my dad is like 5'4" so... :b


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## aquilla (Aug 18, 2011)

I'm 5'8 aaaand if I recall it right, I was 13.


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## GangsterOfLove (Apr 23, 2013)

I think when I was 12.


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## Parsnip (Sep 5, 2013)

I was a very late bloomer, absolutely nothing until I reached 16. Oh, and 167cm/5'6-ish. My height didn't really change much, I may have grown a wee bit from 162cm/5'4 in the following 3 years but no massive growth spurt.


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## Greenleaf62 (Aug 1, 2013)

I can't remember exactly but I think I was 13. I'm about 5'6".


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## Zeppelin (Jan 23, 2012)

yourfavestoner said:


> Who else misread the title as 'masturbating' ?


I did too.:clap


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## RayOfLight123 (Dec 4, 2009)

Im 5'4 and started when I was 10, haven't grown since then


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## hmweasley (Sep 12, 2013)

I was eleven and the first girl in my class to start. I made the mistake of letting that out to other girls in the class, and pretty soon they were all coming up to me at recess and stuff asking me questions about it.


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## BelowtheCurrent (Mar 14, 2013)

I was a little over 14.5
Not sure about that height thing. I'm about 5'5'', not sure how I tall I was back then maybe 5'3'' or something.


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## AlchemyFire (Mar 4, 2013)

11, I'm 5'7" but I was tall back then as well. Not as tall as I am now but still above average.


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## catcharay (Sep 15, 2011)

I started bleeding at eleven years and I am short. At the time I was taller against my peers. Now they are all taller than me. No fair

_Posted via *Topify* on Android_


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## Donkeybutt (May 3, 2013)

13 years old. Meh. I didn't really react to it that much as most people do, 'cause it wasn't that much. I didn't tell anyone, even my mom until I was 15 years old and by the way, I'm 5' 7" tall.


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