Salt in a gaping wound.

One of the symptoms of endometriosis is horrific menstrual cramps. By horrific, I mean passing out from the radiating, not being able to stand upright, body-rocking pain period cramps.

When I was a young kid, just starting on this whole Aunt Flo thing, I used to get violently ill every month when I had my period. I remember many an instance of the trots, puking (at the same time as those 'loose stools' - ick!), seeing stars, and thinking I was going to die while on the toilet. I'd go back to my room and hide under the blankets for days, crying my eyes out. After I went on the Pill as a precocious 16-year-old, I forgot about the pain until ten years later when I stopped the hormones. My acne and my period cramps both came back with a vengeance.

Now that we've been TTC for a while, every time the Red River flows, it hurts emotionally even more than it does physically - and that's saying something for someone who lives on two Naproxen every four hours for three straight days a month, with a chaser of heating pad.

Forget salt. It's like pouring bleach in a paper cut located in the webbing between your fingers.