My niece who worked in the MTC about a year ago recently told me that one of the reasons she did NOT go on a mission was because she became aware during her employment at the MTC that the sisters were given a warning that they "may not have a normal cycle" during their mission due to the extreme stress. They were also told not to worry if they shut down completly during the entire missions.

She took that as a sign that it might not be such a fun experience as it is being made out to be and took a pass. Smart girl.

Has anyone else heard this is a common experience (physical reaction to stress) for sister mishies?

WTF are their parents thinking?

I haven't posted here in a while. Hello everyone. PTSD brings me back to process more support from RFM.

More likely they may not have a normal cycle due to extreme abuse.

This should be criminal. No sales force should have to be abused like this.

If I were informed this would be the case regarding my daughter things would turn a little western.

that is some weird shit going on there. I would feel uncomfortable just listening to this personal stuff in a church setting. dressing like an old woman at the MTC and listening to those old freaks talk like that would make me run for the hills.

Extreme stress. Wow. And they let them know this in the MTC.

I was told to prepare not to ejaculate for two years.

I can distinctly recall one (1) nocturnal emission as a missionary.

I did not masturbate ever as a missionary.

During the day I was plagued by obsessive sexual thoughts and sensations (including persistent arousal) and compelled to confess them all to my MP.

It was absurd and one of the worst kinds of afflictions in that worthiness-obsessed environment.

It was the worst experience of my life and continues to impact some of my career and other opportunities etc. (although happily my sexual function is normal/hyperactive). It was also a huge detriment to personal development for a very long time (two years of chronic sexual frustration and stress in addition to the regular stress of being a missionary combined with my outrageous self-loathing was not helpful).

I discourage anyone considering serving a missionary to reconsider. And I try to be honest about my own experience in order to level the playing field a bit...

lastofthewine: That should have made you run for the hills!!! They kind of made me think I could still sneak a few more in during the mission. (In case of emergency only mind you.)

Kind of freaks me out about the sisters though...not a normal way to function I would think.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2013 02:33AM by upsidedown.

I was kidding about being told not to ejaculate for two years. Somewhat.

But being told that you "may not have a normal cycle" during your mission WOULD make me run for the hills.

Guys at least have nocturnal emissions.

I remember hearing that in the MTC 20 plus years ago. That should have been a warning for me too but I went ahead and left on my mission. No problem in that category but I did lose hair by the handful - literally coming out when I washed my hair in handfuls the size of baby ponytails. I finally said "I don't care what other sacrifices I have to make - I'm not going home bald." And I started writing checks on my home account (against mission rules - we were supposed to stick to the budget because it wasn't fair to the poor missionaries that some of us had more money and could supplement the meager amount allotted to us with funds from home.) Anyhoo - I used the money to buy meat and vitamins and protein drinks and that slowed it down a lot but it took a few years to grow back in like it was before my mission. I attribute it to the unrelenting stress of living with strangers (otherwise known as companions) and not being able to get away and be by myself. Combine that with the rotten low amount of money we had for food - pasta with butter sauce was a common dinner - and something was bound to happen. But I can't complain too much because at least I was safely in Europe and pretty free from the horrific physical ailments that trouble so many missionaries in other parts of the world.

Had the opposite effect. My menses would not stop. I got very anemic and had no energy. It was horrendous.

Same here during an 18-month period of my life when I was under an unusual amount of stress. Every day. It was relentless. It's a miracle that I didn't get severe anemia.

CA Girl brought up a point I was going to make. I've never suffered from that due to stress, but I know if women drop below a certain percentage of body fat, their cycles can stop and/or become very irregular. Body fat makes estrogen; estrogen causes you to menstruate.

So I figured it would be from malnutrition rather than stress, but either way, that smart girl dodged a bullet.

+1 on the malnutrition comment. Malnutrition and stress together can really do a number on women. At least, those two things did a number on me when I first went to BYU.

I didn't have a cycle for a very long time when I first went to college, and to make matters worse I was chronically sick. And yep, it was totally the stress of the situation combined with not eating right. So anyway, it doesn't surprise me one bit that this would be an issue with the sister missionaries.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2013 09:41AM by sstone.

This is why I lost my period during my mission--I got down to below 100 pounds due to tons of bike riding/walking and not enough food. I also had some hair loss, but not a ton. I did end up with a serious case of pneumonia which left me with lung damage and a vulnerability to respiratory problems.

I should think that this is an avenue to set female missionaries up for more and continued abuse, with an "out" for the mission president. He could guilt an ailing woman back into service by reminding her that she knew well that her menstrual cycle--so unimportant in the Service of the Lord and possibly the primary reason that God doesn't want women helping out in the first place--could malfunction under the stress of a mission. Now get back to work, sister, or be satisfied that you may never have the eternal companion you seek.

Yep, I didn't have a cycle for 4 months when I first came out. It was horrible because all of my hormones were whacked out.

I was told that by my MP when I arrived in the field (that was 20 years ago)
But one of my older sisters (real sister that is) who went some years before me told me that one thing that did happen to her was that she often found that her cycle would change and coincide to her comps'.
I was very naive and really thought that "God would take care of me"...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2013 09:59AM by quebec.

We were not warned about that at the MTC in 1983. But I had a companion who came out of the bathroom one day and said, "Whew! My period finally started up again." When I asked her how late she was, she told me she hadn't had one since she got to the mission field - 6 MONTHS AGO. This is not normal. She was not a skinny girl and she weighed the same as when we were at the MTC together so I imagine it was more due to stress than to malnutrition. She had some behavioral episodes that were rather bizarre, so I'd say she was even more stressed than the rest of us.

She is the only sister I'm aware of who had this problem. But then again, we didn't all check on each other's cycles, so there could've been others.

The fact that it's common enough to be mentioned at the MTC is really a red flag.

happens a lot when women live together. Your pheromones at work...

Sick bastards!

I have three girls of mission age. (They all had/are having babies within a year of one other). You can bet that, as grandmas, my mom and I have supplemented their food intake with wholesome, nutrient-rich foods throughout their pregnancies. They are healthy. Their babies are healthy.

If one of them had served a mission (not possible because our family resigned when they were little kids) and had been told this in the MTC, I WOULD HAVE YANKED THEIR BUTTS HOME IN A HEARTBEAT!

As a mental health counselor, I used to work with anorexic women in weekly group therapy. These girls were such a mess physically - skinny, weak, fainting, hair falling out, lack of menses, dry/flaky skin. Just awful!! One of the girls finally died of heart irregularities, which is where malnutrition eventually ends up . . . because the body loses so much body fat that it begins to "feed" on its own muscles. And the heart is a muscle.

So there you have it.

This is the first time I've heard that sister missionaries experience the same symptoms.

And one more thing - one of my adopted Russian daughters was severely malnourished when she came to the U.S. She had Ricketts and scoliosis. At age 7, she only weighed 35 pounds. She's so physically healthy now, it's amazing. She eats copious amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables. My mom always says her body craves the vitamins and that her little body is trying to make up for the lost years.

F*cking cult.

;o)

and the Worst Part of it is....

the LDS Leaders STILL THINK that 'church work' is more important than individuals' health!


'sacrifice is GOOD FOR YOU' !

I'm with Shannon on this one.

For the first 3 months, I did not masturbate. I had a nocturnal emission about once a week. After I had my epiphany about the falsehood of the church, I was so sick of making a mess while asleep (waking up at 2:30, sneaking to the bathroom to clean up trying to hide it from my companion!!!) that I just went right back to masturbating.

Average frequencies range between once every three to five weeks. I guess that the stress of the mission greatly increased my frequency. Then again, I don't really go without masturbation too often, so I'm not not sure what my normal frequency would be.

Tell them it doesn't get better once their mission is over...their whole life in mormonism will be an endless series of impossible expectations. They will never be good enough or have enough time or energy - always falling short.

Now that really sounds like fun.

I don't have any experience or knowledge of menstruation issues regarding sister missionaries, but a few years ago, I hosted a 17-year-old female exchange student from Bosnia for six months. She was part of a group of Bosnian students who were hosted by several American families in the area. They all seemed to be having a good time and enjoying their lives here, going to school and participating in student activities and American family life, but they did suffer from homesickness, culture shock, and dealing with an unfamiliar diet. Every one of the girls in the group reported that either their menses had stopped or was very irregular (constant spotting). And of course they were worried/concerned about it.

I'm not saying that I think that the Mormon church gives much of any priority to the health or well-being of its missionaries, but menstrual cycle changes can be a common occurrence for any women traveling and living an unfamiliar lifestyle, and I think it's prudent that women be told that this shouldn't be a cause for anxiety in and of itself.

Here's a little advice column geared towards female travelers in general, trying to spread awareness of the issue: http://gogirlguides.com/female-travel/late-period-while-traveling-dont-panic/

As a woman who has dealt with faulty plumbing her whole life, this makes me sick to my stomach. How DARE they. If the conditions of a mission mean that women's health issues really are so common, they need to CHANGE THE CONDITIONS OF A MISSION. There is absolutely no excuse for putting women through that. It can cause real and lasting damage, both physical and psychological.

Agreed, this also applies to the boys/men.

The ONLY time my menses were completely messed up was during Army basic training (for obvious reasons - stress, extreme physical activity)

But even in this environment I was fed plenty (overfed, really) and was encouraged to stay on birth control pills to help keep my hormones regular and had 24/7 access to a doctor in case something really started worrying me. And it was only 10 weeks, not more than a year. And I got paid.

Yeah. These mission things seems like a bad idea.

I have heard more than one politician make the statement that if an organization has less than 2 millions members, it is a cult. More than 2 million it is a religion.

One more reason that the AA faith has always claimed 2 million members, while at the same time claiming there are no efficacy studies due to the fact that numbers cannot be documented. There are actually many efficacy studies, but none of them show the AA faith to be effective at all- so like LDS Inc, the membership is blind to them.

ANY other organization that subjected people to this would be front page news. The fact that this very wealthy cult is abusing a VOLUNTEER sales force is inexcusable.

I am hoping that with so many people leaving LDS Inc post mission, which will grow exponentially with the younger crew, LDS Inc will be sued enough that this abuse is better publicized.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2013 12:36PM by deco.

deco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> One more reason that the AA faith has always
> claimed 2 million members, while at the same time
> claiming there are no efficacy studies due to the
> fact that numbers cannot be documented. There are
> actually many efficacy studies, but none of them
> show the AA faith to be effective at all- so like
> LDS Inc, the membership is blind to them.

Maybe I'm just particularly dense today, but what is the "AA faith"?

All I can think of is African-American, and surely this is not what is meant here.

Alcoholics Anonymous

deco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Alcoholics Anonymous

Thank you!!!

:-)

Any mishie suffering such symptoms needs medical care and if that doesn't work, they need to go home.

Missionaries shouldn't be living in squalor with that kind of avoidable stress, long hours, and poor nutrition.

Agreed. Especially when the MPs live quite nicely.

When I first read this I thought that it was some form of council for them to start on birth control that will allow them to consciously skip their periods, for convenience. The truth is so much worse. :(

I also remember being told that. I think I went 2-3 months without my period when I first got to the mission field (after being in the MTC for 2 months). After that it was irregular and much shorter than it had been before. Also, I was not overweight but I lost 20 pounds my first 2 months in the field because we walked so much and I wasn't eating well because the MP's wife had given us some medication to take for worms. I don't know what kind of medicine it was but it left this horrible after taste that tainted everything I ate--so I lost my appetite for weeks. I got so skinny but did gain back some of the weight over time, but my family was all shocked at how thin I was when I got home.