When I first started therapy with Old Guy and then with New Guy, I guess I mostly did not consider that I could have certain issues come up that I might feel uncomfortable talking about with a man. While I did have some elements of that kind of discomfort from time to time with Old Guy, I don't feel that way anymore. And I'm glad. I can't explain everything here right now, but the recent issue is turning out to be something that is okay to let a man help me with. Maybe because we already know each other and all that. And because, of course, he is a mature man with a wife and a child and he does not strike me as being someone who would dismiss women as irrelevant bits of fluff. I know he wouldn't belittle this just because it has to do with menstruation. I don't even think MOST men would do that, but there are some out there who would. But there are also WOMEN who would do that. From what we have discussed about this so far, I see that he understands that it is a real issue and not just a silly thing to be dismissed as some 'hysterical woman' issue. And he gets the trauma connection and does not try to trivialize it. I think I have decided to let him help me with this. Yes, I have decided. I really want help. I don't want to go on feeling this way. It makes my life more difficult than it has to be. I want something better and I will feel grateful for anything we can work out that might improve my situation. I could quote so many things from his emails about this, but this is what jumped out at me recently when I wrote to him about how the issue just won't go away anymore and I need to do something to finally face it. He said, "To be honest, some healthy, but painful processing may help you break the cycle of thirty years of emotional pain every month. If we go that route, I will make damn sure that little girl and teenager will still be protected. We can’t harm them." Imagine. A therapist who really wants to remember that he is to first do no harm. And... we have been working together long enough through ups and downs that he knows now what would harm them and what would protect them. Please wish us luck, Bloggies. I am very serious about doing something to lessen the amount of emotional pain and craziness that I live with.