The uniqueness of our bodies makes all transitions stages difficult to generalize; I remember in high school, two girls used to have such horrendous painful periods, and I never even suffered a minor cramp. I sadly admit I thought at one time they must be making it up for the attention.
Later pregnancies—whether we can or not, how our bodies heal from it and later how we transition to menopause—nothing straightforward. Learning how absent it is in medical books, it’s not surprising to me that many of us are still learning of our differences and how it affects our daily lives.
We need to educate one another and learn to support each other.

You did that in this piece—and sorry to hear you had to deal with the teasing. Men can be asses. Sorry had no other way of saying it. 😜🙃

Glad you’ve found ways to cope. Keep well!!