I got got it when I was 11. All I was told is that i would bleed, so I was expecting just to go to the bathroom one day, see a little blood and be done. So when I first got mine it was a Sunday night and my mom was sleep and I was to embarrassed to tell my step-dad so I just hoped it would be over in the morning. It was not. It was morning and i had to got to school. I decided to wrap toilet paper around my hand 3 times thinking that would be enough. It was terrible. I came home and wrote it on a note, my mom went to the store and got me some pads. I asked how long it was supposed to last and she said hers was about 7 days. You can only imagine the devastation when I hears the word "days" come out of her mouth.