23, when I finally brought myself to a Gyno after years of refusing to go. I figured that since I wasn't having any issues and wasn't sexually active, I had no reason to let someone poke at my vagina.
I grew up in an area near sea level and almost never had terribly painful periods. They always lasted a full week, but I could usually deal with the cramping without painkillers of any sort.
At 19, I - unwillingly - moved to an area around 1,000 feet above sea level, and my periods immediately became heavy and extremely painful; I was unable to do anything the first and sometimes second days of my period. It was like this every single month,a nd I'd never changed my diet or did anything I believe would have caused this.
A year later, at 20, I moved back to an area nearer sea level, and though my periods had changed after the first move, they didn't change after the second. They remained utterly torturous. I got my period at work one day, and it was so bad that I turned pale grey and my manager wanted to call an ambulance for me. My boyfriend took my home and I was ok, but that day was TERRIBLE.
This continued for the next few years, and I learned to head the cramps off with painkillers as soon as I started feeling them, but they'd catch me by surprise at times and I'd keel over and wish I was dead.
I finally got up the nerve to go to a gyno and get birth control pills. Hell, I wanted a hysterectomy, but there can be issues with that, and since I'm 24, no one will listen to me. I hate that so much. I might be young, but I know what I do and do not want!
In any case, I've been taking Seasonique, an extended-cycle pill, as a continuous-cycle pill, so I don't get my period at all, for the last 8 months or so, and I'm pretty happy! I do spot at times, but it is lessening. The boyfriend and I use condoms along with the pill, so it's highly unlikely I'll get pregnant.
The boy does tell me that it makes me a little sensitive, and I've gained two cup sizes, which I'm calling my gyno about tomorrow. If they stop, fine, but if they're just going to keep growing, oh, that is not ok at all. I am much too thin to have breasts the size of my head!