Ok, I should probably just go to the doctor but for some reason the prospect of that is terrifying so I'm hoping that someone can either give me some information that will ease my mind or possibly scare me enough that I'll actually GO to the doc.

Some background...

I was seriously obese for probably the last 18 years or so. Needless to say, I didn't have periods for most of that time, but in the last couple of years I have lost a tremendous amount of weight, and my periods returned and had been mostly regular for about a year.

I've always heard that girls will cycle around each other if they spend enough time together. Probably in the last 12 months or so, I started spending a lot of time with my best friend and as a result, my cycle was all screwed up. It started by me missing a period entirely, then I started having them at the same time as her. Well, over the last probably 6 months I slowly began returning to my own regular cycle at the beginning of the month, but NOW I have been getting my period twice a month for about 3 months now. Once at the beginning of the month when I would always have my cycle, and now on about the 15th when she has hers! What is going on?? I would be terrified if they weren't so regular, but it's really like clockwork. Could my body just be especially prone to getting thrown off by other women? I am really getting sick of this twice a month thing... maybe my body is just paying me back for skipping periods for 15 years, haha!

Probably not something to make light of... but I'm just trying not to freak out. I get all the normal period symptoms, boobs are sore, cramps, crankiness... help!