How much does your period affect you each month?

[Puskaboots]

And how old are you?

I'm 40 and I have a day of migraine and nausea, preperiod, I have to spend a day in bed for.
Then my first day of bleeding is very painful with leg spasms and backache.

I have to make sure I don't plan on doing much that day too.

The rest of my period is unnoticed mostly and my flow is never heavy. Just a very painful start.

I've also noticed my period cramps starts a good 7 to 10 days before blood now too.

Similar to me! I really feel the hormonal change around ovulation.

This sounds like endometriosis.

I had this - isolated episodes of severe pain. I was on all fours and vomited all over the floor. They eventually discovered I had an endo mass in my ovary which was actually larger than the ovary. Had to have surgery to remove it.

This was after years of unexplained infertility 😒

If it happens to you again I would ask for endo to be investigated if I were you.

I’m 33 and I am definitely noticing the effects of my period as I get older.

The week before my period starts I am ravenous and ANGRY. I am in a bad mood, anxious, have a dark cloud over me all week. I feel like the worst partner, worst mum, worst friend and wonder why I bother at all. Day before period my legs start to ache and cramp, my lower back is sore and I get terrible headaches. When the bleeding starts the worst is over apart from intermittent headaches for the rest of the week.

I'm 45 and in pain for first 2-3 days. It doesn't stop me working but pain is enough that I will sit there trying to apply pressure or something or may sit with a hot water bottle as paracetamol doesn't really kill it.

I miss my implant and not getting any periods for years!

Interesting thread because I've been seriously considering options to stop my period lately.

I'm 38 and though I have no period pains or PMS, I bleed a truly absurd amount of blood for 5 days, with enough dribs and drabs on days 6-7 to still need sanitary protection. It's easier to manage since switching to a menstrual cup 5 years ago (though this really allows me to boggle at the heaps of gore that come out of me), but every cup I've tried has leaked a bit and I still need to use a pad alongside. My cycles vary from 21-31 days, usually at the shorter end. Sometimes I only go two weeks without bleeding before the next one starts.

I feel tired and drained all the time; it's like supporting some sort of parasitic organ. Insult to injury is I'm completely unmaternal and have never wanted children, so building a luxury foetus palace in my womb every month is a total waste of time.

Interesting to hear of so many good experiences with the mini pill. I might give it a go.

I posted earlier in the thread, but I got my period on Monday and I am honestly done with this!

I wore super plus Tampax and ‘super heavy flow) period pants today, as my usual super plus Tampax plus heavy flow sanitary towel isn’t cutting it anymore . I had to change my Tampax every hour or so which was just about adequate. But then I had to do something at work where I couldn’t physically leave to use the bathroom for 2 hours…and I fucking leaked! My tights were sodden. I was wearing a black dress with a slip underneath, so I managed to not leak on to my seat for the rest of the day, but I couldn’t leave and did t have a change of clothes and I just felt so grim and on edge.

I’m SO pissed off. This isn’t the first time it’s happened. I either leak at work, or if I manage the whole day OK, I leak on the tube home. Or at night. The flooding is so bad.

I’ve had scans and smears and there is no sinister reason for this. But I just need to not have to deal with this anymore 😢 I’m in a senior leadership role, busy all day, and for a week every month I have to effectively wear nappies and cross my fingers I don’t have an accident.

Was going to suggest you speak to your GP but it sounds like you’ve done that if you’ve had scans to check it out. It sounds awful and really debilitating😥. Did your GP suggest trying the Mireana or mini pill or anything like that? Appreciate you might not want to take hormones but it’s the only advice I can think of!

I also swear by my mooncup but again they’re not for everyone and it sounds like you’ve tried out different options with the period pants.

I know it doesn't help now but have you tried the lil let's ultra tampons? They are more absorbent than the super plus Tampax. I could get about 3.5 to 4 hours out of one on a bad day whereas I only got about an hour and a half to 2 hours out of super plus

I've been put on the mini pill along side iron tablets for my bleeding (and anaemia caused by bleeding). I'm about 3 months in and I am not bleeding heavily anymore. I'm having about 5 days of spotting every 2 weeks but only panty liners needed. And I have been told this should ease and eventually stop once I've been on it longer.

Thanks for your experience @Imamumgetmeoutofhere, 5 days of spotting sounds amazing! If you don't mind me asking, how are you feeling? Have symptoms from your anaemia got better, and are you experiencing any side effects from the pill?

I normally feel like I have been kicked in the fanny for day one and two, feels really bruised 😕 periods have got lighter though the last year or 2 and only need wear a pad for 2 and a half days

Sorry to all of us that suffer with period related issues. I didn’t realise there were so many of us but I’m another one who has migraines at ovulation and just before/1st day or 2 of my period. I’m really hoping someone will reply with a magic cure that has helped, as being in this much pain for 5 or 6 days a month is really starting to take its toll.

I’ve tried prescribed Amitriptyline and Sumatriptan (both had terrible side effects), Feverfew, Aspirin and flat coke, Magnesium, B12, and Coenzyme supplements to little effect. The Blue Syndol pain relief which has sadly been discontinued used to take the edge off, as does white Tiger Balm sometimes. Any other suggestions to try would be much appreciated. Contemplating HRT but have heard that this can sometimes make migraines worse.

TIA

I'm still very tired and recently blood test shows I'm not totally back to normal in terms of iron but better than I was so have another one in 3 months and carrying on with the iron tablets until then.

The pill has really helped. I used to have horrible pain and sweating with my periods. Now I don't have any of that. No headaches, no mood swings. Sex drive is the same. Only difference is I'm a bit more sweaty and my skin and hair are a bit more oily but I can cope with that.

@Imamumgetmeoutofhere that's really heartening to hear. I'm definitely going to talk to my GP about the mini pill. Thanks!

Hardly at all apart from the first few postpartum. I’m lucky, it’s just very mild cramping and the inconvenience of changing sanitary towels.

Mine are hell. I don't sleep for three days before. I get a migraine the day before and the following day. I'm anxious for a week after. Then I have a week where I feel ok. Then a week where I'm down and then the acne comes back and the not sleeping etc etc.

Oh and I get a slight cold the day my period comes and for the following day. Really weird. I'm constipated for a few days before then get the runs. It's all fun and games isn't it!!

@Robotnik good luck.

I just wish I tried it years ago but was reluctant as I didn't like the idea of taking medication each day but it got to the point my health was suffering, my work was suffering (in my opinion, employers never said anything) and I couldn't go out on days 1 and 2 of my cycle unless I took a change of clothes and kept an eye on the time and knew where toilets were.

I am 37 suffer headaches on first few days cramps and extremely heavy bleeding it affects me doing much for the first 3 days usually on my period 6-7 days

OMG, its fecking crazy. I get a whopping, pounding headache days before it arrives. My mood/hormones are all over the place. When my period arrives, it arrives with such force I bleed all over my clothes and bedding etc. It is that heavy. My stomach is in twists and knots, it is agony. Just walking a few steps feels like I'm being stabbed in the stomach by 100 burning knives. I want to kill people. I'm a total bitch. Mid to late 40's. Its always been shit, but has gotten 100 times worse as I've got older (have endo and adenomyosis, apparently). My teen is the same. You know when its her time - complete personality change!

should add - tried the mirena coil to decrease bleeding. Was a disaster. I've tried everything. The first few days I don't sleep properly. I can't. Knowing I'm bleeding so heavily it will inevitably end up on my sheets or clothes... even if i change every few hours.

Not at all apart from having to remember to take a bag to the loo when I'm at work.

They last 3-6 days but aren't very heavy.

I'm 48 and guess I'm one of the lucky ones.

I’m 31. Since I had c-sections, period pain radiates from my upper abdomen rather than lower for some reason… Unsure if it’s referred pain or something but I get sharp pains in my upper abdomen rather than lower. Usually feel nauseous and randomly quite itchy the day before it’s due. Always get stroppy as hell for a week running up to it, sometimes have suicidal thoughts and I crave junk food.

Once the period comes, the misery ends and I feel ok again.

When I was a child, I'd get headaches with my period sometimes, but no other issues.

As a young adult, I had little issues with it that I recall other than the odd twinge.

A couple years after I had my youngest, when my cycle really returned, I started to get migraines with my periods. Then my period went weird where my cycle become really irregular, then didn't get it for 2-5 months at a time, and when I did it was random on length and whether it would light or really heavy, all with horrific migraines, and I started to increasingly get menopausal symptoms. I had some medical investigations, was misdiagnosed with premature ovarian insufficiency for 5 years, and only when I took in the NICE guidelines in about treatments did I learn that I had been misdiagnosed, my hormones were never at a menopausal level for my age, had to go through all the medical investigations again, and found out I really struggle to make Vitamin D with my skin tone and was utterly depleted of that and a few other things after four kids and previous times this deficiency was caught and I'd been given prescription strength supplement, it hadn't really worked because I was told by GPs to take a multivitamin once I was done and it hadn't been enough. Turns out there are Vitamin D receptors all over, including in reproductive organs and without it, the body struggles to use other hormones including sex hormones and a severe enough lack leads to being menopausal from my late twenties. I had a nurse practitioner go over just not bothering with the multivits as they're rarely enough for a deficiency issue, what dosage to take, how, how to adjust for my symptoms and if I miss doses. She was great.

Now, I only get my period if I take enough Vitamin D regularly. If I don't, I get significant menopausal symptoms including bad hot flushes. If I do, I get a dull headache, back twinges, really tired and irritable around day 28 of my cycles, which is usually around 1-2 days before I start though if I missed some of pills then it can last longer or I'll need some catchup doses. Then I get absolute relief when it starts - occasionally I'm just sitting there and can feel the relief wash over me, and sometimes the headache returns again at the end. My periods are also oddly a lot more clotty, which I've no idea on.