To think the menstrual cycle affects our careers?

[Fianceechickie]

First day of AF today and I feel as usual, like a worn out dish rag. Most months I feel like this for a few days before/after starting. Not at work today but thinking ‘how the hell do I get through work feeling like this?’ I must have spent a quarter of my working life being well below par, plus when you add the probably dodgy decisions and irrational reactions I’ve made while having pms I can’t help thinking ‘what if all the hormonal stuff wasn’t there?’ What do you ladies think? I know some women have easier cycles but are women put at a disadvantage by hormones?

It actually annoys me when people who've never had problem periods come on here and say the menstrual cycle doesn't have a negative impact on people's career.

If you've never have bad cramps and never had all the associated symptoms of PMS/dysmenorrhea, you're not going to realise how crippling periods can be for some women. MILLIONS of women suffer from problem periods - from dysmenorrhea, to bad cramps, to fibroids, cysts, endometriosis - and it's people piping up "oh, it's not that bad which contributes to people with some of these conditions going undiagnosed for an average of 9 years (in the case of endo).

If you don't suffer with PMS, consider yourself very damn lucky. However, your experience is not true of everyone else and for some people, even with medical intervention, pills and remedies, they still struggle with pain, sickness, mood swings and anxiety every month. When you're sick every month, vomit or get pre-menstrual migraines, it's bound to have some impact on your attendance and career eventually.

Certainly it affects some people's careers - it affected mine extremely adversely. It was a constant struggle and so exhausting, interestingly now in my 60s coping so easily and have recently been promoted in new job...
I used to avoid female GPs as invariably they had no clue about how ill my cycle made me, I supposed because they were not people who had encountered those problems and therefore minimised them. I found male doctors much more sympathetic. (Apologies to any sympathetic female GPs out there.)

I have really really heavy periods that leave me feeling depleted. It affects everything at the moment pretty much most of my cycle and of course I am having surgery which will take that away. Hormones don't come into it, it is just the sheer volume of it.

Before my third child they made no impact other than a slight inconvenience .

This title reminds me of something a far-right politician would say in order to deny women rights in the workplace.

It did affect me for a while. I had shocking cramps and would need a day / half day off to ride out the first day of my period. Painkillers didn't touch the sides, it settled down after I had dc's.

If you suffer with them then yes it will affect your performance. If not then no it probably won’t. As others have said it depends on your symptoms and your career.
Before I had kids I used to get horrendous cramps and pain but dosed myself up with painkillers and got on with it.
Now I don’t get the cramps but I get a week of crippling migraines, IBS and exhaustion. I will probably be looking to return to work soon and it does worry me how I will manage.

I really struggle to get out of the house for two or three days every three weeks. I have to change outfits / toilet every twenty minutes. So I work from home on those days.

I feel shit about it. I know MN says "that's not normal!" But as another poster says, trying to get taken seriously by a depleting health service is almost a job in itself. And when you can't make phone calls during working hours, and then get fobbed off AGAIN..

Another issue is that I am not sure we really know what IS "normal" in the spectrum of menstrual health. WHat should we put up with, and when should we seek medical intervention?

I think we need to talk about it more, not less.

It should improve women’ rights, my periods are crippling and pretty much the sole reason I continue to breastfeed. Imagine if men had something that put them in pain and made them bleed every month - they’d probably get whole weeks off full pay! We need better health care provision, but I fear it would just be something the MRA types would beat us with a stick over.

I think recognising it would actually improve women's rights.

Someone needs to invent a pill that will totally alleviate most period issues other than hormone birth control as they can cause a whole host of other issues. They'd make a fortune!
But yeah I agree with you OP. I suffer terribly with my periods and feel I would have been more successful in life if I could feel well each week instead of just 1-2 weeks per month

I think there are a certain percentage of women, and I'm one of them. I have taken off countless days during school and employmentpre-kids at leastwhen the first day of my period involved vomiting, diarrhea, blackouts and contractions equivalent to giving birth. Another PCOS suffererer, and I also have adenomyosis.

Most women don’t have such crippling periods they can’t function at work. So by enshrining some kind of right to menstrual leave (that would presumably lower female salaries across the board) to benefit the minority that do, it would actually discriminate against people like me who can function quite well at work even with severe pcos and endo. The answer is more flexible working for everyone as much as humanly possible (appreciate this might not be possible for government employees).

Well I think it certainly could do depending on how unwell it makes women.

I often feel so so tired the week before. I don't think I'm at my best but I still do my best. And it's not as though other people don't feel ill/tired for various other reasons.

I think I'm the grand scheme of things for most women likely not. But possible for some yes.

No, but I'm from the put up and shut up school of life, for myself at least.

Periods are no fun, but they are a regular feature of a woman's life for 30+ years. I've had my share of grim ones, mood swings, flooding, prolapse repair, god awful cramping pains, pulsing headaches & just feeling like I want to go to bed for 2/3 days with a hot water bottle but I take as many strong painkillers as I possibly can for those days, woman up and push on through. Not sure if that is the right or wrong thing to do, but it certainly has ensured my career hasn't been affected.

I would do exactly the same thing if I have a period while I'm on holiday or if I wasn't working. I couldn't bear the thought of losing 2/3 days of my life every month because of a period.

I would do exactly the same thing if I have a period while I'm on holiday or if I wasn't working. I couldn't bear the thought of losing 2/3 days of my life every month because of a period

You're lucky that you can make that choice. Some people can't.

I really hope some of these "buck up and get on with it" folk don't treat their daughters, friends or colleagues in the same way they treat themselves.

Just because you can take painkillers and get on with things, doesn't mean everyone else can do the same thing. I've been sent home from work on more than one occasion because my cramps were so bad I was sick, and I couldn't keep water or painkillers down long enough for them to have any impact on the pain.

So many girls have undiagnosed problems (particularly endometriosis) because they're told problem periods are "normal" and that they just need to put up with it.

That's true Jacques. I can only speak from my own experience.

It definitely affected my career. At the book launch for my first novel I had to make two dashes to the loo. Before speaking at a writers conference I had to work out where I could buy replacement underwear and tights en route.

Perimenopause was a shock. Flooding is very debilitating and embarrassing. Just trying to work out whether you need to bring a towel with you to drive to the station takes up energy.

I can only speak from my own experience deepest, same as you can only speak from yours. It doesn't mean I'm heartless and inconsiderate of others, it just means that is how I deal with it myself.

I don't have problem periods so it hasn't affected my career.

My mum really struggled though when she was going through the menopause, her employers were not supportive and it's one of the main factors that pushed her into early retirement. Older female colleagues in my workplace have alluded to similar experiences.

Yes - but my period has me bedridden or on morphine in a gynaecology ward. I spent the vast majority of the last year in and out of.hospital, either for my job there or as a patient on another ward. My uterus I feel is slowly destroying me :(

The answer is more flexible working for everyone as much as humanly possible (appreciate this might not be possible for government employees).

Definitely agree with this as a helpful solution.

The worst period I ever had I had simultaneous diarrhea and vomiting for 12 hours - took me 3 weeks to recover, and then started all over again a week later.

Current periods I take buscopan, anti sickness, 30/500 cocodamol, 30 mg dihydrocodeine for breakthrough, tranexamic acid.. there's no way I can even leave my bed let alone get to a job.