Just literally walked out

[fulltimeworkingmotherof4]

Just had to come home and change my jeans! Having the period from hell and leaked everywhere. So embarrassed I just text my Male boss to tell him I’d be back soon, girl stuff! Worst bit is we have an offsite meeting later and it’ll be just me and him in the car for 2 hours

So glad not one woman has come onto this thread to tell you that flooding like this doesn’t happen. Hopefully the message is getting through that we are all different. I’m also going to try the Lidl pads.

I am perimenopausal and this type of flooding is my main symptom. It has been for the last few years.

You have my sympathy. It is awful, and definitely the big downside to being a woman. It always makes me feel that men really do have the better deal really. Not sure that all of them fully understand that, but they just do.

Perhaps take an old towel to sit on in your manager's car.

Also, if this is persistent then do visit your GP. There are things that can help (tranexamic acid for me) and they can check that nothing untoward is causing it.

God I've luckily never had a period like these to all who do.

Glad you got through the meeting and boss didn’t comment.

I was in France in a small bistro that had the tiniest loo ever with a timer switch (on the outside) for the light. Went to the loo as I knew something was up (it was) and saw that I had leaked everywhere, through my tampon, mini pad, underwear and onto my white jeans.

I was so long in there trying to sponge out the stains on my jeans that the lights went off. I then had to unlock the door, reach round for the light switch and turn it back on. That loo was, of course, a single loo situated under the stairs in the middle of the restaurant. Couldn't exactly open that door without the whole restaurant seeing you. Including the person in the queue outside waiting for me to finish. I feel traumatised just remembering it.

Not often I say this, but thank fuck for the menopause and I don't have to go through that EVER again. Have some and , and my sympathies.

Agh I've been there, you have my sympathies! Had a big haemorrhage in the middle of an open plan office - covered my clothes, carpet, office chair and even got some on the desk! I ran to the loos dripping blood on the floor (in front of my male boss) and had to ask two random ladies in the loos to go and get my friend to come in and sort me out with a taxi to A&E. Mortifying. Especially as the day after it all had to be noted down in the accident book (they'd sent a first aider with my friend when they saw the state of me). Damn fibroids!!

Actually, it should be noted that the sort of periods described are NOT normal for some women, so if you suddenly start getting them then you probably do need to be checked out. It's change from baseline that's concerning. If you have always been a flooder then that's different

op, there was a thread a long time ago where one person tracked her menstrual blood loss (using a mooncup) and had counted up to 500ml IN A SINGLE PERIOD before she would concede it was perhaps excessive and went to her GP. Mooncups are useful in that regard!

It’s horrible. The Mirena coil worked a treat for me though.

I second the suggestion of Tranexamic acid. But also a thorough check from the GP, could be all sorts of things from "just you" to a fibroid and beyond.
to all of those who have such horror moments, I went through this several years ago, I was even wearing 2 max tampons just to get through the commute to work it was horrible.
Going to the GP really helped

@BigFatFanny she sounds like a lovely person.

It happened to me once at work, my period isn’t normally heavy but this time it was.
It went onto the chair so I just didn’t move and ended up staying late hoping everyone would just leave.
When others decided to stay late I ‘accidentally’ spilled coffee all over the chair, feigned shock and asked the cleaners for some spray and clothe and pretty much washed the chair. I’m certain no one knew.

PCOS here I feel your pain. My friend puts down a newspaper on seats in cinema, car.

I remember being taught about periods at school and, apparently, we only lose about a teaspoon of blood during menstruation! What total rot!!

Don’t worry, “girls’ stuff” will have done the trick! He may not be able to even look at you for a day or so!

I've been there many times OP, it's mortifying! I now use a fleurcup (like mooncup but holds more) and no more leaks at all! I do use night pads along with it but I don't feel like a prisoner to periods anymore x

I have a period like this every 2 months. So one will be really light but the next one I will pay. I usually use 2 pads so it covers all my underwear. I find myself constantly checking chairs. Men really do have an easy life. Would love to see how they manage a period every month.

A teaspoon. That makes me laugh. I learnt that too somewhere.

Had this happen nearly every period for 35 years+ Doctors(both male and female) always said that is part and parcel of being a woman. Di have tablets at one point that left me bleeding for 21 days and having the most painful cramps, couldnt drive, work or look after the kids, when i told my female G.P she told me to stick with it and told her to stick the tablets. Moved to Scotland saw the gynae consultant within 3 months of being here and his first words as i walked through his office door was" you have suffered enough, lets have that lot out and let you live a full life" 7 weeks later i had a hysterectomy and my life really did begin. You dont have to put up with really bad periods demand surgery

*. I was crying slightly by the time I reached her and mercifully, she was a complete diamond. She walked behind me so we could get to the loo unseen, then nipped out and bought me a new dress, leggings, pads and pants from Tesco across the road. On her way back she hid my chair in the store cupboard and got me a spare one.

I returned to my desk an hour later in a completely new outfit having scooted out on a wheelie chair, and not a single person raised an eyebrow hmm*

I love this story. The last paragraph is hilarious and I love how kind the receptionist was in your hour of need and that you're now good friends. Lovely

I would also recommend a mooncup as their aim is to contain rather than absorb. I think pads and tampons rely on absorption and sometimes the flooding is just too much. Containment is also better than absorption for dealing with clots.

Tranexamic acid is your friend - works quickly and is available OTC. I had fibroids and polyps and uncontrollable gushing which meant I had to take prednisolone if I was travelling and T acid at all other times. Had an endometrial ablation which didn't make any difference and a couple of years later finally got the menopause. The change of life has quite literally changed my life and all for the better.

Don't put up with it - you don't have to. I swerved a hysterectomy for years and wish now that I'd had it when it was first suggested.

Happened to me in a cafe, just whoosh. Luckily I was with my friend, could wear my jacket around my waist to get out to the car, and she had plastic bags in the car to put on the seat.

It was like that for me too. The worst time was visiting an old friend who is about 88 and a man. We had tea and a chat, then I stood up to go and then looking back to make sure I had everything - glasses, purse etc- I noticed the sofa. Omg. I did not know where to put myself.

He's old fashioned, childless but was married. I have no idea what his previous exposure to periods was, but imagine it was almost zero. I wanted the earth to open up and swallow me.

You all have my sympathy. Now I'm beyond all that and it is BLISS

Happened to me a number of times thanks to fucking fibroids. Honestly they’d just explode at the most ridiculous times and I’d feel like a prize idiot as surely people would expect a woman in her thirties to have worked out periods! The kindness of strangers always floored me - from the lady who snuck me into the work loos in Boots when I had a massive flood to the woman in a loo in a mountain restaurant in a ski resort (miles from our chalet) who gave me her Tena lady. There’s so much support and none of the judgment I expected.

I had a hysterectomy last year and am delighted I did. The doctors were very funny about giving me one - their answer to everything gynae seems to be mirena these days and it made me crazy so in the end I paid for it privately but it’s the best thing I ever did. I was housebound for days, unable to trust myself to do anything like drive because of how terrible the cramps were and embarrassed much of the time. It’s not a way to live.

Yep, she often refers to our friendship as a 'trench friendship'... born out of horror and disaster and all the stronger for it

We're 25 years apart in age so I think without my leakage we probably wouldn't have ever become friends!

The day after the great bleeding of 2012 I came in to work brandishing a bunch of flowers and a box of posh chocolates for her (as well as cash to pay her back for the clothes!) and none of the blokes in the office asked about those either ... we work in an industry where observation skills are pretty vital...

Women need to be able to speak more openly about the shit we put up with from periods. My lovely DH was horrified when I had a flood one month after a hot bath and he saw the state of the bathroom floor before I had a chance to clean up. He sat me down on the edge of the bed and told me not to get up too quickly because I must be suffering from some serious blood loss , bless him!

It is part and parcel of being a woman sometimes, but that doesnt mean we don't need a bit of understanding sometimes.

for you OP :)

I remember DH in desperation one Saturday evening phoning OOH for an urgent GP appointment because I had been sitting on the loo gushing for 45 mins without let-up. The operator asked what was happening and suggested I try a sanitary towel. DH said, somewhat snippily, that he wouldn't be phoning OOH for a sanitary towel and anything less than a rolled up copy of the Sunday Times (all sections) wasn't going to cut it... .