To say a period does not cost £25

[jinjkl]

I hear the story on the radio about MP Danielle Rowley standing up in parliament to speak out about period poverty.

Good on her - it shouldn't be a taboo subject and I feel for the homeless women or those in poverty who cannot afford basic luxuries. But I can't agree with her statement that each period costs £25, and that women spend £500 a year on sanitary products.

You can buy a 20 pack of supermarket own brand tampons for £1 and that lasts a whole period. Even if you buy Tampax you won't be spending more than £3. Sanitary towels are about the same.

You can pick up some painkillers for under £1. I know some women have extreme periods which require prescription medication, but this is uncommon and it still wouldn't cost anywhere near £25.

Some would probably argue it's the cost of replacing soiled knickers, but the whole period poverty campaign is centred around sanitary protection, not giving women women to buy new knickers after a period (I wish!)

I want sanitary protection to be free as much as the next person, but I just can't abide by these exaggerations. Any woman knows they don't spend £25 every month on their period, and if you are spending this much there is something seriously wrong.

Is there a source for Danielle Rowley's claim that 'the average cost of a period in the UK, over a year, is £500'?

Look, I think it's really good that an MP is fighting against period poverty. But plucking an unsubstantiated and massively over-inflated figure out of the air doesn't do anything to help her cause. It just makes her look unreliable and distracts people from the real issue (look at that Guardian article, where people are arguing the price of paracetamol rather than talking about the issue at hand).

Whether the average monthly period spend is really £41.66, or if it's 'only' £5, I would still have empathy for women who are unable to afford sanitary protection. As I'm sure everyone else would.

Breakdown:

Next, respondents were asked to think of the average amount of money they spend each month on different areas relating to their period, with the totals emerging as follows:

· Pads/tampons/panty-liners/menstrual cups - £13

· New underwear (due to spillages) -£8

· Pain relief - £4.50

· Chocolate/sweets/crisps - £8.50

· Other (magazines/toiletries/DVDs etc.) – £7

Taking these monthly estimates into account, researchers were able to work out that the average period costs £492 annually.

As I posted before, this is based on actual research and includes extra washing and having to throw away stained underwear.

Why throw away stained underwear? Most people just wash stained knickers. It nowhere near costs £25 for both mine and dd's periods per month!

Sounds like another case of "Vote me" 😒

Oh, so it's the survey from VoucherCodesPro.co.uk that was discussed on More Or Less. As they said, 'it's not exactly the Office for National Statistics'.

So we already know the £13 a month on towels and tampons is way too high.

The 4.50 on painkillers and £8 on new underwear also seems like a massive overestimation.

LOL at the expenditure on chocolate, sweets, crisps, magazines and DVDs.

It's nice to see that MPs use such reliable sources of information

Read the damn thread and you'll see why can cost so much.

Why people use their own particular experience as the experience of every person I'll never understand.

I've spend £6 on cheap bras, doesn't mean that all women can or want to. Some need specially made ones, some prefer certain brands.

The issue here is that periods are causing a problem for some women, even one is too many. Girls missing school because of periods is not ok - due to parental neglect or financial hardships who knows. But it needs a solution.

The wait for UC is 5 weeks. Single mother and teenage dd have periods. Once spends £6 one spends £8 dependant on need. £12 is hard to come up with with almost £0 income.

Also, within those 5 weeks they could each have 2 periods.

When you have no money sanitary products may fall to the bottom of the queue. It's sad but I can see why

I estimate I spend a lot on particular San pro every month.

I can’t use every type, or any other type of San pro as I get irritated by anything scented or that hasn’t for a cotton type lining.

I easily spend 500 a year on these particular towels as I have heavy periods and need at least five packs of 15 a period. I also have the pleasure of having irregular periods, so could have 15 or 20 periods a year some years.

Also I have flooding issues and need to replace knickers and trousers after they are destroyed. I try and get the blood out by hand washing but it’s often just stained beyond repair by dense clots.

I also have to have prescription drugs to manage the pain.

You do sound awfully dismissive, uncompassionate and outrightly ignorant saying that you disagree with the MPs and dismissing her costings as inaccurate. I’m sure she’s done her research (unlike you).

Im delighted a box of tampons does you for a month and only costs you one pound- you do realize however that your situation is unusual and therefore is only one teeny tiny tiny data point in calculating the costings most women incur.
...

"So many women so determined to ignore other women's experience" yes like:

"but I don't see how you could get to £25 a month" try reading the thread @Iceweasel in fact all pps going 'I don't get it' READ THE THREAD plenty of examples

"but this is uncommon" says who?! Plenty of those of us who do have/had problem periods are well aware of MAJOR problems with under diagnosis. Personally I think it's actually quite common.

"Progesterone only contraceptive pill stops periods completely - may be an option for some on this thread?" Not for everyone, some people it can make flow/pain more/worse.

"(If you go through more than 4 pads a day you need medical help for heavy periods.)" - I go through more than that now AFTER many years on the pill, 3 surgeries, 2 different medical treatments and medically induced false menopause - and I am not unusual.

"Anyone that goes through £25 of period towels tampons needs to see a Doctor urgently"

"Hahaha! Because GPs fall over themselves to assist with menstrual issues" exactly!!

what makes you think they haven't?! Took me 14 years until I got a diagnosis - and only then as a result of a complex mc - after repeatedly being fobbed off at GP's . That was the average time to get endo diagnosed then coincidentally, it's now 7.5 YEARS. I believe it's about 5 YEARS for PCOS, and I think around same again for fibroids. There are £100,000's of us with similar stories. It is VERY hard to get taken seriously, to get referrals to gynae, to get correct diagnosis, to get correct treatment.

"When my periods were normal I thought people who struggled with theirs were making a terrible fuss over nothing." Thank you for acknowledging that - a few pps should be more aware that their experience is not everyone's.

"How can you work or go about your daily life if you lose that much blood?" Answer many can't - I know of women who have lost their jobs as a result. Because without a diagnosis you've no medical evidence of a condition - essentially just the word of the woman suffering it.

I also wonder if the £25 includes clothes and bedding needing replaced - or at least needing additional stain removal, pain relief - for many women Otc meds won't touch it and they need prescription meds, meds to reduce flow, I'm lucky in Scotland free prescriptions but if in England and not exempt that's £8?, also not just for cramps but migraine, worsening of ibs, so potentially for some women that's £24 straight away! Also some women have very unpredictable periods so may need to wear at least liners almost constantly just in case - that soon adds up!

I've had times where I was very heavy (Max absorbency tampon and pad, needing changed 1-2 hourly) for up to 14 days. A £1 10 pack of regular tampons would have been no good. Now post surgery can't use tampons any more too painful.

I KNEW mooncup would be mentioned.

A not everyone can use one - I've an odd shaped cervix, wouldn't work for me, wouldn't work for many with high flow either especially if they haven't access to hygienic facilities to empty and clean. Particularly homeless women, they'd end up with additional infections to deal with.

B not everyone wants to. Women deserve to have choice in sanitary products.

"Mirena coil is free and suitable for most.... certainly limits the cost in addition to other benefits" not suitable for most, many women have had difficulty getting an hcp to agree to removal if it worsens symptoms.

I can easily see this being the average because there's people like me who looking back I can see there were months it possibly cost me (if I adjusted for inflation etc) at the time easily up to £50. And then there's women like the op and a few pps who DON'T spend as much.

Op and others who experience lighter/shorter periods, why did you assume all or most other women are the same as you?

Etymology well said! And big YES to cheaper products being a false economy as you end up using more if you have a heavy/long flow. Or they aggravate allergies or cause things like thrush.

"if you take advantage of the offers" you mean like bigger packs which cost more than than the smaller packs but work out cheaper per pad? Or buy one get 2nd half price - 50% extra initial outlay? When you're poor you can't afford the initial outlay - it's expensive to be poor! What about the poor in rural areas?

If I were experiencing what I did in the past I'd be getting through

3 packs of pads - £2.85 X 3 = £8.55

If I had to pay prescription costs -

£8.80 X 3 (pain + flow control + migraine) = £26.40

Stain remover - £4 would last 2 months so £2

Replacing underwear that can't be rescued - £3.50

Bedding needing replaced approx 6 monthly £20 a set = £3.33

TOTAL - £43.78 and that's NOT inc loss of earnings which was easily at least 2 days per month.

So op - yes YABU because not everyone has light to medium flow with no additional complications for no more than 7 days per month.

Me - heavy periods - £43.78
Op - £3

Average - £23.39.

ALL that said, I think free sanitary protection (especially under this govt) is highly unlikely. Tax free would be good. Made freely available to women in extreme poverty - homeless, using food banks and similar.

It actually really saddens and frustrates me that there are seemingly so many women who think that women like me who have conditions causing heavy and/or painful periods are 'exaggerating' or 'making a fuss' or CHOOSING not to try and get them sorted - especially when they can make us more likely to suffer infertility, mc, birth complications, early menopause, late menopause, women's cancers (also woefully under diagnosed), osteoporosis, anaemia serious enough to require blood transfusions... Cos yea we just LOVE all that AND paying a fortune for the privilege.

'But women having heavy periods aren't the average' -

10% endo
20% pcos
20% fibroids

Then there's indirect causes like anaemia, bleeding disorders, hypothyroidism...

"I just am gobsmacked that the doctors fob people off when this is clearly a serious and dangerous issue that interferes with quality of life" it's WOMEN that are being fobbed off and not just with gynae issues but it is a particular problem there. Several studies show that many GP's STILL think women are 'neurotic' 'hysterical' and 'more likely to exaggerate symptoms'

"Must admit I have had everything checked and rechecked"

"I do not have Endo and there is nothing coming up on scans or tests over why I had heavy periods so basically I was told to just build my life around it and I did."

inc a lap to check for endo? Endo doesn't show on scans.

I wish it were 'only' stained pants - I've lost much loved pairs of jeans, trousers, dresses even whole outfits to periods either making a surprise visit or flooding/leaking.

"I would never have chosen to wear new pants on a period day" you clearly HAD the choice not everyone does! I even wore a precautionary pad on my wedding day - can you imagine?

"It would be great if the MP could address the issue of the pathetic lack of understanding from GPs while she's on the subject." Agreed!!

Several studies show you're up to 3 X more likely to get a referral to a specialist if you're a white, mc man.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_classics/3269641-Period-symptoms-no-one-talks-about

Mine are light and last 3 days. I wouldn't spend £25 in a year.

@YorkieDorkie
Why is losing 7 years of my life and over 60k funny? I don’t see the joke.

Graphista
That rules out every single woman for starters. Rates to gynacology must be dire. I got referred as I went through dhs work health insurance and told the doctor I needed referring. Had I gone through the nhs I would like to think I would have been referred but I am mc and was able to communicate my need. I think I would have as I was a complete mess.

I had (and still have as I’m only a week post op) aphasia brought on by terrible pain - my blood engorged uterus was cramping/contracting but not like w period. I also had both heavy periods and big clots, regular migraines etc etc. But I probably would have had to fight tooth and nail for morphine. I only got that because I asked the gynaecologist to prescribe a decent painkiller as the 30/500 cocodamol combined with ibuprofen that the go would prescribe was rubbish. The gynaecologist th n gave me tramadol, which I reacted badly to. Then id reached the top of the pain Med chart and a more relaxed gp gave me morphine. But I’m intelligent and had typed all my needs up before seeing the dr to ensure I got what I needed as I was struggling to speak.

God knows where I’d be if I was a lot younger, had learning difficulties or came from a deprived or uneducated background - ie someone, who didn’t know how to handle doctors (a skill that’s taken me years to perfect). In any case the nhs would need to have operated as I was years off natural menopause but I’d probably be sat on a lost right now unless they had been worried my cyst would burst.

Ok, I did find the results of a survey that said the average annual spending of UK women on periods a year was 500 pounds.

That does include chocolate and magazines though.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/09/03/women-spend-thousands-on-periods-tampon-tax_n_8082526.html?guccounter=1

@Graphista that's an excellent post thank you.

I have a 10 day period with a 15 day gap, so essentially i am bleeding half the month. Doctors have said everything is normal. It does cost me around that figure to fund my tampons, pads, liners and medication on prescription.

If it only costs you £3 a month, great. But you can bet your life that many men (and women) would pick up on this and say that period poverty does not exist.
The point is that women and girls are having to find an essential expense every month. It may be nothing to you, it's a lot to some people.

Tesco, Morrisons and Boots all sell boxes of 20 for under £1

but they are tiny, cheap, non absorbant and last as little as half an hour each - it is totally impossible to rely on them in a normal day's work when you can't keep running to the loo.

I use tena ladies for the first few days, as well as tampons, so can easily spend £10 on the first 3 days

You can buy a 20 pack of supermarket own brand tampons for £1 and that lasts a whole period.

I wish.

Even when on the pill my period was 7 days. As a teenager I would go through 20 in a day. Add to that the cost of painkillers and a single pair of pants, yep £25 a month

Even going on the basics. A box of 20 isn't enough for any woman.
7 day period equates to different flows which require different absorbencies. But let's suppose for a minute this magical 20 box all the required absorbances. There isn't enough in the box for the entire flow.
You are supposed to change them regularly and at a push 8 hours. So even if really going the max which isn't advised, you need 3 a day. Do we have to cut a bit off a few to magic up the extra one... Oops I forgot, it's a magic box of tampons.

Prescription cost is £8.80. There's a hell of a lot of females on medication for their periods either because of flow and/or pain. Oh and chuck in Iron tablets, yea cheaper over the counter because of the heavy flow.

I found cheap supermarket stuff false economy, but then I require a bit more than a magic box. The absorbancy not as good, and the pads often split. Just what you need.

Heavy periods are a common thing for many women, and there isn't always an underlying problem. It's just this odd thing, we are all different.

Using more than 4 pads isn't an indication of a problem. You can change every 3 hours and this is within the normal you haven't got something seriously wrong with your range.
The average is to change every 4 hours.

Rather than some of you trying to send a woman to the gp's you need to start looking at your own hygiene and your lack of changing pads/tampons and the risk of TSS.

Also, please support each other. There's enough going against us!

I think most women (and hopefully men) would agree that menstrual products are a necessity and shouldn't be subject to VAT.

Some women do need to spend a lot on periods. This isn't their fault and period poverty is a reality for many.

I think it's an important issue, so applaud Danielle Rowley for speaking up about it.

Surely the bottom line is that for some women any ‘extra’ cost related to periods is one cost too many.

Yes, when families are benefit capped and left with £70 pw after rent and bills, it causes a lot of anxiety. I have 2 families among my caseload with disposable income this low. One of them has 3 daughters, two of whom are menstruating. Paying for periods for 3 people out of such a tiny amount of money is really tough.

In the last decade own brand pads seem to have caught up with the quality of branded ones (in my opinion); in Superdrug you can get 2 packs of a 'daytime' absorbency for £1.25, and a night time pack for 75p. Mine are quite heavy but they usually last a period and no leakage (also quite sensitive and cause no aggrevation). BP painkillers can be around 25-50p a box, keep some period underwear (if not primark do packs of 5 for £2)...

Some women have periods more frequently than one a month as well, which pushes their costs up. It's not unusual at all when getting closer to menopause.

good for you that a pack of 20 lasts your whole period, it doesn’t for many women. And wrt something being seriously wrong, yeah, endometriosis, polyps, fibroids, etc affect poor people too. You sound like a twat.

For each period I prob use about 10 tampons of different absorbencies, plus a few liners and maybe a couple of painkillers. How much would that be - £3-4?

People aren’t taking the sums seriously because it includes chocolate and magazines.
Be realistic here. No one is dismissing anyone’s experience and costs but this MP just doesn’t sound careful, accurate, nor serious.