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.

I currently use about 60 to 80x super plus over 5-7 days, also 2 or 3 Always night packs of towels and ruin clothing bedding and in a spectacular fashion the car seat this month (need to change everything every 20 mins on the worst days - school run takes 40, flooding down to my knees and a bathroom like a horror film). I also work from home - no other option when things are like they are. & so I'm easily over the £25 a month (especially if you factor in my loss of earnings, I do work during but it is really fucking hard and I'm not productive)!

Yep, 'not normal' but sadly my normal - seeing specialists at the moment but no resolution yet. I too used to think that people who banged on about heavy periods were exaggerating - oh the irony!

I've heard of and looked for these 'Ultra' tampons but they don't seem to be available in the UK?

I have to use tampax pearl because my body is nightmarish. I also am extremely heavy that I do leak, even with the best will in the world. Painkillers are a must. I don't take time off work, although I would like too! And it impacts my feelings and hormones and day to day life massively.
I sort of feel £25 is a justifiable amount.

Says here that Danielle Rowley said her period had cost her this week £25. www.itv.com/news/2018-06-28/labour-mp-tells-commons-today-im-on-my-period/

Gosh! It’s threads like this that make me realise how lucky I am, and how I should not ever be complaining

and for all you ladies out there

Period poverty should be about helping women who can't even afford the basics. The welfare system was put in place to stop people dying and give everyone a decent standard of living, not to pay for new knickers because the old ones were stained.

@Unemployedandunemployable - that sounds horrendous and I hope they find some way to help. It is bloody ridiculous that you have to pay prescription charges for this and you are exactly the sort of person the welfare state was meant to help.

When mine were bad I got through a tampon every hour. Id also have to wear a pad as well (sometime a Tena) my periods lasted 16 days. So that’s 14x tampons for every waking hour plus 6-12 pads. At night I’d wear 3/4 pads plus sleep on a towel and that didn’t always work, so an extra load or 2 of washing.

I could easily spend £20-25 per one. That before the £8 for a prescription for the meds the doctor prescribed. £24 a month of precipitation’s plus the £20-30 on sanitary products.

Not unfeasble really, and for someone already on the breadline that’s a lot of money.

Also in my experience GP’s are very uninterested in dealing with heavy periods. And always suggest the Pill/coil/injection, (none of which I could have)

I’m so glad I don’t have them anymore.

Just wanted to say I feel sorry for all you with heavy periods, I didn't realise it was so common.
My periods last 4 days. 1 day heavy, 1 day medium, 2 days light. I use maybe 4-6 tampons (can't us them on the lighter days as there's not enough there) and a handful of pads/liners.
It must be awful going through heavy bleeds for several days!

• I guess to balance out my light periods I do get them more often (very short cycles).

I've also been using tena lady incontinence pants that are about £10 per pack. I have heavy periods with flooding.

On my worst days, most cheaper options just aren't viable. I'm hoping a cheaper option than tena becomes available. I used to double or triple up on pads.

I spend about £25 per month.

I don't chuck knickers away that have been stained with blood. I just get as much blood out as I can, and have them as my 'blob pants.'

Don't be jealous at how sexy I am..........

If you go through more than 4 pads a day you need medical help for heavy periods

the gp would probably laugh you out of the house.

but I agree to some extend. if you have very heavy or debilitating periods go see your gp!

the cost of periods a year is a high number, but it's not just the sanpro, it's all other related costs. imagine having to take a day off work each month due to pain/nausea/period poo/heavy bleeding. that costs a lot.

Jacques it pisses me off so much that there aren't more resources dedicated to these problems. If men were the ones who had periods, you could bet your life that they would meet all the criteria for any further treatment.

I'm so jealous of those who can get through their period on a box of 20 tampons. Mine last 11 days, with clotting, flooding and changing superplus extra tampons every hour for the first 3 days which I team up with postnatal pads. I spend about £20 a month on san pro.

I have tried the mirena -it came out with huge clots.
I have tried the progesterone only pill, it made me bleed constantly.
I have fibroids. The only thing that helps at all is tranxeamic acid. I can totally see how you could spend £25.

her statement that each period costs £25, and that women spend £500 a year on sanitary products.
Even if each period does cost £25, how many periods are you having if that makes £500 a year?
NB I know the answer is 20

I think that £25 is high. However not too far off, I have very heavy periods and can easily get through 3 night time packs (£6) of pads over 3/4 days as well as panty liners. Then added in the cost for ibuprofen, painkillers (£3) and tranexamic acid to try and attempt to control the blood flow (£7.50 per pack) and you’re not too far off. Never mind the fact we ‘should’ all be using organic non bleached pads and tampons for the good of our health which are often 2-3 times the cost....

I suppose if you had heavy periods and used tampons and towels it could rack up. I use a mooncup but am fortunate my periods have never been unduly heavy.

I don’t think she specifically said “my sanitary products cost me £25” I think she said “my period has cost me £25” therefore she has not specified, she could have leaked majorly and had to dry clean an outfit!
Also, maybe if sanitary products were cheaper we would have a little more money in our pockets to be able to cope when something like a major leak happens and we have to replace underwear/ dry clean something.something that I don’t think is a bad option when half the people on this planet don’t have this issue and the other half that do are being penalised for it when the human race couldn’t continue without us.

Easily that amount if you have endo. I can get through 10 night pads in a day on a bad day plus medication on top of that. Cheap pads don't do the job and I can't use anything internal due to the pain.

People say going to GP for heavy periods. What can they recommend- some form of hormone to help regulate it. No thanks. Not the solution I would like. I can get through about 6 tampons on my first day of my period.

Babdoc Thu 28-Jun-18 20:58:19

"Surely it would be much cheaper for us hard pressed taxpayers to just provide one mooncup for each woman claiming period poverty? They’re reusable and last for years, so no recurrent monthly expense."

Is mumsnet now a place where we are ordering women what they can and cant put in their bodies because i didnt get that particular memo.

If a man on here was telling women what they can and cant use there would be uproar.

Two packets of always, a prescription, and at least one day off work (unless the worst days happen to fall on a week day) for me.

I think as an average across all women it sounds about right.

Here we go again. Have people not learned yet that their periods are not the same as other people’s periods?

Firstly, I have a prepayment prescriptioncars for my multiple painkillers, which I get and use within a month. That’s £10 a month right there. I also buy paracetamol and ibuprofen, so say another £2 at best.

I can’t use tampons due to the pain they cause. My periods are so long and heavy that my skin starts to deteriorate. The only pads I can use that delay this as long as possible are Always Infinity since they have a different construction. Even then, by day 7 I have open sores on my skin.

The first six days I can easily get through 10 pads a day. The following 4-6 days I use 6-8 pads a day. So at best, 84 pads, at worst 108 pads. They are £2.90 a pack for 11 pads. So approx £24 - £29 on pads.

That’s not factoring in the additional laundry costs from leaking, electricity to run the heat pad that makes the pain more manageable, lost earnings, etc. Or the fact that my cycles are now 24 days so this is more often than once a month - it’s about 15 times a year.

So for me it’s an underestimation. I have endometriosis which is the reason it’s so bad. 1 in 10 women have it, many more have fibroids, PCOS, hypothyroidism and various other things that exacerbate period heaviness and length.

Why are people so bloody unaware of the fact that for some women periods are horrendous, heavy, long and bloody expensive?

I could get though £25 a month. I only use always night time and tampax peals. I have to change every time I go to the toilet otherwise I worry about smell and flooding. I also get though more deodorant and body spray that normal as I fear I smell.

I still remember getting pulled up at college having a mc because a pregnant student could smell me it was heartbreaking talking to my tutor about it explaining I was changing every toilet/between lessons and even spraying during lessons because I thought I smelled. Thankfully as a nurse she understood and when i was later hospitalised due to my mc was amazing.

Before I used a Mooncup my periods would cost a lot, not £25 though! Hugely heavy and overflowing daily for 10days, only branded items would cope and a lot of them. I'd go through 3 packs of Always night and 1.5packs Tampax ultra heavy tampons. Then I'd have to replace underwear & pj's regularly. I'm praying my girls don't take after me on the horrendous period genes

peakpants

"Not at all, but for the majority of women, this is a very very small financial burden- nowhere near what is suggested"

Says who?! Many many women on this thread saying their experiences are equal to that or more