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 usually buy 3 packs a month but I do use them for light stress incontience as well as periods. I get them from Aldi and a pack is less than 70p each.

Paracetamol 19p. I can't take nurofen. I rarely leak so that's not an issue and I use maybe 5/6 tampons for the first 2 days. Then switch to a pad.

No where near £25!!

55p for a pack of night pads with wings from ldll. I just use one or maybe two if bad in a month so 55p-£1 at most

When you have a light period 60p non branded stuff is fine. Not so much when you don't

For those suggesting mooncups, I'm glad they work for lots of people, but I find them awful if you have huge clots. And also, I had to empty mine every hour at work, which was really hard. I did also try another brand with a larger capacity bit it was not much better. And the clot thing remained an issue. I wish it worked for me :(

I know I'm not the norm, but I easily use ten pads a day, minimum for the 8-14 days it lasts plus prescriptions for painkillers, heat pads for work, the amount of times I boil the kettle for hot water bottles, it probably does easily add up to about £25 a month.

I was actually wondering if the figure factored in the bleeding after coil fittings, which can go on for 6 months. That would certainly bump up the figures.

I probably spend £20 on junk food when I get my period but that still doesn’t quite bring it to £25...

£1 sanitary towels
£24 cake

Makes sense to me.

So mooncups have been mentioned a few times.

What are people’s thoughts - are they the answer to period poverty?

I do use one and think it is marvellous, but there are some times when it is a bit sore or tender downstairs when it’s a bit much to get it in - so not sure they are an answer with no possible alternative...

I buy regular pads, no wings, 18 for 66p, regular tampons, 24 for 95p. Two packs of pads and a pack of tampons last me at least 3 months. So less than £10 a year.

I have a fairly light flow and only need sanitary protection for 5 days, but I don't see how you could get to £25 a month.

The Always twin pack sanitary towels are pretty much constantly on buy one get one free.. so that's at least 2 month's worth - for me, it's 3 because I have short and light periods. So probably around £2 a time and maybe 50p on some paracetamol if I don't already have it in!

So she's saying it costs 10x that each month! Really don't know where that figure has been plucked from.

Of course, I'm pleased someone is raising this issue though - it's about time.

I get through more than one pack of towels plus painkillers. I used to use prescription painkillers but haven't needed them since I had my son.

Mine cost me £15.13

Mooncups could be offered, but only among other choices.

I don't want a mooncup, I am not using these things and it sounds very wrong to not give a woman a choice because she is poor. It would be even less acceptable to impose them on younger girls, some living surrounded by nutcases with very wrong ideas about keeping them "intact".

When you have a light period 60p non branded stuff is fine. Not so much when you don't

Yep. Heavy periods you need really good quality stuff which is more expensive.

Surely the bottom line is that for some women any ‘extra’ cost related to periods is one cost too many. The fact that we have to pay tax on sanitary towels and tampons just adds insult to injury. And the fact that there are clearly many of us (me included) who are dealing with very heavy periods every month with all the fun that brings.
I don’t think the point of her standing up in the HoC and saying what she said was for us to get hung up on the maths; it was to raise an issue that affects many women that most people aren’t comfortable talking about.

Huge over estimation. Which is strange coming from a woman. Has anyone tweeted her to find out what she is using? Maybe she's found cashmere sanpro from somewhere.

I am shocked that the doctors have not suggested something more drastic. How can you work or go about your daily life if you lose that much blood?

You’d think it’d trigger investigation wouldnt you? But unfortunately in my experience it doesn’t. I was anaemic for years, repeated visits to the GP, to explain that periods were ridiculous. Attitudes ranged from utter disinterest to ‘well pull yourself together.’

Friends have had serious issues along similar lines - like heavily bleeding fibroids ignored despite repeated trips to the GP about heavy bleeding until they collapsed from blood loss with a Hb level that was shockingly low and required emergency treatment/admission/transfusions/surgery.

I absolutely believe the women on here changing tampons every hour. I’ve done it myself for ten days straight.

All sanpro should be tax free.

It can easily cost £25 if you have heavy long periods so it's very ignorant to say it doesn't.

Cheap supermarket sanitary protection doesn't work for many women so you have to buy the more expensive brands and lots of them. Then there are painkillers but I also have to have medication/painkillers prescribed by GP at nearly £9 per item. In desperation I have a private doctor and those prescriptions often cost a lot more.

If it costs you less, great, but for many women it easily costs in excess of £25 per month.

I haven't had a period in almost 6 years. Went on the mini pill straight after giving birth and haven't had one since. Zero cost and zero inconvenience for me.

To be honest I don't even know how much sanitary products cost now but I used to have quite heavy periods lasting about 6 days and got through quite a lot every month.

Progesterone only contraceptive pill stops periods completely

Never stopped mine. I bled non-stop for 6 months. Ditto the Mirena, I bled non-stop for 10 months.

1 pack of tampons would not last me a period! I bleed for 5 days, quite heavy and use 1 box of super plus, 1 super and 1 regular lil lets and 1 pack of always nighttime. Plus paracetamol and ibuprofen. So definitely approaching £15. Think of underwear you have to replace when you leak also.

25£ is ridiculous and I have severe endo so my bleeding is horrific. However 1 box of 20 is unreasonable - even if you don’t bleed a lot you are supposed to change pads and tampons regularly because they start to smell! 🤢

Always ultra with wings - £4 x 2.5 packs per month
Panadol (the red ones) 2 x pkt @ £3 per pack
Neurofen fast acting 1 x pkt @ £4 per pack
Prescription from dr for mef acid £3.65 per month
As above for Buscopan £3.65
New batteries for Tens machine - I buy 12 at a time and use two a period so £1 for two

However I have an underlying medical condition which makes my periods pretty unbearable and I need to make use of all of the above (plus hot water bottles) for each period.

Plus I can only get a repeat script for the mef acid and the busc every three months, so that’s also a £40 dr appt as we have no NHS.

So yes, £25 is about right, but not for the majority.

(if we added Jaffa cakes and crisps to that, we’d be in the £50s )

Looking at the poverty aspect you should factor in the cheapest sanpro why can people not afford a few pounds every 21 days? That makes it worse somehow that people literally can't afford 60p sanitary towels

I think towels should be free to those in receipt of certain benefits.
we are lucky we are able to buy these products now and not have to use old rags like our ancestors.