To ask who is spending £13 on sanitary products per month?

[avocuddl]

Just watching This Morning on period poverty. I appreciate this may be a real issue but I just can't work out the costs stated on the website under 'The Facts' www.freeperiods.org/mission
£18k over a lifetime which equals £13 per month.

The MP said she'd spent £25 on one period?

I buy the always £1 pack and they're fine! A pack of paracetamol is like 20p?

Sorry if this has been done before but aibu?

When I was at my worst I had to use incontinence pants at about £8 a pack. At least 2 sometimes 3 packs per month - I never stopped bleeding. Those disposable bed pads for the car/bed ect another £4. Prescription meds another £10 on prepaid card. Maternity pads at about a £1 per packet for the odd day when I was light enough to use them. OTC painkillers £4 for the month - that's just cheap paracetamol but using constantly.

That's £35 per month approx in products/medication.

That doesn't mention that at this point I'd had to give up work my symptoms were so bad!

There are better sources than Amazon @WildfirePonie . Look on Etsy. China cheapies on Amazon.
Look also at Precious Stars Pads on YouTube to get you the idea.

Oh yes I do buy vitamins to help with moods and iron etc I guess that adds up (although I buy vitamins for my husband too!)

Including the cost of medication specifically for periods too in that price id think? I have transexamic acid, naproxen and doctor strength cocodamols before I buy any sanitary protection. I used to bleed through super plus tampons worn with a night towel within 2 hours tops.

Now i wear a diva cup so I am mindful of the amount and the time as I once lost so much I had serious problems but I have had to double up with a towel for peace of mind just incase.

thinking - that sounds a lot like my experience. It is unbelievably soul-destroying to go through it. I felt like I'd had everything taken away from me, including my dignity.

Prescription charge / strong painkillers is £8.80 alone. I used to pass out and vomit from the pain of periods. I was unable to work, drive or generally function. I'm not exaggerating when I say the pain was the same as my induced labour.
Super plus tampons last no more than 30 minutes for the first 3 days of my period and I'd always have to back up with a decent sanitary towel. My periods last 8 days and my cycle is 27 days.

My pain has improved since childbirth but my flow has got worse. A large capacity menstrual cup helps matters but I still need sanitary towels as I can't manage a school run and a drive to work without it overflowing (30 minutes).

I have been under a consultant who offered me ablation; however as this is effectively sterilisation I didn't feel ready to make that commitment. I have tried other solutions such as the mirena but they haven't helped.

I have ruined countless pieces of underwear, pyjamas, bedding, trousers and even my cream material sofa. To me £13 seems cheap!

One pack of sanitary towels and a 20p pack of paracetamol seems laughable to people with heavy periods. I'm fortunate enough that the cost hasn't really been an issue, but I feel desperately sorry for people who it is.

I often have to spend
£4-5 on feminax medication (works best for me)
£2-3 on GOOD branded day pads that don't make me sweat or smell like the cheap ones do.

^ditto again with good branded night pads.

£1.99 box of tampons though tampons usually last 2 periods for me as I tend to only wear 2 per day on my period whilst I'm out.

My periods can last up to 7 days.

I came on my period yesterday and couldn't afford feminax or some new day pads so I've had to wear big night ones all day today as I'm finding tampons uncomfortable atm.

It's expensive and humiliating.

I bought a mooncup a couple of years ago and wish I had it decades ago. Revolutionary.

God I'm cheap!

Some women need to double up on pads and tampons throughout the day to avoid flooding then need specific night time pads as well.
For period pain the only thing that worked for me was Naproxen, feminax do them but they're expensive when you need them 5 days in a row.

I have always had medium to heavy periods. I have generally spent no more than £3-4 a month on sanpro. Yeah I had a few pairs of underpants with bloodstains on them, but I just got it out as best I could (with cold saltwater,) and then wore the ones that had slight bloodstains on them, when I was on my period again. I can honestly say I have never spent more than a £5 to £7 a month on average over the years, and that includes pain relief and new undies.

As has been said, everyone is different, but I can't even get my head around some claims about how much women spend on their periods.

Thanks @bellinisurge
I have loads already but always on the hunt for better ones, so I will check them out :-)

I’ve never understood this either. I bought a mooncup for £20 and replaced it after 10 years. So it’s possible to spend barely anything at all. A mooncup deals with very heavy periods and actually reduces them.

Even taking the mini pill to reduce periods they are still heavy and last 8 days. Even using more traditional products I can’t imagine spending £25 a month. If your periods are that bad there are specialist products available through the hospital or GP which will be better than shop bought and not as expensive.

I felt the same as OP when I saw This Morning earlier but reading all these posts I'm realising how lucky I am! A pack of pads will happily last me 2-3 months, though I do seem to keep being prone to unexpected starts in the night destroying clothes & sometimes sheets

My periods aren't very heavy, so the stories here aren't mine. For those of you talking about how we need to be careful to give accurate averages, not to assume extremes are more common than they are etc, why do you think the £13 figure does this? I'm interested. There are a lot of us £3 every time brigade around, although that adds up over the course of a lifetime, but there are a lot of flooders too, no?

A mooncup deals with very heavy periods and actually reduces them

Possibly for some people.

If your periods are that bad there are specialist products available through the hospital or GP which will be better than shop bought and not as expensive

Do you know how hard it is to get any aspect of menstrual health taken seriously?

I'm also lucky enough not to need painkillers either thank God

If your periods are that bad there are specialist products available through the hospital or GP which will be better

oh, another genius here! No one suffering had ever thought of that

What make you think that GPs actually give a shit about women' periods, Endometriosis, Adenomyosis or fibroids?

Is that progesterone only mini-pill that makes a high majority of its users bleed continuously @Angel2702?

Is it really that hard to understand that every women is different? That there is no one-size fits all solution? That some people do need to spend a lot of money on their periods and some don’t?

Honestly the ignorance on this thread is plain period shaming. Depressing.

How would mooncups reduce heavy periods, out of interest? Post baby I find internal protection more painful so dont use it, and mine aren't heavy anyway, but I'm curious.

I’m surprised nobody has suggested a period hut in the back yard yet

I had the ablation for fibroids and it doesn’t work. The fibroids have gone but my womb lining is extremely thick and my heavy periods returned 4 weeks later. I can’t take the pill. I have an IUD which has produced low level - not heavy but constant bleeding for 6 months. It’s better than the flooding

I have been upset by the comments that I can’t possibly be washing things properly, even though I have explained I have tried lots of ways of doing so and often end up with a lighter brown stain and end up replacing things. It’s just the way other women like to point out that you must be making mistakes so you aren’t possibly suffering or worse off, because their blood stains come out. I’m not going to keep on about it because it seems pointless but neither am I going to agree that some women are far superior at washing out their blood stains than others

There are suggestions- not supported by evidence one way or the other (not until someone puts money into the research)- that using reusable menstrual products cuts down on your uterus' exposure to chemicals that are in disposables. In some cases this might help. But this is only anecdotal.

If property weren't so colossally overvalued in the UK mama, I expect someone would've.

@PookieDo , dealing with blood stains is really hard and I am very sorry if you think I am judging you. It's the opposite. It's very difficult to find the stuff that works for you. Everyone struggles to find something that works for them and what is great for one person is not suitable for the next person. You do what works for you (hope you don't need me to say that).