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?

Through personal experience, give a shit or not GPS do have catalogues of products they can provide and you phone up and order yourself, doesn’t cost them anything g so easier to get than a referral.

‘I don’t understand why you need a period hut to be shamed and die in, just do it in the attic! It won’t cost as much!’

I buy Tesco tampons and never use a whole pack .. I think I'm in the minority though .

People aren't going to take it seriously if the figures are inflated.

Yes, a minority of women will be paying a lot per month for period related stuff, but the majority of women will be looking at a couple of pound.

A large amount of the things mentioned causing a rise in period cost is mistakes (leaking onto clothing/bedding and having to replace it) which are largely avoidable. For example, both my Mum and I have appallingly bad periods (my Mum actually ended up getting a hysterectomy because of them, they were that bad) and we avoid/ed ruining the sheets by sleeping on an old towel. Not glamorous, not sexy, but saved the sheets.

Getting hysterical over this seems to make people take women's issues even less seriously and the efforts should be, quite frankly, directed at bigger issues.

Percentage of women whose periods cost them in excess of £10 a month is tiny.
And then the percentage of women who then have that >£10 push them over the breadline is tinier still.

Also I have to suffer though the period pain as I’m not allowed to take painkillers, I’m no thanks sure if there are any supplements that help

Angel I'm sorry but that's rubbish! 3 years I went through it bleeding pretty much non stop for that time. Not once was I offered anything that would make it cheaper!

The pill and other drugs did not work for me as I had other complications. The fact is that for a huge number of women they are not or don't feel as if they are taken seriously!

Meant I’m not sure, don’t know how thanks got in there!

The box of OTC painkillers I used to take (no more periods for me, yippee!) cost about £7. I needed a box per cycle, and I had about 16 cycles a year. Also had to buy other drugs to mitigate the effects of the painkillers, plus sanitary products, and yes, replace ruined clothes. Not to mention the time off work when I couldn't get out of bed.

Luckily I have a good gynaecologist (I have endometriosis and adenomyosis) and together we've managed to eliminate them all together (now I've finished having children). I hope they never come back.

Percentage of women whose periods cost them in excess of £10 a month is tiny.

I do have to disagree with you on this. I've listed off my costs as an endometriosis sufferer. 1 in 10 women has endometriosis, whether it is diagnosed or not. So that's 10% of 100 women. I don't think 10% is actually very low. Then there are people with other conditions like PCOs etc.

Periods can be expensive, especially for people like me who have heavy periods.

Plus my prescription for Tranexamic acid which is approx £9 per month.

I use 1.5 packs of tampons per month, at 79p a pack from Asda.

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

I hope to god your menstrual health stays hunky dory and you never have to go to the GP for it. They don't care. They misdiagnose you for years as having psychological pain or IBS. Then they start guessing at other things, which are wrong. Did you know the only way to actually diagnose endometriosis is via surgery? Not that easy to get!

I probably spend £5 every other month stocking up on either pads or tampons. I'm fairly fortunate though that I have an initial heavy day and night where I have to double up, then it tails off very quickly and lasts only another day or so.

This thread has been an eyeopener for me though as to other women's experiences.

Before kids I would have periods varying from 4 days - 40 days and sometimes with only a 2 day break. This went on for years, I was then met with paying bus fares to get to a shop which sold products cheap like asda or going to the local co-op or 24/7 convenience garage and getting my eyes ripped out. My flow was also heavy to the point I needed to wear a pad and a tampon, which needed changing every few hours. I felt like I spent a fortune on sanitary products. Luckily now my cycles have regulated I'm not spending nearly half as much and actually live in walking distance of a supermarket, saving on bus fare also. Not sure if that is factored in to people spending

£8.50 on chocolate, sweets and crisps (seriously?)
£7 on other things - they list magazines, toiletries and DVDs as examples.

WTF - why do you need magazines and DVDs because you have your period? That's the kind of shite that does women no favours.

WTF - why do you need magazines and DVDs because you have your period? That's the kind of shite that does women no favours

Agree...just ridiculous.

@havingtochangeusernameagain I have extremely heavy periods, even a pack of 10 pads for £1 on a 7 day period is £7 a month? 🤷🏻‍♀️

bellini
For you it may just be a case of rinsing the worst off. But women with heavy periods get large blood clots. Would you fancy rinsing 2 inch diameter clots off your pads before putting them in the wash? How long do you think a washable pad would last before needing to be changed in women with heavy periods? I did consider using them but decided against it for this reason.

I have had a hysterectomy now for severe adenomyosis and endo. I used to stand in the shower wriggling and pulling the blood clots out. I still managed to get some on the towel 30 seconds later. No way would I have considered using a moon cup. My clots wouldn’t have fitted in one.

And lol at 40+ women’s periods spacing out. Another clueless poster.

Jacques
I also love how we are being told we are doing our periods wrong and the prattling about spending thripence on Sanpro cos of course we are all the same lol.

How are some people using two tampons Just one hurts my vag

A large amount of the things mentioned causing a rise in period cost is mistakes (leaking onto clothing/bedding and having to replace it) which are largely avoidable.

Actually, for me it’s unavoidable. It’s certain I will leak, it’s certain my clothes will be blood stained unless I find some adult sized nappies. To suggest this is the woman’s fault is just plain period shaming.

Getting hysterical over this seems to make people take women's issues even less seriously and the efforts should be, quite frankly, directed at bigger issues.

Ising the word ‘hysterical’when talking aboit women’s issues is pretty offensive actually. Are you aware where that word originated from? For some women their troubling menstrual cycle is enough to ruin their quality of life. Those women deserve every effort put towards it.

Percentage of women whose periods cost them in excess of £10 a month is tiny.

Even by looking at the replies to this thread you can see that’s not true.

And then the percentage of women who then have that >£10 push them over the breadline is tinier still.

Do you have a source for that? Because we know that 1 in 4 children are living in poverty in the UK and so this makes your statement is highlighly suspicious.

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.
This is hilarious. It took me 15 years of gynae appointments before I got a diagnosis. They tend to send you off with a new box of pills to try each time. I was only taken seriously when they literally tried everything else and properly examined me other than just ultrasound. Surgery was the only thing that came close to fixing me and that may still only be a bandaid over the problem I've been warned.

Honeysucklejasmine
What did you do to solve endo/adenomyosis?

2 prescriptions for medication

2 boxes of super Tampax

3 packs of super thick night time pads

Plus 5-6 days of random spotting where I’ll provably get through a pack of normal towels.

I’m probably one of those pushing up he average

My work friend was complaining she was having a particularly heavy period and had had to use 4 super plus tampax in a day rather than 4 regular. I was very jealous.

Sorry about the typos. I’m on my period and hysterical

I have heavy periods which last 7-8 days. And I get them every 24 days. I'm using nearly a pack of towels over 24 hrs so for me, periods are expensive