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?

[Fiveredbricks]

Paracetamol is pointless for period pain btw OP... You need nsaids to stop the prostoglandins that are causing the pain and inflammation. Thats why feminax is Ibuprofen Lyseine.

I used to spend around £7.00 on periods. Two packs of pads, two boxes of tampons, 4 packets of Ibuprofen Lysiene. Also my periods, pre keto diet and pre childbirth, were flood through your pads and knickers, cramps that would make me collapse and vomit daily.

After birth they are much better though and I dont even need pain killers now.

[Trillis]

I spend this. I buy either a single or double pack of the 'night time' Always ultra every week. I have regular perimenopausal flooding and bleed heavily on random days throughout the month, as well as 'proper' periods lasting at least a few days each at least twice a month. However I also have to wear the Always Ultra even if not bleeding, due to excess discharge on those days. I've actually bought some period pants to wear on some of my non-period days so I can have a few days a month where I'm not having to wear the Always ultra pads. And yes, I have been checked out by doctors, who say there is nothing wrong (apart from anaemia due to the excessive blood loss). I have been like this for over 3 years now. As I get bad headaches before each day of heavy bleeding I also get through loads of paracetamol. But as a pp said, paracetamol are cheap.

[Fiveredbricks]

Sorry that should day four packs of pads.

[PookieDo]

I think people should talk about it more. I think periods can be horribly embarrassing and come with many other issues apart from expense. A few months ago I ended up with infected skin because the skin broke from chafing and no matter how clean I tried to keep it, it just got worse and worse. It was so embarrassing and the GP just said ‘use tampons?’ But they make me so itchy and sore. I’ve already had an ablation and they will only operate again if I can show I’ve ‘tried all alternatives’ so I am back to an IUD... the same type that fell out while I was at a concert with my DC and I spent the whole time in the stadium toilets making myself a toilet roll nappy

[bellinisurge]

Anyone here considering reusables?

[Crunchycrunchycrunchy]

My endometriosis means I have heavy and painful periods.
2 packs of sanitary products - approx £6
Paracetemol - 50p
Codeine prescription - £8 ish. I do not need a prescription monthly but it is an additional cost.
Heat packs for wearing at work - £1 each for a one time use

There you go.

[spugzbunny]

I've always had to double up and I've got a wonky cervix so tend to leak down one side of a tampon. Heavy periods and also a tendency to get thrush from tampons or pads.

A reusable cup has been an absolute game changer for me. They hold so much more than a pad or tampon and although I still need the mega pads for night as well as the cup, they've really helped me feel more comfortable. I'm planning on trying reusable pads for my double up option instead of disposable pads once my period returns post partum.

[19lottie82]

I understand heavy periods can cost women a lot each month as per the PP’s but the average is £13 a month? Nonsense. You can buy a pack of 20 applicator tampons in Aldi for 65p.

[Mrscog]

Clothes don’t need replacing because you’ve bled on them though - just soak in cold salt water for 24 hours. And buy black!

There is clearly a whole range of normal, but it is important for causes not to over egg statistics because they actually devalue the cause and harm it. Lots of pay gap stuff also makes this error.

[Snowflakes1122]

Extra laundry, pain killers, sanitary towels, tampons, extra loo roll. I can see how it adds up, especially if it’s heavy. Mine are awful
I begrudge VAT on being a woman immensely

[Crunchycrunchycrunchy]

Alsp ibuprofen 50p each and naproxen if required is another prescription cost. Then a prescription of an anti acid to combat the naproxen!

[Underthemo0n]

As a tip to other flooders I have an old blanket that I cart round the house with me when I am on my period because I can't risk directly sitting on anything or lying directly on the bed or I would have massive stains on everything. I then bleach it and boil it between periods which does help. It is stained and a bit grim but better than getting blood on my sofa!

[PookieDo]

I work full time and my concern is that I would not be home enough to do the washing required for reusables. I have considered buying actual incontience pants - the full shebang adult nappy

I do sleep on a towel but I clearly move around a lot - or didn’t have the towel down when a period arrived unannounced!

[Judystilldreamsofhorses]

I start off with Tampax Super, move onto Regular after a couple of days, and also use pads at night. Feminax Ultra for pain on at least day one. If I needed to buy all of those items in one month, it would easily be £13 if not more.

[Grace212]

Pookie "I think people should talk about it more."

I must be honest, there was a time I would have just rolled my eyes at the OP, but now I realise we must talk about it as so many people apparently don't know.

I even saw one poster saying that her teenage daughter seemed "overly upset" - about periods and then explained they were very heavy. It is awful being young and having those horrendous periods and in those days, I thought I'd have to navigate the workplace with them! Well of course many women do have to, I have been lucky I can tolerate the Pill.

so I think we should talk about it more as well. It is a major problem for a lot of people. I could see from the "no san pro bins at work" thread how many MNers didn't realise this at all.

[JustHereWithMyPopcorn]

I would have agreed with the cheaper end of costs when I was on the pill. After DCs was completely different and hitting peri-menopause is a joke. The level of flooding is horrendous, periods whenever my body felt like it catching you out a week after your last 7 day period finished and all that entails. If you can buy one pack of tampons or one pack of pads for you period then you are lucky. i would think that most women at least need options on flow sizes, night pads (if like me you don't like wearing tampons overnight), lighter pads / liners for the end of the period when you don't really need a tampon.

[PookieDo]

@Mrscog

They fucking do!
Summer? Not all PJ’s are black? Not everyone wants to wear black all the time?
It doesn’t come out with salty water

Not everyone wears black all the time every moment of the day, has black furniture, black bedsheets and not every period comes when it says it will! Shock horror some periods arrive when you don’t expect them

[Thatsalovelycuppatea]

I often have to wear tights under trousers during periods. They have gone up a lot in price if you want to get good quality ones that won't ladder.
Some people will have heavy periods and want to pay a bit more, for better quality towels or buy double what others would because of having to change them more often. It does all add up. Also prices have gone up recently on everything including sanitary items and toiletries.

[maddiemookins16mum]

For me, 2 packs of Lillets (varying sizes)....I don’t use the whole of each pack but on my heaviest days I go through up to 5 or 6 a day. They can be £2 a box. Supermarket painkillers, 60p. Towels, probably a pack so another £1.50 perhaps. So roughly £5/6 a month for me.
Oh and the £20 on the Chinese takeaway, the £5 on donuts and £50 on wine.

[PookieDo]

@Grace212

I think this is a huge issue people do not always associate that periods can bring a host of other horrible gross uncomfortable issues

[Sparklingbrook]

I have never been unable to get any flooding stains out of anything. I just put them in the washing machine as normal.

But the Diary Doll pants have saved me from all the flooding.

[bellinisurge]

@PookieDo , sling it in a so-called wetbag . Do this until your cycle is finished. When ready to wash them all, rinse off excess under cold water and stick in the washing machine with something like oxy clean added to your laundry powder. No fabric conditioner. Dry flat if you can or on top of eg a tea towel on the radiator.

Loads of different shapes and materials. Including postpartum/large or thong friendly.

Give it a look and see what might work for you.

[BarryTheKestrel]

I buy in bulk when items I use are on offer so it doesn't cost as much, however I can clearly see how it could cost so much.
I have to use super plus tampons which I struggle to find in value ranges and personally prefer my tampons with an applicator. I also have to double up with pads however I have very sensitive skin and typically the brand that my skin doesn't react to is expensive. I have bought reusable pads but find they make me too hot and therefore irritate my skin too. I also need painkillers on top of this and usually ruin at least one pair of pants or a sheet a month. Over the course of a year I could easily see my overall period cost adding up to £10/15 a month.

[Skyejuly]

People say its 'only 65p' in Aldi. Not everyone lives near. My nearest is is 30miles but no public transport. I live rural and the corner shop does not have a good selection at all. Not everyone has access to affordable sanitatiary products and that is poverty.

[Purplecatshopaholic]

Apologies if TMI, but I vividly remember the time my period came early and in the middle of the night while we were on holiday in Portugal. My then husband and I woke up covered in blood, as was the bed - it looked like a scene from CSI! Not fun...Not sorry those days are now behind me!