To ask, how do you handle your period at night?

[IconicKitty]

I used to be so blessed. I would change tampon at about 10:30, sleep until 6:30 and change. There would rarely be a leak at night.

Since I entered my 30s, I bleed heavier at night, and I also find I need more sleep when I'm bleeding. I want to sleep at around 9-9:30. But I wake up at 1am ish leaking. So it seems I can't leave protection for more than 3 hours, even at night time. I'm knackered in the morning as I can't get back to sleep easily.

I hate sanitary towels, I wake up in the night and have to change those due to the heavy bleeding and also have the additional mess to clean up too.

Am I resigned to getting up every 3-4 hours on my heaviest days? Do other women do this, is this just an accepted part of life if you have heavy periods? I don't know how it's possible to sleep through the night without changing now. It makes me dread those days even more so.

Modi bodi super heavy flow period pants . Total game changer . Like wearing a nappy but honestly no leaking and used to be the same as you are describing OP best twenty quid I’ve ever spent .

I sleep with a tampon in (you’re really not supposed to) and a pad nothing short of a fully-fledged nappy or these period knickers I got from Primark. My mum has these tablets that make her bleed less and I think I’ll be asking for them when my period comes back.

The idea with period pants is not that you’re changing them a few times a day. You could try washable pads? Or a pad and pants as a backup.

Extra absorbent pad, period pants and a disposable mat.

M&S do brilliant period pants, £20 for 3 and often have 20% off.

Duh, you said about washable pads.

Extra-long Nighttime towel plus Super Plus Extra Lil-let and then a Normal pad or wad of toilet roll strategically folded and placed at the back of my pants, and then I lie on a big dark bath towel. This has saved a lot of sheet-changes.

I also put another dark towel on the floor to step out onto when I get up because a few times there’s been a big leak/gush when standing upright. All peri’s fault 🙄

It’s fine to sleep with a tampon in.

@LancashireSquirrel I use period pants from Cheeky Wipes as do both DDs - depending on the size they are different prices with the heaviest flow being £15.99 so not quite as dear as you think (although obviously more than a normal pair of pants). I have built up my collection over time to avoid an initial outlay. I don’t usually change them through the day as I will wear a pad with them and then stop using the pad later in the day (also saves trying to change pants whilst out etc). For heavy nights I wear the biggest pants with a long night pad. My pads are also from Cheeky, again amassed over time as I tried the different fabrics and found what worked for me.
Hope that info is useful. Important to bear in mind that starting to use reusable products is not an all-or-nothing deal, you can get items as and when it suits you and your budget and keep using disposables alongside.

It's okay

So one pair of period pants will do you all day? Are they that absorbent?

Period pants, ultra heavy pad, dark towel. I don't like wearing a tampon overnight but will if I'm sleeping elsewhere.

Period pants and I put a towel down easier to wash

Green tampon I change half way through the night

Bloody hell we really go through it don't we?! Glad I'm the only one to go through this hell every month

Plus should have said that on all but the heaviest days the pants will go all day without a pad if I want to, they are very absorbent.
I see you use washable pads which I missed first time I read your post, do you find them more absorbent than disposables, I certainly do and the pants are similar.

We really do. We can control our bladders, we can control our bowels. So why the hell weren't we designed to control this flow as well?

Treat the cause, not the symptoms.

Have you tried tranexamic acid tablets? They increase clotting meaning less bleeding. Found them useful when I was younger. As I turned 30 mine seemed to get lighter.

Modibody period pants - fantastic

A menstrual cup. Just he doubly sure it’s been correctly positioned. I’ve found the moon cup to be the best.

I used tranexamic acid for a while, went from having to get up twice in my heaviest night to making it through 8 hours with an orange Tampax and a sanitary towel as a backup.

I had a mirena coil fitted a few months ago and now they're almost non existent.

Tampons plus massive sanitary towel. Which I find uncomfortable too. But needs must. I've recently been prescribed tranexamic acid too so that has helped a tiny bit.

I have adenomyosis which I wonder is not actually misdiagnosed endometriosis. It's grim and painful.

I started using Tena incontinence pants when I had a spate of bedwetting but actually they have been a game changer for me on my heaviest days for my period too so still using them for a few days every month even though the bedwetting isn’t such an issue right now.

Such a great insightful thread.. I'm not shy about talking about periods and other bodily functions.. but this has really opened my eyes to what we all go through every month.. no one's mentioned the cramps and other bollocks like pms, acne,

Am I the only one reading all this and thinking that men wouldn’t put up with this shit?! The palaver women have to go through and it’s just accepted as something we have to deal with without making a fuss.

I flood thanks to fibroids.

Tampon + Sanitary towel + period pants + pyjama shorts.

Get through that ya bastard Aunt Flo!!

Yes, it's hell.
I've always had heavy periods but this current one is like nothing I've ever experienced before. Even extra knife pains in new places (ovaries?).
I have to wear night time pads, sleep on towel but tbh my bedding is totally fucked. I'm going to start buying black sheets. I have separate old knickers for period time as well. I must be really thick because I didn't start buying black pants until last year.
I've started sprouting some impressive facial hairs too. I don't know wtf is going on with my body anymore 🤔