Page 3 | Do you not think that periods could have been better designed

Abigail47 · 2024-08-14T21:25:48+00:00

I'm 40. I have my period. The older I get, the more periods I've had, and as I look back, it seems like a long, long history of periods. I remember all the issues they caused me: Worrying about bleeding through clothes. Actually bleeding through clothes sometimes. I remember being curled up in pain in a toilet at age 22 in my workplace. Having to get up and go into a serious work meeting with the whole department. Pain so many times. Not being able to go to the swimming pool when I feel like it, as I dont trust a tampon in a swimsuit, I can bleed through a tampon. So much pain and cramps over the years. I am 40, I was sitting in work today, having cramps, and in pain. I got up to go to the bathroom to change a tampon, and i was walking to the bathroom (a bit of a walk in front of a hundred people in a large department), again I was worried that I had bled through my dress as I walked. I went back down and sat at my desk, and I felt angry at my male team mates who have never had to go through any of this once. Its just so badly designed. Why do we get periods so frequently. Why not just build up the womb lining and keep it there for a couple of months? What's the point of it. Shedding the womb lining every single month causes so many problems for so many women.

RaspberryWhirls · 14/08/2024 23:24

Periods shouldn't start until you're 21.

There's no need for a young girl of 11+ to have a period so early in life.

They should enjoy life hassle free while they can without pain & risk of early pregnancy.

Justrolledmyeyesoutloud · 14/08/2024 23:25

It's brutal op - so bloody unfair

Perpetuallydaisy · 14/08/2024 23:26

DisappearingGirl · 14/08/2024 22:36

Or that if there's a God he's male after all!

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And that God, or the whoever invented him (must be a him or he'd be a more intelligent designer), is a raving misogynist.

SweetBirdsong · 14/08/2024 23:29

Abigail47 · 14/08/2024 23:24

You don't have to tell me , but you sound like you are young (20s /30s) are you?

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Sounds very young. Not someone who has suffered them for 3 decades or more. I mean who the F 'quite likes' their periods?!

Perpetuallydaisy · 14/08/2024 23:29

BossMadam · 14/08/2024 23:15

I went from having horrendously heavy periods with clots and cramping to just a bit of spotting and no pain after about 3 months when I was started doing daily moderate exercise (still overweight even), cut out junk and ate very healthily so I don’t think it’s a design flaw but could be to do with the modern less active lifestyle with less nutrient dense foods, and more of them, being consumed. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t experienced it myself tbh. There will still be women with gynaecological issues who this doesn’t work for but probably much fewer.

Early women would have been very active looking for food and had a limited diet with little fat on their bodies, and weren’t exposed to chemicals in food and in the air like we are. Even up to the last few hundred years. All of which affects hormones. Lack of food would also affect fertility so I don’t think they would have been pregnant all the time.

I'm sure a healthier lifestyle can help, but I don't think the book of Genesis would have included a myth explaining why women suffer so much physically, had early women had very little physical suffering.

AquaFurball · 14/08/2024 23:30

Abigail47 · 14/08/2024 23:11

Yeah surely nature could have designed another bladder to hold period blood. It seems like there's room

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The cervix could be more functional, it really wouldn't have taken much effort at all just have it function like any other sphincter in the body, don't just let blood trickle out for days.

Calliopespa · 14/08/2024 23:30

Abigail47 · 14/08/2024 23:24

You don't have to tell me , but you sound like you are young (20s /30s) are you?

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No I’m mid 40’s actually ( Thought my moon cup/ period pants ignorance would have given me away!) . I found that pregnancies actually made mine much more mild and clockwork, but I know not everyone does. But for me they have got easier if anything. Not looking forward to menopausal flooding though …

honeyfox · 14/08/2024 23:30

I didn't really have any problems for years, I was blessed. Then I hit my forties and got an enormous fibroid. Omg, I could write a book about it. Horrendous doesn't cover it.

Although in my twenties I spent quite a while on the injection, no periods, it was absolutely blissful.

Calliopespa · 14/08/2024 23:31

SweetBirdsong · 14/08/2024 23:29

Sounds very young. Not someone who has suffered them for 3 decades or more. I mean who the F 'quite likes' their periods?!

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Honestly I don’t mind that much.

toastedcrumpetsrock · 14/08/2024 23:32

I'm convinced that if men had them there would be a system by now that as soon as their period started they'd drop into the clinic and have it hoovered out, probably even take the day off too, and it wouldn't be hidden 'Dave's not in until tomorrow he's having his menstruation clean up service'

Calliopespa · 14/08/2024 23:33

It would be good though to read a thread where someone didn’t blame everything on sugar …

AquaFurball · 14/08/2024 23:33

blacksax · 14/08/2024 23:02

Why us? Why just humans and chimps? How come other mammals don't have to go through this nonsense?

We really drew the short straw, didn't we?

Why so many question marks?

Ah crap they let the interns design us didn't they?

Calliopespa · 14/08/2024 23:34

toastedcrumpetsrock · 14/08/2024 23:32

I'm convinced that if men had them there would be a system by now that as soon as their period started they'd drop into the clinic and have it hoovered out, probably even take the day off too, and it wouldn't be hidden 'Dave's not in until tomorrow he's having his menstruation clean up service'

😅 hoovered out!

Greally · 14/08/2024 23:34

toastedcrumpetsrock · 14/08/2024 23:32

I'm convinced that if men had them there would be a system by now that as soon as their period started they'd drop into the clinic and have it hoovered out, probably even take the day off too, and it wouldn't be hidden 'Dave's not in until tomorrow he's having his menstruation clean up service'

Brilliant. I wonder why we can’t actually do this, mini ablation as it were.

toastedcrumpetsrock · 14/08/2024 23:36

I'm due soon - Henry in the corner there is giving me the side eye

Original poster

Abigail47 · 14/08/2024 23:37

toastedcrumpetsrock · 14/08/2024 23:32

I'm convinced that if men had them there would be a system by now that as soon as their period started they'd drop into the clinic and have it hoovered out, probably even take the day off too, and it wouldn't be hidden 'Dave's not in until tomorrow he's having his menstruation clean up service'

Oh yeah if men had periods they'd have given themselves five menstrual leave days every month.

They would have sued employers telling them that it is unreasonable to expect them to go into work at that time.

If men had periods, they would call periods a very serious issue. That bleeding for five days a month is an extremely serious medical incident.

But instead as they don't have periods, they constantly downplay and minimise womens health issues.

my ex boyfriend said to me once when i was on my period "oh because men don't have periods, we never think about them".

OP posts:

Lou670 · 14/08/2024 23:39

Yes I hear you! I am mid fifties and still having the damn periods and no sign of them slowing down. I had my last baby 23 years ago (today actually as it's their birthday!). And don't get me started on endometriosis!

Calliopespa · 14/08/2024 23:39

toastedcrumpetsrock · 14/08/2024 23:36

I'm due soon - Henry in the corner there is giving me the side eye

Oh don’t get tempted. I half-heard a story about a guy who ended up in A and E after using a hoover to pleasure himself. I’ve no idea what went wrong exactly but I was left with a definite impression not to use hoovers in the nether regions. Anyway Henry always has side eye …

otnot · 14/08/2024 23:42

Strangerthanfictions · 14/08/2024 22:44

Yeah women were pregnant or exclusively breastfeeding for most of their adult age when they stopped breastfeeding enough they became pregnant again and then when they reached menopause they didn't live that long, just long enough to support the start of the next generation one theory is. There is a lot of thought emerging that many menstrual issues come from the fact we weren't generally designed to have anywhere near the number of periods that we do in modern times, I haven't read much on it but attended a seminar exploring this theory briefly and it made some sense, particularly in that we would likely have exclusively breastfed for much longer and have babies sleeping alongside and in constant proximity which would inhibit menstrual cycle for much longer than happens now I think. I'm not expert but it was an interesting theory to explore.

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Yeah, I read an article on this recently - it assumed that girls would get pregnant not long after menstruation began and then basically stay pregnant / breastfeeding for their entire adult life, or for as long as they survived anyway which was quite likely to not be all the way to menopause. It's interesting to think we're only designed to have a handful of periods in our life, and quite remarkable really how well our bodies cope. Could happily do without them though!

Calliopespa · 14/08/2024 23:43

otnot · 14/08/2024 23:42

Yeah, I read an article on this recently - it assumed that girls would get pregnant not long after menstruation began and then basically stay pregnant / breastfeeding for their entire adult life, or for as long as they survived anyway which was quite likely to not be all the way to menopause. It's interesting to think we're only designed to have a handful of periods in our life, and quite remarkable really how well our bodies cope. Could happily do without them though!

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I’d rather have periods than be pregnant,

Original poster

Abigail47 · 14/08/2024 23:44

I want to stop being human for a while.

Sometimes it feels like being a very animalistic form.

Being a woman is an intense physical experience.

I have massive breasts and I have long periods every month.

It ain't easy being a woman.

We can all know what each other feels like

OP posts:

OneTooFree · 14/08/2024 23:45

If I had have been in charge of that department, it would have gone like this....
Periods would start at 20 and finish at 40.
They would be every 3 months, with just light spotting lasting only 2 days and with no other symptoms or pain.
Menopause wouldn't exist, you would stop having periods at 40, that's it!
Unfortunately I didn't get the job ☹️

Original poster

Abigail47 · 14/08/2024 23:47

OneTooFree · 14/08/2024 23:45

If I had have been in charge of that department, it would have gone like this....
Periods would start at 20 and finish at 40.
They would be every 3 months, with just light spotting lasting only 2 days and with no other symptoms or pain.
Menopause wouldn't exist, you would stop having periods at 40, that's it!
Unfortunately I didn't get the job ☹️

Ooh! Fun game

I would have designed periods as being once a year for two- three days.

And that breasts only grow in women after the woman has a baby, and only if she chooses to breastfeed.

I love running and I have really large breasts. My breasts hurt when I run from bouncing around. I would prefer to have a small more muscly chest.

OP posts:

Mybusyday · 14/08/2024 23:51

Calliopespa · 14/08/2024 23:33

It would be good though to read a thread where someone didn’t blame everything on sugar …

I absolutely agree!!

Calliopespa · 14/08/2024 23:51

Yes I don’t get the point of menopause/peri menopause. Surely it could all just grind to a halt more efficiently.