Do you not think that periods could have been better designed

[Abigail47]

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.

Next life I'm being a man.

Just to experience human life without periods

Surely they’re not that bad?! I’d rather a period than jock itch. I couldn’t stand all that guff hanging between my legs.

Not to mention inconvenient erections. I mean subtle they are not.

Yeah they are that bad.

A jock itch isn't painful.

I've had a lot of pain over the years from periods.

If I could choose the thing with no pain, I'll go for the jock itch !

They're not painful either

And then you'd have a free breakfast once a month too. Disclaimer not sure if laid human eggs can be fried and served on toast.

No apparently not!

Op I saw the comments about breasts and running. Could you consider a reduction?

Ooh I just remember another downside about periods. They're expensive! And my periods make me worry if I stay in an air b and b.

I stayed in an air b and b once and I got a period stain on the sheets. It must have been small, as I didn't realise I had done it. as I can usually feel if I've leaked onto the sheets.

I left that air b and b. And air b and b snet me an email saying that the owner wanted t9 charge me 80 euro for a new sheet. Because of the period stain.

I argued back that the accommodation was not as described. Things were missing that she said were there. And air b and b decided that I didn't have to pay for the sheet. But it was stressful.

Much later I stayed in another air b and b. They had white sheets. My periods are irregular and I don't know when they will come. I got my period in the middle of the night. Woke up and the sheets were destroyed.

I instantly put the sheets in the washing machine and nearly all of the stains came out. Except one. One period stain wouldn't come out. It was a small stain. I could tell that they were expensive sheets.

I left and was really stressed that the owner was going to contact me asking for 200 pounds for new designer sheets. He didn't.
Maybe his cleaner put the sheets in for 80another wash.

But that's another thing that men can do that we cant. They can stay in an air b and b without worry!

Oh yes - to be clear I definitely prefer our lives now, however annoying periods are! Few mucky days a month vs back-to-back babies from about fourteen... with no hospitals or anaesthetic 😬Might be pushing it a bit to say I'm thankful for them though!

The physicality of being a woman is full on sometimes, no joke.

It really hits me when I think about it in previous centuries. No sanitary products, no showers, no epidurals, no anaesthetic for mastitis, no HRT.

Oh yes I’ve ruined a few sheets. Even if it’s just a 50 p sized blot, it ruins them.

I'm remote and thanking the gods.
If in office would be sneaking to the loo multiple times a day due to flooding.
Perii and now bleeding 7 days and will start again around 20.
Exhausted

I know a few women with prolapse - which sounds horrendous.

Sanitary products are still not great.

I had periods in the 90s.

We just had pads and tampons then.

We still have them twenty years on.

The only new inventions are menstrual cups and periods pants, which are not exactly genius inventions.

A cup, and knickers with a layer of absorbant material.

Couldn't they be inventing more things to collect periods.

Actually I’ve just googled to see how common it is: nearly half of women between 50 and 79 have prolapse to some degree.

It's so rubbish, my daughter is only 12, first period ever while we were on holiday, next holiday we went on it came again and due again for our October holiday. It's such a bummer for her but she's so young I don't think tampons or hormonal pills are a great option. We've got period swimwear but naturally she feels a bit stressed and it takes the enjoyment away from swimming and water slides, it's a real shame. Also the inconvenience of washing period pants on holiday for the third time is a bit frustrating but that's what she prefers to use. I am considering maybe giving her the delay pill in September to push it back a week so that hopefully the next one will come after her holiday but I just feel it's not a great choice but I feel broken hearted at the thought of her crying again and saying why is it always on holiday

Yes yes let’s squeeze out an egg! I’m sure my male PE teacher told me we could see our unfertilised eggs when we had our period! I remember being 13 checking my bloody 29p pack of 10 nappy pad for an egg

I'm not surprised given how women are treated following childbirth.
You've just had a baby and whether vaginally or via caesarian, you're expected to be up on your feet caring for baby!
A post partum mother should be resting in bed and being cared for, for a good few days after in hospital, not on her feet caring for a new born.
Hardly surprising that further down the line women are suffering prolapses and lord knows what.

Exactly.

Childbirth should be given more respect.

I do think we women need to get together and fight for better care

Another factor I recall from
my very long ago degree course, was that better nutrition allows women to lay down more fat, meaning their hormones are at a level that permits monthly periods. Historically that wouldn’t have been the case for many women other than the wealthy, especially for those that were breastfeeding, as they wouldn’t get enough calories. So in cultures where women are expected to ritually ‘cleanse’ after a period ends it wouldn’t be monthly, but only 2-3 times a year maximum, in those years when they weren’t pregnant / breastfeeding.

Wow! Thats loads!

I’ve always had periods every three weeks. Nurse assumed a 28 day cycle when she was questioning me before my last smear test and was about to type that in. I was a bit grumpy in my reply.

I'd also like to add that I would have made childbirth a pain free experience.
Just a few light twinges for an hour or so, giving enough warning to get to hospital etc, then a couple of pain free pushes and pop, there we are, a new baby.
Then everything would immediately boing back into place.
There would be no post birth bleeding or after pains, no sore boobs etc.
A pain free, stress free experience.

Mine started at 9, and I have stage 4 endometriosis so I'm with you totally
Then people are "oh exercise is good for cramps"
I can't even get off the floor without morphine or screaming or passing out, I don't think exercise will touch this thanks