Do you lose working days per month to your period?

[LouisaJG]

Just trying to get a sense of how unusual my own experience is with this. I’ve always had heavy periods with a lot of cramps on the first couple of days. I think it was always the case that, while I could make it into the office, there was usually a day a month when I knew that realistically I would be getting the bare minimum done. I’m now in my early 40s and the brain fog associated with pre-period and the first half of my period has definitely expanded I think. I can do basic tasks, but for intellectually intensive work I feel like I’m losing, realistically, maybe 4 days a month. It’s not good. I’m just wondering what experiences other people have had, and where the norm is? Are most women able to work at full capacity throughout their cycle? Or is it normal to have a few days where your productivity is significantly impaired? If so, how many?

YABU - I work at full capacity throughout my cycle

YANBU - I have 1-4 days a month where my working capacity is significantly impaired (if I’m lucky some of them fall on a weekend)

I have been like this for the least 10 years or so. Only spoke about it to healthcare providers after a few years as I thought it was just something to put up with.

I was prescribed mefanamic acid and that helped a bit but like you, I actively still planned my diary around my period.

More recently saw a gynaecologist who said my uterine looking was v thick and my periods were probably v heavy and prescribed tranexamic acid which was kind of miraculous but I'm kind of wary about taking it 2 days in a row so tend to choose which day to take it.

I used to get migraines a few times a year. Now I'm early 40s and probably Perimenopausal I can predict my period as I feel nauseous 1-2 days before and it lasts for 2 days. And that's without the brain fog!
I just try to be kind to myself, do more when I am able and give myself a break if I'm feeling shite. I work in an intense, emotionally draining role with no chmace of flexible working so I really do just have to get on with it...
Its shit.

Mid 40s, I can't leave the house for 2 days per month due to bleeding caused by fibroids/adenomyosis. HRT / mirena not an option so now trying new drug treatment. Desperate to avoid a hysterectomy. Life is too busy to take time out for surgery, but NHS wait list is ridiculous anyway!!! I feel mentally drained the week leading up to period and it lasts around 10 days, so not at my best for around 15 days per month. I work f/t and have an incredibly supportive, understanding boss so work flexibly to adjust but it's taken 3 years to get any help from NHS.

I've had awful periods but never taken time off for them. I powered through when I was in a high workload position. Now I'm in a more flexible lower workload wfh role, I can take it easy and do the bare minimum for a day or two and catch up afterwards.

No and it wouldn’t be tolerated in my workplace
patients wait 3/6/12 months to see us and so taking a day off for anything is really tricky. I’d be expected to pop the nurofen and carry on

(some days we don’t have time for drinks or toilet breaks- the other day I needed a wee a 2pm. I finally went at 5pm on my way out to go home )

fortunately I don’t suffer with monthly problems

I'm out the other side of the menopause now, but my periods only caused bother at the start of perimenopause and a Mirena coil fixed that. I don't remember ever needing to take time off work for them. I found out recently that I have adenomyosis but I'm lucky in that I've never had any symptoms.

I don't for my period, but I have more than 4 days a month where I'm not working at full speed. I've deliberately chosen a career (software engineering type thing, WFH) that fits with how my brain works. I prefer working intensely, often long hours for part of a pay period and then taking the time in lieu/coasting/doing low brain stuff when it's quiet. I would say it's a typical work pattern amongst my colleagues. Don't know if it's a high level of ND among the STEM workers (I'm not diagnosed with anything) or just the company I work for, but it does seem to suit us.

I appreciate not everyone is lucky enough to be in the same position, I really do, but if you can, it could help to minimise some of the initial guilt (and imposter syndrome) around it by looking at what you get done over a month rather than on any given day. With intellectually exhausting roles, I think that helps with avoiding burn out, too. Honestly, some of my best 'work' (by which I mean best ideas/problem solving) happens in the garden or the shower and at the end of the day I don't have a lot to show for it. Some of the days I 'produce' the most, on paper, are those where I haven't changed the world in a big way, but I've caught up on a tonne of emails, admin, documentation and had meetings.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, 'are there low brain things you can do on bad days that means you can save your annual leave for relaxation'?

I’m fucked for about 7 - 14 days. I have PMDD and some days physically can’t get out of bed. I have physical and emotional symptoms. We are trying to balance it with the doctors help, and I try to manage it with what I eat and drink, but sometimes it’s just too much. I am stuck in wfh freelancing hell because of this. I’d love a job where I can leave the house and feel super optimistic 1-2 weeks a month, but right now it’s where I am.

It's not treatment, it's management, because endometriosis is incurable, and it's not uncommon for the so called treatment to not work. Take it from me.

Yes I had this. I have endometriosis as my username would suggest. It took years for them to find this and for me there is no cure really. Just things that may help. It sucks and it isn't my fault or yours. I would urge you to investigate if anything is wrong and what your options are because it could improve your work and quality of life.

Thank you so much for saying this! I suffered for so many years thinking something was wrong with me. And fyi sometimes they don't what is wrong after looking too. I had stage 4 endometriosis. There is no cure, just things that may help and do not work for everyone. This post makes me feel seen.

Well I don’t ‘believe’ in it either, I’m just not really finding I have an option in terms of being lower productivity.

I’m not the one who is posting on here looking for the experience – the OP is. So it’s 100% useless for that poster to rail at me twice for simply saying that this sounds unusually debilitating and it would be something I would seek medical intervention for. All while not actually addressing the OP herself.

The OP has given no background of medical intervention before, she is asking if what she experiences is considered common and usual.

Honestly, if you were able to do this, your pain really wasn't that bad. At one point I was having to go to a&e to ask for morphine. I had a 9lb baby without pain relief so my pain threshold isn't low. Some women are in absolute agony thanks to endometriosis.

Surgery and hormonal treatments don't always work either unfortunately, or only work in the short term. I have endometriosis all over (ovaries, uterus, peritoneum, bladder, bowel, diaphragm and suspected on lungs). I've had 4 surgeries including 2 with a specialist. Painkillers barely take the edge off and the side effects of hormonal treatments just make me feel worse. I will probably never be pain free so I have to learn to live with it.

I've actually never taken a day off due to my period. I'm definitely not a high performer on my worst days though and I'm lucky enough to have a lovely manager who signed off on some reasonable adjustments to make my days a little bit more comfortable.

Thank you! I love that women are speaking like this now. I suffered so much as a teenager because we are all meant to be productive automatons and if you have a problem there needs to be a fix a solution or else some people blame you for it.

I was always told in school that if you did anything but take some pain tablets and get on it with it when in pain then you are letting woman kind down. As if we are all experiencing the same amount of pain?! Some people have none. Some people are in agony and there is everything in between.

I get extremely tired and irritable the day before. I also felt I got indecisive and found it hard to concentrate. Mine before peri came like clockwork so I made sure no important decisions were to be made the day before. I am lucky I can control my diary to an extent.

but when it came I was like a powerhouse and seemed to gain magic ability to accomplish lots in a day.

now it’s brain fog and fitting to power through my work!

It's worth knowing that endometriosis isn't always visible on an MRI. Just in case you have one and that also comes back clear. If possible, I would ask to be referred to gynae, but search for an endometriosis specialist rather than someone with "an interest in endometriosis".

Yes! At school, I genuinely believed all the girls were in the same amount of pain and I was just the wimp who couldn't handle it.

I'll never forget after my third surgery, but the first with an endometriosis specialist, he came and sat by my bed and just said "you must have been in a tremendous amount of pain". I burst into tears because he was right, I was in a horrendous amount of pain most of the time, and he was the first person who acknowledged it.

I find it infuriating when women are so dismissive of other women's pain. Someone above actually said "I just didn't believe in taking a day off".

I get you. I've spent my whole life pretending I'm not in pain. That is just so lovely of him. Did your surgery end up relieving the pain? I'm told mine would very very complex because it is everywhere including the bladder and bowels. They really don't want to do it as they say it may not help the pain anyway.

I've had excision surgery, it was removed from bladder/ureter/bowel/rectum/pelvic ligaments and pelvic sidewall, together with hysterectomy/oophorectomy. It has helped enormously. The disease has come back in my bowel and rectum and at the moment it's medical management because another surgery is very high risk and I would need a stoma. But it's nowhere near as bad as it was. I can manage the pain at home, at least. It needs a very experienced surgeon at a bsge centre once you get to this point, and they should be able to help you.

I had a frozen pelvis which they were able to go in an sort out. That gave a lot of relief. Unfortunately I still have pockets of endo around including some deep infiltrating endo on my bowel and bladder. For now, they're monitoring via MRI every 6 months and will only go in again if it progresses too far. He said they typically leave the lungs as the risks of surgery are just too high.

It's a hideous disease. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

I was fine til I got to my mid 30s. I started getting very painful and heavy periods, as well pain at other times, and was diagnosed with adenomyosis. There is very little that has helped me. A hysterectomy wasn’t an option for me years ago and now that it could be, being as adenomyosis usually gets better after menopause and I’m mid 40s now, I’m reluctant to put myself through it.

I’m peri menopausal now and that side of things has improved as my periods are lighter and I only get a couple of days of very bad pain. I use naproxen prescribed from my GP. I now get a lot of brain fog and hot flushes with peri and feel hot much of the time which again impacts on my life and work. I can’t take HRT so I have to put up with it. I work from home so manage it and if it’s too bad I have to be off sick. My work have been great but I know that’s not the case for everyone.

You have my sympathies OP. Do see your GP to see if there is anything underlying that you can be treated for. Unfortunately as much as people think everything can be treated and you don’t have to put up with it, that’s not always the case. There is a lot of dismissiveness and ignorance around women’s health, even from doctors and women who should be more understanding.

Sadly I made a bad career choice wheni was younger so I have no choice but to go in and work as normal no matter what. I’m self employed so if I don’t work I don’t get paid. Plus I’m working with patients all day so I need to work exactly the same every day. Can’t slack or do a lesser job any days. I’ve even worked through a miscarriage where I bled through my clothes and even on the floor. Luckily I managed to hide it from the patient I was with. My other miscarriages I worked through thankfully weren’t as bad. Mainly because I’m limited to when I can use the toilet if I’m with a patient etc.

I feel I’m too old and can’t really afford to change careers now unfortunately. Not looking forward to menopause etc as my periods are really getting heavier now.

Yes because I have pmdd. I spend the week before thinking about how I want to blow my whole life up by just fucking off and not telling anyone or by doing something more prem (it’s not great). That doesn’t include the new migraines I have been getting.