To think menstrual leave should be a thing?

[ItsTheSeasonOfTheStick]

It might just be me, but I find coming into work on my period really hard. I get awful cramps, I feel sick, I am exhausted even after sleeping a full night and I can feel myself bleeding all the time. I just find it so overwhelming and I’m in an awful mood. I’d happily work extra hours for the rest of the month to make up for it, but I genuinely find the first couple of days so hard to work through.

Disagreeing this should be a thing doesn't mean we don't understand how awful periods can be.

I think the answer is demanding better female medical care actually. It is unacceptable how little research has been done/is being done into female health and pain management.

I’m in perimenopause and have started having horrific periods. I took a couple of days sick leave last week as the pain was unbearable. Drs are fobbing me off that this is just something some women go through at my time of life so basically just suck it up and stop complaining.

I’m fortunate in that I run a company alongside another woman who is a decade older than me and we have implemented very female-friendly policies in terms of sickness and support so I can take the leave when I need it. But I shouldn’t have to. I shouldn’t be wiped out for a week every month unable to work, exercise, live!

I didn’t want to discuss it with mine but after nearly losing my job to sickness I kind of had to as I was in a meeting over it with HR. He was pretty understanding

Have you tried ibuprofen to lighten the flow? It does work. Not sure what you do but we have some comfy chairs at work where people can work. I've been known to take a mini hot water bottle in.

When some are saying just toughen up, take medication and calling others soft, it’s very clear that some don’t understand.

I'd argue if it's bad enough that you can't work that it is a sickness and it's setting a bad precedent to say it's not. Women have a hard enough time being taken seriously by doctors with period related issues without getting it written into policy in workplaces that it doesn't count as being sick.

Absolutely not. I get some women do struggle terribly and it can be debilitating however the idea of menstrual leave is absurd. If women are not careful employers will think twice about employing pre menopausal women or women in general.

No. I hate how all this period stuff is so full on nowadays. I think its infantilising women and insinuating that we cant deal with a natural bodily function. I'm post menopausal and no longer menstruate but I remember the days when we just got on with it. A couple of paracetamol and a heavy flow tampon and/or a pad, and off we went.
Now it seems to be treated like an illness.
disclaimer I know that some women have problems with heavy blood loss/cramps etc and I sympathise but everyone else needs to get on with it 🤨

Ill probably get my arse handed to me but im getting my coat now 😆

A lot of women absolutely do not understand how bad periods can be though. (See poster above me!).

Particularly in the medical profession tbh, the worst experiences I had were with female GPs/nurses.

Tricky - really all that pain shouldn’t happen and that’s what needs to change. Writing it off as normal sickness won’t help.

And someone having regular time off is very hard for everyone else to handle which will weaken the female position in the work place

what one does in the meantime whilst people work out what’s happening I don’t know

100%
a&e offered paracetamol while I was waiting - I had already maxed that out and every other single drug I could take, when morphine isn’t touching it, another paracetamol won’t help
luckily gynae came down to see me and immediately got me on some IV pain relief as I had used all the gas and air in the ambulance
i still have open access for a year even after surgery

I’ve literally passed out before because of my period. But yes. A couple paracetamol should be fine.

Doesn't ableist refer to "disabled" people?
Or am i wrong ?

Its not a yes no question. Everybody has a different experience. My first 2 days are awful, cramping bloating feel sick headache. The middle part flooding, now that i would gladly stay home for. It is random, painful and messy. Ive destroyed many a pair of trousers.

No, because its too prescriptive - lots of women don't have any issues at all so allowing blanket "menstrual leave" would be excessive. Let alone the potential discriminatory dangers pps have pointed out.

But absolutely most workplaces could do with being more flexible generally - working extra hours one week so you can be more flexible another should be automatic unless it absolutely can't be done (e.g. something like doctors/nurses/teachers/shop assistants where you have to have a certain level of guaranteed staffing for the organisation to be able to operate).

I've been very lucky in having some form of flexible working in pretty much every full time job I've ever had, and in my current role they are incredibly laid back, so I absolutely could take it easy for a few days without anyone caring as long as I made it up at some point.

I’m the same as you and totally agree.

I see where you’re coming from, but it feels like a bag of worms

No I don't think this should be a thing.

Someone has already mentioned this above, but there are conditions were people have learned to just get on, otherwise they would never be in work everytime they experienced some discomfort . IBS is a good example.

Everyone else, those who don’t have terrible periods, do ‘just get on with it.’

I ‘just got on with it’ from age 13 to 27. At 27 my periods became horrendous. Within a year I was diagnosed with endometriosis. I had procedures, took medication and still struggled. Then at 33, I got diagnosed with adenomyosis as well. So I’ve seen both sides, periods that can be handled with paracetamol and just get on with it attitude because they weren’t bad, and periods that have left me in bed for 10 days, bleeding heavily, in severe pain, being sick and having to crawl to the toilet because I can’t stand up

Before my periods got bad, I could never have dreamed they could be this painful for anyone.

https://www.globalwomanleader.com/viewpoint/experts-column/menstrual-leave-policies-from-7-countries-across-the-globe-nwid-219.html

Well, seven countries don't think it's ridiculous.

I was blessed with easy periods until I got them back after having DS last year, and they got heavier. I had a copper coil put in earlier this month and my current period has been horrendous. I've been bleeding for a week and I'm in a lot of pain. I was told this is a common side effect and it should calm down. My boss (DS) doesn't care if I'm in pain, so I just chuck melty buttons at him and hope for the best!

On the second day of my period I would have to go to work with a super tampon and a nighttime pad and I would have to change BOTH by 11am, they would be completely saturated within 2.5 hours. I’ve had pain so bad that even with paracetamol and ibuprofen, I actually couldn’t stand up for several days. I vomit with the pain. It’s horrendous.

It’s not that you got on with it, just nobody spoke about it!! And that’s why we’re in the position we’re in with women’s health, it’s not taken seriously and research is totally underfunded.

That's what sick leave is for.

There are plenty of reasons why someone may need some time off work and leave doesn't always cover it. I lost my job because my son had cancer and unfortunately there's no ''my child has cancer'' leave.

A nice idea, but not workable in many situations. I have to come into work regardless of being seriously ill with genetic conditions and disabilities. I am self employed so there is no one to deliver a fit note to, and people are depending on me. Many professionals would find this impossible to organise. Imagine being a GP, a barrister or an engineer where your specialist knowledge is required on a certain day when you just so happen to have your period. Female astronauts bleed during space missions, unless they take hormones or have an IUD to stop it. As someone with a bicornuate uterus, I am sympathetic to the mind blowing pain and mess associated with it. There are medications you can try to make things better for yourself. I ended up having an endometrial resection as I had many fibroids and tumours causing awful bleeding and pain for weeks on end. Don't suffer or be fobbed off by a GP. See a good gynaecologist.

The vast majority of women cope just fine, with some mild idscomfort or accomodations. But that doesn't change the fact that for some, it IS debilitating. The problem is that for those few women, they're told they're making a fuss over it and accessing support is impossible.

And don't even get me started on "natural bodily functions". That's total bollocks. Natural bodily functions OFTEN do not work properly - from people who suffer from constipation, to erectile disfunction, to indigestion, to periods. If bodies worked perfectly all the time, we wouldn't need doctors.

Periods that you can work through are not illness.

Periods that are so extreme they stop you from working are functionally equivalent to illness, and taking sick leave makes sense if you suffer with those.

The broader thing that’s needed, as a pp has already said, is a cultural shift to providing much better healthcare. I don’t think menstrual leave in the workplace makes sense or would benefit women overall.