Menstrual blood

[MotherEarthisaTerf]

Sorry if this is a repeat thread but I had a quick look first.

It's the first time anyone's done an assessment of period products absorbency using blood and not just saline. Doctors have been using fuck all data to assess whether a woman has a "heavy flow" up until now.

https://srh.bmj.com/content/early/2023/07/03/bmjsrh-2023-201895

"Understanding the capacity of different products could help doctors to estimate whether a person is in need of further tests or treatments, as excessive menstrual bleeding could put them at risk of anaemia, or be suggestive of other underlying medical problems.“I might ask a patient, ‘what’s your period like?’ and she might say, ‘well, I soak a pad about every two hours’ – but I don’t necessarily have the time to ask what brand it is or if it’s super maxi,”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/aug/08/menstrual-discs-may-be-better-for-heavy-periods-than-pads-or-tampons-study

(Apologies for the term menstruators in that article )

The 2mls must be in light flow rubbish period knickers.

I use heavy flow period knickers and they have changed my life. I have endometriosis and miserably heavy periods and they certainly contain my flow. Yes, it sometimes takes a little while to absorb but I never leak like I used to.

The period pants they tested were a brand called Knix, and they were their super absorbency range which the brand description stated absorbed "up to 8 tampon's worth" of blood. So not light flow ones at all.

When people talk about doubling up on pads, what do you mean? Do you mean having one lengthways across the back as well? Or do you mean one on top of the other? Because don’t they all have plastic backs that would stop the efficacy of the one on the bottom?

I have done the putting a pad lengthways as well for extra protection. Now I use the extra wide back nighttime pads all day *and two days a period can have to change those after 30 minutes sometimes.

I set an alarm for during the night. Do incontinence pads work as well or better? Do you wear tena and a nighttime? I wonder if that would mean I don’t have to have a doubled up bath towel under me during the night.

I honestly used to think I was unusual until I started to ask my sister and she was the same. I realised then that women just didn’t discuss it and that maybe we weren’t that unusual. It was MN where I learned so many women were like us.

*discovered after always took the female symbol off the packaging and I have to say I am so much happier with the extra wide back.

oh just to add to my post from this morning, my 1 woman research has taught me the lilet style tampons do not soak up period blood the way they advertised years ago, by showing them expand out side ways to fill a test tube.

In fact they barely expand at all with blood. Comes out nearly the same size as they went in. (unless I have a wee before taking it out, then I have to change it and the bottom half has expanded massively)

thanks. However the absorption time would be an issue for me by the sounds. I would find the feeling of being wet distracting and would then have even less trust that I haven’t leaked out the sides. Can I ask what do you do with them for work? Do you come home with a bag of period soaked undies because you change at work? Or do they last for 12 or so hours?

I’d’ve loved period pants when I was a menstruator. And as for eggcupfuls - in the first 2 days of my period I passed single clots that would have overflowed any eggcup. Multiple times a day. And I could feel the clots sliding down around the tampon and out of my body, clots aren’t absorbed by tampons.

How unsurprising that nobody has bothered to research it properly. Just women and their weird messy plumbing, innit.

Period pants definitely hold a very heavy flow. It’s one of the reasons they’re such a boon. Honestly the “they only hold half a teaspoon” info is rubbish. You could hold 2mls in a tissue. I honestly can’t believe how silly some of these volumes used/quoted are.
Do they honestly think we’re stupid?

That's the amount that the researchers found was absorbed when they tested them using the specific blood product that they were testing, rather than water or saline. It's not the manufacturers of those pants making the claim, it's the scientists who actually carried out the testing. I don't think they're trying to call anyone stupid, they're reporting their findings.

There's definitely something amiss in the research on period pants as millions of women are using them and finding them more absorbent than pads or tampons.

My daughter has never had to change pants at school, they easily last the school day. When using pads she had to change during the day.

It was the specific brand and product cited, not all period pants.

Yes I understand that a “scientist” carried out the research on a particular brand (possibly a particular pair for all we know). Presumably there was a similar egg cup owning “scientist” (or perhaps that was just to make it easier for “the ladies”) who did the research for the original massively inaccurate statements?
It matters not because now you have the information provided by people actually menstruating into a variety of products who can share their knowledge. It is a fact that period pants and I’d probably go as far as to say the majority of pants will hold more than a few ml of liquid.

@Ohthatsabitshit Sorry, this whole thread is about a piece of research done to investigate the various claims about menstrual flow and the various absorbencies of menstrual products. That's what I'm talking about. Not the "scientists" from decades ago who came up with a number for average volume lost during menstruation based on not much evidence at all.

And the point the researchers from this most recent research were making is that no manufacturer other than tampon manufacturers have to do standardised tests for absorbency. Others can claim what they like without needing to back it up.

One of the obvious takeaways from this research is that more testing into period pants could be done, across a wide range of brands. Rather than just one type.

Such an odd focus @RoseslnTheHospital . Women are discussing how miserably short of reality previous “approximations” of flow have been, and the recent study references compared to their experience and yet you want to discuss “the point the researchers from this most recent research were making” to the exclusion of all else.

Thanks for the feedback.

And the point the researchers from this most recent research were making is that no manufacturer other than tampon manufacturers have to do standardised tests for absorbency. Others can claim what they like without needing to back it up.

As a person whose first thought is usually "how do they know that? " when I see any kind of claim, I find it really interesting. Equally I would like to know how the "eggcup" in my period leaflet was determined (or approximated).

I find it very un-odd that in a thread about a journal article, people are interested in the findings of said article, but these sorts of differences are why life is interesting!

I feel like no one ever talks about tampons just sucking up wee like no tomorrow - glad it's not just me that experiences this from time to time 😂😂

I also have the exact same experience, I've never seen a tampon come out looking like this, not matter how heavy the bleed. I'll leak and need to change WAY before much of anything at all gets absorbed!

I WFH so don't have that worry but I actually don't find the need to change them at all during the day.

When I say a while, it would only be 5 mins or so. Yes, a little uncomfy if you are sensitive to that so perhaps not quite right for you. I'd honestly give them a go before writing them off totally though as it may just surprise you.

@Helleofabore as far as managing when out, you take a small waterproof bag (like a pencil case) with a clean pair in and then swap the clean for the dirty if you need to change. When you get home stick them in the wash on a cold rinse and then add your normal laundry on top and wash as usual.

Thank you ohthat, I always wondered.

Those saying period pants hold the most can you recommend brands? I've tried a few now and none hold what I need them to hold.

I'm glad a read this thread. Years of being dismissed at its can't possibly be true. It used to really worry me I was so abnormal but after a few years and having not bled to death I know it's my normal.

Fascinating seeing the discussion on clots and differences in water/saline/blood absorption. Disgusting there has been such little research

Tortured, thank you.

I am asking for others in my family really. I am now prone to very intense menopausal flooding so, I will stick to my usual. Although, in saying that, they might be a very good back up considering....

I like Sainsburys own brand, Luna.

I've been wondering about that egg cup for years. (A period is an eggcup full) I was imagining researchers actually doing some research to find this out, not making it up.

I have endometriosis and very heavy periods. Heavy flow days for me are super tampon every half hour for about 6 hours, two days in a row.

I have moved to using ONLY period pants and they have been brilliant, I use Primark, marks and Spencer's heavy flow during the day and Flo heavy pants at night and I swear by them. I have also managed to convert my wife and my two friends, we all use them now. Won't go back to pads and tampons. No more irritated itchy labia either.

I can only speak for myself but I have chronic IDA from my periods, becuase they are that heavy and have been prescribed transexamic acid to slow them down and period pants work extremely well for me.