I hate to have periods.
I saw a tweet a little behind that said that “periods are a great example of meetings that could be emails” and, honestly, I couldn’t agree more. I don’t know everyone feels like that. For some, their period is a nice reminder that their body is their business as they should, or a welcome confirmation that they are not pregnant (they were there!). But for me it is a huge pain, in many ways!
I’m not always so annoyed for the periods. When I was younger, I didn’t really think much about them except in the hope that they would give a good excuse to avoid the schooling lessons at school. And when I used the contraceptive pill, I often got back-to-back packages, so I didn’t even have one (yes, you can do this, and yes, it’s safe!). It is fair to say that they didn’t bother me. I was lucky that I didn’t get cramps or pain. In the worst case, it was a mild hassle.
My disobedience for my periods started in the early 1930s when I stopped using hormonal contraception and changed the copper coil. I love my coil. Having the placement was not fun and I was afraid to remove it/change, but for me being offset by the knowledge that it is almost 100% effective in prevention of pregnancy.
However, I don’t like my periods now I no longer use hormones as they have become very heavy. I can’t say if it’s the coil that makes them heavier or if that’s exactly what they are as now – our bodies change with time.
But for at least two days each month, I have to take seriously if leaving the house is worth it.
I have also begun to take cramps, back pain, bloating and, in the spirit of honesty, increased wind!
For two years, I got involved with it. I accepted that I would bleed through underwear and pants, sometimes I had to change them 3-4 times a day. I put on not getting a right night of sleep because I was so worried about bleeding through the three pillows I had carefully made in a super-pad to avoid making another leaf load in the morning.
I canceled plans if they coincided with the frightening second day of my period.
I rarely left home for more than an hour per hour. When I went out, I was constantly paranoid about bleeding through my clothes and showed or worse, standing and watching a stain in the seat behind me.
Things changed when I was seeing my heavy periods of a colleague who is a sexual health nurse. He said that my periods should not affect my daily life and that it may be possible to take medicine to help. He also suggested that a trial Sti as a first step, just to rule out this as a possible cause, so I did.
Two weeks later, I had an appointment with a nurse through my GP to talk about what was happening. He did an exam, ran some tests and talked to my symptoms. There were no indications that my heavy periods were more than that – very heavy bleeding – so gave me the Tranexamic Acid and asked me to watch my circle and see if things got better.
They did it. Tranexamic Acid is a drug that controls bleeding. It helps your blood to throne and is often used for rhinorrhea and heavy periods. These are only use for a few days at a time and, like all medicines, may not be suitable for everyone. But for me it has made a huge difference. I usually take it for the two or three days I know that my periods will be heavy and massively reduces bleeding. I can sleep, I can go out and do normal things and my washing machine doesn’t run 24/7! It has not been rid of cramps and other unfortunate side effects of the period, but it gave me the freedom to do what I want during my period and has significantly reduced my stress for bleeding through clothes.
I feel lucky to have mentioned my status to my colleague and that he was promoting to give me advice. It was a great reminder that people need to talk about things – even difficult or annoying things – to connect with others who pass through themselves and to identify when something is not as they should. I also feel lucky to have been able to talk to someone in my GP who understood the impact of heavy periods and was ready to investigate rather than reject my symptoms.
So, while I still don’t like my periods (and probably I’ll never do it!), I’m grateful to manage them much better now.
