School (time off from) with heavy periods (menstruation)

Daisygirl

Hobo17 wrote: »

You can get a drug called norethisterone which delays the arrival of your period. Or if she was to take the pill you can run 2 packs together and skip the 'week off' so you won't get a period.

oooh that sounds good, thanks Hobo! I would be happy to use something as a one off, for a special time like that, so she would just take it (norethisterone) just before she went away and then for the whole week? Her periods are happening at odd times so doesn't know when she's going to start (iyswim!), thanks again!

aliasojo

I'm thinking about my own daughter and I feel so desperately sorry for the OP's girl. My daughter is only 11 and thankfully has normal flow but somewhat erratic periods. She's not the most confident of kids and if she suffered in the same way as the OP's daughter, it would absolutely floor her in more ways than one.

Does the school know about the actual facts? I'm thinking in particular about the blood stained trousers and being worried about the seats aspect? A child who spends a large part of her day being anxious about this clearly isn't going to be learning much. I agree staying off school isn't the answer, but there has to be some 'out of the norm' leeway given to her to help deal with an 'out of the norm' situation.

Would it be possible to site a small locker in the girls toilets so she could store a change of clothes there perhaps? If she had an identical spare pair of trousers, no-one would be any the wiser. If she was allowed to leave class to change as soon as she felt she needed to, the other girls would still remain in class and wouldn't see what was going on either, if that bothered her. I think some out of the box thinking by the school needs to take place. It's all very well saying she must attend, but they need to accomodate
the problem too.

Mojisola

aliasojo wrote: »

I think some out of the box thinking by the school needs to take place. It's all very well saying she must attend, but they need to accomodate the problem too.

The school is not handling this well at all and it's highly unlikely that your daughter is the only girl in the school having these problems.

The "trust card" that someone else mentioned is worth exploring with the school. Tymes Trust started this for pupils with ME - https://www.youngactiononline.com/docs/ttcard.htm

"What is the Tymes Trustcard? It's a "pass card" signed by the child's Head Teacher and carrying the child's photograph. It states that the child has permission to use the school's disabled facilities or obtain other assistance."

It means that all teachers know that if a child shows the Trustcard that they have permission to leave the classroom and do what they need to do, without the teacher making a fuss or asking questions about what they're doing.

If your daughter could discreetly withdraw whenever she needed to sort herself out, it would help her a lot. Having enough supplies stored at school as well as a change of clothes are also sensible suggestions.

Hermia

Mojisola wrote: »

My (male) GP told me that things would be alright after I had my first pregnancy - I was 14 at the time!

I have had dreadful periods all my life and have been told that different life stages would change things, but they never have. My mum was the same and her doctor told her that losing her virginity would cure her period pains and heavy flow. Wow, I'd love to meet a man whose 'equipment' was so magical that it could do all that!

The only thing that helped me was the pill and Nurofen Plus! It means I can lead a normal life. I can understand why some parents freak out about girls taking the pill, but I understood the risks and it literally gave me back my life.

I really am shocked at how useless this school is being. My school was brilliant. Even my primary school was pretty good at helping the girls who started early. I think an interview with her form tutor is needed.

bargainbetty

I can only recommend the depo provera injections - I was recently going 19 days on followed by five or ten days off, then another 15-20 days on.... that injection was like someone had turned off a tap. No monthly pains, no grumpiness, no more knickers thrown away, no more worries.

You can tell, I love this thing. If my doctor told me I couldn't have it anymore I would seek a second opinion from the locum they would have to hire when he disappears into the Thames.

aliasojo

bargainbetty wrote: »

If my doctor told me I couldn't have it anymore I would seek a second opinion from the locum they would have to hire when he disappears into the Thames.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Casati

She has my sympathies, I've struggled to cope with my periods since I started age 13 (and am now 32). I would often spend the first 3 days vomiting and having IBS type symptoms. Hormonal contraceptives would probably help enormously (sometimes it takes time to find the right one) but obviously you need to discuss this with the gynaecologist.

Changes to my diet helped quite a lot, an anthroposophical Doctor advised me to eat 4 brazil nuts a day (for selenium) along with a handful of pumpkin seeds and a bowl of good quality wholegrain cereal. (These were advised for my particular set of menstrual symptoms but wouldn't do anyone any harm) After 3 months things were not perfect but they were manageable. I also found that cutting caffeine out completely (and yes that includes chocolate) for 2 days before I came on until about the 3rd or 4th day of my bleed (by which point it was perfectly manageable) made an ENORMOUS difference.

I do think that the school has been exceptionally unhelpful.

susan2010

Hi Ian,

Have you tried a tampon and TENA towel? I'd use a tampax and Tena towel, at the same time.

TENA towels are used for women who are incontinence. They are way more absorbent that sanitory towels. Maybe worth a try???

Good luck

Mayflower10cat

I don't know whether the OP's GP is male or female. Or how old they are. It shouldn't make a difference, but sadly, I found it does. Not wanting to go into too much detail, but my family's (very old, male) GP was unsympathetic when I saw him for painful periods aged 17 (I was a very late starter) for horrid and very unpredictable periods. He said - 'it will get better when you have a baby ...' And, 'I have patients who have such awful periods, they'd be delighted to only have one every six weeks...............'

A female GP, a few years later, was so much easier to talk to. She helped me and was shocked at the advice I'd been given previously. She also spotted that medication [EMAIL="I@d"]I[/EMAIL]'d been prescribed had been wrongly advised as to delivery.

Please do find a sympathetic GP for your daughter, be they male or female.

whitewing

Mefanemic acid helps me too.

Healthy eating makes a huge difference. I got very bad flooding whenever my weight went above a certain amount.

Anxiety also makes it worse. In fact, my periods have been a lot, lot better since I went on antidepressants (nearly 30 years after my first).

Heat helps too. At school I used to get pains down the fronts of my legs to my knees, feel faint or overheat, heaviness, have diarrhoea the lot. It was painful and embarrassing. I was a normal weight at that point but craved sugary food. I am convinced that made it worse. My parents wouldn't do anything so I am really glad that you are helping your daughter.

Is your daughter overweight? If so, (and I mean this very kindly) she needs to lose the excess weight.