Schools providing Sanitary protection

GlasweJen

23p pads? I need industrial strength, extra long with the wings and the 5 drop absorbancy rating plus a tampon. Nothing wrong with me just a heavy bleeder, sometimes it gets so bad the GP takes pity and gives me tranexamic acid and noretisterone just to stop it for a while.

I can't imagine how uncomfortable a 23p pad is, even using the cotton ones with decent branding things get sweaty down there pretty rapidly and the pain when one gets stuck to the skin and is pulling about when you move - horrendous! Then having to peel it off, oh god my eyes are watering at the thought.

My periods must cost me a fortune, between the pads, tampons, heat packs and pain killers I'm much more than 23p a month.

culpepper

I think these days , girls are getting their first monthly earlier than in the past. Once it wouldnt have been unusual for a 14 year old to be having her first one but now it can be 10 years old . Body weight is a factor for when they start and in the past a poor family would have also been a thin family. Nowadays weight is no indication of wealth or poverty.
Perhaps there could be coupons for ST's as there are for some food stuffs for people with very low income. Maybe they could be sponsored by the sanitary towel companies, after all it could be a tax break for the company. They could then be redeemed at the shops or the school office . The towels could be marked in some way so that they dont get pilfered and sold on by the unscrupulous.

Tabbytabitha

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Depends - doctors can be very twitchy about people over 30 being on the pill, especially if they're overweight or have other risk factors; normally the progesterone only pill is all that they'll prescribe and, in my case, all that did was make me bleed every single day of the month (as the injection and Mirena coil does for some). And not all Gynaes, never mind GPs, like women taking the pill back to back like that because of some concern about it potentially masking serious issues or increasing the risk of pill related problems, as it means they're taking considerably more hormones than normal.

Fortunately (in this case, not in any other sense), I've been infertile since I was 30, so after trying a couple of different brands with the same result, I just stopped taking anything and got on with it. As my periods are only heavy for a couple of days, usually, with just a very heavy/longer one every three months or so, I can manage with a cup - which wouldn't have been suitable for bleeding lightly every day. But it doesn't work like that for everybody.


These days, when I'm curled up in bed on a bad one, I end up muttering darkly about how pointless it is to continue having the blasted things and roll on the menopause.

I would never run my life based on what "some" doctors think - I'd switch to one who treated me like an adult.

Tabbytabitha

culpepper wrote: »

I think these days , girls are getting their first monthly earlier than in the past. Once it wouldnt have been unusual for a 14 year old to be having her first one but now it can be 10 years old . Body weight is a factor for when they start and in the past a poor family would have also been a thin family. Nowadays weight is no indication of wealth or poverty.
Perhaps there could be coupons for ST's as there are for some food stuffs for people with very low income. Maybe they could be sponsored by the sanitary towel companies, after all it could be a tax break for the company. They could then be redeemed at the shops or the school office . The towels could be marked in some way so that they dont get pilfered and sold on by the unscrupulous.

I'm 67 and started my periods when I was at primary school. I also came from a poor family where we were all somewhat overweight. It's really not a good idea to generalise.

annandale

Where are the coupons for food for people on a very low income? I'm on a very low income. I get no coupons. Are you talking about referrals to food banks? Most food banks allow people to be referred 3 times a year.

Maybe sanitary products should be free full stop so that no one is stigmatised if they are too poor to afford them

kingfisherblue

Tabbytabitha wrote: »

Before my hysterectomy I was the same. I was on the pill anyway throughout my twenties and early thirties so I solved the problem by just taking it all the time without the monthly break. Couldn't you do that?

I took the pill in my twenties and just into my thirties, but it didn't really have much effect on my periods. When I was in my early 30s, I had a suspected DVT (bank holiday weekend, so they couldn't actually test me for it until Tuesday morning - I had been sent to A&E on Friday night, and had to have Heparin injections all weekend). I was told that I coulnd't take the pill any longer. The mini-pill helped for a short while, but not much. I can't take that now, due to my age.


It's just something that you get used to. It's not pleasant, but it's manageable with hourly changes of night time use sanitary towels. Overnight is far more difficult, and I have to get up regularly. I also use a continence sheet because of leakage. My GP is aware, but no help from them. It might be better if we had a female GP, but all three doctors are male, and have been for some years. I've had tests, but there are no signs of fibroids or any other problems. It's just the way I am.

humptydumptybits

Tabbytabitha wrote: »

I'm 67 and started my periods when I was at primary school. I also came from a poor family where we were all somewhat overweight. It's really not a good idea to generalise.

I'm almost 65 and was a skinny kid in a family that was half fat, half thin and I also had my first period at 10. I don't think it was that unusual.

thorsoak

I do sympathise with all these posters who are having problems now - remember only too well how it felt to be sitting in a meeting, praying that nothing was going to show through my black suit! However, we were talking about providing protection for YOUNG girls - whose periods are always very haphazard when they start - a slight show one time, then a bloody deluge the next month. These girls - who can be as young as 9 or 10 - and in co-ed classes - feel awkward and embarrassed and frightened at the very least when their periods start - and surely it should be matter of fact that sanitary protection is available for them at school.

culpepper

annandale wrote: »

Where are the coupons for food for people on a very low income? I'm on a very low income. I get no coupons. Are you talking about referrals to food banks? Most food banks allow people to be referred 3 times a year.

Maybe sanitary products should be free full stop so that no one is stigmatised if they are too poor to afford them

https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/
They are not for everybody obviously but they are coupons for various foodstuffs

Tabbytabitha wrote: »

I'm 67 and started my periods when I was at primary school. I also came from a poor family where we were all somewhat overweight. It's really not a good idea to generalise.

Absolutely. My youngest sister was also overweight and our family lived a very hand to mouth existence.
Still I believe our families were probably the exception not the rule given that very few children at school were actually overweight .
I can remember several children who were all skin and bone, one was given seconds at lunch times almost every day.

My point was that it is more likely that more children will need sanitary provision even earlier these days and they are most likely to be from the poorer families.

humptydumptybits

Maybe I'm the exception but I never felt awkward or embarrassed or frightened. At 10 I thought it was all very exciting and when the PE teacher refused to let me leave the hockey field I found her embarrassment hilarious when the blood started running down my legs. She never refused to let me leave a lesson again.