It’s astonishing that even today, periods are still a taboo subject or even something that can make us feel a little uncomfortable when we have to talk about it with our partner, family members, friends or a healthcare professional.

And yet talk about it we must because it’s so important.

I’ve been asked by the brilliant people at the Wear White Again Campaign to talk about my experience of heavy periods. I’m sharing my story with you all in a bid to help raise awareness and hopefully encourage more of you to speak up about your periods and – more importantly – seek professional help, if you are struggling with the same. Here goes…

MY STORY

After experiencing what I regard as ‘normal’, mostly easy-to manage periods for most of my adult life, a few years ago my periods changed for the worse which was both surprising and more than a little challenging to say the least.

After becoming a mother to my daughter Elsie over six years ago, I began to experience periods that were not the norm for me – heavy periods that were more painful, bloodier and much, much more difficult to manage.

I expected it at first. Even though Elsie was my first baby, I’d read all the baby and new mum books and knew that your first period after having a baby could be more unusual than what you’re used to. So the first time I had a very heavy period, bar being surprised and a little frustrated in dealing with it, I wasn’t concerned. I fully expected everything to ‘go back to normal’ within a month or so.

But it carried on.

Every month as my period came, I kept my fingers crossed that this time it would be less heavy but after about six months it finally dawned on me that this was probably it. Perhaps I’d be stuck with heavy, painful and frankly, damn exhausting periods for the rest of my fertile life. Yikes.

Besides the unpleasantness of it all and the increased pain, the thing that annoyed and upset me the most when it came to my now much heavier periods was just how much they impacted my life.

I’d always been someone who took her period very much in her stride. I never pulled a sickie on PE day at school when it was ‘time of the month’ nor had I ever let it stop me having a swim in the sea on my summer holiday. Like all of us, I just got on with it as best as I could, seeing it as a minor issue to deal with. Something that besides causing the odd tummy ache and heightened emotions for a few days, was relatively easy to live with.

But when you suffer from heavy periods, everything is very different, as I soon learned.

Because instead of the first few days of your menstrual cycle being a minor inconvenience, it becomes a major problem. At least that’s how it was for me.

For the first few days of my period, particularly on day 2, I basically couldn’t really go anywhere or do much at all, because my flow was so bad. Instead of exercising, meeting friends or going for a dip in the sea if it was that precious holiday time again, ,I’d spend most of my time indoors, making frequent trips to the toilet whilst tackling utter exhaustion.

Besides being painful and incredibly messy, it was also totally debilitating. I dreaded my period arriving every month. Just the thought of it being around the corner was enough to bring me to tears.

Thankfully today, a good few years later, things are relatively back to normal. Occasionally I may have a heavier period, but the for most part, the first few days of my menstrual cycle are easy to manage again – life is good. I consider myself one of the very lucky ones because my body just seemed to sort itself out. It took a while, granted, but eighteen months after having my daughter, the heaviness stopped, and I felt like a weight had been lifted.

Looking back though, with the beauty of hindsight, I really do wish I’d talked about it more and gone to see my doctor when I was struggling. But I didn’t and to be totally honest with you, rather worryingly I’m not even sure it even crossed my mind to!

At the time I presumed that’s just what happened after you had a baby and I figured a heavy period was just something I had to somehow grin and bear now that I was a mum to a little one. But I was wrong, embarrassingly wrong!  If I could turn the clock back, knowing what I know now, I’d have made an appointment with my GP as soon as possible, gotten some help and saved myself an awful lot of discomfort and tears.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU’RE STRUGGLING WITH HEAVY PERIODS

My story is by no means an unusual one but I wanted to share it to show how heavy periods can be a curse for any of us! They happen and it’s an incredibly common problem but thankfully there is lots of support out there for us all to access, if we should feel we need it.

Heavy periods affect more than 1 in 5 women and can make us feel embarrassed, upset, worried and anxious, but you don’t have to struggle alone. I didn’t realise this a few years ago, but heavy periods are a common medical condition which means there are a range of treatment options available.

The Wear White Again campaign is helping to raise awareness of the impact and burden of heavy periods, whilst working to break down the period taboo and providing brilliant, useful and much needed information about the condition which they hope will enable women to have more informed conversations with their GP.

Their new ‘Talking Heavy Periods’ guide has been specially designed to help women and men become more knowledgeable about periods, looking at the questions we should be asking ourselves and our loved ones to help us understand what’s normal and when a woman might need to seek help.

Heavy periods are treatable! So, if your period is affecting your lifestyle, happiness or wellbeing, please don’t do as I did and suffer in silence alone. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms below, then go and have a chat with your GP as soon as you can and get the help you deserve.

SYMPTOMS OF A HEAVY PERIOD CAN INCLUDE:

• Bleeding that lasts more than 7 days per cycle
• Bleeding so severe that a sanitary pad or tampon must be changed every hour for several hours in a row
• An excessive heavy flow that restricts you from taking part in normal activities such as working
• Bleeding with large clots
• Feeling very tired or week and often depressed or moody
• Constant pain in the lower part of your stomach during your cycle

For more information on heavy periods visit the Wear White Again website.

Disclaimer – this post was written in collaboration with Wear White Again but always all opinions and words are my own.