CONTENT WARNING: PERIODS. Obv. There Will Be Blood. And possibly other
things that you might not particularly want to read about. In which
case, my advice is: don't read it. And if you do read it, and come
across something you don't like, don't come crying to me about how you
read something you didn't want to read even though I very clearly warned
you you would read about if you continued reading.
Ah, Day 2. The day I look forward to all month.
EXTRA CONTENT WARNING: If you're already feeling a little bit iffy about this blog, and have already had a few 'Ooh, TMI' moments, then I strongly suggest you stop reading right now.
When my periods came back after having Child No. 2, they were HEAVY. Before the eight-years of chemically controlled ones, and the brief spells just before and after Child No. 1, they were fairly heavy at times, but nothing like as bad as this. On the second and third days of my periods, I would bleed A LOT. Seriously. Super tampons were done after about two hours. Eventually I switched to a Mooncup. That was no match for it either, but at least a leaking Mooncup doesn't feel quite as disgusting as a leaking tampon (does anything feel as disgusting as a leaking tampon?). If ever I saw an advert for sanitary protection featuring women in white trousers leaping about, I felt a very strong urge to hurl something at it; I was worried about walking too fast, never mind rollerskating in cycling shorts. At night, I'd wear my Mooncup, plus a sanitary towel, plus an extra pair of pants to hold it all in place, then my thickest pyjama bottoms, and even then I couldn't be sure I wouldn't wake up to stained sheets (you all think I'm really weird now, don't you?). It was, in short, minging, and I was, in short, fucking miserable.
I knew I could solve this by going back on the Pill, but after too long on Microgynon, which made all my feelings die, and a brief spell on the mini-pill, which made me bleed for a month, I was absolutely convinced that I didn't want to mess with my hormones anymore. In desperation, I asked for advice on a Facebook group I belonged to, and was told to get myself along to the doctors because there were things I could take.
And oh, hallelujah and hurrah, there was. The lovely doctor prescribed me tranexamic acid, which, according to Wikipedia, is "a synthetic analog of the amino acid lysine. It serves as an antifibrinolytic by reversibly binding four to five lysine receptor sites on plasminogen or plasmin". Well, I will have to take their word for it on that, but whatever the hell it is, it works. These wonderful, magical tablets have turned my miserable, horrible, depressing, messy-as-fuck periods into hardly-at-all miserable, not-really-that horrible, only-a-bit messy ones. And while that might not seem like it's much of an improvement, to me it is EVERYTHING. My flow is still very heavy on Day 2 (it was on day 3 until fairly recently actually, I don't know why that's changed but I'm not about to question it), but as long as I take the maximum dose I'm allowed, it's manageable now. I don't have to plan my whole day around toilets (well, other than the normal kind of planning that has to happen when you have two children and a tiny bladder). I don't have to be scared of making sudden movements, or sitting in one place too long, or any of the other things that might not be entirely rational worries, but would always get into my brain anyway. Day 2 is never going to be a day I greet with anything other than 'ugh'. I'm never going to want to go swimming that day, and I doubt I'll ever wear anything other than black on my bottom half. I still can't quite get rid of all my ridiculous night-precautions, despite the fact I that I know they're not really necessary. But I no longer spend two days of every month feeling like the most disgusting creature to have ever walked the face of the earth. Last year, I even went on a hen weekend on one of my heavy days, where I shared a bathroom with ten other women and went to Go Ape, which I never could have done a couple of years ago.
So my advice to anyone who is having problems with their periods is go and seek help, and don't give up until you get some. I was lucky that my doctor just believed me and prescribed something, but I know not everyone is that fortunate. But definitely don't suffer in silence. I never would have found a solution to my problem if I hadn't talked about it. Oh, and if anyone knows of a way to make tranexamic acid at home, in a coffee mug or something, please do let me know, so that next time there's a national shortage and I haven't ordered my prescription in time I don't have to burst into tears in the middle of a crowded pharmacy. Thanks.
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