Harshitaa Nunkoo
Periods are ridiculous. Periods are synonymous with pain. Terrible pain. Excruciating pain. I mean, I have never heard any girl be excited, thrilled, giggling and kicking her feet to get her periods. Unless, of course, she has had unprotected sex, and now she’s in dire need of a sign that she’s not pregnant.
Despite the inconvenience, discomfort and terrible pain they come bearing, periods remain an integral part of womanhood. And yet, we have so little exposure to it. It’s baffling how little menstruation is talked about, in homes, in classrooms, in society.
We never hear people talk about menstruation openly and loudly!
On average, women menstruate for approximately 40 years of their life. Is that not something worthy of discussion?
Why do we not talk about menstrual health and reproductive health openly? Why is menstruation deemed as “dirty”, when in fact, it is the reason we even exist? Why is there so much taboo around it? Why are we not taught anything about this at school?
But what is reproductive health, to even begin with?
So let me break it down for you.
In the simplest words, reproductive health means taking care of your reproductive body parts, your reproductive system, and dealing with things like periods.
We claim to be such a sophisticated and modern society, but ironically, when it comes to female reproductive health and menstruation, a lot of people still have an extremely old-fashioned approach. There are so many ancient beliefs, misinformation, and so many myths that are still being upheld and carried forward.
These old beliefs and myths essentially reinforce the idea that periods should be painful, even though medical science has a completely contrary take on this matter.
“Periods are supposed to be painful” … “It’s normal” …. “I have been through that too, and I didn’t complain” …. This is what most girls grow up listening to. In a way, we can’t really blame our elders for carrying forward these myths, because these myths regarding menstruation had been created around the time when medical science wasn’t as developed as it has now become. However, with evolving technologies, mentalities should evolve too.
Alright, but what is period pain? How bad is it?
Hang on, we’re about to go on a hell of a ride!
Stomach-ache, back ache, headache, upper abdomen hurts, lower abdomen hurts, abdominal cramps, you can’t move, you can’t walk, you can’t sit properly, you don’t want to eat, you feel weak because you’re bleeding, you feel sick, you feel nauseous, like you’re about to throw up, but you can’t.
At this point, death starts to feel like a much better option!
But that’s not all. I forgot to mention bloating, weight gain, breast pain and terrible mood swings.
This is what us ladies have to put up with, monthly!
Damn, we are strong !
According to a survey conducted in the UK, and an article published by The Guardian, 96% of women (16 to 40 years old), experience some type of period pain.
59% experience severe period pain. And around 49% experience severe bleeding.
In total, 6.2 million women and girls experience extreme period pain, on a monthly basis, for a minimum of 4 days.
If we do a little Math properly, that amounts to 1920 days of excruciating pain, or simply, 5 years.
For the lucky ones who experience little to zero period pain, I’m sure it must feel amazing to be God’s favourites. But for women who have debilitating period pain, these very same 4 years, feel like death by a thousand cuts, if not a million!
Isn’t this crazy? It’s almost as if some women come on this earth with a 4-year, non-negotiable, pain subscription!
These figures prove just how common severe period pains are among women. But in no way, is this normal!
For instance, if you ever bring up experiencing any sort of period pain, your elders will most probably say something along the lines: “Be sa li normal sa, tou tifi gagn sa, mosi monn pas ladan”. Thus, completely invalidating your pain, and normalising it.
This is such a beautiful example of how our society fails women.
Enduring pain is not something to be proud of. It’s not an achievement. In the past, we didn’t have any competent technologies or medical science to rely on. And so, people believed anything and everything. But now that medical science has evolved so much, we should evolve with it too. I think it’s about time we ditch those backward beliefs and let medical science take the reins.
According to medical science, periods shouldn’t be extremely painful! Contrary to popular beliefs, this is not normal.
If you’re a young woman, who has just hit puberty, and you’ve recently started menstruating, it’s normal if you experience quite some abdominal pain during your periods or even irregular cycles and that’s because your body is still developing. Within the next 5 to 6 years, your periods should start to become regular. And your periods should start to feel less painful.
However, what is not normal is to be experiencing debilitating periods- (extreme abdominal pain, terrible cramps, irregular period cycles, and profuse bleeding), long into adulthood, so much that it affects your day-to-day life. While this may be a very common experience for a lot of women, this is not normal at all. Science says otherwise.
“Periods should not affect women’s lives in this way. If they do, it can be a sign of a gynaecological condition that requires attention and ongoing support- not dismissal.” – Prof Dame Lesley Regan, the chair of Wellbeing of Women.
And the sad part is that a lot of times, whenever women are experiencing debilitating period pain and are clearly showing signs and symptoms of gynaecological conditions, either they never seek proper medical help on time, or even when they do, they are dismissed as “just periods”.
Now, this is how the medical infrastructure fails women.
It has been medically proven that most of the time, these terrible period cramps and abdominal pain are not even because of menstruation itself, but instead because of other gynaecological conditions and diseases that are yet to be diagnosed, upon consultation, of course. In so many cases, women find out about their medical conditions, long into adulthood, when it’s already too late to do anything about it.
A lot of women may find their way to the gynaecologist only in time of pregnancy. But in cases of heavy bleeding, unbearable period pain and irregular cycles, a gynaecological intervention is necessary. ASAP!
These symptoms are commonly associated with gynaecological conditions such as endometriosis, adenomyosis, fibroids, and polycystic ovary syndrome.
But the worse is yet to come. Cryptic pregnancy. Cryptic pregnancy is essentially when a person doesn’t know that she’s pregnant, 20 weeks into pregnancy or up until labor begins. But how is this possible? Well, just like in any normal pregnancy, you don’t get your periods. Now, for people who already have irregular menstrual cycles, they might not be alarmed at the slightest. It’s scary, thinking that your periods are just irregular, when the whole time you have been pregnant, and just didn’t know!
This is why it’s so important to educate this generation of young girls and women about reproductive health, about menstruation, about their own bodies. It’s imperative that they know what a healthy menstruation should look like. And so, if ever the need arises, these women know exactly where to look for help, before it’s not too late.
The only way to tackle this issue and ensure that women have good health, is through communication and education. We need to be having conversations about menstrual health more openly, more loudly and more frequently.
It’s crazy how a conversation of this importance hasn’t yet found its way into all classrooms.
We claim to be such a scientifically advanced society. We flex our latest technologies. We are so proud of this modern society that we have created. But what’s the use of such top-notch technologies if we can’t ease the suffering of women? What’s the use of such advances in medical science if we can’t provide women with better health? With a better quality of life?
In Mauritius, females make up around half of our population. So many of them are currently suffering from severe period pain, as we speak. And many of these poor souls are there thinking that “it’s just periods’’.