- Periods are a blessing and a curse.
(upbeat drum tempo)
Hello, and welcome to episode 16 of The Hormone Diaries.
It has been so long since I have filmed one of these.
But, we are back, the Hormone Diaries
is not going anywhere, it shall continue.
This video is actually sponsored by Always,
and is part of the End Period Poverty campaign,
which I'll talk a bit about later.
But first, I think we need to do
a general update on my situation,
and on the coil,
because the last episode was me getting the coil.
I got the Mirena Coil, which is the IUS,
the one with the very small dosage of hormones,
and lasts about five years.
Not about five years, five years.
Also, because it's been so long since the last episode,
I asked for some of your questions on Twitter,
so we're gonna a little bit of a Q&A,
at some point as well.
But first, how have I been getting on with the coil?
Truth be told, I don't know.
So, I got the Mirena Coil inserted
on the 31st of October, on Halloween 2017,
and as I mentioned in that video all about getting the coil,
I had horrific cramps for about two hours afterwards.
It was the worst cramps I have ever had.
But, they only lasted two hours,
and I managed to sleep through most of it,
and then the next day was fine.
It was just kind of like a dull period ache,
kind of just like normal cramps,
or at least what I experienced as normal cramps.
Then, I proceeded to spot for about a month.
Now, I'm not 100% sure if it was spotting,
but I was bleeding everyday, but all I needed
was like, a panty liner, that's kind of all I really needed
for a whole day,
to be able to
absorb it all.
Some days I didn't even bother with that,
like it was so
light, I just free bled into my knickers.
Mostly, when I was just wearing black ones,
because I couldn't be bothered with pads.
But, most of the time, I wore just like
the thin panty liner pads, for a month basically.
Then, the bleeding just stopped,
and it hasn't started again.
You may or may not know,
but I haven't stopped talking about it.
I was in hospital for four weeks
with a severe flare up of my ulcerative colitis.
Now in the past, when I've had ulcerative colitis before,
my periods have stopped,
because my body is just like,
can only deal with one thing at a time,
you're super ill, let's not bleed.
So, I had the flare up on top of having the coil,
and I know that a common side effect of the Mirena coil
is to have reduced periods or no periods at all.
Could be a combo of them both,
and then in January, I ended up having emergency surgery,
which obviously messes with your body
in a whole different way.
I don't know, bodies are just
interesting and clever,
and they're just like,
we shall only be dealing with one thing at a time here.
Also, I lost loads of weight,
which can also effect your period.
But, I have been successfully gaining back the weight,
yet periods are still nowhere to be seen.
Which,
could be a coil thing.
This is the thing, so many things have happened
to my body lately, I'm like,
who knows?
To be honest, I don't even know if the coil is still
correctly in place,
because they recommend that you
have a search up there once a month,
to see if the strings are still there.
So just to give you an idea,
here's your uterus, and then this bit here,
is like the cervix, and then that
is what goes down to the vagina.
The coil is in the uterus, and the strings hang down
into the vagina.
So that when, you need to get it out,
you pull it out.
So, the idea is that you can have a feel up there,
and feel the strings at the top,
and make sure you can't feel any plastic,
because all of the plastic should be
in your uterus.
But here's the thing, my fingers are too short.
I can't even feel
my own strings,
and with all of the invasive procedures,
and pain that I've been in
recently with hospital,
I just haven't
felt the desire to go to the doctors,
and ask them to go and check out my coil,
and make sure that's all still fine.
Probably should do that soon, though.
Wanna make sure that's all still good,
because to be honest,
the last thing that I wasn't right now is a period.
On the other hand,
I kind of do want to have a period,
because to me, that would confirm
that my body is like, healthy again,
and it's functioning properly again.
But I will say that recently, in like the last week,
my boobs have started to hurt a bit more,
and they feel a bit more heavy,
but I don't know if that's just because
of putting back on weight,
and basically, the first place it always goes
for me is boobs.
Like, I lost loads of weight off my boobs,
and now I'm putting it back on, on my boobs.
So yeah, that's the general update,
I'm sorry it's not more precise,
because basically, my bodily functions
are just completely up in the air right now.
But, I will try and answer some of your questions now.
Katharine Horgan has said,
"Not about periods, but it occurred to me recently,
will your stoma affect fertility/pregnancy?"
So, my stoma is the bit of my small intestine
that is poking out of my side,
in which I excrete all of my waste into a bag.
No, in theory no.
Having a stoma, I can still
get pregnant, and I can still
see that pregnancy
to the end.
If I got J-Pouch surgery,
which is a surgery that removes the stoma,
and reverses the whole thing,
then I couldn't, that does affect your fertility a lot more.
Sophie says,
"Periods with a stoma, how does it work?"
Obviously from first hand experience,
don't know.
But, I'm assuming
it doesn't make a difference.
It's two different organs, and different parts of your body,
so I don't think it would affect it.
Hazel asks,
"Do you experience any sort of PMS?"
So when I did have periods,
the only kind of PMS that
I really ever noticed, was my boobs hurting.
My boobs would hurt for a good two weeks
before my period started.
Which, to me, was just horrendous,
like it was so painful, it was awful.
But, I don't think I ever really felt emotional
PMS, like I don't think my mood ever really changed.
I am very lucky in that sense,
but the painful boobs are enough to deal with, thank you.
Kameryn says,
"Tips and tricks for cramps."
Okay, so you've got the generic ones,
like painkillers, hot water bottle,
bath, all of those things.
But, if you're feeling up to it,
it genuinely helps,
exercise.
Go for a run,
do some yoga stretches,
because all of those endorphins
that are released when you exercise,
help mask pain.
It increases your pain threshold basically.
I know it seems horrendous,
the idea of exercising when you've got period cramps,
but if you can
get up and exercise,
it will help.
Kay asks,
"Is there anything you do/know is known to work,
so that you can start your period a few days earlier,
or something that can delay a period by a few days?"
No, Kay.
I have not heard of anything that can do this.
But, let me know
if you find anything.
I know a lot of people use their contraception
to control their period.
Mostly the combined pill,
because on the combined pill,
you take a week break where you have your withdrawal bleed.
But, if you continue taking the pill
throughout that week, then it means
it will delay your period.
I know a lot of people do that.
I've never been on the combined pill,
I've always been on the progesterone only pill.
So, can't speak from experience on that,
because the progesterone only pill
you just take continuously.
Thank you for your questions,
we seem to have tackled two taboo topics in one.
Stomas and periods,
which you know, I love talking about taboo topics.
Talking about taboo subjects like periods,
is super important because it helps normalise it.
It should be normal, I mean, it is normal,
because it happens to about half of the population.
We shouldn't be ashamed to talk about
our natural bodily functions in any way.
So, I want to talk a bit about
the End Period Poverty campaign,
and what Always is doing to help.
A recent survey was done in the UK,
and these things aren't talked about often enough,
because the results genuinely shocked me.
I guess I always assumed that period poverty
wasn't something that was happening here,
in the UK, in my home.
But, it is.
So, the survey results revealed
that 8% of school girls missed up to five days
of school in the last year,
because they couldn't afford sanitary products.
These girls are missing school,
because of their period,
and something that is very easily solvable
if we just talk about it, and help them,
and give them period products.
85% of school girls said they didn't know
where they could get free sanitary products from,
and when I think about it I'm like,
you know what, I don't know.
Can you get them from your doctor?
I don't think you can,
I don't think you can get them from STI clinicals.
The only obvious place I can think of
is from your school nurse.
But other than that, I'm like,
actually I don't know
where you can get free ones from.
I know where you can get free condoms,
free condoms galore,
but no free sanitary products, what?
91% of school girls admitted
that friends have asked them for sanitary products,
because they couldn't afford any.
You know what, I feel like if periods were a thing
that happened to males,
we wouldn't have period poverty.
It's just a theory.
But, here is what Always is doing to help
end period poverty, and keep girls in school.
So, since International Women's Day,
and up until the 30th of April,
Always are donating one pad per pack sold
in select retailers.
They'll be donating those pads to school girls.
They'll also be donating one pad per social media post
sharing a throwback image of yourself at school,
with #EndPeriodPoverty,
and tagging Always.
I shared my own on International Women's Day.
This is a picture of me in year seven,
so I'm like 11, 12 years old.
To be honest, it sparked a lot of debate
about my natural hair colour.
Am I ginger?
I don't know.
So to reiterate, if you buy a packet
of Always sanitary products in store,
then they will donate one pad.
Also, if you share a picture of yourself,
as a throwback to school with the #EndPeriodPoverty,
and tagging Always, they will also donate a pad.
Also, sharing this stuff on social media helps
get the the word out that this is thing that's happening,
and this is a thing that we need to help end.
Alright, thank you for watching,
I hope you enjoyed this returned episode
of the Hormone Diaries.
Please give them video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it,
if you've missed this series.
Let me know in the comments,
if you know anywhere that you can get
free sanitary products.
Don't forget to subscribe, and hit that notification bell,
so you know when I upload next,
and I'll see you soon, bye.
(upbeat drum tempo)