[Laughing].
Hi, my name is Bridget. Hi my name is Kai. Today, we're here to talk about periods!
What is a period? So, a period is the shedding of the lining of the uterus.
Typically, it comes out as blood from the capillaries in the uterus,
and
not all people who have periods are women, e.g. me!
But also, not all women have periods. How do I know if my period cramps are normal?
Well, some cramping is definitely normal for most people, but if it's
overly painful and it's causing your day-to-day life to be impacted, then you probably should see a doctor.
Can I swim while I'm on my period? Yes.
This was actually how I first learnt how to use a tampon, so that I could go swimming at Adventure World.
You can use tampons, you can use menstrual cups, or whilst
you're submerged you don't bleed, so you can use nothing at all.
And when you get out of the pool, if you're using nothing at all, maybe bring a dark towel just in case
you have some bleeding when you first get out. What is an irregular period and what causes it?
So, everybody's cycle is different.
Typically, a menstrual cycle will be four weeks, although some people have a six week cycle,
and an irregular period is whatever is unusual for your cycle.
Yeah, and lots of things can make a period irregular.
So, either pregnancy or the contraceptive you're using, or stress, weight changes. Lots of different things can
result in it becoming irregular.
So if any of those things are happening to you and you don't know why, then it's best to see a doctor just to find out.
How can I prepare for my first period?
Cool, so there's lots of things that you can do. I'd
probably start with
preparing a range of different sanitary products,
so that you can try out what's best for you and in different sizes.
And then maybe keep a spare change of underwear on you as well.
This might be particularly good if you're trying to help out a mate if they get their period first.
What is a normal age to get my first period?
I wouldn't say there's a normal age, but typically
you get your first period when you begin puberty, so somewhere between the ages of 10 to 16.
Although, some people can get it a little bit earlier and a little bit later.
What are normal symptoms of PMS? So, PMS is premenstrual syndrome,
and some people don't have any symptoms. Some people have lots. Things like, you can feel really bloated,
just acne breakout in the week coming up to your period.
Lots of emotions sometimes, so feeling frustrated or sad and not really knowing why is often related to the
hormone changes that you're going through. For trans people in particular,
it can be an increased time of dysphoria on top of all the other things that are going on,
so that's just a thing to keep in mind as well. If I'm trying to track my cycle,
do I start counting on the first or last day of my period? Start with the first.
So, um, key for this one is consistency.
You want to track it over time, so over a couple of cycles, a couple of months.
Last one: what colour should my period blood be?
Well, if it's green or purple or any other colour of the rainbow outside a sort of red or brown, then there's probably
something wrong.
But red to brown is normal. Yes. Yeah.
So, as long as it's sort of a blood colour or a dried blood colour, then it's pretty normal. Yeah.
So that's it for all the questions.
Thank you so much for listening, and hopefully we've answered everything that you had in mind.
We just want to end on a final note of don't let your period stop you from doing anything. They're a really normal part of life.