Young people's experiences of periods and period pain
Learning about periods: Finding information beyond school lessons
Learning about periods and period pain usually happens over time, bringing together information from a range of people and sources. Most young people we talked to had used a range of approaches at different times and sometimes for different reasons. Sometimes people came across information about periods and period pain when they weren’t really looking for information, or not looking for anything specific, for example on TV programmes, conversations overheard, or social media reels and adverts. Sometimes, people specifically looked for information, for example looking things up on the internet.
Here we cover the places outside of school lessons where young people learned about periods and period pain, and where they looked for information, including. Here we cover the places outside of school lessons where young people learned about periods and period pain, and where they looked for information, including:
- Other people (friends, family, professionals)
- Looking for information on the Internet
- Social media
- Period apps (period tracking apps)
- Other places (adverts, leaflets, books, TV).
Learning about periods and period pain from other people (friends, family, professionals)
While talking about periods could sometimes be difficult [see Talking about periods: Reflections on why talking about periods and period pain can be difficult] when you do and when you don’t), many of the young people we spoke with found talking with friends and family an important way of hearing and learning about periods and period pain.
Talking to family, especially mums and sisters was often the first port of call for support and information, both before and after periods had started. As Amalia explained: ‘I guess I had quite a lot of information. Like I’ve got a lot of women in my family so I know what periods were, so it wasn’t like it was a big shock to me’. A few of the young people we spoke to, like Bella Z, Abi, April and Emily, had mothers who worked as health professionals, or educators about periods, who were a source of reliable information. Bella Z felt that although she ‘wasn’t necessarily prepared’ by what she had learned at school because her mum was a doctor ‘as soon as I got them, obviously I could ask like: “What is this?”’
Sometimes young people talked to family members who described similar experiences of periods and period pain when they were teenagers. Hannah X turned to her mum for advice, but reflected that their similar experiences might influence how they made sense of them. ‘ definitely when I was 14, it was more talking to my mum, but I know she had quite similar experiences to me when she’s younger. So again, it could be quite biassed hearing... like comparing my experiences to hers and if they were quite similar’. April’s mother was surprised by how heavy April’s early periods were, although she has ‘heavy periods and it kinda runs in the family’. Liv, who has been diagnosed with endometriosis [see Healthcare conditions associated with periods and period pain] reflects that her mother’s experience of periods and of endometriosis influenced her looking into this for herself and her own period pain – and without this she might not have known to: ‘if Mum hadn’t brought it up that she has it, I wouldn’t know what it was.’
Sometimes it was similar experiences of periods and period pain between young people and their family that contributed to how they made sense of their periods, including whether to ask for advice from a doctor. Other young people noticed that they had different experiences of periods from their family members, which could also factor into decisions about whether to see a GP [see Healthcare: deciding to see the GP]. Amalia told us how she and her sister seemed to experience different patterns of both pain and bleeding: ‘my sister had completely different though, like her cycle was really strained and she would like bleed a lot, or bleed like nothing at all, it wasn’t as much to do with pain’. Scarlett’s mum worried about the pain Scarlett was experiencing because she ‘never had any problems with periods as you know, in my experience it was just a day of pain and maybe a few days and then it was helped with paracetamol’. Seeing how different her daughters experience was led them to make an appointment to see a doctor.
Ivy initially worried that she was finding her periods painful because of her pain threshold, but she realised this was not the case when they stopped her getting to school.
Ivy initially worried that she was finding her periods painful because of her pain threshold, but she realised this was not the case when they stopped her getting to school.
So I think just comparing myself to friends and like my... my... my Mum struggles with pain, but she was still able to do normal things and maybe need to rest more, but was still getting on with things and going to work and supporting her... her students at school. And I just remember feeling so down when comparing that, because I just felt so different, but also, I didn’t know that I... whether I was just being dramatic and I had a low pain threshold. So, it’s that comparing. And then from that I realised that I... I can’t go on with this... with this anymore. Like, I was missing school, which was then impacting on my grades, and... yeah.
Friends were an important source of information about periods and period pain, including about the range of different experiences and ways periods could affect people. Mia talks to her friends and realises that ‘for a while I didn’t have period pain, and then my other friends and stuff do, and we all have it like different levels’. For Lola ‘most of the time I was just talking to my friends and kind of going: “Do you guys also have this happen every month?”’. Ela said she would ask her friends first if she wanted to find out something about periods: ‘I’m trying to think of like an example of a question: maybe asking friends: “Oh, where do you think...?” blah-blah-blah, “or what do you think...?” blah-blah-blah, and if they don’t know then maybe Google, I guess’.
Jayden was told by a friend that POP tablets can help with period cramps, but not interfere with testosterone treatment. They checked this out with their gender clinic who confirmed this and were glad to learn that these are an option for their pain.
Jayden was told by a friend that POP tablets can help with period cramps, but not interfere with testosterone treatment. They checked this out with their gender clinic who confirmed this and were glad to learn that these are an option for their pain.
Recently a... a friend told me... ’cause I... well, it was a friend that told me about like this research, ’cause... well, ’cause like... well, yeah, like well, it was to my partner, and my partner was like: “This is actually really useful,” ’cause I was actually like in the middle of having just like a really bad, like... so like hour... yeah, hour. And then like he’d said progesterone-only birth control can help with cramps without interfering with being on testosterone. And funnily enough, like pretty much like the next day, or something, I had an appointment with the [place name], like, gender clinic and they said the exact same thing saying that I... it could be something beneficial and... But I... I haven’t given it much thought since, ’cause this was probably like a week ago, or something. But yeah, it’s... it’s something that I’d probably go for because it is bad sometimes.
Learning from friends was easier for those whose periods started later as people gained confidence in talking about periods, or as more of their peers had periods themselves.
Candice started her periods after a lot of her friends, and has turned to them for information. She feels comfortable talking with her family, but thinks this might not be the case for everyone (read by an actor).
Candice started her periods after a lot of her friends, and has turned to them for information. She feels comfortable talking with her family, but thinks this might not be the case for everyone (read by an actor).
Most of my friends hit it way before me, so like if there was something wrong, I’d just go to them and I’d say, “Oh, do you have this? What do I do with this?” Like a lot of them like knew I had problems before like it even reached my family, but my family reached it quite quick, and I could easily talk to them. It was fine. But I feel like I’m blessed to have that, but a lot of other people, like till this day when I speak to them, like they’ll have a lot of problems and they’re telling me about it, but like they’re too scared to tell their families back home, or an adult.
People also had conversations about periods and period pain in healthcare settings. This could include both conversations with nurses or doctors and also with people in the waiting room.
Learning about periods and period pain from looking on the internet
While some of the young people we spoke to said they had not looked for information about periods and period pain on the internet, many others had. While appreciating the internet as an option for information, Iris had preferred to ask her mum, rather than look online. Looking on the internet could include general searching for information about periods and period pain and also sometimes looking for more specific or focussed information. This could be quite wide ranging, for example River and his parent look at published guidance written mainly for health professionals, and Ivy has looked up scientific research papers about health conditions which can be linked with periods and period pain. This more focussed searching meant that young people needed to have an idea about what they might be looking for, which was not always the case.
Sarenna heard about endometriosis from her Mum, and then looked that up on the internet. If her Mum hadn’t mentioned it, she would not have known about it, or looked for more information.
Sarenna heard about endometriosis from her Mum, and then looked that up on the internet. If her Mum hadn’t mentioned it, she would not have known about it, or looked for more information.
If you wanted to find more information... I don’t... have you ever Googled periods, or... or looked for more information or... or tried to find out more on social media,—
Kind of.
—or anything like that? Yeah.
I mean, like, ’cause my Mum was talking about like obviously when I went to the doctor’s, and stuff like that, and then like there was about endometriosis, and stuff, I... I ended up searching that up, and stuff like that, but there’s... there’s not loads, and they’re like... there’s not loads of advice on like how to kind of deal with it, kind of, it’s just more like what the symptoms are, but there’s not loads saying on like what to do, or like what you could do to try and help, it’s more just saying what it’ll feel like, but... yeah.
That was when you looked up endometriosis?
Yeah.
Yeah. And can you remember where you kinda looked, or what sort of, like, where do you like to get information?
And I think I just searched it up on like Google, or something like that, and then I think I went on like... one of them I checked was the actual NHS website, and stuff, but then they don’t... It doesn’t really say much on there. And it just... like even for like just normal period pain, and stuff, and it just mainly says what like... the kind of symptoms, or something, you’ll get on it, but it doesn’t really say much about it, so...
Yeah. How... so yeah, how... did... did that... I mean, I think I’m really, really interested in what you say, so did you feel like you knew what to do? I think you said you didn’t really know what to do after you’d looked that up?
Yeah, I mean, ’cause like there’s not... like I didn’t really know what to do ’cause like I didn’t really know what like why it was hurting that much, ’cause like a lot of my friends like ’cause obviously they get cramps, and stuff, but it wasn’t hurting that much that they had to take time off school, and stuff like that, so then it was more just like there’s... there wasn’t loads on that. Like even... ’cause I didn’t know about endometriosis until my Mum told me, so I wouldn’t have been able to find that out just like... you know, just by myself, so...
We heard a range of perspectives on the helpfulness and reassurance of information found on the internet. Some, like Jade found Google ‘a hundred percent’ helpful when looking for information about her period cycle,
Lily learnt about the menstrual cycle at school but used Google to work out what period products to use, as this wasn’t covered.
Lily learnt about the menstrual cycle at school but used Google to work out what period products to use, as this wasn’t covered.
Can you remember what they said in that assembly or... or what sort of things they covered, and was it just girls or was girl... was it like mixed?
It was mixed and it was more of the menstrual cycle and what happened on it, and it was sort of the biological side, but I... I don’t think I’ve ever had an assembly or a talk on what sort of products you should use or when you should use them and sort of like the level of heaviness to lightness and how to sort of differentiate... differentiate them I guess, which I guess as kind of hard ’cause you had to sort of figure it out yourself or ask other people.
Yeah, and I think that’s really, really interesting and... and something that I’ve heard from quite a lot of people. So that kinda process of figuring out kind of level of heaviness, level of lightness that you figure out for yourself, can you tell me a bit about kinda what that was like for you, maybe how you did that working out?
I think I did a lot of Googling. I... I did search up online sort of like when you should use pads or what’s better, pads or tampons, or sort of they were the only sort of options in my mind anyway before we had period pants and DivaCups and loads of other options. So, I sort of just Googled things, and I went into shops and sort of went: ‘right, OK, how heavy am I?’ And I would just kind of sort of guess and would just think, ‘right, OK, I’ll get normal ones. If they’re not... if they haven’t got the right amount of absorbency, then I have to try heavy ones,’ and I sort of just sort of trial and error.
OK. And did you ever... so when you Googled it, did you... what did you find? Did you find any kinda information that was helpful? What was that like?
It was... it was sort of helpful. It was... there is a lot of information out there. I... I can’t particularly remember what I would Google, but it would be something along the lines of sort of: ‘when should you use tampons and when should you use pads?’ ’cause we were educated a lot about toxic shock syndrome, quite a lot with tampons, ’cause one of the girls in my school passed away from it. So, we... I think we were educated a lot more than other schools were educating others on it. So, I was a bit scared to try tampons at first, so I sort of was more Googling pads and absorbency. And you see a lot of adverts online for... for pads, and so I sort of just, I guess, trial and error with Google and a mixture of going into shops and... yeah.
For a number of people, the NHS website was a place they felt comfortable starting to look for information. As Poppy put it, she tends to use the NHS website because she knows it is ‘viable’, and Hannah X would tend to ‘not look outside of that’. Abi uses the NHS website when she wants to find out something or if a medication is suggested: ‘I definitely have looked on the NHS website for a lot of stuff. And also, any time I would start a new contraception, or I’d start a new medication for it, I’d always look on the NHS website, and like I wanted to know the side effects and things like that’. However, Jayden said the NHS site was ‘the first thing that always comes up is like the... like the NHS website, you know, that that’s always like the first thing that comes up and that’s not something that I found particularly helpful’, and Rosie said she had found it a ‘bit generic’.
Rosie finds the NHS website ‘conducive to like being able to just read it and understand that that’s factual, and it’s sort of comforting’. The advocacy website Brook was another example of a resource that was found to be helpful.
Rahma was signposted to a sexual health website through school resources. She found this really useful. She read about various conditions, and also about using hormonal contraception as a treatment for period pain (read by an actor).
Rahma was signposted to a sexual health website through school resources. She found this really useful. She read about various conditions, and also about using hormonal contraception as a treatment for period pain (read by an actor).
Yeah, I’m interested in what you kinda found when you went out to look up periods, hormones, women...?
Yeah. I think I... at my sixth form it was quite interesting: we had lots of signposts for different things that we could use. So, one of them was, I think, a sexual wellbeing website called Brook, but I think that’s in [city name], maybe?
No, no that one’s national, I think.
National. I don’t know.—
Yeah, I think that one is, yeah.
But... yeah. I think that one was quite interesting because it was very comprehensive. They sort of had a list of all the different contraception types and that’s kind of how I realised: ‘OK, a lot of the side effects make sense,’ ’cause they list some of the side effects. And I think, yeah, what my friends are telling me about, makes more sense. But then through that, I think I started coming across things like: OK, so there’s not just temporary contraception, there’s also permanent contraception, like things like tubal ligation or vasectomies and things like that. And then I realised, OK, what about infertility? Because I know that some people... I think contraception is for people who do not want to get pregnant, but infertility is a little bit more like the choice is a little... the choice is less your own now because your body kind of decided for you that you’re... it’s going to be harder. So I thought, ‘OK, is there just one flat condition that makes you in... infertile?’ But no, there’s all these different things, and PCOS was one of them, and... yeah.
Yeah, that’s really interesting. Do you think if your school hadn’t signposted you, would you ever have found the Brook’s website?
No.
No.
No. I think I just saw it and I was like: ‘I could use it for, like, education ’cause I have no idea what... what’s going on,’ you know?
So, you got the signposting but not necessarily the... the lessons, but they did...? And you said that you had done quite... I mean, you’ve obviously done quite a lot of reflecting on hormonal contraception and you’ve come across it as a thing to use in periods: do you have any thoughts on what your perspective on that would be?
That’s the thing. I do know one person specifically, and I think when I was looking for the... when I was doing the first research for the Brooks thing, she... I had her in mind, because in secondary school she was actually using birth control for her periods. So, I did also understand that... ’cause unfortunately a lot of people assume: ‘oh, birth control, are you in a relationship?’ you know? Whereas actually, no, you don’t have to be in a relationship to have birth control. You do not have to be with somebody to have birth control; a lot of people use it for different things like period pain, you know.
Not everyone found looking at websites as helpful however. Sage finds that information about periods is ‘not really helpful on the internet’. Candice has used the internet to check out things she has experienced to see if they are normal or she should get them checked out, although this could be reassuring, she also worried that ‘Google doesn’t give you the full answer, and... like... and the reality of it’.
Anayaa, and others, worried about how reliable online information was. She finds the internet a ‘good way to get information, but some information can be wrong…'
Reham thinks that looking periods and period pain on the internet tends to reinforce stereotypical facts about them, especially about being emotional, which she did not find helpful.
Reham thinks that looking periods and period pain on the internet tends to reinforce stereotypical facts about them, especially about being emotional, which she did not find helpful.
Have you ever kinda looked up or tried to find out more about periods? Do you know where you would look for information?
Well, I’ve looked on the internet, but like that wouldn’t really help that much. It would tell you... it wouldn’t tell you the average, but it would tell you like the stereotypical things about periods, like it wouldn’t find out much about it. So, whenever I do go on the internet, I try to look for female... Females that are talking about it so I can like... They will know more about it than a male person.
Yeah, OK. So, you want somebody who’s got a bit of experience,—
Dealing with it themself.
—probably themselves, yeah. And that’s really interesting what you say about the internet not being that helpful, ’cause it’s mostly stereotypical. Can... huh, can you tell me a bit about what you... ’cause I think that’s really intr... that makes total sense to me.
For me, I feel like it just talks about how, oh, yeah, women get more emotional in their periods, oh they’re gonna bleed this amount of time, blah-blah-blah. Like it wouldn’t give you necessarily things that you wanna look for, like: “Oh, what should I do, what should I get that would actually help me, or what things that... and like what are things that would make me feel better?” blah-blah-blah, etc, etc, but it’ll... it just gives us stereotypical things like: “Oh, if you’re... if you’re feeling very... if a woman’s feeling very sad, she’s probably on her period: I think you might need to get her some chocolate,” you know?
So—
I’m interested in chocolate and periods. I... I generally don’t know who keeps that idea.
Zaynah has searched for information online but finds it is not always relevant, and has learned over time, through conversations with her Mum and doctors, that some of what she reads may be inaccurate.
Zaynah has searched for information online but finds it is not always relevant, and has learned over time, through conversations with her Mum and doctors, that some of what she reads may be inaccurate.
And without your Mum saying that, were they things that you’d come across at school, or was that the first time you heard of them?
Yeah, through my Mum, yeah.
OK. And when you heard those words, what did you do? Did you...
I definitely Googled them of course. Yeah, I Googled them and... yeah. But I find Google’s not always the best source of information because it gives you the set definition of something and that’s not always right and it’s not always one-size-fits-all either, so... yeah.
Yeah. So how do you work out... I guess that’s the thing, isn’t it, how you work out which bits—
Yeah.
—are...?
I feel like that’s quite tough to do because like if you’re immediately hearing it and you’re still quite young, you’re going to immediately like listen to Google and think whatever Google’s saying is correct. But then I find that as you... if you go to a doctor and you bring it up, or even by speaking to my Mum, you realise that Google’s not always entirely correct.
The internet could be a bit daunting or worrying. Lola tries to ‘avoid Google as much as I can with anything to do with my health, just because you’ll Google one thing and all of a sudden you’ve got cancer of four different types and think you’ve got two months left to live’. Other worries could include whether what they were reading was accurate and how they might know. April worries ‘there’s nothing really, unless you go searching, there’s not... the resources are a bit... you don’t know what’s reliable; you would have to go and research it all yourself’. Finding resources and information that was relevant for young people was something that Zaynah, Liv and Ivy all observed could be difficult. Ivy summarised this in her experience of looking for information online: ‘It’s always been like generic and sort of scientific based, so nothing from young people’s experiences’.
Zaynah found it difficult to find online accounts from young people with similar experiences of periods, pain, and related health conditions, but discovered some on social media, which helped her feel less isolated.
Zaynah found it difficult to find online accounts from young people with similar experiences of periods, pain, and related health conditions, but discovered some on social media, which helped her feel less isolated.
Yeah, yeah, quite often. Like when I was seeing all those gynaecologists, like loads of different ones all at once, in that period, a lot of them were just like: “You’re quite young,” like: “it’s surely not this,” which like often didn’t feel very nice, because then I would often go back and Google it and see if I could find anyone online who was younger than the ages of like 40 and who had it, or like... yeah.
So... Oh, I see, so you were looking for other young people who might—?
Yeah. And that was quite difficult to do. I don’t think I like found any at the beginning, and then through TikTok and like Instagram, so through social media, that’s how I started to find people that did in fact have these issues or were now in like their 20s, but these issues started when they were teenagers, yeah.
As well as looking for more factual information, internet forums, like Reddit and Quora were a place where some people like Bella, Jayden and River found information about periods and period pains. This could be experienced as a bit more experiential and relatable. For River, this was a place where he found other young people with experiences he could relate to.
Bella finds the experiences in web forums helpful in terms of ideas about things to try and finding people with similar experiences. She recognises they may not always have a scientific base, so uses these alongside NHS and more scientific websites.
Bella finds the experiences in web forums helpful in terms of ideas about things to try and finding people with similar experiences. She recognises they may not always have a scientific base, so uses these alongside NHS and more scientific websites.
What draws you to different kinds of information, or what you find trustworthy? Like would you trust the stuff at school, or do you find this dif... do you see what I mean?
For me personally, I like to use multiple sort of resources to kind of formulate my opinions. So, I like seeing the more scientific side of thing and stuff posted in the NHS website and other scientific sort of websites that have, you know, references, and I can tell that they’re pretty valid.
Yeah.
And then I like to go onto places like Reddit and where... where more... Quora, stuff like that where experiences are shared, because even though they’re... you know, they’re not an entirely scientific back... there’s still people who have experiences and sometimes other people’s experiences are similar to your own, so the ways that they cope... help... can help you.
Yeah.
So that’s what I find.
So that’s what you tend to look for?
Yeah
Finally, some people reflected that how confident they felt in the value of looking things up online was impacted by their understanding of the historical lack of research into health conditions in women, including periods and endometriosis. For Rahma ‘there seems to not be a lot of research. There seems to not be a lot of prioritisation of women’s health, or like actually people taking it seriously. And maybe the fact that a lot of health care and a lot of medicine is to do with the male body’. Within this, Scarlett noticed specifically how ‘there wasn’t really a lot of research whenever I was looking it up. Personally, I couldn’t see anything to do with it, I only saw like stuff to do with older women like 30-year-olds and 40-year-olds’.
Learning about periods and period pain: social media
Some of the young people we spoke to, like Willow, did not have their own phone and was not on social media yet, though does sometimes look at YouTube. While Liv thought that ‘as teenagers we’re... we’re so on social media all the time, on TikTok, Facebook, you know, Twitter, Instagram’, others like Hannah X ‘wasn’t on social media very much at all at that age’, and Poppy had chosen to delete her social media.
From young people with access to social media, we heard a range of ways in which they came across information about periods and period pain, and a range of thoughts on how they found this.
Sometimes, information about periods and period pain was encountered incidentally – whereby young people would see adverts and reels about periods in their feed, that they hadn’t especially looked for or searched up. Lucia explained how ‘Yeah, I guess there’s some videos they might... I might see, but I wouldn’t like search them up’, and Jade found that ‘sometimes I might get the odd video that’s fallen into the algorithm that’s just like someone complaining about their period, but it’s not really ways to fix it’.
April sometimes gets information about periods through social media on her feed, but this is mostly product adverts, with sometimes some humorous relatable clips or facts (read by an actor).
April sometimes gets information about periods through social media on her feed, but this is mostly product adverts, with sometimes some humorous relatable clips or facts (read by an actor).
Do you ever get kinda information about periods? I don’t know if you use TikTok or Instagram or... or any... well, mainly TikTok I guess?
April: I def... I definitely see a lot of like ads on TikTok, like... you know, like pads and stuff, like stuff like that, but other than that, no, not really. Like we said relatable TikToks about it, and stuff, but other than that, not really, no.
OK. What are the relatable TikToks about? Are they...?
Mum: Are they jokes, like names and…is that what you mean?
April: And maybe it’s like... and yeah, and maybe it’s just like jokes and like things that like people find relatable. I don’t know, like... or like just like ads about like pads, stuff like that, like...
Yeah. So, more things to buy?
April: Yeah.
But not facts about pain or things to do... any health things?
April: People do put like facts and like help and advice on there, but it’s not really like what I find on my feed; it’s not my kinda like feed.
No, OK. OK, so there are facts, but you’d... you’ve not... they’ve not particularly been coming to you or you’d not really been looking for them?
No, they don’t really come to me, no.
Other young people actively looked for information about periods and period pain on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Anayaa gets 'ads and stuff about it on TikTok, and I find it interesting to learn about ’cause like I’m a girl, so I should know stuff’ and Emily X ‘had heard they were painful and heavy through social media’. Social media platforms were also a place where some young people looked for and found information and advice that they adopted or tried to help them manage their periods and period pain.
Reham looks online and on social media for advice about practical things she can try which might help her with managing her periods and period pain. She would also use it to find out when to see a doctor.
Reham looks online and on social media for advice about practical things she can try which might help her with managing her periods and period pain. She would also use it to find out when to see a doctor.
Have you looked anywhere... what about things like social media?
Social media: I have looked there a few times, and it has helped me a bit, like especially with female creators, like that’s... and that’s what I ever I go onto, and they’ve helped me a lot and they’ve told me about like: “Oh, this is what you should do, this is what not to do, this would be very bad for you, this would be very good for you,” like they’ve given me actual advice that I could use.
OK. So... so influencers, is that Tik... TikTok, Instagram, a bit of both?
Some TikToks, and yeah, usually TikTok.
So, what sort of things have they recommended that you’ve found helpful?
They... some of them have recommended me like things, like different foods. Like some people have told me to put honey and like, not boil, but like heat up a lot of... some milk, which sounds really weird, but honey and milk... hot milk, actually go well together and it actually helps.
OK.
And like they’ve given me different things like: “Oh, put a sleeping mask on, that would really help your kind of...” why it might help you with your dizzy and dizziness, if you do feel that. And some of them have even given me like yoga things, like: “Oh, people this... sleep in this position and that would help you, do this.” There’re some pressure points that you can use, which I think are really helpful.
OK. So, you’ve actually found those things incredibly helpful, and they’ve been things that nobody taught you at school, but that you’ve picked up from influence, so people who’ve got experience of it?
Mm.
OK. Hot milk and honey sounds great. And then, so yoga positions and pre... pressure points,—
Yeah.
—and things to help with sleep. Are there any things that they’ve said definitely don’t do, or things that you’ve tried that haven’t helped?
Well, some of them have been like trying to... some of them have tried to like... how to explain them very well, but some of them have like tried to be like: “Oh, you could talk about this to a doctor, or something, but from my own experience doctors don’t usually do much.” And some of them have even tried to be like: “Oh, you can use it for a lot of things to get what you want.” I agree, since I used to do that in primary school, but that’s not what I’m looking for specifically. But it wouldn’t... it would give me some advice, but it wouldn’t be helpful to me. Like it might be helpful to others, but I wouldn’t relate to that.
Yeah. I’m interested in your experience that doctors don’t usually do a lot: are there things that you would like them to do that you would find helpful?
I would like them to look more into, like, periods instead of just the effects of it. Like I’d like to see how it can... and like how it can make me feel better, how I can feel better when I’m on my period. But I don’t really have a clear idea of what they could do, no.
Some people found this reassuring and supportive and a way to find people with experiences that resonated with their own. Amalia told us how for her social media was ‘relatable’ and ‘kinda like validating ’cause you can get... everyone else has it a lot worse than you do, so you’re not alone, yeah’. Social media spaces also helped Zaynah feel less ‘lonely’.
Ivy found social media a lifeline in the early days of her periods. She felt less isolated and alone and found the advice about seeking help was invaluable for her.
Ivy found social media a lifeline in the early days of her periods. She felt less isolated and alone and found the advice about seeking help was invaluable for her.
Absolutely, it was so important. And it was actually nice to... it made me... me feel less lonely because for the first... first two or three years on my period I felt so alone in it and I thought it was just me having those pains, but actually it’s not, and there’s millions of people out there who are also experiencing these pains. You know, one in 10 people have en... endometriosis, so it shouldn’t be as taboo as it is and it shouldn’t be unheard about.
So, it was from... so I see, So the first... and when you looked for information, you went to the NHS website?
Yeah, I remember, and just sort of typing in ‘period pain’ and that was the first one which came up, and that sort of led on to my more deeper research into different articles, news extracts, even using so... social media like TikTok, especially TikTok which really influenced me, you know? Just putting ‘period pain’ into the search bar and seeing doctors who have actually gone onto that plat... and onto that platform as influencers and saying “if you’re in this much pain, it’s not normal”, and gi... and they sort of give more ed... and they gave me more education on social media about these things, which are so needed.
River has found using social media sites ‘amazing’, including learning by following the advice of advocates and influencers.
Ela thinks the community on social media can help normalise periods and period pain, and frame them in a more positive way, which could reduce stigma about periods.
Ela thinks the community on social media can help normalise periods and period pain, and frame them in a more positive way, which could reduce stigma about periods.
I’m not really a big Instagram user. There’s not so much on Snapchat, because it’s quite different, but but TikTok definitely. I mean there’s... again, it’s like this sort of community, obviously not anonymous, but the fact people still talk about it on there a lot which is kind of what I was saying about people very much normalising it, and I think that’s why like a big thing is it’s normalised on social media so people kind of normalise it now, and I think if anyone was to ever say like: “Ugh, why are you talking about your period?” I think they would get a lot of hate.
Like ’cause it’s very like I wouldn’t... I don’t know how to explain it, but the sort of minor feminists of the world would be like: “Why are you trying to shut us down for talking about our bodies?” which I think is really good.
Elsa sees ‘jokes and stuff’ about periods on social media sites. From her perspective, ‘I think it’s good that, you know, if people can joke about it, it means they can talk about it, so that’s good’. In Emily X wrote that ‘I think it is important to understand that the embarrassing stories on social media about periods will not happen to everybody’. Candice finds TikTok is ‘mainly teenagers who are really open’, which for her makes it feel like ‘a safe space ’cause like people actually speak about the side effects, and they post them’.
However, there were also people who worried about the reliability of all of the information.
Bella Z hasn’t looked periods and period pain up on social media. While she recognises the experiences could be quite relatable, she worries about the reliability of the information.
Bella Z hasn’t looked periods and period pain up on social media. While she recognises the experiences could be quite relatable, she worries about the reliability of the information.
Yeah, I’ve never actually like searched anything up about it on there, but obviously TikTok, you usually get like loads of videos like about anything that you search up. So, people might think to do that. But obviously I don’t think it’s the best idea because, I... I... I don’t know, you might get people saying the wrong thing. I don’t know, it’s not always that reliable. But I’ve never actually tried it, but it might be helpful; I’m not too sure. But I think it’s probably better to more search up like not from other people’s... Well, obviously other people’s perspective as well, but I think the internet and actually getting from like a medical opinion, as well, is probably helpful. But I guess you could... can’t then get the experience, so TikTok might be helpful to see how other people like have dealt with it as well, yeah.
While many people found information that felt relevant to them, this was not always the case, especially if people had specific worries or experiences or other health conditions.
Although she has found looking some things up on social media helpful, Hannah has not found experiences that fully reflect hers, which limited how useful she found it.
Although she has found looking some things up on social media helpful, Hannah has not found experiences that fully reflect hers, which limited how useful she found it.
And do you get kind of influencer or posts on TikTok or Instagram?
Yeah, I see things like that, but yeah, I've definitely used that for looking for like more like personal opinions of different like what people think and also things like. When I was on desogestrel, I was like seeing what other people's experiences with that were. So, it's a bit more personal than like looking at the science because I don't understand that. I'd rather just know if someone says it's good or not. Then yeah, I’d search up what other people were doing to help it.
And did you find things that we useful on that?
Er not massively, no.
When you are looking for it, what sort of things would make it connect with you? Like do you have a hunch of what sort of information you would find helpful to get?
I mean, I've not, like, found as many people that because obviously a lot of people have really bad pains, but I've not found many that actually throw up quite a lot from it. So, I think that's a big factor. Erm, and a lot, because a lot of people do just go on the combined pill and that's just not, I'm not allowed to do that. So, it's there's not many other people like, it's just quite a lack of specifically what's wrong, like my problems if you know what I mean so it’s quite hard. And I'm just, yeah, looking for someone that's like that and then. Because I don't know treatment or like medication that's helped them to try.
Learning about periods and period pain: period apps and menstrual tracker apps
A number of young people used period tracking apps, often on their phones, to help monitor and predict when they might have their period bleeding. Some people told is about how they also used period app functions to monitor other things they experienced in their period cycle, like pain, emotional changes, and nausea.
Emily uses a cycle tracker to log symptoms with her period cycle, including some symptoms she hadn’t known before could be linked to periods, which she found helpful.
Emily uses a cycle tracker to log symptoms with her period cycle, including some symptoms she hadn’t known before could be linked to periods, which she found helpful.
I do have a cycle tracker and you can log your symptoms on that, and some of the symptoms are symptoms I didn’t know you could get, which is quite a good warning almost that: oh, if you’re bloated, or if... I’m trying to think of some of the other things, but it’s normal, it’s OK to have it around that sort of time.
As for Emily, this could be a useful way of learning about periods and period pain in it’s own right. However, some people had used period apps, like Flo, which had a chat function, where young people could ask questions, or view questions and answers that other people had posted. While not everyone found these helpful, for example Abi ‘I’ve got the period tracker and I looked at the communities for a little bit, but I didn’t find any of it helpful’, a number of other young people did find this useful for them.
Bella found the anonymous chat function on her tracker app a place where she could learn about her body, and which helped her not feel alone. She appreciated the sharing of experiences and saw them as a place where older women can support younger ones.
Bella found the anonymous chat function on her tracker app a place where she could learn about her body, and which helped her not feel alone. She appreciated the sharing of experiences and saw them as a place where older women can support younger ones.
And if you were going to look for information about periods, what sort of places would you look?
I would usually just go onto Google, like a lot of people and just type up on Google, ‘what’s this thing?’ But I... I think I’d have done a pay wall now, but Flo you used to have a Secret Chats sort of thing, so an anonymous chat place and they had so many different articles and so many different people talking about their periods, and I felt I got a lot of dif... hear about different people’s experiences it very much helped because it didn’t make me feel as alone. And it wasn’t just about periods, it was more about women’s health in general. So, it help me learn more about my body from a perspective that wasn’t, you know, from something that was quite generalised, or from a very like religious sort of conservative perspective.
So, you actually found the chatroom and the shared experience on Flo really helpful. And you’ve... it sounds like you found mapping and understanding your cycle through using an app really helpful?
Yeah, so having something to track everything, it’s really good.
And were there things that you learnt about on Flo that you’d never heard of—
Yeah.
—you know?
So many things, not just relating to periods, but just general like sexual health and stuff to do with being a woman in general, like for example something I can think about... like discharge and stuff like that, just... and I thought... I... I literally thought I was like my... I was broken.
Yeah.
I thought I was broken when I first saw that discharge, I was like: ‘oh, my gosh, I’m peeing myself,’ but I wasn’t, it was just discharge. I... I wasn’t taught about that, I wasn’t taught that was a normal function of your body.
Are there any other kind of final things that you’ve thought about that we haven’t covered?
Not from my experience. I just... I think I know I’d like to have and that isn’t referenced to the guide and I’d like is to have somewhere where I can have a mixture of understanding from a objective and a scientific standpoint of what’s actually happening: these are, you know, the hormones you’re gonna face with your menstrual cycle, this is why you’re... this is why you’re cramping. You don’t even know why you’re cramping, a lot of people just say, “I have cramps,” but they, you’re like: “Why are you cramping?” “And it was just my... my period, my tummy,” well, that’s not your tummy, it’s your uterus, so that sort of thing. And then having like a subjective viewpoint on the whole things. So, opinions and experiences and secret... like it was called ‘Secret Chats’ with a little like a Zorro mask on Flo, but stuff like that, like forums and places where young people and like... and it’s not even young people, ’cause older people can help younger people, but, you know, just places where experiences can be shared.
Yeah, so that you can not...—
Yeah.
—but you said earlier when you were talking about Flo, that you realised you weren’t the only person—
Yeah.
This 'community’ of real-world experience was something that some young people, like Scarlett also appreciated. She found the information and articles practically helpful and valued the global community of people coming together to share information on a topic that could be difficult to talk about: ‘it was just like loads of women all over the world could just talk about one specific topic that was very hushed away and like, you know, told to just keep it secret, which I’m very, very happy about’. Sage saw the chat on the app with a friend and was ‘scrolling for like hours’ on the ‘anonymous section where they like talk about period pain, or they talk about menstrual cycle, or just like a bunch of stuff, and that was really helpful'. For some, these chatrooms could be experienced as a safe way to find out or ask for information about periods and period pain. Ela heard about ‘lots of bits of information like stuff that I’ve not necessarily heard from teachers’ on the app. She would use it to see when she had a question about something to do with her periods: ‘I would always go onto Flo, see what they say, if... and they would say if there’s anything you should watch out for like spotting’.
Lily found the 'secret talks' on her tracking app supportive during her periods and pain, connecting her with others with similar experiences. These shared insights also helped her decide to give hormonal contraceptive treatment "a go."
Lily found the 'secret talks' on her tracking app supportive during her periods and pain, connecting her with others with similar experiences. These shared insights also helped her decide to give hormonal contraceptive treatment "a go."
What sort of things made it feel like a good website to look at for you, if you see what I mean?
NHS websites I think were... were really important to... to look at because they are... they are trusted throughout the whole of the UK. And I definitely did... did look at the NHS website and sort of... I also used the Flo app, and they have like secret talks on there about their experiences, so I would sort of... it would come up on there like what pad should you use, what’s helpful. And so that also did bring me to the whole world of periods and sort of helped me through... through all of it, I guess.
Yeah, yeah. And the Flo... the chat that you were accessing on Flo, which is also something that actually I really wasn’t expecting that I’ve... that I’ve heard from lots and lots of people about, is that... and that’s the chat function that... where people post the kinda Q&A board, is that right?
Yeah, yeah, that’s correct.
And... and that was something that you found really helpful?
I think it was probably one of the most helpful things because you would see sort of... you’d worry about abnormalities with your periods and you would see, you know, you’d... you’d search up: “Is this normal in my periods?” or, “has anyone ever experienced this with their periods?” and then you would sort of look on that chat and see other people’s experiences and you’d go: ‘oh, right, OK, it’s normal,’ or, ‘this other person’s experienced it, so I’m not alone in this situation.’
OK. And what sort of things were you kinda wanting to check out whether it’s normal or not? You talked about heaviness of bleeding. Were there other things that you worried about or was that the...?
Period pain as well. Obviously, I... I found out the root of like endometriosis and... and sort of, you know, it’s not normal to feel that much pain, ’cause I... I did have a lot of horrific experiences with my periods in the past.
OK. OK. Can you tell me a bit about the pain that you’ve had with your periods, kind of, was it always there when it started, and... and what you kinda thought, what you... but yeah, what you thought, where you looked for information, or anything like that?
I think before I started using Flo, or before I went on those secret chats, or where... I... I would be sort of on the floor in pain feeling really, really sick, and like I couldn’t go to school because they were so painful. And I just thought that was normal, to be honest. I just thought that’s sort of how... how everyone experiences period pain – but appar... apparently not – because I... and compared to others, I did compare to others and so... “Do you experience this?” like: “No,” so I just thought I was a bit unlucky really with... with my period pain.
— from websites? Or were you given any other links?
I did have a look on Google and sort of those sort of links. And the NHS website I did look at. And it does come up with the side effects. And you sort of read the statistics on those different apps and you sort of level out: ‘OK, what’s the likelihood of this happening to me?’ And you sort of weigh that up and you think, ‘I’m in pain. I need to regulate this. I’ll just try it.’ Because you’d... you’d sort of weigh up the statistics on websites and... and Flo. I definitely did look at Flo with all of this, and I... I saw that people were still recommending it, even though you had all of those side effects, and I just thought, ‘if these people think it’s all right, then I’ll give it a go.’
OK, brilliant. But you think that that is a worry for lots of people?
Yeah. I think if... if we didn’t have access to the internet and support from other people that are online with the same experiences and worries, I think we’d all be a lot more worried and a lot more anxious about... about these sorts of things, definitely.
Yeah. So, it’s actually, that’s been a massive source of comfort for you?
Yes, yeah.
However, it was noted by several young people that sometimes app features like resources and conversations were behind a pay wall which could make the chat function expensive. This added to the general expense that came with having periods and period pain, and an additional burden that young people experience because of periods and period pain.
Ivy has found the information on apps helpful, but the cost of them makes them inaccessible for her. She thinks it is a lot of money for a teenager to have to pay.
Ivy has found the information on apps helpful, but the cost of them makes them inaccessible for her. She thinks it is a lot of money for a teenager to have to pay.
Yeah, so I’ve used numerous apps, like I used to use Flo to control my periods, but there’s certain features which you’ve got to pay for, which is like £50 a year, and although I was tracking my periods on it, I found that it wasn’t being accurate. So, I’ve used four or five different apps, and although it’s given me some information, like it can give you certain facts, and stuff, I know on Flo there’s like a sort of blog article page, but you’ve got to pay. You can, like, view the first few lines and then pay a like annual fee to view the rest, so even if you try and look for the... the... the information you’ve... you’ve still got to pay for it.
So, it’s so close, but so far.
Exactly, that’s exactly it. So you go to the effort of getting the app and putting in your... your details and then you’re made to pay, and when you’re 13, 14, you can’t afford £54 a year to view, like, different ways you can manage your period, especially, I suppose a... a lot of information about diet on there, so obviously eating spinach con... containing iron can help your period, and stuff like that.
Learning about periods and period pain from other places: (adverts, leaflets, books, TV)
A number of young people had learned about periods and period pain from books. Sometimes these had been given to them when they were young, and sometimes they had gone out to look for them, for example in the local library. Willow had been given several books about periods by her mum, before they started. She said ‘I think the books were the best, ’cause it’s like not actually talking to someone, and yet it helps you know about it’, although she was not very keen on the diagrams in one of her books! Abi and April had also both been bought and supported with books about periods and puberty by their mothers.
Rosie borrowed a book from the library about growing up, and that was how she had learned about periods when she was about 8 or 9.
Rosie borrowed a book from the library about growing up, and that was how she had learned about periods when she was about 8 or 9.
So, you said you had to kinda find things out yourselves. Can you tell me a bit about that, kinda where you looked or what you found and what that was like?
I had a family who was like obsessed with the library. So, my dad would take us every Saturday and I’d sort of take out the American Girl doll books that were like ones about growing up. Or like, I don’t know what American girl scouts is called, but it was there was like sort of information books about like, you know, how to... cute hairstyles, or whatever, and one of them was about periods, and I was like: ‘OK, I’ll read this one.’ So, I did. And that was maybe when I was about eight or nine. And obviously, it feels very grown up and like something that you should look forward to.
Another place where young people read information and learned about periods and period pain were posters and leaflets. These could include leaflets handed out and posters up in schools. For example, at Lily’s school there were posters in school about toxic shock syndrome (TSS): ‘we have had, you know, posters around saying, “Do you have these symptoms? This is when you should go to the doctor. So, there is support there in the fact of posters and things you can read in toilets and around the school’. Jian remembers getting ‘most of my information that I have would be from back in secondary school where they would give us a talks and hand out leaflets and stuff like that'. The leaflets and package inserts on products and medications were also something young people turned to for learning about products and medication, for example for Hannah X tried hormonal contraception tablets as medicine for her period pains ‘I think both times they gave me the sort of standard advice on when it works as contraception, I suppose when I was 14, just in case I was trying to use it for that under the guise of period pain. And then I think other than that, it was just sort of the leaflet that comes in the box’. Period product boxes were also potential sources of learning, for example Ela was given a box of tampons by her mum when her period first started and ‘she handed me a box, she must have picked them up on the way home, and she told me to read the instructions on the thing’. Reading the side of a tampon box was where Grace heard of TSS, rather than in any other educational setting.
Ivy made sense of some of the side effects she was noticing on hormonal contraception when she read about them in the leaflet in the box they came in.
Ivy made sense of some of the side effects she was noticing on hormonal contraception when she read about them in the leaflet in the box they came in.
Yeah, so after I was sort of put on the pill, I remember going back to the doctor’s and being like: “This is making me... me feel quite low and depressed and really anxious,” because I suffer with anxiety anyway, so it was sort of adding on to that and then impacting on me going to school, because if... if I’m anxious, I’m not wanting to go into school and see people. So, I sort of went back to the doctor’s and they put me on a different pill, I can’t remember the name of it, it was a... a few years ago, then I tried that for a couple of months and I still wasn’t getting on with that. I found that I couldn’t stop eating ’cause I was really hungry, but I didn’t know why, because again that I hadn’t been told the side effects of these pills. I’d been given the box and the list... the list of... of symptoms, the hundreds of symptoms, but I hadn’t read through it probably ’cause I was still young, and... yeah.
As well as materials inside or on products, Poppy reflected on how periods and period pain were represented in advertising, and how she did not think connected with her real-life experience. Linked with this, Rosie notices that period related adverts tend to be ‘gendered’ and ‘quite girly’, which she thinks is not representative of many people who menstruate.
Poppy thinks adverts that minimise periods and period pain or represent it in ways that don’t connect with the reality of them can be a bit irritating and weird.
Poppy thinks adverts that minimise periods and period pain or represent it in ways that don’t connect with the reality of them can be a bit irritating and weird.
I think anything that helps, and anything that works for you, is brilliant. You know, there are... whatever method, you know, you wanna do, or you wanna try something different, I just think that any... any help is brilliant to just stop it and just wipe it out, because it... It really is time consuming and that’s something that really irritated me, you know, you see all those stupid adverts on TV when they’re riding horses in white and it’s just incredibly impractical. And for a lot of people that’s not what it looks like. And yeah, I just think, you know, it is... it’s a really horrible thing to have to go through and really quite depressing as well; it can make you really down. So yeah, I think any method and any way to prevent that or to stop it being really bad, is great, yeah.
When I did have Instagram, that I can’t... I can never remember any adverts being actually about periods, but I recently deleted all social media. I’ve never had TikTok, so I wouldn’t be able to comment, but I do have Pinterest, and I do see always adverts on there, and it’s just sort of someone lying in bed; I think they’re for night pads, or something. But the ones on TV, I think are just the weirdest thing ever. And they purposely... I feel like it’s the... the opposite of what they’re doing, is what they’re trying to achieve, so a lot of them are just really quite weird and odd, and then that makes people think, ‘oh, that’s weird, that’s odd,’ and they associate that with periods, and it’s like: ‘oh, well, we’re back to... back to square one.’ Yeah, I just...
I mean, and I don’t know, because I sort of think, ‘well, what would you make a period advert about?’ and I don’t really... it’s a bit of a tricky one, but I certainly wouldn’t put, you know, someone dancing about in a white outfit as a... because it’s not true, it’s not accurate for a lot of people. I mean... and it per... perfectly might be for some people, you know, that’s what, you know, some people might not have heavy periods, you know, I’m luckily... lucky that I don’t now, but I feel like, yeah, for a lot of people, they are painful and don’t, you know, really want to be dancing and doing other activities.
Finally, a few people learned about periods, period pain and health conditions that can be linked with periods like endometriosis through mainstream media, like TV programme storylines and radio programmes.
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