I want to be that girl on the telly, you know the one with the bicycle. You know the one who for some reason on her period wants to wear her white short shorts to go with her belly top.The tiny tops that show off her non bloated stomach as she goes go for a cycle around town and most importantly carries her jewellery collection in her adapted bicycle frame , you know just in-case she fancies a change of earrings and necklace mid flow. As my spot speckled chin turned green with envy I did wonder had this huge sanitary brand missed a trick. Or maybe they refuse to acknowledge that for some of us ,periods do not entice us to go for a bike ride, to stick our peachy, white jean shorted bums in the air as we go around town selling our wares and showing that indeed nothing can stop us doing what we want, it is after all our life!
Wouldn’t it had been refreshing to see in that frame storage a spare pair of underwear and clothes, and instead of earrings dangling, it sprung to me that was a waste of a great space to store pads and tampons too. No longer would us women have to suffer the embarrassment at the checkout rummaging through our handbags for change when the tampons spill out everywhere, instead we could go to our trusty tampon locker!
Unfortunately for a-lot of women the mere thought of getting through a days work when our periods arrive means tremendous strength and lots of medication. As a parent it means counting the minutes until bedtime so you can retire to the bed with a hot water bottle and curl up as small as you can to alleviate the pain. That first period after having a child, the memories will never leave me to the day I celebrate the menopause, and I say that tongue firmly in cheek as a woman who even had a that referenced in one medical appointment as a way to cease the pain, but I wasn’t willing to hang up my ovaries and womb at that time of my life!
Yes we know it is not normal, but then why do some people insist that each woman is the same. We don’t all follow the same cycle (thank God can you imagine the carnage), we are our own unique body with our own unique set up. This is not a post to belittle anyone who can ride a bicycle, swim a triathlon or run a marathon by the way, I know many amazing women who have done all that and more and thankfully have a menstrual cycle that co-operates and doesn’t stop life for a week, but I am utterly fed up of the sanitary companies only showing one side of the story. stereotypes are used constantly. We see pretty, happy young women, wearing white, running about town, roller skating,cycling and full of life. Way to make those who suffer in tears at home feel even more isolated. It might be stretching it a bit to see those lovely white shorts drenched in blood or to see a woman curled in a ball clutching her stomach in pain but a happy medium between the two might be nice.
If you do suffer with your menstrual cycle, it is so important to seek help from your GP and get referred to a gynaecologist to discuss how to manage your symptoms and pain. There are a myriad of conditions which may attribute to the pain and the early you seek help the earlier you can hopefully get advice and support. In the meantime do whatever you do to get through those days be it life continuing as normal or sitting on the couch with something that comforts you, and someday when the television turns on we might see a mix of women across all ages, shapes,sizes and lifestyles on our screens. …
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DodeestoDaquiris 
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