'Debilitating' period pains causing 'one in three' girls to miss school

A poll of more than 3,000 girls and young women reveals the extent to which periods are causing them problems - as experts warn "all too often" they are living with "debilitating symptoms".

By Mollie Malone, news correspondent

Sunday 21 April 2024 00:57, UK

Why you can trust Sky News

More than a third (36%) of girls in the UK are missing school because of their period pains, according to a new survey.

The poll of more than 3,000 girls and young women aged 12 to 18 - conducted by the charity Wellbeing Of Women and Censuswide - revealed the extent to which periods are causing them problems.

Some 43% said their periods were leaving them unable to eat or sleep, while 92% said they'd experienced such heavy bleeding they'd had to change their daily activities.

Zaynah Ahmed, whose periods started from the age of 11, said she found herself missing a day of school each month because of it. By the time she was 16, it was crippling her.

She told Sky News: "In year 11, there wasn't a single week where I'd been in five days because my period got that bad. It was just like constantly switching painkillers, but nothing was really helping."

Zaynah was eventually diagnosed with both the gynaecological condition adenomyosis and endometriosis. But she says there needs to be better research and education about problems faced by young women with debilitating period pains.

"We need to make menstrual health a real priority across society," Janet Lindsay, the chief executive of charity Wellbeing of Women, told Sky News.

"It's really important because we need to end the shame, stigma, silence that surrounds so many aspects of women's health, but periods in particular."

The survey was commissioned as part of the "Just a period" campaign, which aims to empower women and improve education and resources to help raise awareness about period-related symptoms, which experts say are often dismissed as less serious than other conditions.

GP Dr Aziza Sesay told Sky News: "I have teenagers who come to my clinic not about period symptoms but dragged by their mum who says - tell them about your period…they turn around and say 'no it's just a period, it's fine.'

"So there is this narrative that it is just a period, we don't need to worry about it."

Campaigners and experts are calling for better education, a public health campaign on menstrual health, and routine questioning for women and girls about their periods when they're seen for health checks.

"All too often women and girls are living with debilitating symptoms, waiting to receive support or treatment for far longer than they should," said Ranee Thakar, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

"A 'normal period' will be different for everyone but what is important is that it should not affect everyday activities like going to work or school."

For Zaynah and many other 12-18-year-olds who responded to the survey, periods are doing exactly that, with significant impacts on their everyday lives.

Some 11% responded to say it made them feel like life wasn't worth living.

In response to the survey, Maria Caulfield, the minister for women's health, told Sky News: "Women and girls should not suffer in silence when it comes to painful and heavy periods.

"That's why we are improving information and support available to women, so they don't suffer in silence, including easier access to contraception - which often plays a vital role in managing menstrual problems.

"Health education, including menstruation, is taught to all pupils as part of the mandatory curriculum in schools and should be covered as early as possible."

'Debilitating' period pains causing 'one in three' girls to miss school

Related Topics