“I couldn’t afford to take regular time off, even though I wanted to”

Much debate surrounded the news story last month about a small business in Bristol that allows female employees to take time off when they have period pain¹. For employers, this might seem like a private or squeamish issue, but when you consider that 5% - 10% of women are affected by very painful periods², and that a study found that up to 14% of women have reported that they’ve been unable to go to work³ because of the discomfort, this in fact becomes a business issue worth consideration.

Its certainly became a business issue for one small financial services company in Edinburgh.

“Working for a small business, obviously I couldn’t afford to take regular time off, even though I wanted to,” says Leanne, PA and office manager. “Sometimes I just wanted to stay in my bed and I dreaded going into work.”

The reason for this wasn’t the work itself, as she loves her job, but rather the debilitating periods she used to suffer, before she underwent an operation to alleviate the problem in 2015. She would struggle into the office, which she shares with the company’s founder and director. “It was awful when you work on a one-to-one basis and you’re not feeling yourself. I just prayed that my period would come at weekends, then it wouldn’t interfere so much with my work.”

But it wasn’t only the monthly pain that affected her at work. She suffered such blood loss that, over time, she became seriously unwell, although she didn’t realise it. “I kept missing or forgetting things that people were saying to me,” she says. “Everything was becoming a strain, even picking up my handbag. But we had just moved house so I put it down to the stress of that.”

She eventually visited her GP, who took a blood sample for tests and by the end of the day had called her to order her straight to hospital. “My blood count was so low that my health was in serious danger. Later my doctors said the worst-case scenario was that I could have had a heart attack because I’d been losing so much blood on a monthly basis that my body wasn’t making enough to catch up,” she says.

She had a blood transfusion, which made her feel immediately better, and then considered her options to resolve her problem. Eventually she opted to have the lining of her womb removed which, via Bupa, she was able to undergo within a couple of weeks of making the decision.

“I thought it was going to be a long recovery time, but it wasn’t at all. I went in in the morning and got out at night and I was really fine after a couple of days. Now I have very little monthly bleeding at all. And because I don’t have the period pain, I don’t feel the PMT and dread it. It’s been completely life-changing.”

This article reflects the specific experience of one woman. There are other treatments for heavy or painful periods which might better suit other women. Your GP or gynaecologist can discuss these with you. The cover you choose will be subject to specific terms and conditions that may apply to your policy. Pre-existing conditions are normally excluded.

^† The name has been changed to protect the member’s identity. However the story is based on real events and factually correct.