Good Menstrual Health: 7 Period Red Flags You Shouldn't Ignore

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Have you missed your period? Do you experience pain before, during, or after your menstrual cycle? These are red flags. Menstrual troubles may affect a woman’s general health. Good Menstrual Health should be distinguished by age of menarche, length of the menstrual cycle, excessive bleeding, clots, and persistent intermenstrual bleeding.

What are the red flags?

There are many different red flags that you might experience during your period. Some of the most common include cramping, chronic pain, sexual exhaustion, lack of anal lubrication, and more. These can be caused by any number of things including stress, changes in hormones, or impending vaginal problems. Don’t ignore these signs!

Length of menstrual cycles

Our menstrual cycle is thought to be about 28 days long. The fertile period of most women is between 6 to 20 days when they are ovulating. So it can vary quite a bit, but an average woman will ovulate about every 28 days. Some women have periods that are very regular, the same length every month. Other women will have periods with variations in length. Some women except for major hormonal changes will experience regular menstrual cycles.

Longer periods

One of the signs that you may have a hormone imbalance is a longer period. If your periods usually last for 4 to 5 days and now they’ve been going on for 7 or 8 days, it could be a sign that something is wrong. There are also other symptoms you should take notice of such as menstrual cramps, mood swings, excessive sweat, acne breakouts, ovulation pains, and abnormal amount of vaginal discharge when compared to pre-menstrual fluids.

Colour of the blood

If your period is brown or black, you could have hemorrhoids. It’s also possible that blood loss is so heavy that your body cannot process it quickly enough. Missing a period, getting one more day than usual, spotting in between periods, or experiencing sudden stomach pain can also signal an underlying condition.

Should I be worried about clots?

Women who have excessive menstrual flow should be monitored for anemia because it can lead to headaches, tiredness and depression. Research suggests that clots are frequently an early sign of period problems, so if you notice any unusual symptoms, you should speak to your doctor. Although research is still being done on this issue, it doesn’t hurt to be on the safe side and frequently check in with your doctor on possible symptoms of periods.

Persistent intermenstrual bleeding

Persistent intermenstrual bleeding (PIMB) is when you have your period for 6 weeks straight without 6-weeks break in between. Menorrhagia, which is when it takes longer for your period to stop or take more than one day for it to start up again, does not count.

Exhaustion and other pains

While the occasional headache or mental fog doesn’t call for emergency care, it’s not something you should ignore either. So what does warrant a phone call to your obstetrician? Regular headaches (menstrual migraines; pre-menstrual or post-partum headaches; pain with no clear cause), for one. Painful periods (especially if the pain, makes you wish you could curl up and hide, comes with backaches and cramping; and/or lasts 10 days or more), too.

Super Painful Cramps is another red flag

If you experience symptoms such as cramping or exhaustion on a monthly cycle or suddenly-perceived pain in one part of the abdomen, these may be symptoms of something such as PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), endometriosis, ovary cancer, adenomyosis, ectopic pregnancy, uterine cancer, missed periods due to being pregnant with multiples. You should also be on the lookout for light periods. If you are sexually active and miss a second period soon after the first one, that is another important indication that something may be wrong. Call your doctor right away.

Conclusion

Pink flags are warning signs that certainly warrant a second opinion and eventually a cure, and this includes several gynecological disorders. After diagnosing your red flags, you should consult with your physician to fully understand the cause and course of treatment for the disorder.

To understand more about Good Menstrual Health, read these blogs by Infano.

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From Pakeezah to Gangubai Kathiawadi, if one thing that hasn’t changed much, it is the romanticisation of sex workers in Bollywood!

In fact, with every new film, their portrayal has more been played with ― from slotting them best-composed item numbers to showing their life revolving around the male protagonist ― sex workers in Bollywood are either shown as the face of women’s power ― the one who controls her life herself and choose to live on her own terms or a complete damsel in distress ― who has a heart of pure gold and needs a man for her rescue!

Of course, there have been a few films that reflected a darker side of the lives in brothels and did try to portray sex workers as who they are. Still, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that somewhere, in the mise-en-scene, their story got twisted and lost!

With the representation of women as a whole, the depiction of sex workers in Hindi cinema is also very limited and dichotomous in nature. Women in sex work are shown as either the ones who are greedy for money, have no self-respect, the vamps, or the ones who are, though, in the business but are chaste at heart. These are fallen women yet not fallen.
International Journal of Modern Agriculture

Sex workers: the damsel in distress

When not limited to item numbers, sex workers are often shown as the ‘abla naari’ who undoubtedly wants to get rid of her condition but needs a man to rescue her.

In movies like Laga Chunari Mein Daag, the protagonist is shown not being able to get rid of her old life despite gaining financial independence and acceptance from her family until the hero of the film accepts her and pulls her out of her misery.

I mean, wasn’t the woman gutsy enough to make a better decision of her own life?

The domestication of sex workers

In another film, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, the protagonist is shown as a good-hearted sex worker who is paid a big amount to be a surrogate mother to an elite couple. Halfway through the movie, she undergoes some makeup, wardrobe changes and falls in love with the hero. That’s it! Now her whole life revolves around a man and her child ― just like a typical portrayal of an Indian woman.

While I am not against the prioritisation of family and children, is it necessary to domestify a sex worker to get her some praise? Is it necessary for her to wear a saree, bangles and have a ache gharane ka pati to get some respect in society?

Chori Chori Chupke Chupke was neither the first nor the last film to do so.

The selfless and sacrificial one

Another category of sex workers that’s often depicted in movies ― the one who seduces all but loves one only to leave him in the climax for the morally accepted heroine.

There has been a number of movies, like Ishaqzaade, that have done the same with the side characters. These characters are hailed by the audience for the transformation of their heart.

But why is she shown undermining herself because of her profession?

_{In India, the term ‘sex worker’ was literally invented in front of our eyes. There was no poor woman or girl [in India] who thought that ‘sex’ and ‘work’ should go together!}
_{Ruchira Gupta, Founder, Anti-Trafficking NGO Apne Aap}

The inferiorization of sex workers

As mentioned earlier, these characters are shown in movies like Pakeezah and Devdas, where being a sex worker is a curse and the woman is nothing but a walking corpse. She is subjected to insults, considered impure and doesn’t deserve respect, basic rights to her lives or the tag of a woman as chalked by the society.

But she does get acceptance sometimes ― in some movies ― when the hero decides to accept her and give her his name and status.

Why is it that a woman is only validated when it comes from a man?

Sex workers in Bollywood: the common picture

What do you imagine while picturing a sex worker? A woman wearing a short dress or a bright saree, probably with a dark lipstick or chewing paan and with heavy kohl in eyes ― standing somewhere in the alleys of the red light area.

I won’t say Bollywood failed, but it could not justify the lives of sex workers completely either. While most of the films aim at drawing viewers’ attention from their item numbers, others go with the traditional way ― the way of domestication, inferiorization or validation.

Sex workers in Bollywood are either completely glorified or are shown as humans with no identity of their own.

It is interesting to note that in most of the Hindi films on prostitution, the women as prostitutes are shown as a leftover of the men. Either they are betrayed or misled, or widowed. It seems women are pushed into prostitution because of men, and then, only men can rescue them from this darkness.
International Journal of Modern Agriculture

People say that movies reflect the time we live in, but this is definitely not what the community of sex workers live in. The post-pandemic world has changed a lot for sex workers, and the pandemic hit them as much as any other vulnerable community we can think of.

It’s high time that filmmakers start considering every bit before depicting a sex worker in their movies ― ensuring that what they portray could help these marginalised communities in any possible way!