Got any?

and while I'm not a doctor or a lawyer, I'm confident that extreme menstrual difficulties described in your OP would be within scope of the FMLA.

If what you're questioning is the value in legislation guaranteeing PTO for menstrual leave, I don't see that coming in the US anytime soon, certainly not ahead of a more general illness-driven PTO bill.

Can a woman use a paid sick day or is this in addition?
I don't have any problem with it but how do you put it on your time card?

I was the only man working in an office full of women so I needed to keep track of those events.

menopausal women get the same consideration.

Anyone who's ever had hot flashes and mood swings will know what I'm talking about.

Also, let's not forget people who get regular migraines...

Anxiety/panic attacks...

Diabetic neuropathy...

Crohn's Disease symptoms...


etc.

Every woman has a different experience at different times in their lives; while one woman can have an "uncomfortable" period that downing half a glass of cranberry juice every four hours can take care of, another woman might be bedridden with crippling cramps, nausea, and migraines for the 8 to 24 hours while it might be at peak flow no matter what OTC meds she might be taking.
Some women can control their period through exercise, diet, or birth control while others can't - and more than a few women are driven to accept "religious" moral controls over the comfort of their bodies and the ability to function every possible day they may otherwise need to.
If you don't experience the crippling periods, or know someone who is unable to hold a regular job due to a physical incapacity that is frankly considered a crude offhand joke in society, then it's easy to think this is a stupid little regulation for the benefit of crybaby wimminfolk or chicks who "just need to quit whining and man up".
I heard that from a new female manager tell a woman working on the cable floor who fainted about five minutes later from the pain. She was asking for an hour off the clock to lay down quietly on the couch in the women's room until her cramps passed and she could get back to work.
I suppose it was partly my fault (as the other female manager) and that of the other male managers who would just give in whenever "women's health issues" were mentioned; the woman was a good worker, but she suffered terribly one out of every 28 days. Whenever she worked on my crew, I'd let her take one or two extended breaks off the clock so she wouldn't have to take all her sick days off but she's still be able to work at least a partial day that day. I'd do the same for any person on my crew that suffered from migraines or allergies.

The other manager thought we were all being too soft because she took care of her periods by using birth control, and they weren't that bad anyway. She couldn't imagine why another woman wouldn't just do the same thing if they wanted to work.

Haele

just as often as I get pissed off at men who say, "Pop a Midol and keep going." The women who have easy periods can't imagine someone literally being crippled with migraines that last for days, cramps so bad it puts a woman in a fetal position, and other symptoms I will spare some of the people who may be eating while they read this. And I'm still miffed that Midol or Pamprin are even mentioned to any woman who has a hard period, because they are both complete insults as a "medicine." Telling a woman with a hard period to pop a Midol or Pamprin is like telling a man with a severed leg to use a small band aid.

I'm glad to know there are managers like you out there. The other ones sound extremely uninformed and self centered.

I know guys who take a day off for being tired.

When I was much younger I was irregular and my cramps were so bad I'd have to have prescription painkillers to ease the pain... I wasn't being a wuss, hell I broke my leg in 4 places and didn't get any pain meds until after surgery, which took place about 5 hours after breaking my leg. Anyway, now that I'm older (and fatter) my periods are very regular and the cramps have been replaced by a monthly migraine that is so bad that I'm often off work because of it. I throw up, can't stand to be near noise or light... so yeah, some women have it better than others and can control their menstrual cycle with birth control. However, some women--like me--are too old for birth control and just beg and pray to a God they don't believe in for menopause... so we can have unbearable heat flashes...

Not so much anymore, with menopause on the horizon, but my forties were vicious.

My migraines from it last longer than the PMDD symptoms do. My doctor won't give me more than 60 pills a year. These are pills that are just a prescription version of Excedrin Migraine, which doesn't work either. Supposed to take them every 4 hours and I have migraines that last 5 days sometimes.

is right for you. It sounds like you're describing the "rescue med" (e.g., Butalbital), the one you take when the abortive (Imitrex, Maxalt, etc.) hasn't killed the headache and you've maxed out on the number of pills you can take that day. There may be medical reasons why the doctor doesn't want to do that, but it should be discussed if it hasn't been already.

If you're on (or considering) the pill, there are versions like Amethia where the "inactive" pills actually contain a low dose of estrogen. It's low enough that you'll get the withdrawal bleeding, but the drop in estrogen from the active pills is less, so you're less likely to get a migraine.

I was only given the Butalbital. It is not working either. I have high blood pressure, so I can't take the pill, unfortunately. I just have to suffer through it.

Wouldn't hurt to ask, though. And yes, the butalbital doesn't do much.

Maybe Botox?

I know a girl who has crippling migraines. She has been doing the botox treatments for several months now and says she cannot believe the difference... Worth a shot.

And the 50s...

I started peri at around 45 and it lasted for 13 years.

It was HELL.

Which was surprising because I never had a whole lot of trouble with monthly cramps or anything during my younger years.

It would seem to me that Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007193.htm would satisfy requirements for someone to be determined to be at least partially disabled.

From the article:

PMDD affects between 3% and 8% of women during the years when they are having menstrual periods.

Many women with this condition have:

Anxiety
Severe depression
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)

Five or more of the following symptoms must be present to diagnose PMDD, including one mood-related symptom:

No interest in daily activities and relationships
Fatigue or low energy
Feeling of sadness or hopelessness, possible suicidal thoughts
Feelings of tension or anxiety
Feeling out of control
Food cravings or binge eating
Mood swings with periods of crying
Panic attacks
Irritability or anger that affects other people
Physical symptoms, such as bloating, breast tenderness, headaches, and joint or muscle pain
Problems sleeping
Trouble concentrating
---------------------------------------------------------
Five of those symptoms and I think at least partial disability is completely fair for as long as those symptoms last, regardless of the origin.

Including one that lasted ten days. They've dissipated now. There was a period of about two years that I had them.

menopause at the same time. So, I get symptoms of both. A Heaven I do not believe in had better help anyone who tells me to pop a Midol during that time. I give new meaning to PMDD. They should create a long and more detailed list of letters for what I have because PMS and PMDD seem mild compared to my TWICE monthly symptoms. Twenty two days apart. I get it twice a month for 7 to 9 days. Yes, it is a curse.

She would literally pass out from the pain and did so in the dorm restroom one night and broke a tooth off from hitting the sink on the way down.

I know from many women, it can be debilitating.

But was that Japanese law enacted primarily as a consideration of women's lack of access to proper facilities or because, for many ages, in many cultures, menstruating women were considered "unclean"?

Really good question.

Going back to the fundies and of course the Jewish, the Bible has some explicit rules regarding women during their menstrual cycle. Yeah, the term is "unclean."

I don't know if there is a religious part of this argument, I'm not religious and can be insensitive to that kind of stuff. But I'm over 50 and have lived and worked around a few different women over the years, so I know it can be very much an individual thing, and also varies from month to month for the same woman. Most women, you just can't tell, but in many cases that might just be them sucking up and working though it because "that's what you do."

Frankly, I agree with the poster above commenting that this should be covered as normal sick days. And I think the number of authorized sick days should be raised mandatorily. Conservatives will probably look at that as "coddling" and setting up a program that lazy women will take advantage of. I like to think that progressives and liberals would be a bit more compassionate about it.

That's productive art!

Maybe it is genetic and there is a lot of dysmenorrhea in Japan.

I had it very bad as a teenager - very uncomfortable the first day. But not everybody had such a bad case, so as to make it a "thing." This was before Advil was OTC, had I had that, it would have been a lot easier.

Birth control pills work wonders, and presumably carry fewer risks themselves now. I remember when I took the pill to get rid of the cramps, there was still all this concern about how the pill caused blood clots and all sorts of other "threats."

hardons that I caught as a teen.

I've been one of the very unlucky who has had horribly painful periods throughout my life. Not every single month, but probably most of them usually for one day but some were so bad it would last for 3. I used up sick days every year solely because of my painful periods and been fired from jobs where I had to take more sick time because I was forced to work with someone that came to work sick and I caught their virus.

I've always thought that women should be afforded more sick time if they need it because of illness associated with the simple fact that they're female and have no recourse other than to suffer what happens to them on a regular basis for the greater part of their life. Physically, being male is easy. Being female, not so much.

Just in the last couple of weeks I've been getting hot flashes. Though they suck, I'd take them any day of the week and twice on Sunday instead of what I've been through with my periods. Mentally and emotionally I've been loving my hot flashes, and I'm thrilled to bits that I've skipped another period this go round. I've been looking forward to this for decades. Both my mom and my sister started their change 20 years before I finally did. I have no idea what the hell took me so long, but not that I finally have I can now stop screaming "When the hell do I finally get menopause!!!" every month. When you've had uncountable months where you've had one to three days of agony yet still unaccountably feel like you want to sit on the roof of the house with a shotgun picking off anyone that comes within range this is Disneyland.

I'm normally anti-gun, but I find myself thinking about Uzis some months. My right ovary is the culprit for the really bad months. I can literally feel pain on it on my right hand side when I'm having the worst one. The other one is no joy either. Either way, dealing with other people is the LAST thing I want during my time of the month. I just want people the fuck out of my face until my agony subsides, because their "helpful" suggestions make me want to deck them.

I've never had incompacitating problems with my period, others have had different experiences. IMHO, requiring companies to give women extra medical leave for their periods is another reason not to hire or promote them. In my experience as a manager, if employees are well-treated and given unlimited sick leave most of them do not abuse it: it's up to a good manager to notice unusual patterns and if necessary discuss it with the employee. But I've been retired for a while...

Not unless the woman has some unusual condition that debilitates her. Menstruation is not an illness.

dysmenorrhea. Absolutely debilitating cramps and it would be nice to be able to have that day or two off. A doctor can only do so much for this. Sadly nothing OTC works and doctors are so paranoid to prescribe what does work for me, even in limited small quantities. Some of us have no choice but to lay down with a heating pad for a little bit of relief.

Doctors can only do so much. OTC medicines are a joke, or rather, an insult.

You don't get a whole lot of sympathy from doctors, unless you are lucky to find one that does understand and chances are, they will be female!

Appropriate treatment for all debilitating conditions should be available to all. The real issue is one of capitalized health care. In my opinion, of course. I

Paid medical leave should be available to all who need it, male or female, regardless of the condition causing the need. Medical care should be available to all, free at point of service, paid for by taxes, and determined by doctors, not accountants.

My mother suffered decades of debilitating pain due to terrible scar tissue gained during an illegal abortion. It ended when she had a hysterectomy. That probably should have happened long, long before, but she had no medical insurance and no doctor wanted to perform that procedure just because of her pain, anyway.

and totally agree! Medical care and leave when needed should be paramount in any society. The way things are right now with it all, it's just awful for many people.

Any chance of going online and contacting a provider who isn't as paranoid?

(I've also heard that high CBD/low THC can be helpful if you live in an MMJ state. CBDs are not psychoactive, and many medical breeders are creating strains high in CBDs and coming as close to eliminating THC as possible.)

Pamprin and Midol are a fucking joke. I've seen herbal remedies with better results than those crap meds. If they just took the damn time to treat the hideous symptoms that some of us have, they wouldn't need the medical leave. It wouldn't take but a tad bit of effort, but they won't do it. I can guaran-damn-tee that if men had a menstrual cycle like some of us have, morphine drips in the hospitals would be free every month for them, complete with babying and sympathy galore. But, no, only women have to feel this way, so it doesn't matter, and there will never be any empathy, much less TLC, for us. We are expected to continue on as if nothing hurts like hell and we love having our period, whether we need to be having it or not. Yes, I am resentful of these facts.

And for the record, an answer to your snide, belittling question about women: Having our periods doesn't make us weaker. The pain some of us feel during that time of the month would bring men to their knees. Men would curl up into a fetal position and simply die if they had to go through a single menstrual cycle(especially one like mine), much less, for some of us, two times a month, for 40 or more years.

and whether they have any treatment. I have group of Korean oriental medicine students that I teach at university that are studying to be doctors.

I never bother with Midol and the like. When I was a teenager, my gynecologist gave me prescription ibuprofen - 800mg tabs and I had to take 3 of them just to take the edge off. That's obviously way too much so I don't take it anymore for fear of a stomach ulcer.

But yeah, give me (and others like me) what works for a few days out of the month and time off wouldn't be an issue. But no! We might get addicted!

You are damn straight about if men had periods! Holy crap, everything would have to come to a freakin halt! They'd be yelling "I'm dying over here! I need morphine! There's NO way I'm going to work!". The human race would also die out exponentially if men were the ones to give birth. They'd be like "Don't do it man, that'll kill you!"

What irks me is other women who seem not to understand. I expect that from most men (thankfully I have met a couple who were empathetic, even if they don't quite understand) but other women? I totally get that not all women experience debilitating pain, so why can't they understand that I and others do? Just because it's a natural body function doesn't mean it's a picnic for everyone. We're all different.

You're not alone hun, I totally understand!

Luckily, I don't seem to have a predilection towards addiction
to painkillers, since I've been taking them for 20 years, but only
when my periods are bringing me to my knees. Usually 4 pills
a month.

The only thing I've really been addicted to is cigarettes.

I had debilitating migraines throughout my 30's.

Now I am officially a woman with "late onset" menopause. All of my
friends have left me behind...though it is surprising how many of my
friends have had hysterectomies over the past 10 years, so I may not
be THAT much of a freak....I'll be 55 this year.

and she finds a lot of otc meds useless, until she tried Aleve, it seems to work for her most of the time. Still, she usually stays home from school the first day of her period, with her Aleve and a hot water bottle. I never had it that bad when I was her age (I think I took a painkiller once for cramps, ever). I really feel bad for her. My second daughter doesn't have the same problem. She's more like how I was. My period, as a teen, never stopped me from anything.

After baby #4, however, I started having issues - not with pain but with, um, 'heavy flow'. Like can't leave the house heavy. So, now I'm on continuous BC pills. I go off for a week every 6 months. It's been a total lifesaver (since I also get hormone triggered migraines) but I can't stay on them forever - I'm not getting any younger. There is basically no other treatment for me except a total hysterectomy. Frustrating. I'm going to be entering the workforce soon and wondering if I should just go get everything taken out (I'm done having kids) so I can function in the workplace. God knows, as a single parent I'll probably looked down on for taking time off for sick kids - I should probably avoid taking time off for a period too.

Both would be faster to recover from than a hysterectomy, and you'd still have your ovaries.

but several things: my doctor wants my tubes tied at the same time if I had that done, which would be another procedure. And I have hormone triggered migraines, so getting the ovaries out would solve that issue. So I might as well have the hysterectomy. I also deal with ovarian cysts (I have PCOS) so getting everything out all at once would just solve a lot of problems for me. I've had 3 C-sections, I'm guessing recovery is likely similar. I've heard they can do it laproscopically as well, which would be great...I had my gallbladder out like that and was back to my old self within a couple of days. If I can get it all done before I go back to work, then I won't have to take any time off.

The headaches may get worse for a while as you adjust to the sudden drop in hormones, but you'll probably be so glad to not have to deal with the bleeding any more that it won't matter.

Mj is GREAT for migraines - no matter the reason - at least for me. I get migraines for no particular reason - or just b/c of stress, who knows. I've had them since I was in my 20s, but there's no predicting when - sometimes I won't have one for a year, then have them every other week. I ALWAYS vomit with them, so I can't keep down a medicine to stop them. One time I actually had to go to the emergency room of the hospital because I could not bear the pain...and I had two kids w/o meds.

When someone gave me mj - both the head pain and nausea stopped. Because I smoked it, the pain stopped in under a minute - but if this is something you know happens, you could use an edible at bedtime - you might even be able to limit use to then - but if you start to get severe pain, you can deal with it immediately by vaping or smoking.

Of course, everyone has different responses to things, so your experience might be different.

There is also something called an abdominal migraine, fwiw - so I wonder who many people have those and don't know it. Someone I know just told me about them b/c she had them for years and didn't know what they were. She was taking a med for something else, which made the ab migraines worse. The doc switched her med and ever since she's taking this new one... don't ask me to name it ... they stopped. One "off label" use for the new med, apparently.

I haven't had a migraine for years thanks to the weed.

cause I don't want to do the crime cause I can't pay the fine.

I don't have bad periods, but some women do. Some consideration should be given to people who suffer from excessive pain. Working as a nurse- a female dominated profession, it's perfectly under stood, the sufferer is treated with compassion and respect.

In a less understanding environment I could where sick days would be a problem. They shouldn't be. These topics always amaze me, because XX women have the distinct physiology to carry on the human race. (Yes, I understand sperm is involved) the menstrual cycle is certainly part of this. A new study challenged part of the 'emotional' aspect of menstruation

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/05/02/menstrual_studies_debunked_women_do_not_make_mating_decisions_based_on_their.html

Bottom line though? I have a great union that fights to maintain good benefits, which includes fairly generous sick leave, holiday pay, personal holiday, vacation and the like. I'm not entirely sure this needs to be gendered as much as we need represented jobs that support workers in all aspects of their health and abilities.

1) I had a girlfriend in college who was in agonizing pain when she had her period. One time it got so bad I told her I was taking her to the hospital (I just couldn't sit there and watch her in pain and do nothing). So to a point, I understand that some women can have it really bad.

2) I now live in South Korea, which has paid menstrual leave for female workers.

3) I teach at a university in which each of the professors are left to decide on their own accord what is a reasonable excuse for an absence from class. Students are given a certain amount of classes they can miss before they fail. I decided at the beginning of the term that I would accept no excuses. This doesn't mean students can't be absent from class, it means they have to take an absence whether they are sick or have membership training (those are field trips students take with their class majors and they go and get drunk for a few days up at some mountain) which they lose one points toward their grade. I have had a couple of female students ask me if I would excuse their absence for reasons of menstruation and I have said no. Before the term I talked to a few other female teachers and asked them what their policies were and many do the same thing. If the university wanted to, they could make a policy by which we have to give them the days off. Some universities do, but ours doesn't.

and some universities will allow absences for reasons of menstruation, you also have seen for some women it can be horrendous, but you would dock a woman a point for missing class for that reason? You've had a couple ask you if you penalize them, out of how many female students?

Honestly, most women can continue going to work through out their period. You wouldn't be having that many women missing class and if they kept up with their work despite missing a day, what's the harm?

Of course here is the flip side to that. Women who would ordinarily not need that time off because of their period, could use it as an excuse to miss class. You'd never know the difference. Of course that would only work once a month! lol

Typically they bring a note from their major department (or sometimes a prescription script) to ask for an excused absence. The major department will write an excuse for almost anything, which leads me to believe they don't really care whether the student is absent or not. I do have to wonder how much the system is gamed (by both female and male students). Also it is time consuming when students (any student) comes to me with an excuse slip as it is extra record keeping.

On the flip side, if a student was in pain in class (for any reason), I wouldn't sit there and do nothing.

I would guess out of 130 students 70 are female (this is because right now there are a large number of males doing their mandatory military service). I believe out of all my students I've had 2 or 3 ask about an absence for that reason.

Then people can use them for whatever is ailing them.

Which is the lining of the uterus growing outside of the uterus, and when I'd get my period, it would bleed in those other places and it causes scar tissue that could destroy my reproductive system. It can be in weird places, my sister inlaw had it in her throat.

I would be bedridden each time I had my period. I'd throw up, I'd cry, I'd be encapable of walking without cradling my stomach. We found out about endometriosis only after they discovered I had a six centimeter cyst on my left ovary. Because of the weight, my Fallopian tube wrapped around my left ovary. The single most painful event in my life.

I have it around my rectum, I know they couldn't get that. But they said it was so extensive they had no idea how much is riddled through my body. I might get surgery again because of bladder problems. I have to go around sixteen times a day when 8 times a day is normal. I've also been getting kidney problems that doesn't seen to be related to an infection.

Because of all that, I reccomend anyone who is encapable of crawling out of bed during a period, to seek medical help.

Go with the Flow.

Well, OK, a little more. I think that we really ought to do anything we can do to humanize the work experience--really, the LIFE experience--of everyone. This one seems pretty obvious.

not even taking off from work. I wasn't in pain, but I needed to use the Ladies Room to attend to my "sanitary" needs. More than 4 hours was not going to make it.

I told him I would sit there if he would buy me a new chair EVERY MONTH. He got very red (pun) in the face and never again said anything about it.

Paid medical leave, for any debilitating medical condition, should be "a thing."

For women whose menstrual cycle causes debilitation, that would be included. For those of us whose cycles do not, we wouldn't be using our medical leave then.

I finally had enough of the pain & the anemia from 10-day periods & had it all removed. Perhaps TMI but it is an ugly, underreported, ignored fact of biology for many of us

That said, I am in my early 40s and had to take a day off a week or so ago because of extremely heavy flow and pain. It was horrific. There was no working through that. I had just discussed the Mirena IUD with my doctor, so I called and she told me to come in and get it. I hope it helps.