Periods: managing their impact

Cathy Stephenson discusses periods and young people: how to minimise their impact.

Topics

Onset of periods
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What do you need to find out about?
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Sexual health
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Quantifying blood loss
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Pain
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Family history
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Impact on life
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Red flags
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Heavy menstrual bleeding
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Next steps
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Combined oral contraception
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Take-home messages.
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Take home messages

Don’t underestimate the impact that awful periods can have.
A thorough history will give you most of the information you – imaging is not usually required.
Young people who identify as trans or nonbinary often have severe distress associated with their periods, known as period dysphoria.
Don’t forget to enquire about sex and contraceptive needs.
Mirena intra-uterine systems can be hugely effective at reducing heavy bleeding and pain.

Resources

Physiology, Menarche National Library of Medicine
Daily iron supplementation for improving anaemia, iron status and health in menstruating women Cochrane Library
Adolescent gynaecology - Heavy menstrual bleeding The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne

Patient Resources

Presenter

Cathy Stephenson

General Practitioner & Senior Clinical Lecturer

Cathy is a GP at Mauri Ora Student Health Service, Victoria University of Wellington, and a busy mum of three teenage children. Passionate about empowering young people to be the best they can be, her special areas of interest include sexual health, sexual assault, contraception, mental health and well-being, gender-affirming healthcare, and improving health for vulnerable communities.

She is a Senior Clinical Lecturer at Otago University on Sexual Violence and Partner Violence, and for years worked for MEDSAC and as a forensic medical examiner at Wellington’s sexual assault service.

Cathy is a health columnist, writing weekly columns for Stuff until 2020, and now authoring a Youth Health column for New Zealand Doctor.

More recently Cathy taken on the role of Clinical Lead Southern at the RNZCGP. Most of her learning around youth health and wellbeing has come from conversations around the family dinner table with the wonderful young people in her life!