My Period Vol.016 - Menstruation can be made easier with ingenuity - Inquiry and curiosity are the driving force

Eri Nobuchika, 39 years old, Representative of Rinē

Menarche: 4th grade of elementary school (age 10)

Current average period length: 5-6 days

Current average menstrual cycle: 25 days

Current sanitary products: tampons, absorbent shorts

-What day is your period?

It used to be a really depressing day, but now it's just a bad day

-What image comes to mind when you hear the word "menstruation"?

shackles

- From here on, I'd like to look back on half of my life, focusing on menstruation. When was your first period? How do you remember it?

I had my first period when I was in the fourth grade of elementary school. When I saw what looked like brown menstrual blood on the toilet paper, I thought maybe it was menstruation, because I already had some knowledge about menstruation at the time, and I told my mother right away. After that, I think she cooked red rice for me.

I think I was the first girl in my grade to start menstruating. I'm on the short side now, but I was the tallest up until the fifth grade, and I think that's also because I grew up early.
At the school I went to, there was no culture of hiding the fact that you were on your period, so when I told my friends, "I think I might have had my period," they reacted with, "What's a period?", and it was like, "Oh, someone's had their period!", so I assumed I was the first in my grade to have my period.

I was the only one who had started menstruating, so when I took a change of pad to the bathroom at school, my female friends would ask me, "How does it feel?", but I didn't feel embarrassed, especially when talking to other girls. On the other hand, I was very embarrassed about boys knowing, so I thought that if I put it in my purse, they'd know I was on my period, so I carried it in my pocket. That said, boys never teased me. I think for boys, menstruation was something embarrassing and something that shouldn't be mentioned, and they felt like "menstruation = taboo."

-How did things change when you became a junior high school student?

By the time I got to middle school, most of the people around me were also having their periods, so it was helpful to be able to talk to each other about it.

In terms of physical changes, I remember my breasts becoming swollen before my period, and it was painful to go up and down stairs without having to hold them in place.

Also, when my period started, I had some pain in my lower back and a heavy feeling in my lower abdomen, but it wasn't bad enough to require me to take medicine.

When I was a teenager, I had a heavy period, and even when I used a night pad, there was a high chance of it failing. Sometimes I would wake up in the morning and find blood on my sheets.

-How did you change when you became a high school student?

Combined with puberty, my skin was pretty rough.

I use tampons now, but I think the first time I tried them was when I was in high school. When I was in high school, there was a trend to use tampons if your period coincided with a plan to go to a hot spring or pool, and I think everyone around me did the same. I didn't know anyone around me who used tampons on a daily basis, but I think they were something to use in emergencies, like on school trips or events that involve water.

My mother didn't use tampons, so I told her I wanted some and either went shopping with her or asked her to buy some for me. I asked a friend who uses tampons how to use them, and then I tried them out. But I didn't have any trouble.

-Have you noticed any changes in your period since you entered your 20s?

When I was in my mid-20s, I started experiencing irregular bleeding that wouldn't stop. It was always like the fifth day of my period, with small amounts of blood flowing on days other than my period. On my normal period days, the amount of blood would increase, just like a normal period, and after my period, small amounts of blood continued to flow. I didn't go to the hospital, thinking it would stop on its own, but it continued for about three months, so I decided it was time to go to the gynecologist.

During the consultation, I wasn't told what my illness was, but I was prescribed a medium-dose pill. When I took it, the irregular bleeding stopped immediately. It seems that many people experience side effects such as nausea with the medium-dose pill, but I was fine.

The irregular bleeding stopped immediately, so I didn't need to continue taking the pill, but I thought that if there were no side effects with the medium dose, there probably wouldn't be any side effects with the low dose pill either, so I decided to switch to the low dose pill. Having taken the medium dose pill, I no longer felt any resistance to the pill, and I thought that if the lighter menstrual flow would ease my PMS and PMDD symptoms, I would feel more comfortable, so I started taking it.

I think it was the effect of the pill, but my PMS and PMDD started to calm down in my late 20s. Looking back, even in my teens, I would get swollen breasts and feel depressed before my period, so I think I had PMS and PMDD symptoms back then. However, the terms PMS and PMDD weren't well known back then, and I didn't know that these symptoms were related to menstruation until I became an adult.

I continued taking the low-dose birth control pill for about two years. I stopped taking it because I was concerned about the risk of thrombosis. I had previously been told that I had a constitution that made my blood vessels more susceptible to clogging, and several relatives had died from clogged blood vessels, so I was at high risk in my family. At the time, I also wanted to take tranexamic acid, which increases the risk of thrombosis. I wanted to reduce the amount of things I was taking that could cause thrombosis, so I stopped taking the pill.

Even after I stopped taking the pill, my periods, PMS, and PMDD never returned to the way they were before I started taking the pill, and I continued to have relatively calm periods.

-Have you noticed any changes in your period since you entered your 30s?

I came across absorbent shorts when I was in my mid-30s. Even though my period wasn't heavy, it was still a nuisance, so I wanted to find out about new products like absorbent shorts and have an experience that would help me forget about my period. I started out by ordering and trying out various products, which led to my current business, Rinē (a brand that sells original absorbent shorts).
If I had come across something that I personally thought was the best as a user, I don't think I would have developed my own absorbent shorts. After trying out a variety of shorts, I realized there was room for improvement, and I was fascinated by absorbent shorts, so I thought why not try making something that I thought was the best myself, and that's what led me to start Rinē.

Currently, I use a combination of absorbent underwear and tampons during my period. On days when I have a heavy flow, I use tampons and absorbent underwear, and at the beginning and end of my period, I just use absorbent underwear.

Other than that, it's only been in the last six months or so, but I think my hormone balance is clearly out of whack. I've started getting recurring breakouts, mostly on my chin. I was surprised because I'd never had any skin problems before.

During my period, I feel like my period pain is the worst it's ever been. I also have pain in my lower abdomen and lower back, and I've also been experiencing ovulation pain for the past year or two.

I thought that the secretion of female hormones would gradually decrease as I get older, but my breasts have started to feel firmer like they did in my teens, and I feel like they're actually more active now that I'm approaching 40. When I fall in love with someone, my breasts get firmer and I'm aware that my female hormones are being secreted, and it feels the same way.

So many things are happening, but first I'm trying to deal with the constant breakouts. I've recently been taking over-the-counter medications to ease menstrual pain and PMS. However, taking them three times a day after meals doesn't fit into my lifestyle, so I can't take them properly, and they're not getting better. I've also tried using aroma oils and mists that affect female hormones, but I'm a lazy person, so I can't keep it up. I feel like I can't be that conscious every day. So I wanted to incorporate something that helps regulate female hormones into my everyday routine, and I'm currently making a Rinē intimate zone soap blended with essential oils that regulate female hormones.

-Looking back on your period, what do you think?

I think that with regards to menstruation, if you have curiosity and a desire to improve things, you can often overcome many issues to a certain extent with ingenuity. I had always thought of menstruation as something unavoidable, but I wanted to change it for the better, so I tried various things and gained the experience of being able to improve it. This experience has led to my current job and has made my own life more comfortable, so I'm very happy about that. I think I'm naturally a very inquisitive person, but it's no exaggeration to say that being able to improve menstruation, which is an inseparable part of my life, in this way is one of the success stories of my life. It gave me confidence that anything can be improved with ingenuity, as long as you have a strong desire to make it better.

"My Period" aims to provide an opportunity to think about and talk about menstruation, an issue that is often hidden, by recording and sharing how people of various generations and backgrounds have dealt with it. It does not endorse any specific products, services, or methods of coping. The content posted is based on each person's personal experience, so if you have any symptoms that concern you, please consult a medical institution.