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  • Hello everyone Anna English here English like a native and today we're getting personal

  • every month women from around the age of

  • 13 14 up until their late 40s or early 50s will experience a

  • Period a bleed from their vagina

  • now once you hit around late 40 or 50 a woman will enter what's called the menopause and

  • therefore they will not have this monthly bleed anymore

  • A bleed which we often refer to as a period comes at the end of your menstrual

  • cycle now, although we often use the word period

  • We also have many other terms. So for example, you might hear in medical circles the term

  • menstruation menstruation and

  • On the other end of the spectrum we have lots and lots of slang terms

  • there are so many I can't possibly mention them all but here are just a few

  • a visit from Aunt Flo

  • This is a play on words, a pun because the blood flows. It's a flow of menstrual blood

  • it's a menstrual flow and

  • Flo is also a name, a female name

  • short for Florence, perhaps

  • Got the decorators in or got the painters in

  • They're painting, making a mess

  • That time of the month, which is something I often hear

  • Actually, it's a way to say it without really saying the word period which a lot of people find embarrassing

  • so they'll say oh

  • it's that time of the month and

  • riding the cotton pony

  • now the cotton pony I assume refers to

  • The sanitary product that you use in order to soak up

  • the blow the blood and that brings me on to

  • Sanitary products. In the UK when you're on your period there are around three types of products that you may use

  • when you have your period

  • A sanitary towel

  • A tampon or a menstrual cup

  • Firstly, a sanitary towel, also known as a sanitary pad

  • Now you can get these in all sorts of shapes and sizes

  • Firstly, some of them come with wings

  • which are

  • These extra little bits that fold around

  • your knickers to hold the sanitary towel in place. So this is a sanitary towel with wings

  • You can buy sanitary towels without wings and you will buy them depending on their level of

  • Absorbency, so if you have a lot of blood you will need a very absorbent sanitary towel

  • for the time when you don't need the full support of a sanitary towel, then you can purchase a panty liner

  • a panty liner, a much smaller, thinner version just in case

  • then we have a tampon

  • a tampon is an absorbent piece of material which you insert into your vagina and it will absorb the

  • Flow and as it absorbs it expands and it's always on a string

  • Now in the UK the brand

  • Tampax is

  • So famous that a lot of people use the name

  • Tampax to mean a tampon, very similar to Hoover

  • We will use the word Hoover to describe most vacuum cleaners when in fact the word Hoover is a brand name

  • It's the same with tampons. I might say to you. Do you have a Tampax?

  • And what I'm asking for is a tampon, I don't care whether it's a Tampax brand or not. I just need a tampon

  • anyway, when you're buying tampons, you will notice they also come in different levels of

  • Absorbency so you get really big ones and then quite small ones depending on the level of flow

  • But you can also buy them with an applicator or without an applicator and it really is

  • personal preference as to which one you prefer

  • This one is without an applicator

  • But the applicator is a long plastic tube

  • Which helps you to insert the tampon correctly

  • So, when you're buying tampons look out for with applicator or without to make sure you get the right ones

  • More recently the menstrual cup has become popular

  • Now the menstrual cup, often in the UK known as a moon cup, which again I think is a brand name

  • the moon cup or a menstrual cup is basically a

  • silicone cup which sits inside

  • The vagina and collects the menstrual flow and you empty it, clean it and reuse it

  • and I think it's become popular in recent years because of the

  • Environmental impact as well as the fact that it saves you a lot of money on sanitary products

  • Now, sometimes we have to talk about our periods whether it's with our friends or with a doctor

  • So how do we describe the type of period that we're having?

  • When talking about our period there's normally five categories your period will fall into either your having a heavy

  • period

  • This means there is a lot of blood, it's very heavy

  • on the other hand

  • You could be having a light period which of course refers to a period where there isn't much blood loss

  • So you might say to your doctor. I'm a bit concerned

  • I normally have very heavy periods, but recently I've had light periods

  • You might have irregular periods. Now, because your period comes the end of a menstrual cycle

  • you can usually

  • Accurately predict when your period will start and how long it will last

  • However, if your period starts at different times every cycle and it's hard to predict

  • Then you probably have irregular periods

  • If your period doesn't arrive at all

  • Then this is called a missed period or you would say I've missed a period

  • Quite worrying if you're not trying for a baby.

  • And the period that stresses out most of us, the late period

  • When you expect your period it's teasing you but it doesn't arrive

  • exactly when it's supposed to leaves you worrying for a few days and then finally

  • There it is

  • Now let's talk about symptoms. Of course, you're bleeding

  • It's your period so blood and bleeding is one of the symptoms

  • Sometimes the bleed isn't always

  • Liquid you might have what's called blood clots, little lumps of blood

  • Worth noting how big they are because you may want to tell your doctor if you get very big blood clots

  • now besides the bleeding all the symptoms you experienced before and around your period can be referred to as

  • PMS

  • PMS is

  • premenstrual syndrome

  • so if you're

  • experiencing period symptoms you can just say to people look I've got PMS and

  • They will understand what's happening. So what kind of symptoms are we talking about?

  • firstly, bloating

  • bloating is where your stomach, your abdomen feels swollen and

  • uncomfortable, very very full and tight and you may also get

  • Abdominal cramps we often just shorten it to cramps

  • I've got period cramps you might say and this is the pain in the lower abdomen. Oh

  • And it really really does hurt

  • Some people experience mood swings, depression, irritability. So it really has an effect on how they feel

  • You may have sore or tender breasts ouch

  • some people experience headaches and a few

  • Unlucky women also get migraines. You may experience bad skin

  • We sometimes just say I'm getting spotty or I have spots

  • It's that time of the month

  • so there you go some very helpful vocabulary to help you at this very special time of the month.

  • If you did find this helpful please give this video a thumb up and if you have any additional

  • Vocabulary, I would love you to put it in the comment section below

  • We shouldn't be embarrassed about this kind of stuff. It's all natural

  • Until next time, take care and good bye.

Hello everyone Anna English here English like a native and today we're getting personal

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