What aspects of periods are most bothersome for women reporting heavy menstrual bleeding? Community survey and qualitative study

Table 1 Free text responses to question "What bothers you most about your periods?"

What bothers you most about your periods?* (First item written in)	Women reporting heavy or very heavy menstrual bleeding		Women reporting very heavy menstrual bleeding	Women reporting heavy menstrual bleeding
	Frequency	%	% of 135	% of 771
Pain	248	27.4	21	28
Heaviness	178	19.6	44	15
Mood changes/tiredness	158	17.4	10	19
Irregularity or other issues of timing	98	10.8	13	10
General inconvenience	52	5.7	2	6
Breast pain/swelling	25	2.8	2	3
Accidents	12	1.3	0	2
Other	41	4.5	2	5
Blank	94	10.4	5	11
Total	906		135

*Examples of responses
Pain
e.g. "period pain", "stomach cramps", "backache" or similar
Mood changes/tiredness
e.g. "PMT", "irritability", "poor concentration", "tiredness", "unwell" or similar
Irregularity or other aspects of timing
e.g. "unpredictability", "duration", "spotting"
Heaviness
e.g. "heaviness", "amount of loss", "clots", "flooding"
General inconvenience
e.g. "interruption in usual activities", "having them", "hassle", "everything", "cost"
Accidents
e.g. "worrying about accidents", "leaking onto bedclothes"
Other
e.g. "pains in legs", "sickness", "diarrhoea", "headaches"

ISSN: 1472-6874