welcome to in good shape today we're focusing on menstruation. why menstrual cups are becoming more popular. endometriosis when painful monthly cramps are something to worry about. and we meet a young man in uganda who's fighting to overcome to booze about menstruation hello and welcome to in good shape to all you men up there hoffman have you bought this for your ladies a temple all these pets and have you ever been embarrassed about it i think it's time to talk about that period. every month a woman's body prepares her uterus womb for a possible pregnancy that's the place where a fertilized egg develops into a baby. each

monthly cycle in the lining of the uterus the end of mitri and. if an egg cell released by one of the ovaries is fertilized it implants in the uterus where it gets nutrients for growth. if fertilization does not occur as is usually the case the usual lining is shared through the vagina that is the monthly blading as the old lining is cleared from the body the cycle starts over again. as we just saw lori poured in straight in place an important role in reproduction but there's still a lot of myths about it. myths number one. menstrual blood contains toxic substances which is why women are unclean during that period. in romania people often say that if a woman who is menstruating touches flowers. they will will soon.

and in some areas of nepal women have to leave their homes during that period and they're not permitted to touch communal food sources. there's absolutely false greek scholars even planning natural histories had indicated that there was some type of poison that emerged from menstrual blood. science has proved over the last 70 years starting with the 120 s. on the actual experiments that were created around it there's not talk sense in menstrual blood and it's actually just. that need to regenerate themselves. makes number 2. people believe that a thing while menstruating can cause cramps. that being in the water will somehow stop the bleeding completely.

actually can help to take a bath especially a warm bath to help of the cramps but being completely immersed in water is not dangerous or bad at all for a menstruating person. miss number 3. dishes cannot be prepared to cook is menstruating. in italy that day will supposedly fail to rise in from the many. and in germany the whipped cream refuses to. most ration does not influence anyone's cooking. does not make food go bad it does not cause you to rot it does not affect it whatsoever you are as an amusing as amusing a cook as you would. believing or not. please cook to your heart's desire.

and don't let misstep be. gratefully we are living in the 21st century and we should be at the point that we could see instruction well that's a natural thing but there still are to do some stigmatization even here. and this is why we need to do she found that together with a friend crafts and. doing studied journalism and management. she is also an artist in her own right and since 2017 she's made menstruation a central theme of her work. we make art to spark a conversation about menstrual hell because we think you don't have to love your period but you have to understand it can you give us an update the to blues concerning ministration yet even today or $2900.00 in germany the to blue about

menstruation is all around us i would say. because what you see is the 1st thing it's like we don't talk about it it's not just a topic that can be discussed it is shameful it is it has to be a secret. there are a lot of acronyms like shark week for instance like you don't want to say the actual i have my period or someone has their period. and that while that's on like a societal level also on a personal level still a bit of a lot of parents don't even discuss it with their children. which means the kids don't really have the knowledge or the resources to take care of it when they start their period did you get the idea to do something against it when it started as a personal thing for us i i painted a painting with a lot of different body. and blot with just water color and it was

not a political stand or not i didn't want to make a point it was just something i did and then one of my friends who also menstruates herself was so offended by it and she will be yeah i just got really defensive too she's like well this is just disgusting like why would you do this and i thought like wow if even in my. smaller circle or inner circle of friends it's such a huge to boo then maybe it's something we need to talk about more and why do you think that this is so important i mean some people may say that they are more pressing issues and well yes there are probably a lot of pressing issues in the world but i think that's not how the world works like we don't make a list start with the most important issue and then work our way down we work on a lot of issues to maintain asli it actually is a pretty important topic because 1st of all it concerns 50 percent of the

population directly and also this taboo really has an effect on people so you offer workshops on this topic i'm a man i'm not mistreating can i visit your church as well we do a lot of creative. workshops we call it crafty nights but it's i think it's a very open concept it's not a very intense workshop where it's like a front over anything it's more networking well actually getting crafty being creative and so we're creating an atmosphere you know where you can create and learn about stuff and there are men and people who don't menstruate there but really our target group is people that ministry and so we focus on their kids like you to give me an update on the bleeding and what you think about free bleeding those who menstruating i'm not using in the cemetery products school treat me free believing can be seen as a political. stand there you say well actually this is normal and just everybody

get with it but also it can be just a very pragmatic thing. like for instance danny with the marathon she ran where she was on her period but didn't use any product so she was just bleeding through it and the pictures went around the world. i think there was not a political stand per se as she was there as an athlete and she was there to give her best at this marathon which she trained for a very long and then she got her period and she decided well there's not a really good option for me right now because i cannot just stop in the marathon marathon to you know exchange my cup or my temple or whatever so she just decided to run with it and i think that's actually a pretty good example that. periods are in our we plan a bull so we should we leave you know lower the who so there. i don't know it

doesn't hold people back i imagine she wouldn't have run the marathon marathon because of her period we'll continue your talking just a moment but 1st if you've got any questions i'm sure to broad meaning. in good shape your weekly health show on d w that covers many aspects of health care we look at what's new in medical treatment nutrition fitness and beauty we discuss these topics in depth with specialists and offer you opportunities to pose your own questions so get in touch with. millions of men straight as well what are using the temple during the period it's concerted into the vagina and you should not be able to feel it at all but that's not true for everybody sometimes it's painful but there is a strong. start of women's monthly hygiene the menstrual cup. it's made of medical grade silicon and that's why gynecologist tallon

a props is all for a. month of pollen and more and more women are getting allergies like to food or pollen you can have an allergic reaction in the vaginal area as well to tampons for example but i've never seen a reaction to a menstrual cup having. a woman uses around 3 and a half 1000 tampons or pads in 10 years alternatively she could use one reusable menstrual cup. to rethink the what the main advantage is that we produce far less waste. it's also better for your body because tampons dry you out. and they contain substances we should be wary of as do some a tree parts. and those arguments convinced miriam or you to switch from tampons to a menstrual cup she's been using it for 3 years now bought some women don't like

the idea. of feel with putting a thing like that inside me. i think it's not so hygenic walking around all day with this huge thing inside me sounds uncomfortable because he has to ensure comfort menstrual cramps come in various shapes and sizes with different mechanisms for removing them a few simple questions will help women find the right type for them. how old are you is your hymen tucked or not and have you been pregnant or had a child. and it also depends a bit on your pelvic floor muscles. to ensure a good fit the cup is folded before insertion. the 2 most common for all types of the see fold also called the hot fold and there's also the punch down or shell fold. once the cup has been folded it's her. hardly larger

than a tampon and can be easily inserted once it's in place inside the vagina it unfolds forming a seal by pressing against the vaginal wall and is ready to collect menstrual blood it's held in place by the pelvic muscles and fallon is then guns to remove it please remember to not just pull on the cup but 1st release the suction. and then carefully jiggle a cop out you're probably in a slightly squatting position on the toilet so then you have the cup and can pour it out. on. a cup like this can stay in the vagina for up to 12 hours after every cycle it should be boiled in water for 5 or 10 minutes then it's ready for use the next month nowadays menstrual cups can be bought in drugstores and not just on the internet. advocates say using a cup gives a woman better control over her body and her health. when

you see changes when your flow is stronger or weaker is a form of biofeedback and that's a good thing. but does the cup sill securely enough to prevent leaks. with a cup i have no problem doing exercise i wore it to the spa i go swimming with air and feel completely free and it's never leaked. not all women are familiar with the menstrual cup but this simple device has the potential to replace conventional pads and tampons. abdominal cramps and women are often underestimated because it's the way of life it's a natural thing it's biology and so on so even doctors sometimes miss important diagnosis like. not every woman is able to have a baby for many reasons for a long time to years ago no didn't know if she could she always suffered from

abnormally painful periods. from the time i started menstruating at 15 it was awful i couldn't stand it without pain killers. each month was a torment the up down no pains put her completely out of action and there seemed to be nothing she could do about it. so even with painkillers i could hardly bear it normally. life was out of the question during my period i always knew that something wasn't normal. she 1st heard about it and by chance everything she read about it much test symptoms. in this condition the endometrium layer tissue that usually lines the uterus graze outside the womb it can settle on the ovaries the flippy and chips or even the intestine the bladder or the lining of the optimum these lesions follow the menstrual cycle so when the period starts the lesions also pete and cause extreme pain. today's and insisted on having

a lot to be done the best imaging technique to find the endometriosis grades but the results were negative monthly pains persisted. from the doctor kept saying it was normal some women have pain some don't you just have to live with that. i might leave. dr is familiar with those kinds of statements but he knows that such extreme period pains are not normal usually the course is undetected and dimitrios us. as well one problem is that we may have trouble diagnosing it you see nothing in an ultrasound everything looks normal and another problem is that we doctors don't take the patient seriously enough because pains during menstruation are considered normal. if the cause is endometriosis it's important to recognize it because the condition can often cause infertility. the endometriosis has damaged organs like the fallopian tubes the

transport mechanism then the egg cell can pass through and these women can't become pregnant for anatomical reasons but there are lots of women with endometriosis where everything still seems quite normal. there is no one to consult the specialist did she have endometriosis you have a child. the initial examination showed signs of the condition the want is a diagnosis mean for patients. we tell the women about ways of removing the lesions maybe removing a small piece of the intestine if the end of the trio's this is only on the abdominal wall then that lesion can be cut out that's the simplest procedure and the quickest to recover from. that. this is today is the 2nd operation it's only now that the extent of her and only it's becoming visible

it's a severe case there relations all over her abdomen all wall luckily her reproductive organs are not affected the surgeons will now try to remove all the endometrial tissue that surgery alone doesn't always solve the problem. after the operation we always recommend hormone therapy to keep the end of mitri osis in check as long as possible to reduce the discomfort and prevent it from recurring it. today so was given a long term birth control pill but she didn't tolerate it well and started having pain again so for 7 months she was on a different treatment that but her body in a kind of menopausal state but it disrupted her hormonal balance. as in even though i had massive side effects at age 17 i felt like a woman in many of whom was like an over 50 year old i had hot flash. attacks of sweating headaches my mood was terrible i didn't feel like a teenager and the pain came back initially not as badly as before but it was never

good as nick would. again she consulted the specialist soon it was clear that she would need more surgery today so hard for operations in toto before she could breathe a sigh of relief and then she got another piece of advice. for dr chronic pain also leads to tension and poor posture so even if the cause is been eliminated the pains may remain but doesn't mean the operation wasn't a success but the pain stimulus has led to a chronic pain syndrome which can be cured or improved with other methods. the young woman did everything to get rid of the pain permanently physio therapy make sure up with say she invested a lot of time in her disease and ultimately it led to a new profession that of an alternative health practitioner that speciality is going to logical disorders and she founded an endometrial says self-help group

today 3 women have come for a talk all of them having trouble getting pregnant then when you have to how would it be to really never be able to have children i always tried not to think about that but somehow you do end up worrying. today as it was lucky after she stopped taking hormone she became pregnant in 2013 her 1st son was born and 4 years later her 2nd at 28 she is now free of pain. so it's become to some art yea let's do it what i really was into that time and still jordan now is hand embroidery. this is like well it just explained like the simple stitches. while but then i started actually with hand and rotary to connected with many. well health and well this is i don't know you maybe are familiar familiar with the original well you've got a print of the picture right here and it's

a lady with white roses and here you have the right choices and there. is actually and what happened here is this picture was hanging here and i was really like seeing it all the time and everybody that menstruates has probably been in the situation where you were at and on the bus and school in the doctor's office wherever and you're like are i hope i'm not bleeding through my pence right now and most times it maybe even feels like it but it's not really happening and so what we started then is to create our own stamps or rubber stamps this is a uterus just a stamp so you can stand it somewhere where to have some valvo stems. you know different things that we create in those creative workshops and people create back fun send us well this is a screen print actually i don't know if you why use toilet paper free in public restrooms but temperance and pets are so this is

a political statement it is yeah and it's a well like it shouldn't be a political statement but it is because you know it actually raises the question yeah why is said like i mean in really any a public space where there's a public toilet or a place where you need to be there i think should be accessible menstrual products . and other bags here like yeah right this is actually like we call a bloody bag and it really is like provocative like it is blood but then on the other hand it's not like it's just paint it's textile paint on the back there's nothing. really. bloody about it in that sense and i think it really raises the question why is black offending you so much for not you got to. i like this kid too you can see a man sitting in front of the telly and he's watching a horror movie fight movie with blots all over and he's really enjoying it is eating popcorn with this and then this commercial breaks in the pet and some spots

of blood on it you say i can see my eyes but it's so is this reality i think that really sums it up because it shows you're not offended but black you're offended by periods and that's really i think what this question is all about like why are you so offended even a lot of people that that do menstruate just hate their period and that's totally fine like you don't have to love it if you don't have your period you don't have to be interested in it but people that do menstruate need the knowledge they need the resources to take care of it to understand what's happening well so i do my 1st print right so this is a stamp we carved out of. this is a stamp we cuffed out it's. tom hanks here or your family house radicals are very good credits they all are well i challenge we have that story so you can stick it

in there to give a just to make it hard it's ok they're just president here right and then you put pressure on it sure. like this perfect like your 1st menstrual project oh yeah it is oh it's not that actually good job it's a good job it's a print of 10 pounds and and 10 pounds actually change the history of menstruation 10 pounds and pads or the sanitary products but they are not accessible worldwide because they're quite expensive but in uganda there was a man who had a great idea. of lessons are over in this school and come parlor but the students aren't going home yet they're turning cold fabric into washable environmentally friendly sanitarium pads many girls in uganda can't afford to provide disposable pads so they stay home from school during their periods for fear of ridicule when you interview in the field.

so you. think you may not come back to school and advantaged. because disposable sen a products are so expensive many young women are forced to use rags or even leaves neither are very reliable ways of absorbing menstrual bleeding so that you do hear out once to put an end to that. he's helping the girls to sew their own reusable cloth menstrual pants here's 3 sisters so he knows what a problem periods can be i would also argue when i do the same paper my sister feels. if my sister gets a problem i'll be also responsible in one way or another. thanks to sir andrew here is project these young women can now attend school every day. and they sell the pads they make to other women generating income.

so they can induce to their communities. mending well this design is well it's another way of teaching god's how to fight make their own job. not everyone in uganda approves. project but he's determined to continue his work and tell girls stay in school. that's it for today see you next week and i'm so then let's all try to stay in good shape.

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