what did you do?: embarrassing biological accidents

[shootingstar]

Sigh. Much to my horror, I discovered this morning I had blood stained the crotch of my medium khaki green casual pants and I had probably been walking around in the office, possible in view of 3..or more employees for over 1 hr.

Honest at my age (post 50), it was not expected. So all I could do was wrap my cycling jacket around my waist, take short commuter train to a pharmacy and buy some feminine "papers" /protection.. In the end, I changed into my lycra cycling skort and cycling mtb shoes. That was my office business wear for the rest of the day.

Fortunately I had no meetings..

What did you do when you had accidental stains from periods, etc. that you discovered later..? There times I fervently wished that biologically being a woman wasn't such a hassle that it required vigilance..

[emily_in_nc]

I had this happen at work once, in the morning. Horrifying! I actually drove to a nearby mall and bought a new pair of jeans. The mall was much closer than my house, so was the lesser of two evils.

Another time, I spilled a full cup of coffee all over my pants. At this point, we lived much closer to my office, so I drove home and changed.

After that, I finally wised up and kept an extra pair of khakis in my office!

[shootingstar]

Yes, beginning to wonder if I can salvage this favourite pair of casual pants. It's one of a kind in cut /design.

One more convenience of actually having an extra set of clothing at the office..even if it's only my cycling clothing that I commuted to work in.

Another time, it wasn't staining anything...it was literally forgetting to pack my business slacks/office pants in my pannier. So I wore my cycling shorts the whole day at the office. I had no choice: I was working in an surburban location at a....construction site where employees couldn't sometimes get off site for several hrs. because the roads leading into the site were blocked by trucks and machinery that were used to do site construction/digging/paving.

[ny biker]

Last month (a few weeks before turning 50) I had a similar surprise at work. Fortunately I was wearing dark jeans and they didn't stain all the way through. I was able to get them clean by pre-treating them.

I had originally planned to wear white pants that day, but fortunately changed my mind at the last minute.

The thing is that for most of my life I've had some kind of warning. For years I would get cramps right before getting my period. In recent years I started to get hot flashes for a week or so before it started. But apparently I can't count on any advance notice anymore.

[Helene2013]

Nothing like that yet - staining clothes at work or in public, but it was close a few times. But then I always wear a mini pad so it helped. I work in a building on a 28th floor where there is a mall on main level. So worst case I could go grab a pair at Reitmans or hit the drugstore. But I always have in a drawer of my work desk some supplies (pads, tampons, deodorant, etc.) I hate being caught off guard.

I haven't had mine in 2-3 months now. The joy of being 50! But I cannot stand the hot flashes, which of course start mostly as soon as I hit the bed. So sleeping with fan facing me, air conditionning on higher, etc. I think I prefer my periods to the night "heat".

[AppleTree]

Sigh. Much to my horror, I discovered this morning I had blood stained the crotch of my medium khaki green casual pants and I had probably been walking around in the office, possible in view of 3..or more employees for over 1 hr.

Honest at my age (post 50), it was not expected. So all I could do was wrap my cycling jacket around my waist, take short commuter train to a pharmacy and buy some feminine "papers" /protection.. In the end, I changed into my lycra cycling skort and cycling mtb shoes. That was my office business wear for the rest of the day.

Fortunately I had no meetings..

What did you do when you had accidental stains from periods, etc. that you discovered later..? There times I fervently wished that biologically being a woman wasn't such a hassle that it required vigilance..

You poor girl...that is one of the worst/most embarrassing things that I can think of happening... Like Emily, that only happened to me one time - at work- at lunch hour - in a crowded cafeteria. I "felt" something was wrong and sure enough, to my horror and dismay. I am not sure anyone noticed or not. I am pretending that no one did. I had already ordered a sandwich, but I walked out as fast as possible and drove home (10 minutes away, thankfully) and changed...oh and I was wearing WHITE pants too ... what a poor choice during the last months right before menopause, I was having a terrible, terrible time with bleeding then, it was scary. I WISH I had known then about the luna cup, etc, discovered that a bit later on vacation, and I swear that thing saved my sanity, honest to pete.

You should be able to salvage those, soak in cool water and detergent and then wash, the new detergents now are pretty good.

[emily_in_nc]

It is horrible when this happens, and almost as bad when you see it happen to someone else.

One day in yoga, the instructor (who was unfortunately wearing light tan yoga pants that day, not black, d'oh!) started bleeding. I am sure that many people noticed it because of the positions she was in. I was towards the back and didn't know what to do. Finally, as she went around correcting people's posture, the gal one row in front of me had a chance to whisper to her "you're bleeding". She was like "I am?!" I guess she didn't even feel it. Amazingly, she continued teaching, and the bleeding never got any worse; it was about 1" around. She was awfully brave to continue on...especially with men in the class too. I'd have been SO outta there!

Helene, I have night-time hot flashes too. Fans and sleeping with the A/C turned down some do help. I have also found that black cohosh and soy help me. When I was taking both of them, I had no flashes for a couple of months. Then I ran out of the soy (as I would only take the non-gmo type) and gradually started having a few flashes again. I'm going to get some more non-gmo. Still much prefer them to the hassle and worries of a period as mine was heavy for most of my life and really made life complicated at times!

[Crankin]

I never had anything like that happen while riding, and I started riding about a year or two before my periods stopped. In the year before that, I had 2 "explosive" incidents, one on the way out of the theatre, on a Sunday, in downtown Boston. I just told DH to speed home! Frankly, I never thought about it when riding, as it was not the norm for me, just horrible PMS, which did affect my riding. Sure, I had flashes on and off for like 10 years, both before and after menopause, but I just ignored it. I tried the black cohash, it did nothing, so if it happened at work, I just drank lots of water. and did controlled breathing. We've always had a ceiling fan in our bedroom, so that helped, too.
I wouldn't get a white saddle, because with me, it would be dirty in like 5 seconds.

[shootingstar]

"Explosive" menstrual discharges....lol. A crime scene result.. Actually this incident has been approx. the 4th incident in my life. First time, I was a teenager and wore white tights..

[Eden]

You might be able to save your pants - test this out first on an inside seam, because it has a high possibility of bleaching out not only the blood, but the color of the pants too… but hydrogen peroxide is an incredible blood remover. I think if the pants are all cotton you'll have better luck with this not harming the cloth - synthetics are more likely to bleach out.

[ny biker]

Well this time around, I had not only hot flashes but also a 3-day migraine to warn me that TTOM was imminent. I supposed I should be grateful?

[GLC1968]

My incidents were horrendous. If you are queasy, look away now...

I had a problem with uterine fibroids causing severely heavy bleeding (like needed a transfusion, heavy). I was at work, at a new job, with virtually ALL men, at an all-hands quarterly meeting. I was wearing triple protection before going into the meeting in the hopes that I could last. When I felt the 'explosion' at the half-way point, I had no choice but to just wait it out...praying that at least one of the layers of protection might hold me. Nope. When it was over and I stood up, I gushed. Literally. On the chair, down the back of my pants...even down my legs. My pants were dark grey, so I'm sure some people were oblivious but it was incredibly obvious and I was surrounded by people (men). I walked to my desk, wrapped a jacket around my waist (mostly to protect my car seats) and walked out because I'd already used up all my supplies. I called my boss from home and then the next day, had to explain it to him. I will never, ever forget that day!

Oh, and there was an incident due to the same problem where I went to my OB-GYN for an exam. When he and his assistant came in, I told him I was still wearing a tampon because without it, I'd gush. I don't think he believed me but when he removed it, I gushed out, all over his shoes! I was mortified. I think he might have exclaimed "Oh, wow!". Ugh.

I'm not peri-menopause yet, (oddly enough), but I just can't imagine that anything my aging body might throw at me could even come close to the horror of that time in my life...

[ny biker]

Oh how awful. Though I would not be mortified re: the OB-GYN -- they should already know that these things happen and we certainly don't control them.

Many years ago I remember my grandmother telling me about some kind of incident she had experienced during "the change." I don't remember any of the details, I just remember the way she leaned forward and said, "and I GUSHED...."

(I actually wish that I did remember the rest of the story, but at the time I really had no idea what she was talking about.)

[shootingstar]

Wow, GLC your menstrual crime scence stories take the cake so far. (Or whatever expression is appropriate. ) As the the ob-gyn, he should be understanding no matter what.

I feel vaguely comforted --this is the first time in my life after ..4 decades, I even discussed accidental gushing, accidents, etc. And I grew up with 4 sisters. Keep in mind, we had overflowing bathroom garbage as a result of many females in the household and box stacks of feminine papers in the closet. And I bathroom.

[emily_in_nc]

Oh GLC, I am so sorry that happened to you -- how horrible! I would have just died. I had some near misses, but nothing that bad, thank the gods.

Talking about this oh-so-appetizing topic reminded me of another embarrassing incident. When my DH, my mother and step-dad, and my brother were all visiting my grandparents in Florida years ago, the entire house worth of toilets backed up and a plumber had to be called in toot-suite.

When he ran his long fish down to determine the obstruction, it turned out to be a tampon. Being the only female of menstruating age, I could blame it on no one but myself. And with my grandfather in the room witnessing the whole thing, I was MORTIFIED. Needless to say, they went into the garbage after that, which was also interesting since I was sharing a bathroom with my brother, my DH, and my g-father. I used a LOT of tp, let's just say!