My IUD changed how I travel
My period was holding back my travel adventures. The IUD gave me the freedom to explore the world on my own terms.
Travelling as a woman comes with a certain set of challenges. We pack appropriate clothing to avoid unwanted attention. We make copies of passports, itineraries, hotel contact information, and make sure our loved ones back home know exactly where we’ll be staying and how to reach us. We steer clear of bars, dark alleys, and make sure we’re back in our hotel rooms before sunset.
Despite how unlikely it is that any of our worst fears will actually happen, women’s safety is discussed way more often than the more common challenges that we face while travelling.
Take for instance, periods.
Travelling with your period presents its own unique set of challenges that no one ever talks about.
How do you pack enough tampons for the entire trip? Did you stock up on enough birth control before you left? If you didn’t, how are you going to get more while abroad? Are there enough bathroom breaks in your itinerary to change your tampon every few hours? Is access to a bathroom even a given? What about trash disposal? Are you going to have to stash your used tampons until you can find somewhere to get rid of them? What if you’re using a menstrual cup? Will you have to clean it in a communal bathroom?
And don’t even get me started on the bloating, cramping, and slew of other, awful time-of-month symptoms women have to deal with. For those of us who deal with severe period symptoms, there isn’t enough Advil in the world to make even the dreamiest vacations enjoyable while menstruating.
For some women who suffer through painful periods regularly, we are literally at the mercy of our cycle. There was a time in my life when I blocked out an entire week of my calendar each month so I could avoid all social activities and stay at home with a tub of ice cream and bottle of Advil.
When I was able to, I booked travel around my period, so I could limit my time on my cycle abroad.
But as my travel writing career began to take off and I started travelling to a new destination every month, it became impossible to schedule trips around my period. I soon found myself having to reserve space in my suitcase for tampons and birth control boxes while meticulously combing through itineraries to make sure there were accessible bathrooms regularly available and opting-out of any activities where I feared there wouldn’t be.
My period was preventing me from travelling the way that I wanted to.
Finally, I had enough. I was tired of feeling out of control of my own body and not being able to fully enjoy these experiences. So, I decided to take back control of my body by getting an IUD inserted.
An IUD, or an intrauterine device, is a small t-shaped birth control device that’s inserted into the cervix by a doctor and replaced every 3–5 years, depending on the brand. It prevents pregnancy with an efficiency rate of over 99% and for half of all women who use it, myself included, it eliminates monthly periods.
It eliminates monthly periods.
The IUD effectively eliminated the one thing in my life that was holding me back from experiencing the world the way that I wanted to.
There are a variety of reasons that women use birth control. Most commonly, to avoid an unwanted pregnancy. However, over 50% of women who use birth control say they use it to control their periods.
For women who do a lot of travelling, camping, backpacking, or outdoor activities, not having to deal with a period makes life way easier. Gone are the days when you had to worry about packing enough tampons for the duration of your trip or pre-locating the nearest pharmacy in case you need to stock up. Not only is this going to save previous room in your suitcase, but with the average woman expected to have over 456 periods in her lifetime, it’s also going to save you a lot of money.
I’ve had three, wonderful period-free years with my IUD. Now, I schedule trips without taking into consideration my monthly cycle. I don’t need to do pre-trip research to identify the nearest bathrooms on my itinerary stops and I don’t ever worry about whether or not I’ll be ready to rock an itty-bitty bikini on the beach.
Without my period holding me back, I can enjoy travel again.
Technically speaking, periods don’t put you at any sort of physical disadvantage per se, but the mental stress and anxiety that comes with a period that can be debilitating.
Every young girl has had nightmares about standing up from a school desk with a blood stain on her jeans.
These period fears never go away. In fact, they are only exacerbated when we’re away from home.
“What if I get it unexpectedly on the beach?” “What if I’m having a heavy flow day on a safari and there’s no bathroom for hours?” “What if there’s no private place to wash my diva cup?”
All of these questions are eliminated with the IUD. Getting rid of my period gave me freedom and control over my body again — and isn’t that exactly what we’ve been trying to teach women for years?
But hey, if the IUD isn’t for you, then that’s fine! There is no right or wrong way to deal with periods.
As access to birth control continues to be politicized in more vile attempts to control women’s bodies, I want to end this by saying that contraceptive decisions are yours to make, own your own, and access to your preferred form of birth control is your right.
You deserve to have control over your own body in whatever way works best for you.
(I am not a medical doctor. The content in this post is based on my own experiences with birth control. What works for me may not work for you. Please consult a health care professional before making any changes to your own birth control.)
