I’m all for official Menstrual Leaves

Yesterday, I was bedridden with my usual, or rather unusual, menstrual cramps. It was terrible. It happens when I don’t exercise – which actually means all the time.

I woke up with lower back and abdominal pains, a migraine, and a severe case of LBM. Could I ask for more? And the worse part was that I couldn’t drink medication for the pain because I couldn’t get up to eat breakfast! Based on experience, drinking medication without taking in any food resulted in hyperacidity and vomiting. There was no food in the condo. If I wanted to eat, I had to buy or call delivery. I was too sick to think and do anything.

I therefore spent the whole morning in bed struggling through the pain. Much as I had to go to work for two very important meetings, I decided to take the day off to rest. I could have actually forced myself to get up. But after the stress of the past few months, making me feel so tired and demotivated, I chose to take a whole day leave.

I think it’s unfair though, that a number of us women have to use up our official sick leaves for a condition that happens regularly. So what if it happens to some people every single monthly period? That means 12 SLs used up already! Most of the time we just force ourselves to go to work. But we aren’t really productive. I just think it would be more considerate of companies to allow women to take Menstrual Leaves. On top of the pain, who would want to work around a moody and cranky person with a severe case of dysmenorrhea? It’s really for everyone’s peace and convenience. =D