Information for students with endometriosis (easy read)

If you are at school, college or university, endometriosis can make learning hard.

Lots of girls start their periods when they start secondary school. One of the symptoms of endometriosis is periods that are very painful.

If your periods are very painful it can make it hard to do normal things like sleep or work or see your friends and family. 

Sometimes bad periods can make you bleed a lot. If you are bleeding a lot it can also make it hard to do normal things.

If you have bad periods that make it hard to do your work you should tell your school.  If you tell someone they can help find ways to make it easier to do your work.

Here are some things that can be useful to know if have bad periods that make it hard to go to school.

• You might need more period products like tampons and pads. Some schools will give you these for free. You might have to ask a teacher for tampons or pads.
• You could bring some spare clothes to school to change into if your periods leak through your clothes.
• In some schools you need to have a toilet pass if you need the toilet when you are in class. If you do you could ask for a toilet pass before class so that you can get to the toilet quickly.
• Some schools have someone special you can talk to about periods or if you feel ill. This might be a teacher or a school nurse. They can help you find the best way to do your work when you are feeling bad.
• Sometimes your periods might be so bad you cannot  go to school or college. If you cannot go to school or college you might not be able to keep up with your work. Your school might be able to help you by giving you more time to do your homework. Your school might be able to help you catch up by helping you do your work when you are feeling better.
• Sometimes your school or college will ask for a doctor’s note. A doctor’s note will explain to your teachers about anything that makes it harder to do your work so that they can help you.

• You might have to take medicine from the doctor to make you feel better. If you have to take medicine you should tell your teachers. Your teachers might need to look after your medicine for you while you are in school.
• You might need your school or college to make reasonable adjustments to help so you catch up on work you have missed. Everyone will need different reasonable adjustments. You should talk to your family or teachers or a friend about what would help you.

Information for your teachers

We have written some information for teachers to help them understand about bad periods and endometriosis. You could can show these websites to your teachers.

This is a page on this website for teachers to help them understand endometriosis.

This is a website to help teachers understand about bad period pain.