If you ask ChatGPT for some of the biggest myths about periods, you’ll get suggestions like, “You shouldn’t use tampons if you’re a virgin,” “You can’t exercise when you have your period,” and “PMS is just in your head.” And given the way women have been culturally conditioned to think of periods as shameful for centuries, it’s no wonder misinformation like this is still floating around today.
“A nurse I work with told me her daughter was called to the office in her elementary school for ‘saying a bad word,’ and the word was vagina,” recalls Karen Tang, MD, a board-certified gynecologist and gynecologic surgeon. In a conversation with Dr. Tang at Katie’s Feeling Good at Any Age event sponsored by P&G, Katie spoke about another taboo subject that many women are hesitant to discuss: incontinence. “It’s one of those things people feel very nervous about discussing,” Katie offered, “But knowledge is power, and we have to stop being embarrassed.”
According to Dr. Tang, half of all women will experience bladder incontinence at some point in their lifetime. “Every time I go to a children’s trampoline birthday party, the moms and I look at each other and just say, ‘Nope,’” she shares. “For me,” says Katie, “It’s peeing when sneezing.”
Anything that weakens the muscles in the pelvic floor, which can include everything from pregnancy to a chronic cough, can lead to incontinence, says Dr. Tang. “It can happen to women of all ages, and the biggest myth I want to debunk is that there’s nothing you can do about it,” she says. There are plenty of nonsurgical options to help strengthen the pelvic floor, including physical therapy, Dr. Tang explains: “A lot of women don’t know how to do Kegel exercises, and pelvic floor therapy is like having a physical trainer there to explain exactly how to do these exercises correctly.”
In addition to encouraging women to speak up about their concerns without shame, Dr. Tang notes the importance of keeping women’s health issues top-of-mind for researchers. “The funding for fibroids, which impacts around 80 percent of black women and 70 percent of white women, is a fraction of what it is for other diseases,” she says. “The subtext is that fibroids are just an annoyance, but they can cause hemorrhaging and infertility.” Women’s pain should always be taken seriously, and the best way to make that happen is by sharing our experiences — even the embarrassing ones — with each other.
