'Periods left me bed-bound during exam revision'

Zaynah Ahmed missed many days of school during her GCSEs due to period pain

A London student who was left bed-bound with period pain when trying to revise for her GCSE's wants more do be done about the issue in schools.

Zaynah Ahmed, from Leyton, is now going through her A-level exams but for nearly seven years she struggled to cope with pain and heavy bleeding.

"In Year 11, there wasn't a single week where I was in for five days," she said. "I was just suffering."

London-based charity Wellbeing of Women are aiming to normalise discussions about the issue with their "Just a Period" campaign.

Ms Ahmed told BBC London: "We used to have two-hour lessons and sometimes I couldn't get through that without leaking and you weren't allowed to go to the toilet, so it did get quite difficult."

She said her symptoms started from a relatively young age with her mum providing most of the support and information during that time.

The 18-year-old had suffered with symptoms such as fatigue, an iron deficiency and lost some hair at at one stage.

"It happened once a month and you just had to deal with it," Ms Ahmed said.

"How did they expect me to do exams or even get through lessons."

Prof Dame Lesley Regan says more needs to be done in educating women and girls

A national survey of 3,001 girls and women aged 12 to 18 commissioned by Wellbeing of Women found 97% experienced painful periods with 36% missing school as a result.

It also found 20% of women and girls had been left bed-bound with their symptoms.

Prof Lesley Regan, a gynaecologist and chair of Wellbeing of Women, said women should not just "have to put up with it" when suffering such symptoms.

"Being unable to get on with your job or go to school or being in such an amount of pain that you feel unwell is not normal," she said.

"We haven't taught [girls] that this is something they can find help with and is actually very easy to resolve and treat."

Ms Ahmed was eventually diagnosed with two womb conditions and received specialist treatment.

She has urged anyone suffering with menstrual health symptoms to seek help and wants more to be done to educate women and girls on the issue.