Whenever I am on my period and I am using tampons, I find that sometimes I “leak”? By leak I don’t mean period juice, possibly urine? Does anyone else have the same issue? I hope it’s not incontinence as usually I am fine most other times. x
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Hi @Jenny86 this could be a urine, or potentially vaginal moisture or period blood. It is difficult to say for sure, but some women do experience stress incontinence just before or during their period. This is when you cannot control the urge to urinate and pressure on the bladder can lead to the leaking urine. Stress incontinence can mean you leak urine during activities that increase the pressure in your abdomen such as laughing, coughing, heavy lifting or exercise, amongst other things. If this is the case, then it may be stress incontinence.
Another type of incontinence is called urge incontinence, which is usually due to overactivity in bladder muscles, and means the individual sometimes cannot hold urine in and suddenly needs to go to the loo. Some people have a mixture of both stress and urge incontinence.
If these sound familiar, it is worth discussing with your doctor to help manage symptoms.
Some ways to help manage the symptoms, include maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, staying fit and eating well. Also, try to avoid exacerbating substances such as caffeine and alcohol.
Oestrogen drops just before your period, which can weaken the urethra (the tube that connects the bladder to the transport urine to outside of the body), which may be why you’re having these symptoms during your period, but I would advise you talk to your health professional to get to the bottom of this.
It is a very common problem, especially amongst women, but we often feel embarrassed to talk about it, so thanks for bringing this up on here.
Hope that helps 
Sarah x
Hey Dr HANX, thank you so much for the detailed response. I had no idea it was this common and honestly, I am just so embarrassed that it is happening to me at this age. I don’t believe it’s urge as I only notice it when on period and using tampons. If it is to do with the Oestrogen drop would you recommend any training for the urethra? Is that the same as the pelvic floor muscle? I’ve seen all these gadgets to strengthen it but thought i didn’t need it as I have not had a child.
I’ll try and get a GP appt but in the mean time thank you so much for your response!