Most things about periods and puberty need nothing done about them, and this page is the short list of the ones that are worth saying out loud. Telling someone is not the same as something being wrong; it is how you find out that it is not. This page is health information for learning, and a doctor or a trusted adult can help with anything that worries you.

The things worth asking a doctor about

None of these means something bad has happened. They are simply the ones where a doctor would rather look than not, and where the usual answer is reassurance.

About periods starting. You or a trusted adult can arrange an appointment if there is no period by about 15, or if it has been about three years since your breasts started developing and no period has come [ACOG]. Also if there are no signs of puberty at all by about 13 [NHS].

About periods you already have. You or a trusted adult can arrange an appointment if:

• your periods stop for more than about three months once they have started [NHS]
• bleeding soaks through a pad or tampon every hour or two
• a period regularly lasts longer than about 7 days
• pain keeps you off school or stops you doing your usual things — period pain in teens covers this
• you bleed between periods, or after sex
• you often feel dizzy, breathless or very tired

If you are not sure whether something counts, is my period normal sets out what the first years usually look like. If it is still not clear, ask anyway. Nobody minds.

How to say it

You do not need the right words. Any of these works:

• "Can you help me make a doctor's appointment? It's about my periods."
• "My periods are really painful and I keep missing school."
• "I haven't started my periods yet and I want to check that's okay."

You can ask for the appointment to be with a female doctor, and you can ask the adult with you to wait outside for part of it. Both are ordinary requests.

Taking a record helps a lot — when periods came, how heavy, how much pain, what you have already tried.

If an adult brushes it off

It happens. "It's normal, you'll get used to it" is a common answer and it is not always the right one, especially about pain.

You are allowed to ask again, or to ask someone else. A school nurse, a pharmacist, a doctor's receptionist and a teacher are all real routes, and none of them requires permission from the first person who said no.

If home is not the easiest place to ask

Not everyone has an adult at home they can talk to about this, and that is more common than it looks.

If something is happening to your body that someone else is causing, or you do not feel safe telling anyone at home, there are adults outside the home whose job this is — a school nurse, a teacher, a head of year, or a doctor. You can go straight to them, you do not need a reason ready, and you do not have to tell anyone at home first. If you want help finding support right now, there is a page for that.

When to see a doctor

The list above is the answer to this question. Two short additions.

Go soon, rather than waiting for the next thing on the list, if something has changed and stayed changed — periods that were settling and then stopped, pain that is getting worse month by month, or bleeding that is heavier than it used to be.

Go with somebody if you would rather not go alone. A parent, a carer, an older sibling, a friend's parent or a school nurse can come. If you want to see the doctor on your own for part of it, say so at the desk.

Seek care now: get help the same day if you are soaking through a pad or tampon every hour or two for several hours, if you faint or nearly faint, if you have severe pain you cannot function through, if you feel very unwell with a fever while using a tampon — take it out first — or if you do not feel safe.

Nothing on this page is a way of working out what is going on. That is a doctor's job, in a room, with questions. What this page does is tell you which things are worth the appointment, and what else is changing covers the ordinary parts that are not.