I am 60, and still have heavy regular periods, had blood tests insisted upon by my doc, funnily enough, to prove that I am still nowhere near menapause, just a regular woman as far as those hormones go. I know that hypothryoidism can be linked to heavy periods or scanty ones, but mine are normal for me, since the age of 9.
I have always thought that if men had periods, they would have free issues of tampons etc, but we are just lowly women lol, so we have to pay for them. 50% or so of the world population is women, maybe a bit more. In China, I remember that I could not buy tamapx anywhere, and was told that it was not sanitary for a woman to use them, and they were right, all of the toxic substances they use, are very bad. We are aware of that in general now, and I don't use tampax anymore.
I found this interesting in the Huffpost today. It is utterly ridiculous that tampons and pads, are still classed as a luxury item, and we pay 5% vat, plus all of the other taxes as well. I say good to the girls that demonstrated, it really shows how utterly unthinking and cold, governments are, and how at least this one law, should change.
Here is a link, but I feel sure, that most of you know about it already.