FIT WebQoof: Should You Avoid Drinking Iced Water On Your Period?

Here are some common period myths that need to be debunked, now!

The Claim

A social media post shows graphic images of a woman's overly enlarged belly and claims that it is actually a tumor in her uterus. The tumor has been attributed to some activities that the woman should have avoided while she was menstruating.

View this post on Instagram

WOMEN PLEASE BE CAREFUL Share this message to any woman that you know. (If you are man and you receive this message please help forward it to the women around you), If a woman is seeing her menstrual period then please do not do these 4 things; That is: 1. Do not drink ice water, soda water, or eat coconut during menstruation. 2. Do not apply shampoo on your head because the pores of the head are open during menstruation and it can cause headache (hit the wind head), it is very dangerous and this effect can be felt when young and later when aged . 3. Do not eat cucumber during menstruation because the sap present in the cucumber can block some menstruation (blood waste) in the uterine wall and it can cause Barrenness! 4. In addition during menstruation, Your body should not be knocked or hit by hard objects, especially the abdomen because it can cause vomiting blood, the uterus can be injured. And these are the "ORIGIN OF UTERUS CANCER, CYSTS AND BARRENNESS Research proves, drinking ice during menstruation can cause menstrual blood remaining in the uterine wall, after 5-10 years can cause "UTERUS CANCER OR TUMOR". Please this info is distributed to many women; mothers, wives, daughters, or girlfriends. Show concern for others. Love your woman. There is Beauty in Sharing ... saving 1 woman, can get you an unexpected reward, this would be useful for women. Uterus Cancer or Barrenness will not be your portion ... Source: LPKI (Indonesian Cancer Extension Institute) #thefashion_file

A post shared by TheFashionFile (@thefashion_file) on Jul 9, 2018 at 11:01am PDT

The post carries a caption that lists all the do's and dont's. Here are the claims:

1. Do not drink iced water, soda water, or eat coconut during menstruation.
2. Do not apply shampoo on your head because the pores of the head are open during menstruation and it can cause headache (hit the wind head). It is very dangerous for menstruating women of all ages.
3. Do not eat cucumber during menstruation because the sap present in it can block some menstrual blood (blood waste) in the uterine wall, and this can cause barrenness.
4. In addition, your body should not be knocked off or hit by hard objects, especially the abdomen, because it can cause you to vomit blood and injure the uterus.

The Truth

Before delving into the caption, we find out the origins of the pictures being circulated. After a reverse image search on Google, we discovered that these were actually from a 2017 case of a woman’s five-stone cyst that had been successfully removed.

The post then talks about some common and absurd period-myths that need to be cleared. For this purpose, FIT reached out to Dr Shilpa Agrawal, Consultant Gynaecologist at Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre, who clarified that there was no truth in any of these claims. For all the four claims, she said, “This is all false.”

• There’s nothing that you can’t eat when you’re menstruating. Your diet has nothing to do with such extreme health problems during menstruation.
• Chilled water, coconut or cucumber — there is no associated harm between these food items and cancer or tumor.
• You can shampoo your hair just like you do every time. There is no truth in any of these claims.

“Menstruation is a hormonal process. It’s physiological and not pathological. There is no diet that will affect it, especially to this extent. Yes, localized heat can help reduce cramps, which is why hot water is recommended. But all the claims mentioned here are baseless. You can eat what you regularly eat.”

Dr Shilpa Agrawal

So we know for sure, that the post is completely false. The images are sourced from an earlier case, and the things-to-avoid listed in the caption are all fallacious.