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Thursday, August 23, 2012

Women, did you know about this?

Now pay attention to the title, it says "women" so if you are not one of them, stop reading this right now. Trust me. Especially family.....Dad. We are going to be discussing women's plumbing products in this post, really.
I was lucky enough not to get my period until High School, but unlucky enough to get debilitating cramps that would go on for a week. I remember out first health class in the sixth grade. They separated the boys in one room and the girls in the other and played us a video, I'm sorry "film strips",  that was so old the sanitary napkins came with belts to keep them on. I was horrified. Lucky for me I had a mom I could talk to about that sort of thing. When I got home I asked about the belts. She informed me that times had changed and pads now had adhesive on the back to stick to your panties. So there was the million dollar question. Pads or tampons?
Now at 35 years old I come to find out, those aren't the only options. These days when people are trying to be greener there are cloth pads and sponges, yes.....sponges, but what really intrigued me was the idea of a menstrual cup. There are several different kinds on the market but I didn't want anything disposable and it seemed that the most popular was the Diva Cup, so that is what I decided to try.
The idea of a cup is that it's placed in to the vaginal canal and it catches all of your...well....pan drippings. It's made of silicone and is flexible. It creates a suction against your cervix and doesn't allow anything to pass through. I was convinced that, especially after my Essure issues, my period would be way to heavy for this. It turns out that even at your heaviest time women only lose about a tablespoon or two of blood the whole day.  Really. It just looks like more because of the pad and tampon, not to mention commercials have always showed us that blood comes out of our uterus like a giant pitcher of blue water being poured from 2 feet above.
I decided to give it a try. Honestly, pads are so expensive and uncomfortable. I've never been able to use tampons because the cramping is just awful for me. So I went online and ordered my Diva Cup.
I ordered mine through Drugstore.com and got a pretty good deal, also it showed up in two days with free shipping.
I've heard a lot of stories about there being a learning curve with this product and I didn't really have any issues at all. If it doesn't open up all the way then it will leak, but you can tell when it's open.....at least I can.
Here's the deal. I was hoping it would be manageable, but for me it was awesome. One of the issues I face with Essure is the blood clots. I'll be sitting down with people and feel something, realizing that I have to rush to the bathroom because I've likely just filled my whole pad. With the Diva cup I feel nothing, because it catches the blood before it even comes down the chute! I had some light cramping the first day, which was less than normal and after that it was like I didn't even have my period at all. There is no blood when going to the bathroom, there is no uncomfortable pad or changing tampons. You only have to empty the cup every twelve hours and although I will admit you may see things you never wanted to see, it completely out ways any other menstruation containment options. Really emptying the cup wasn't that bad once I realized that I really only had to do it at night before bed. Aside from the one time I dropped it in the toilet, yeah....ew.....I had no issues at all. Now if you are under 30 and have never given birth you are supposed to go with size A, if you are over 30 and or have had children even via c-section then you are size B. I know that's depressing but try to get past it. If you haven't had a child, I can see where there may be a moment of panic the first time you go to remove your cup. It really works it way up there and when you try to grab the little tail to pull it out you may realize that grab and just barely can touch with the tip of my finger are two totally different things. Fear not. You may have to push a little but it will come out and once you get the hang of it, you'll have no trouble at all. So what do you think? Have you used one? Have you even heard of this before? Are you game to try? I can't really say enough good things about this product, I only wish I had discovered them years and years ago.

2 comments:

  1. I will be looking into this, I have problems with pads as every one I have tried irritates my skin. I also have problems with Tampons but that is what I live with because it is the better of two evils!
    I will though wait till after my next appointment because I may be getting a hysterectomy then I won't have these problems, just a bunch of others!

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    1. I hope things turn out for the best at your appointment. If you do get a chance to try it let me know. I'm all about spreading the word on this eco friendly and extremely comfortable method.

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