I knew this had to be too good to be true. I loved everything about my cup. I even loved how I became more familiar with my flow, and its consistency, and what it looks like in that clear silicone cup.

Until...

dun dun dun...

There is some research that elderberry extract can reduce the duration and severity of the flu and possibly colds. I decided to put this to the test when I started feeling sick on Saturday. I bought some elderberry extract and poured a teaspoon of the deep red liquid into the clear dosage cup, added a dash of water, brought the swiring dark red liquid to my lips, looked down, and nearly gagged.

Elderberry extract diluted with water in a plastic dosage cup looks exactly like menstrual blood in a diva cup.

4 days later, after 4 doses of elderberry a day, and I still have to fight my gag reflex to drink the stuff. In this way, I have discovered the limit of my newfound appreciation for menstrual blood--I won't be drinking it any time soon. ;-)

On another note, my plants do evidently enjoy "drinking" menstrual blood. I read in some of the older entries about blood diluted with water, so I watered my plants that way once (theyve been sitting in too-small pots with old soil for quite some time and were looking pretty sad) and wow, two of the four noticably sprang to life.

This tends to get a pretty "ewww" response on gardening communities, so I figure someone on here would have experience with it that would care to share: My cycle starts up next week and I think I want to use my blood to feed my plants. I've read that you dilute the blood and feed it to the plants and it provides lots of essential nutrients that plants need like iron that isn't often provided by commercial plant food. The thing is I don't know what ratios to dilute to, how much I should give to a plant, if there are some plants that don't like it, and the info I've found has been murky. Can anyone give me some tips that has maybe done this before?

I've heard that menstrual blood is good for the Earth. I'm not sure whether that's a myth or fact so I'm just wondering if anyone knows.

So I just got my Divacup in the mail yesterday and have been using it for a day so far! The punchdown fold works great (I can't hold it in the C fold, it popped before I even got it in the right position for insertion LOL, but I got it in on the first try with the punchdown) and I don't really have any trouble getting it to pop open or with leaks, my cramps are about the same as before so far, and I haven't even gotten blood on my hands yet which is great! I really appreciate the lack of string, my tampon strings were always getting stuck to my panties or tangled in pubic hair and wet every time I peed, and I was always super paranoid if I was wearing a bathing suit that it might be sticking out the side or something.

Although on taking it out, the cup does ride up a ways even from where I insert it, so I have to push like I'm pooping to even be able to find the stem to pull it out (I don't know how people have problems with it sticking out LOL), and I actually wish it had a longer stem so I could get at it more easily. But that's not really that big an issue, I guess I can dig around inside myself till I find it...



I was sort of worried because it seems like my blood is really really congealed and stringy/sticky. When I pull the cup out on the toilet the blood that's in it is all down one side of the inside of the cup, rather than being at the bottom where the measuring lines and stuff are like fluid in a regular cup. The blood in the cup doesn't really "dump out" even when I hold it upside down over the toilet, it doesn't really flow and I have to hold it under the sink for 30 seconds or rub it with my fingers under the water for the blood to come off the inside of the cup.

Meanwhile I'm sitting on the toilet and I have a huge string of blood just hanging out the bottom of me that doesn't seem to drip or break. Sometimes when I wipe the big string, it just sinks to the bottom of the toilet. When I used to only wear pads, or when I had a tampon leaking, and I went to the bathroom, the blood coming out would dissolve in the water so the whole toilet bowl was reddish water. Instead now I have these big globs on the bottom of the toilet and they don't always go away with one flush, which makes me feel like I am wasting water which is not much better environmentally than just putting tampons in the septic tank.




So I was wondering, what affects the consistency of the blood? Is it normal to be really stringy and not actually have a flowy blood consistency? Does it change over the course of your period or from one period to the next? Does using the cup make the blood more gloopy and heavy than just using pads? Do I have too much iron in my blood or something like that?


Thanks for your insight!

 

 

P.S. Once my period finishes and I have cause to store my cup in a pouch, I might have a knitting pattern for you guys! I just haven't tried the pouch I made yet, because when I got the cup my period had already started, so I don't know how well it fits. :)

Hello Everyone!

Just wondering if anyone notices a difference in the viscosity (not sure if thats the word I'm looking for!) of their flow. From what I understand, most of us get gloopy blood in our cups that is sort of stringy and clumpy when we empty it out. This is what mine is normally like. This period so far, I've had completely clump-free, watery blood that's still very deep red.

Does anyone notice a variation? I love how cups allow us to be more in tune with our bodies. What else offers such a great way of measuring our flow, observing flow type (in a non creepy way!) and learning about our internal anatomy.

Have a great weekend and good luck to all of the new cup users that I've noticed in the past little while. You've made a great choice!

I bought a Lunette cup in Dec. but I have irregular periods. I've been doing a few dry runs over the last 2 months. Well I got my period 2 days ago and I have to say I'm in LOVE with my Lunette cup! OMG I will NEVER use a tampon or pad again! It's so easy to get in (I use the punch down fold) and I still haven't had a leak! I had it in overnight on my worst day and it still didn't leak! I am soooo happy! I would always have issues overnight with pads and now it is so nice to sleep and not have to worry! I've been telling all my friends to buy cups! I'm just so happy I bought a Lunette! I can't even feel the flat stem so there was no need to trim it off.

Just a fast question though....this maybe TMI...

Is it normal to have some clear-yellow fluid on top of the blood sitting in the cup? I figured it was blood serum or something but I just wanted to make sure.

For those of you who've used the blood from your cup as plant fertalizer, how'd that go for you?  I read about it on this community a while back and thought I'd try it.  So now, my watering can sits beside my toilet to remind me.  I watered the plants last now, but this morning, the living room had a funny smell...related? 

Okay, I was completely squicked out at the idea of paintings in blood.  Then I saw this journal:

http://spiralingmoon.livejournal.com/ 

Now, I'm amazed.  I thought I'd share it with the folks here... perhaps there will be more blood art to come!

 

has anyone ever used menstrual blood to fertilize a marijuana plant?

i'm concerned about it affecting the taste of the buds =/

Does anyone have [scientific] information or resources on menstrual blood as fertilizer? I'm especially interested in a breakdown of the nutrients -- I've heard iron, nitrogen ... but how much, etc.?

Thanks!

Has anyone heard of this before:

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://safeliving.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/menstrual-cup.jpg&imgrefurl=http://safeliving.wordpress.com/2007/11/27/celle-stem-cells-in-menstrual-blood/&h=300&w=300&sz=11&hl=en&start=5&sig2=hZGtikAeoTiDifhKPOuyXQ&um=1&tbnid=gAmxpfSFL3zrVM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=116&ei=WsfaR4S-D4eOigGC0Y3IBQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmenstrual%2Bcup%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN

...are there any magical practitioners in the group?

Have you used your menstrual blood for anything interesting?

It sort of seems a shame to just dump it down the drain. I already knew about using it for fertilizer for plants, but it would be quite a special plant for me to do that I think. And I just do NOT have a green thumb and so no plants.

Anyway, didn't think it would hurt to ask! :D

I hope it's okay to ask this here i didn't know where else to go. & i'm really curious Now that I have a cup and can do something useful with my blood.

So I heard that some people use there menstrual blood for plants. Well I want to buy a plant this summer & take care of it. (it's on my list of things to do this summer) I haven't decided if I want it to be an indoor pot plant of an outdoor one that I dig and put in the ground. So my question is: When giving plants blood, should I dilute it with water? & can you feed any type of plant blood?

Thankssss :]

Here's a question for all you new agey peeps who use your blood to fertilise plants.

How do you save/preserve the blood? I'm wanting to use my blood to fertilise my herb garden, I can see it being all awesome and Earth Mothery for me, really, it's the ultimate in recycling. But considering how much commercial liquid fertiliser I need to water all my herbs, I'd have to collect some of the blood up first then dilute it and water with it.

I was thinking maybe putting the blood in a jar with a bit of water in it to stop it drying out, but I imagine it will still get pretty darn stinky as bacteria grows in it, especially seeing as I'll be storing it in the shed.

Any ideas?

I love my divacup and I'm not having any problems with it, though I do have a question that you ladies may or may not be able to help me with. At a store today I saw that they were selling venus fly traps and I am probably going to buy some little ones. I've heard some of you talk about using your menstrual blood mixed with water when watering your plants, so I was wondering if any of you knew if this would be a good idea with venus fly traps. How much blood should I mix with how much water? Also, do you just keep a cup or something in the bathroom to pour the blood into before you use it or what? Do you keep some to use it throughout the month or just use it right away and throw out the rest? I'm just so curious!

I have a question that I didn't see covered in the memories.

I have one plant in my house, a sage, and I fed it this past month. By the next day, it was sending up new leaves (yay!) However, my cat, who has never shown interest in this or any other plant, suddenly couldn't keep away from it and chewed the tips of the new leaves off, as well as the tip of one of the other leaves.

My question is, is this a coincidence, or did the blood make the plant suddenly more attractive to the cat? Anyone? Bueller?

X-posted.

Copy-pasted:

Japanese researchers have harvested stem cells from human menstrual blood, a medical conference has heard.

The researchers say these stem cells could be coaxed into forming specialised heart cells, which might one-day be used to treat failing or damaged hearts.

At the meeting of the American College of Cardiology, Dr Shunichiro Miyoshi reported that he and his colleagues at Keio University in Tokyo collected menstrual blood from six women and harvested stem cells that originated in the lining of the uterus.

They were able to obtain about 30 times more stem cells from menstrual blood than from bone marrow, Miyoshi says.

The stem cells were then cultured in a way to induce them to become heart cells.

After five days about half of the cells contracted "spontaneously, rhythmical and synchronously, suggesting the presence of electrical communication" between the cells, Miyoshi says.

That is to say, they behaved like heart cells.

The researcher explains that already stem cells derived from bone marrow have improved heart function, mainly by producing new blood vessels rather than new heart-muscle tissue.

He emphasises that it is important that these cells be obtained from younger patients, because they would have a longer lifespan than cells harvested from older donors.

From this page

I'm starting to get right into gardening at my new house, so this month I think I'll actually save my blood.

Is it safe to use the blood on herbs? And how much should I dilute it if so? I have no qualms about eating herbs fertilised with my own blood (although it does have funky Little Shop Of Horrors overtones).

Ok, so I have gotten used to inserting my DivaCup with not too much trouble (did it yesterday night for the first time without sticking my finger in and sliding it aginst my finger). The first time I wore it I couldn't feel it at all after a little while, the night before the morning my first 'cup' period started).

When I tried to remove it tho, it really hurt I nearly cried. I'll explain the ways I've tried to remove it but will explain the situations for now.. So I eventually removed it, washed it, and put it back in to try it out at school for the first time. I don't think I inserted it right that time because I could feel it when I was still at school, and when I started to walk to class it hurt like hell. So I had to go to the toilet before class and try to remove it. It hurt again but I eventually got it out. I didn't want to try again while I was at school tho so just used my pads.

I then tried to insert it in the shower before going to work (just started - hairdressing junior = slave lol.) but I was in a rush so just used a pad. Then I got home but had to watch my does of LOST (only show I'm addicted to - we're on the 2nd ep of season 2 here in Oz) and then ended up inserting it befor ebed. I got into bed and it felt like i could feel it, but I wasn't really sure because I had a pads on and it could have been that. Anyway I ended up sleeping with it in (couldn't feel it in the morning) and tried to remove it again. This was the first time I got an adequate ammount of flow in the cup. It was a 'murder scene' tho, blood all over my hand.. so here's what I've been trying..

I bear down, then I try to pinch the base however that just doesn't seem to break the seal cos when I tug on it I get the ever-described feeling of being pulled/sucked out. So I end up sticking my finger right up there to the top of the cup and pushing it in, the i try to pull t down further while also bearing down. When I get to the point when the top of the cup is near the entrace it hurts like hell. By searching through the tabs (memories not working for me) I think it may be my hymen (haven't used tampons, and I'm a virgin - tho I've stuck my finger all the way up to my cervix - but thats would be diff). It just reall really hurts right at the end, and I hate trying to suck it up (like a band-aid) cos it just really hurts... I hope someone can assure me the pain of this will decrease with time (I shouldn't have trouble with first sex then!! yay!!)...

After all of this I've just gotten blood everywhere, and I'm 'edit:not' really troubled with it, it's just a messy hassle.
----------------------------------

Also, I've tried the 'shower' (made-up name) technique of cleaning the holes (filling with water, placing on hand, tipping upside down and sqeezing) but it just doesn't squirt out the holes! it just squirts out the bottom... any idea on how to handle this, I've never heard of of any problems with this technique. Also I'm thinking maybe this is because the hole aren't as big at they should be or somthing like that. Because then that could explain this problem, and the problem of it being hard release the suction when removing...
I've heard of using a pin (I'll probably try that anyway to try and make the wholes a teeeeny bit bigger). I've also heard of useing a toothbrush, and of using rubbing alcohol, the 'shower' technique seems to be the quickest/most convient way and I'd really like to get it down-pat.

I've also not been able to rotate the cup when I've inserted it, I'm not sure why.. I will try next time tho.

Someone also mentioned something about egyptian women using pulped-out lemons as diaphrams (on the topic of DIY cups). I was jsut wondering if anyone else has heard of this and where.. I thought it could be an alright alternative, it would be extremly good for the environment anyway...

One last thing.. if I'm going to water my plants with my flow, what ratio of flow to water should I use? What do you use or what does your look like (eg. really red, or just pinkish) I've never really seen anything about this.

Sorry if these questions have already been answered, but I couldn't find anything good enough (that's been mentioned heaps enough for me to see it), and if I have then I probably just didn't write down here that I knew of it.

Well.. I just finished my 5th period w/ the Diva. I leak a little, but I may have figured out how to avoid that. The thing is.. when I first browsed through some of the communities that have blood art in them, it made me queasy. I was very scared of how i'd react to a cup full of blood. I have to say.. the Diva cup forces you to touch and really SEE your blood. I'm not queasy anymore! I am facinated w/ my blood! It's so thick and gel-like. Who knew? It is amazing that I have been menstruating for about 18 years and NEVER knew what was really coming out of me!! Now I want to save all the blood from my cup for my whole period just to see what it would all look like in one container. Is that odd? Perhaps, but I don't care. It just amazes me. Am I the only one?

I hear that you can actaully do this with your period-blood. Should I dillute the blood our just pour it right on? Does period-blood work better than other fertilizing?