so sick of goop.  omfg.  I think I'm abnormally gushy - I have serious WHOOSH moments where I could probably fill a tablespoon all throughout the day, and it's just... no.  I don't wear underwear, can't stand it, so pantyliners aren't an option.  and I've always been like this, so I know it's just me and not some sort of temporary imbalance or somesuch.

I currently use a large ladycup and love it, except it's kind of too in between for my purposes.  I need a high capacity cup because I have a horrifically heavy flow, and my current one doesn't quite do because it leaks at the holes, which are like HALFWAY down the damn cup, and it's too large to be comfortable enough to wear as an everyday discharge cup.  now, I had a small ladycup that I would have used for this purpose, except the damn thing just turned to the side O_o  I think it was too narrow.

so... I'm thinking about this: a medium meluna for discharge because it seems like the widest small cup, only 1mm narrower than my large ladycup, and a large meluna for its intended purpose - the holes are higher and it should theoretically hold more than my ladycup.  seems just right!  what do you peeps say?

one other thing - there were some concerns raised over the safety of TPE - I assume they were debunked as I haven't heard anything else about it.  would it be safe to use as an almost constant discharge cup, if I chose to use it that often?

thanks so much in advance!

so, this will be my second cycle using my diva. i put the cup in today because i felt cramps coming on and figured i was getting my period today. it still hasn't come. is it ok for me to keep it in overnight and until i get my period? i know it's coming soon now, but i never quite know when. i don't want to leave it in if it's bad for me, but it'd be pretty convenient. thoughts?

Hello, all.

After the end of my last period, I started continual use of my cup to collect the everyday fluids. Now I'm on day FIFTY of my cycle and no sign of the next bleed!! My mean cycle length is about 31 days, with a sd of about 3.5! Is this normal?!!

I'm not on any birth control but on the other hand, I'm not sexually active, so it's not that.

Anyone have traditional/herbal/etc. remedies to bring on the bleeding? It's really annoying that I don't know when to expect it.

I use a cup everyday for what I've considered heavy discharge for a long time.  I was not using cups at my last annual exam, nor had had any sexual partner for over a year.  After last year's exam it was determined I had an "abnormal" pap smear, but it was probably okay.  So this year I go in, and as per usual, she asks if I had abnornal bleeding, pain, discharge...yada-yada.  I have always considered my heavy discharge normal, as it seems to have been that way since aldolecence, so I say no.  After the exam the doctor went to look at one of the slides under the microscope.  She came back in and said I have Bacterial Vaginosis, and that is why I have such heavy discharge, and what caused my last abnormal pap.  She said it was common for those with this problem to complain of always having to wear a pantyliner (or my case a cup) because it's so heavy, and prescribed an antibiotic.  But what I also found interesting is I don't fit any of the suspected risks.  So if someone else has been going through the same thing, ask at your next pap.  Even if you don't fit the causes!

***UPDATE 10/04/09***

After finishing off all the antibiotics, I sure enough ended up with a yeast infection.  The first I've ever had in my life.  :(  Even worse, it was the guy I was having sex with that informed me afterwards of my condition.  Also, after he had his mouth down there even.  :((

Does anyone use there cup on a daily basis to monitor cervical mucus for natural family planning purpose (or any other purpose you might like, I guess)? It seems like a good way to monitor if you don't have a ton of mucus, making it difficult to determine the quality/characteristics....any thoughts/experiences?

I want to start by saying that I love love love my cup and will continue to use it. I'll just be more careful next time.

See, usually when I'm about to get my period I'll start wearing my cup. My periods are never ontime so that means I might wear my cup for a week or more before I get it. But I do that incase it is ontime so I don't ruin my clothes. I used to do the same thing with pads.

The bad thing is that when my cup isn't filling with menstrual fluid I might forget to take it out and rinse it off. Usually this isn't a problem. I just wash it off when I remember. However this time something happened.

I had forgotten my cup for a few days. Lots of stuff going on and in the chaos I just forgot about it. I remembered when I started getting itchy and began to feel pain in my vagina.

So I took out my cup and sterlized it. But the damage had been done. I was itchy, swollen, in pain, and had a clumpy white discharge. I had never had a yeast infection before but I assumed that's what it was. I went to the doctor to be sure. He said it was indeed a YI and it was also pretty severe. He gave me medicine and it's helping thankfully.

Lesson learned. Don't let the cup stay in for a few days. Better yet, don't let it stay in for more than 12 hours (as everyone on here suggests). Next time I'll be more careful. TRUST ME! I'll be careful. I don't ever want to have this problem again.

Oh, I still haven't had my period. lol After the YI is cleared up I'll go back to using my cup.

I had previously posted about using a cup for discharge.  I was left a very immature, close-minded response, and deleted the whole post.  This morning, I now feel like the immature one for doing that.  I was just very embarassed someone would call attention to something like that.  So let me put it into perspective for you from my point of view, since it made me feel like I have some mental health problem:

I have a very light period.  When I use my large LC, it only fills to the top of the bumps at the base after twelve hours.  When I use it for discharge, it fills to the bottom bumps.  My small Lunette fills to the top of the rings on the base with just discharge.  It's not everyday.  Some days I have almost nothing at all in the cup.  My heavy discharge days are about twenty days of the month.  I won't wear a pantyliner.  Why get a reusable cup for the four days on on my period if I'm going to throw away forty pantyliners that month?  And since I refuse to wear a pantyliner (why?  because I wear tight pants everyday and only own thong undies.  and yes, I have a whole case of thong pantyliners I will never wear again because they wadded up in my butt crack) so I sometimes actually get a wet spot on my jeans before I used a cup.  And with the tight jeans and short shirt, you can imagine once I felt wet down there I would have to feel and go check the mirror constantly for fear it would look like I peed myself a little. 

So, yes, I wear a cup all day, all night, everyday.  I rinse it out before bed, and I wash it every morning.  I have been doing this for several months now, and have yet to experience any negatives.  In fact, I noticed my undies smell like moist fabric softener, not coochie.  I am quite happy with my decision, and wish not to have it questioned.  It didn't even have to do with my actual posted question.  So I apologize to those who had nicely answered her question for her.  You had some really proper answers, and I thank you who defended me.

Ok this is the most fucked up thing that has ever happened to me,

First off I have not been sexually active for the past 3 months,

I am quite forgetful,

I do not get very heavy flows,

I discovered my diva cup was missing last menstrual cycle and figured I lost it, and to my surprise after putting up with brown spotting for the past weeks and a terrible smell that it was still inside me, it's been 2 months in there i know this is fucked up i am shocked, perhaps even toxic shocked.....

has anyone heard of this or had something similar, please do not post "how could you be sooo stupid" i already feel that way, i will be going to get checked, but it's 2am right now.....

just need some feedback

i've never tried any alternative items...just disposable pads and tampons. and i've been really curious about cups lately. but anyway. i'm not working right now. and i hate when i am, because my regular discharge gets so heavy when i'm on my feet all day. like i have to wear pantyliners (which i know are bad for you) or deal with the smell til i get home and change panties. so...can the cup be used as a daily...cream catcher? do people do that? does anyone besides me have increased discharge when you have to be on your feet all day or have to walk across campus a lot? what do you do about it?

Hey guys!  Or, gals, I guess.  I was trying to avoid my usual "y'all" there.  haha anyway...

This occurred to me last night.  The only time I'm not using my cup during my flow is when I'm in the shower (my preferred time to change it and really clean it) and another part of the day while I'm cleaning it.  Last night I had cramps (and gas) so bad that I couldn't bear the thought of replacing my cup once I'd gotten it out.  So I resorted to wearing a pad for the first time in about a year.

Which makes me realize, it's something close to my first Divaversary!  Also I'm realizing that regular users can do polls now!  So here goes:

Poll #1331707 cup usage
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 234

Do you use something along with your cup while you're wearing it?

how much of your period would you say you use your cup?

when do you use your cup?

My other question is this:  I've seen a lot of stuff recently about the cervix sitting inside the cup.  How do you make that happen?  It seems like my cervix sits low and gets in the way of the cup.  I've not trimmed the stem, but that sucker (often, sometimes, not always) just pokes all around at the entrance of my vagina and sometimes is uncomfortable or irritating to sit down.  I want it to sit higher, but I don't know if it can.  I do know that if I do have a shortish vagina, as I assume, the Diva may not be the best cup, given its size.

And, on a tangent, I really want to know what my vagina is like in comparison to others.  I have no idea how large or small it is or if my cervix sits high or low or even if I'm "tight" or not.  You can't exactly go prodding about inside someone else's junk without a fancy degree, and even a partner can't tell you because (geez, I hope) the ones s/he's been messing around in are aroused and not in resting or normal mode.  Even more on a tangent:  I know it's perfectly normal for penises to hang to the side and have a curve in either direction or no curve at all, and most are at least a little to one side.  Is a cervix like that too?  I know it's been there just hanging out for 20 years or so, but this is suddenly such a new part of my body to me!  I had no idea what it was before I started using the cup, and honestly I thought there was a "right path" and "wrong path" down there before I realized it was some almost-conical hanging-down organ thing with a purpose when I had to really start fiddling around with the cup.  But that is my lamentation about the knowledge of the female body and my frustration about education on it, whether for its owners, caretakers, or lovers.

I think this is my first post here, but I really appreciate all the questions I've seen since I've been a member!  Thanks, everyone, for this community :)

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I always have a lot of white discharge and sometimes I get a lot of clear discharge the day after I have sex. The problem is that this is making me very uncomfortable and I need to wear panty liners almost every day.
I've been wondering about using the cup for this purpose which would also help me see exactly how much of it actually comes out. Has anyone tried wearing it for discharge?
Any help is appreciated. :)

Hey, ladies.

I got a ParaGard inserted on Monday and as expected I've been bleeding heavier than usual. My typical cleaning regimen was to boil it before menstruating and to rinse and scrub it with my fingers in hot water after that when emptying it. Considering "spotting" is supposed to occur for at least the first 3 months with this IUD, I need a long term solution. It's been very viscous, making the Cup harder to clean. Should I invest in something like Diva Wash, and how frequently should it boiled?

I've heard of people using the cup after sex to catch sperm and other lovely fluids, but does anyone use it for anyone else?

every month, my cycle is as follows: period for one week, nothing for one week, discharge for one week, nothing for one week, then it starts over. I've heard the discharge i get is during the time when i am ovulating and is fine and should not worry about it. i've tried to live with it and just change my underwear and pantiliners often, but it's usually pretty bad, pretty thick and has a slight odor, and gets really really obnoxious.

has anyone ever had this problem? and if so, can i use the cup to help catch it? i'm worried it'll be really messy and gross, but really wish i had another option so i don't have to deal with the wetness and the smell. it drives me crazy!

any help anyone can give me would be great. thanks so much.

New here. Hi. :)

1) Since having a baby, it feels like I've collapsed in on myself. (Same thing happened with my mom, grandma, etc. Lucky us.) Anyone else had this after childbirth and how has it affected using a cup and which size you purchased? I hesitate to get the giant cups since I'm all collapsed in and my periods are light. (I've looked this thing up and have come up with a couple of things... vaginal prolapse... pelvic floor dysfunction... not sure exactly what it is. My dr. said nothing at my 6 week post-partum appointment so I dunno.)

2) I can't seem to find the lunette or lady cup for sale in the U.S. Only online and my husband doesn't want me to order outside of the U.S. because they add some funky charge to your credit card to convert dollars to euros or something. Currently trying to spend as little money as possible due to financial constraints.

3) Speaking of the ladycup, is anyone concerned about dyes in her menstrual cup? We generally try to buy everything we own dye and fragrance free, so I'm not thrilled about this.

4) For those who use FAM, do you ever use the cup during your fertile time? Since having a child, my body apparently thinks I need to do it again... and is extremely enthusiastic with making ewcm. I don't want to have to wear liners anymore to catch all that fertile cm. Anyone use their cup for this purpose? If so, how's it work out for you?

Thanks all.

((FWIW, my daughter is almost 2.5 years old and I'm 27.))

For those of you who use your cup for long-term wear (meaning for more than just your period), how often and what method do you use to clean it? I usually just use mine for a week during my period, but I've been using it "dry" waiting for my period to come for a week already. I've been rinsing it twice a day like I would if I were on my period. Is this enough, or should I boil it periodically?

Hi everyone! So I'm on hormonal birth control pills, and being the genius I am, caught cold and forgot my pill two days in a row. Now I am in what I like to call "The Time of Eternal Bleeding" - in which I spot for however long it takes for my hormones to properly reconfigure themselves (this happened when I first went on the Pill - it took until my first Pill period to stop the spotting, and I'm figuring that's how long it'll take for this to clear up as well, and if it doesn't I'll have a chat with someone qualified, of course). My question for the good folks at menstrual_cups is this: When wearing the cup for extended periods of time (read: about a month), are there any adverse effects to watch out for? I've been washing the cup frequently in very hot water, mild soap, and occasionally I've cleaned it with rubbing alcohol, which the Diva's instruction booklet says is pretty okay, so I should be safe from infection/cleanliness problems. It hasn't even started to discolor yet, which is really impressive given that I've been using it for a month. But I don't know if there's any chance that like, I'll damage my insides or something. Thanks for your help!

I have a problem, I keep forgetting to remove my cup, so sometimes it stays in for longer than 12 hours - how much of a risk to my health is that?