I just wanted to share how happy I am with my cup with everyone, since I'm pretty sure my experience is relatively unique.

For the last 4 summers, I have been marching/playing with an all-age Drum and Bugle Corps. Basically, this is a marching band but with much more difficult music and drill. And its for people of all ages(12-200!). Since its for people of all ages, its only really active on the weekends, when a majority of people aged 12-200 don't work. So, with my period expected to arrive on a Friday, I knew that this weekend would be a test, regardless of what happened on or off the field.

I'm happy to say that my Lunette passed with flying colors. I didn't actually start bleeding until I got home tonight, but it was such a relief not to have to worry about leaking all day long, rather than every few hours, and to not go all the way to my backpack for a tampon before heading for the bathroom, just in case. I didn't begin my period due to stress from the weekend, but once me and my boy alleviated some of that stress, there it was, just as predicted.

So, for the few of you who participate in Drum and Bugle Corps activities, thats one less thing to bring on tour: disposables!

just wondering if anything strange happens when you swim with a cup in. does it affect the seal or make leaks more or less likely to happen or anything? i think my august vacation is going to involve my diva cup...!

Hello all!

Every now and then we get the slew of questions about can I use cups doing this, that, or the other activity, and the answer is usually yes, you can. However, I didn't remember anyone asking about riding roller coasters, and a quick search through the tags and memories confirmed that we'd discussed it briefly, but never really said yes or no definitely, so I thought a quick post might be in order.

I went to my favorite theme park yesterday, on a heavy day of my period, rode all the coasters, and my Divacup did just fine. Nary a leak. So, that in mind: roller coasters are a-ok with a cup in, if that's your cup of tea. :)

Just wanted to share that in case this question comes up in the future!

Here's a complication I didn't expect:

The knee/shin protectors in my biking pants, together with my boots, make it impossible to pull the pants down past my knees! This renders it impossible to get more than a hand width's worth of distance between my knees. Which, in turn, makes removing and inserting my cup rather awkward.  *lol*

But not impossible. I went on a biking/camping trip on the heaviest day of my period, and I'm proud to say that I had no problems. As well as pleased as punch!

Anyway, just one of those silly little things you'd never think of before you run into them. Thought some of you might find it amusing.

Hello all,

i've been reading the forum for a while and have found the information SOOO helpful. But i've got a couple of specific questions. i'm new to the whole cup deal - i ordered my first cup last month and its my first cycle using divacup, size 1, and so far so good. no problems inserting / can't feel a thing, no leaking .. but yes, it is still the honeymoon phase and i'm well aware of the possibilities of leaking etc.

but my questions ... i go to the gym every day (and really don't want to take a day off b/c of being new to cups) and my flow is quite light, but i would like to know if anyone has done pilates, yoga, bodypump or spin and how they coped. i've read the cycling thread and am quite confident about going to spin class tomorrow - but more importantly what about bodypump or yoga / pilates. the moves i'm concered about are things like squats or lunges? pretty much the moves where my legs are spread and gravety working against me ...

any help would be hugely apprechiated! :)

________________________

Addition: (15 comments so far)

Thanks guys, i read all the comments before embarking on my gym journey, i practiced at home for a little, jumped up and down, did a couple sqats, downward dog, etc and decided that i was ready to try spin first ...  and sucess - i was perspiring more than anything else and i ran to the bathroom after to double check - and wow - AMAZING ... i didn't even think about it while i was spinning (to much pain and out of breath) - and i was worried about the stem b/c yesterday i think it was a little too high that in different positions i could feel it. but no problems with that either.

next was bodypump *gasp* ... which is what i was a little more worried about - and i thought about it all through class, but it was only to get my mind of the pain of the sets, i actually didn't feel anything and it all worked out. i am fully impressed and am now a full convert. if only people told us about this sooner (im 24 and would have LOVED this in high school / college!) ...

thanks again !!! yoga is in a couple days, so fingers crossed (and yes, no upside-down for me -- although in a couple of days my cycle will be over i'm hopng ...)

I am back from my holiday.  Was expecting my period to start near the end of the holiday but trust it to be on time just this once as it started on day no2 of holiday.

it was a bit of a struggle the first day to remove it, but in the end i managed to get comfortable enough with it to be able to do it a few times a day and not stay in the bathroom for 30 min every time.

it was also a life saver when wanting to go in the hut pools and jacuzzis, and swimming was no problem. i was very impressed and forgot i was actually on me period sometimes. i did though have to resort to pads a few times when i felt like i needed to give my vagine a bit of rest from poking around in there but that was only a few times. i also started to panick the first couple of days and maybe emptied it a few times too many, but i was worried about having the cup full for too long and it maybe affecting me in some way, not sure how.  but it went well and i am actually looking forward to my next period so that i can practise more :)

one question though, i have not yet felt my cervix and do not know how it sits, low or high but the stem didn't stick out until near the end of my period.  it did annoy me a little bit but near the end of my period but am keeping it full lenght for now as i am not confident enough to be able to remove the cup without it.

so is it VITAL that i know how my cervix travels up or down during my period when things seemed to be working fine without me knowing?

thank u xx

Last week, a group of friends decided to try Aerodium, you know, that huge fan blasting tons of air that you happen to jump towards in order to propel yourself into the sky. Some people call it indoor skydiving, but ours was not indoors (in fact, it just had a liiittle fence to keep one from falling to the street below). Frankly, it's something I've always wanted to do, but I happened to have been on my period. Lovely. I had told my friends that I wasn't going to do it, and they just wouldn't leave it alone. "There's a special! It won't cost anything for an extra person!"

I really wanted to try it, but I did not want to have a cup mishap and spill blood all over myself while flying in the air. I wasn't wearing any back-up and hadn't emptied the cup in a good few hours. It was completely possible that it had reached capacity and could dribble over. Now, I knew that cups were approved for sports, but I'm pretty sure the menstrual cup testers didn't fling themselves towards a massive fan to test the cup's reliability.

"C'mon, Lauren, it's really safe!" said a friend as she signed the I-promise-not-to-sue-you-if-this-kills-me paper.

"It's not that," I confessed, "it's...I'm on my period."

"Me too! There's no way you're getting out of this. Sign the paper." Thus is the power of peer pressure. It didn't help that my husband was goading them all on, completely forgetting my little red friend.

"Ugh, fine!" I caved, "but if I bleed everywhere, it's your fault," I teased. Immediately I thought of this community and mustered up a sense of purpose. Whatever happens, I thought, I'll be the guinea pig for the girls here.

So, we suited up, put our ear plugs on, and had a blast. Believe it or not, my trusty Lunette held up during the whole intense experience. It didn't even leak once!

I will never doubt my cup again! :D

Thanks to the electronic age, I spend most of my time sitting in front of one screen or another.  But I do have an "outside job" that some of you have figured out involves motorcycles.  And yesterday was only the second time in a year that I have been scheduled to do a full day at that outside job on my heaviest day.  Because I get more "residual slobber" than I think I should at my desk job, I was quite paranoid and wore a full pad (not just a liner) as a back-up.  Well, my paranoia was for nothing.  I emptied my large Lunette 2-3 times in the porta-potty just in case it was filling faster than anticipated.  (Nope, no more than half full at any time.)  Despite all the walking, stretching, bending, flexing, on and off the bike a dozen times, my 90 mile commute sitting splayed on my bike, etc, there was barely a blip on my pad by the end of the day.

Came home exhausted, swapped for my (large) Mooncup because the Lunette felt funny, parked my (ample) butt in front of the TV and then went to bed early cos I just couldn't keep my eyes open any more.

In the middle of the night, I woke up to roll over, coughed and felt a blip.  Sh!t.  Got up to take care of it.  The Mooncup felt like it was in crooked.  Half-asleep, I swapped back to the Lunette because the Mooncup apparently didn't like how I was sleeping.  Hours later, now I'm back at my desk (TMI) with residual slobber all over my shield.

Conclusion: The less active I am, the more my cups leak.

Half-serious question: So could being more active be the cure to residual slobber???

Hi there!

I'm considering purchasing a menstrual cup (probably either the Diva or the Ladycup), and I was wondering if anyone has had experience using a cup while riding a bike. I'm an avid cyclist, and I'm a little afraid of menstrual cup leakage while I'm in the saddle.

Thoughts? Experiences? Suggestions? Any input would appreciated!

I have been using cups for 3 cycles now and thanks to all the info/help I have received from this wonderful community, it has been a very positive experience.  I have a large Keeper Moon Cup (Bought it before I knew about the controversy.) and a large Lunette (It was shipped from Leastore the day before the ban!  Hooray!)   Both cups have their stems trimmed almost to nothing.  My flow is normally super heavy days 1 & 2, then tapers a bit days 3-4, then is lighter for a few days. 

Last month I ran a half marathon on day 3 with my Keeper Moon Cup in and it worked great!  No leaks, no worrying about changing a tampon in a porta-potty moments before the start of the race.   I put my cup in 30 minutes before in the comfort of my hotel bath room.  When I checked after the race, it was about half full. Success!

This month, on day 1 (super heavy) I tried my Lunette on a 13 mile training run. I made sure my cup was positioned right, and off I went.  Was running great; then at mile 9, I felt my thighs chafing.  I looked down and there was dried blood on my thighs!  Huh?  I can tell when the cup is overflowing and I hadn't felt anything. 

When I got home, the cup was still positioned right, and was only half full when I removed it.   Aha!
"Residual Slobber" mixed with sweat.....looks like a lot of blood!  It also gives the illusion of "cup malfunction" or leaking!  I usually don't worry about the "slobber" because I always wear my cloth panty liners as back up.....but not when running!

The next day (still super heavy), I tried again with a modification.....after the cup was positioned perfectly, I wiped around the outside of the cup with my finger to make sure it was clean.  Ran 12 miles and had no problems!

If you are a runner, don't be afraid to use your cup....just position it right and check for "slobber"!

My cup is **AWESOME** <----- sung by choirs of angels! :D

It goes in easy, it comes out easy & no leaks... what more could a woman want?!

I have been using the punch down method, once it's in I run a finger around the "back" where the cup was folded to make sure it's fully open, then I run a finger around the "front" to make sure my cervix is on the correct side & then Bob's your uncle... or maybe that should be Bert's your aunt! :D

The only issues I has were that the stem was poking out. Once I was sure I could remove the cup without it I cut it completely off, problem solved!

When people tell you to go with your gut feeling... it's true!! After looking at all of the information on the different cups I thought that the small Lunette sounded like the best option for me. However I'm 34 and although I've not had kids I was worried that maybe I would need the width of the larger cup, even though the added length was a bit of a worry. So I ordered them both, just in case. As it turns out my gut was right, the small cup is the perfect size, it seals to my insides no problem. :)

As the seller didn't have the Selene in the smaller size... I might have to go & find one somewhere else... blue is my favourite colour after all! :D

This does mean I have a spare Lunette Selene large size that I am willing to "pass" on to an unfortunate resident of the US who cannot buy one directly. It's still in the (somewhat squashed) packaging, I just took it out to see the colour! Anyone interested contact me & we can talk ;)  

I shall now go & compose a post for my regular LJ to let all my girl friends know about cups & this community! :D

EDIT: I meant to say that my test also included riding my horse... if anything was going to cause it to leak, that would have been it... but nothing!

I'm on the last day of my first successfull period with a menstrual cup and it's been amazing.  Just after one week I don't think that I'd ever go back to disposable pads again (I never could use a tampon properly). 

( Very long post and probably TMI... )

Hi I'm 16 and Today was the first day I used my lunette selene. My period started in the middle of school and inserted it with no major issues. I had gym half an hour after I inserted it and the stem started to poke me a little. (This was fixed by the time I was done with gym, the cup must have migrated upwards.) The cup didn't leak at all during gym, but today we went to the weight room so I can't accurately judge how my lack of cup experience will stand up to running the mile in gym tommorow. Today in gym we only jogged for 3 minutes, did warm up exercizes including 15 sit-ups, and the weight room. (Weight room=step boxes/machines/bikes). Tommorow, we run the mile and I'm not sure how the cup will hold up. When I was jogging the stem poked me a little and I was concerned the cup might shift out of place. I only jogged 3 minutes and I plan to run for 9-10 minutes tommorow. No leaking so far and it's been around 6 hours (a first for any product I've used). My gym teacher has a rule that you can't use the bathroom in gym. He claims that you can use the BR when you change 5 minutes before class and 5 minutes after. SO if I have a leak it's murder, literally! Any advice? I'm exactly what you'd call athletic and the mile scares me enough already! I really want to get a good time and not have to worry about leaking/the cup.

I posted around Dec. 2008 or so asking if anyone had had experience diving with a menstrual cup.
Here is an update.
I went diving yesterday.  Because my period seems to be irregular starting anywhere from 3 to 4 weeks since the last one I am expecting it to start any time now.  I haven't really had any symptoms that usually let me know my period is on it's way but just to avoid any surprises especially because I was going to be at a site with no facilities I opted to wear my Diva Cup.

I had no problems with it what-so-ever.  It is usually very comfortable for me and I don't feel it when in place; I did not feel it yesterday.  Although I did not do a deep dive by any means (max depth = 21') all went well.  I did not feel it, nor did I have any issues with 'pressure'.   I was not able to remove my cup right after the dive and as the day progressed there really wasn't a good time for me to remove my cup to check for water that might have seeped in it ( I simply comment about that now as I know some other users have questioned the possibility of water getting in the cup while swimming, bathing, or using a jot tub).  I have to admit I didn't expect water to get up there and it never really worried me.  When I got home, I removed my cup and there was no water what-so-ever in it.

I fully intend to continue to wear my menstrual cup when diving whether I am on my period or expecting it and wanting to avoid a surprise!  If on my period though I will try to empty it before the dive jwhenever possible just to help avoid possible leaks but, if I can't, I really won't worry as wearing the cup I have no doubt will be better that the experience I have had with tampons. 

Hi everyone,

    This is my second period with my cup and I am so psyched that I decided to get one. I can't imagine going back! I was wondering if it's ok to use the cup in a  hot tub; I didn't know if for some reason the hot water would affect it...I'm glad to finally be able to swim during my period..I  appreciate feedback!

Okay guys, so I have my first cup problem.

First off, I used my size 1 Divacup perfectly on my first period with it last month. It worked great, I got it in on the second try, it didn't fall out when I pooped. I can't change it in the shower because the stem and cup bottom are completely up inside me unless I sit down and push like I'm pooping. I apparently have a ridonkulously long vagina, since everyone else seems to have cup-sticking-out problems and needing to cut off the stem while I really wish my cup's stem was 2-3 cm longer. If there's a longer one out there than the Divacup I'd go for it just to make removal a little easier! But the cup itself still works great and I haven't had a problem actually getting it out either. I love that I can wear it for 12 hours and not worry about it, I love that I never have to change it in public restrooms, I love that I totally can't feel it inside me at all. I'm a complete convert.






( EXCEPT. )


So I'm totally freaked out and upset that my cup would betray me like this. And I'm paranoid about it doing it again. And I'm upset that now I suddenly have a week every month when I can't swim, because I love swimming and recently started an exercise regimen including 1-2 days of swimming every week. But most of all just feeling completely betrayed by my cup.

Can anyone help me make sure this never happens again?

So I know this has been brought up before, but I just can't find anything in the search or memories. 

Swimming.  Seriously.  I could swear I read here once people got water in their cups after swimming or bathing in a tub.  I don't have a tub to try this myself.  I live in the country where a swimming pool is considered frivolous due to the numerous lakes and famous river, so chlorine will not be an issue.  But I do swim in lakes up until they get closed to swimming due to algae later in the year, and sit in some hotsprings all day.   I'm really worried about the water collecting and sloshing around in my vaginal cavity.  Frequently, I smell pretty foul down there after swimming in the lake anyway.  But it would also be awesome if the cup kinda sealed me off from the water.  I can say I've never really noticed my tampons soaking up water, but I'm not so sure you could really tell for sure.  Also, I've yet to experience a yeast infection, and would like to keep it that way.  Would trapped water cause one?

Finally, I would like to know in your answer what cup and size you were using, if you have ever experienced a leaking problem with that cup, how much you feel suction with that cup, and does it set high or low?  (Sorry if that seems really out-of-line.  Looking for patterns.  I guess you could tell me to F* off too! lol)

Hi, I've been avidly reading this group since I found it. Such a great resource!

I've got some questions and hopefully someone knows. After buying the larger sized Diva (I'm 34 & had a baby 2 yrs ago), I had some initial luck but then lots of issues with expulsion, irritation, leakage, etc. (I never lost my cup in the toilet, but I actually lost it 

( in my pants once! ))

So thank goodness for you ladies, I learned about the inside-out Diva trick, which made a huge difference on the irritation issue, and no more expulsions so far.... But it's still too long, especially when I'm sitting crosslegged on the floor, which I do a lot. So I'm trying to decide between Femmecup (one size), Lunette (large), and MooncupUK (large).

So my questions:
1. When I turn the Diva inside out, it goes from 57mm long (stemless) to ~51-52mm long, by my measurements. But it still hangs out a bit. The Femme, Lun, & MUK all start at 50-52mm (stemless), so they might also hang out unless inverted. I want to know how much shorter they would get? The base of the Diva has a thick tight curve, and I imagine that a cup with a thinner broader base might not shorten by as many millimeters when inverted. Does anyone know how long any of these cups would be when inverted? And oh yeah, anyone know how easy it will be to grip any of these buggers when inverted?

2. Is an inverted cup going to last as long? I don't want to ruin a cup 3 times as fast because of strain on the silicone....

3. Are vaginal muscles just looser when you sit cross-legged on the floor? Is this destined to become a problem? Or is this really going to Kegel away?

4. Does the bell-shape vs. uniformly wide shape make a difference in terms of staying in if width is also a concern? (kuradi8 calls them "hoop skirts" here: http://community.livejournal.com/menstrual_cups/1285963.html) Maybe I'm just getting confused by the term "hoop skirt". On one hand, a uniformly wide shape would have more surface area on contact with the vaginal walls, but on the other hand, the flange of a bell-shaped cup might have some extra holding power....

Thanks in advance!!!!!!!!!!!

I searched the community and didn't see a mention of this; please forgive me if it's been discussed to death already and I missed it.

I've been using GladRags (reusable menstrual pads) for years and I love them. However, I've just started biking again and I'm not looking forward to having something bunched between me and the bike seat, so I'm thinking about trying a cup. Have you tried biking with a cup? Does it work well? Is there anything I should be aware of?

Thanks!

Later edit: The verdict seems to be in: cups are absolutely fine to wear while biking. Thanks, everybody!

Okay, sorry about my crazy-person rant the other day. I was just SUPER frustrated and had spend waaaay too much time trying to force my DivaCup to work right. Anyway, yesterday was crappy, too, more leakage during the day, though I was fine at night. And finally, today was perfect!

I went swimming today with my boyfriend's family, and decided to take a chance and use the diva cup. I had no leaks whatsoever during the WHOLE day, in or out of the pool. It worked great. I think I'm finally starting to realize where my cup needs to be in order for it to work. Mine seems to work when it's pretty low, so I can feel it, but it isn't uncomfortable. It just wont pop right if I put it in any higher. So, I'm slowly but surely figuring it out.

I really appreciate everyone's advice. I probably would have thrown the cup away if I didn't have you ladies to help me figure out how to make it work.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know things went well today!

Thanks everyone for responding to my post, I appreciate it so much! It was really helpful. Yesterday was the first day of my period. I used the punch-down folding method and everything worked out great! I could even twist it to check it was popped. It was a little uncomfortable at first, but then it "settled" and I forgot about it. I even wore it at night with no leaks. I was very pleased.

Then Day 2... I put it in today and went to work. After a half an hour, I could feel I was leaking. It must not have popped open fully, although I could swear it felt normal when I swirled my finger around it. So I messed up my underwear, and tried to put it back in. My hands got super messy trying to get it back in.  I tried a couple, and it kept slipping open before it was in right. Then i couldn't tell if it was popped or not, so gave up cause I had to get back to work and didn't want any more accidents! I'm so bummed to be wearing a tampon right now. I'm about to try it again, though, now that I'm home. Hopefully I'll have better luck now.

So, this weekend I have to go to this indoor water park with my boyfriends WHOLE family. Worst timing to be on my period. Can I swim with the Diva Cup? Will it like fill up with water or spill blood into the pool? That would be horrible! Should I just stick with a tampon?

Thanks again, girls.

Hello everyone,

Thank you *so* much for all your help.  Even just mainly lurking, and checking out old posts through the tags, I learned a ton.  The best part is that now I can finally use my divacup.  (It seems like lots of people don't like the divacup as much as others, but I think it's great, for what it's worth--not that I ave tried anything else.  But the diva is also easier to find, at least in the US, because they sell them at Whole Foods.)

( Read more... )

I actually *like* my cycle now--I look forward to it!  This is totally different from how I felt before.  I used to hate it with a passion!

Also, an interesting note: I think I'm cycling in tune with my close friend from school.  It's actually really coll that women bleed together, in my opinion.  (But this friend does *not* enjoy her cycle at all--she uses disposable pads and can't stand the thought of anything goind inside her.  Ah well, maybe someday...)

Again, thanks so much!

Adios!

My second periods with the cup just finished. Last cycle, I focused on learning to wear the cup and did not go to the gym, but this time, I felt secure enough to do so.

My fitness sessions involved 1-hour long group sessions of spinning and weightlifting (the weightlifting session ends with ab-crunches on the floor and the yoga-pose “boat”). I read on another site that the cup should be emptied before the sessions, so I emptied the cup.

What I learned:

Spinning went perfect. Besides, on that session, I produced a magnificent fresh pressed blood. No darker/more transparent layers. Without trying to sound creepy, if I did not know that was blood, I would have though that it was a creamy strawberry sauce to put on a Sundae!!!

Some time before spinning, I had a leak though. I ran into some friends on the way to the gym and did a happy dance involving jumping, then dashed to the gym. I always dash everywhere I go, so happy dance/jumping may cause leaks… :P

On the other end, weightlifting gave me a total different experience. After the session, I went to check in the toilets the fresh pressed blood and…. Nothing!!! Nothing at all in the cup or out of the cup! Dry de dry! I don’t think I had it that dry on a dry run!! And that was on my third day on a 5-days periods!

That will need to be confirmed on my next cycle.

Or not while wearing a cup, anyway! Today at the gym I was doing an "abs" exercise which involves doing sit-ups from a lying-down position. So the gym instructor says "Last one, squeeze!" So I did, and felt a distinct "pop" followed by a very distinct trickle... Fortunately I had emptied the cup only 2 hours before, and my gym pants are black (slimming you know) so it didn't show - but now I know not to lie down and contract my pelvic floor suddenly while wearing a half-full cup!

(I want to apologise if I do anything wrong, put this in the wrong place - am not even allowed to post this at all! This will be my first post ever on LJ, and I'm very, very unfamiliar with this sort of posting.)

This amazing community both informed me about menstrual cups and persuaded me that it was worth getting one. After hours and hours browsing this place, comparing and checking, looking for any side effects, reading techniques and personal experiences I decided to buy a Mooncup.

My first period using it has just ended and I want to share my experiences with it, both as a detailed (hopefully) guide for newbies to what it might be like and as one of the positive stories. I remember reading some worries that there weren't many success stories, which were soothed by the reminder that not many people posted when things were going fine.

( Down to the actual business! )