Piercings and divacups!

[AngharadTy]

They sell them at hippie grocery stores. Organic foods, health foods, specialty foods.... You could always call and ask if they sell menstrual cups before driving off someplace. Although it might be esoteric enough that a clerk would go "wtf?"

[Madge]

I got mine from eBay once I turned 18 and was old enough to get an account, I bought it off a seller who makes her living selling those sorts of things on ebay with tons of feedback and all that (her username was mom4life). Had no problems, so would totally recommend it. Also, it means you get a package and you feel important.

The only problem was the customs declaration (she was in the US) had "feminine hygene product" written on it so my parents saw! Oy vey!

But I really had no choice as they're not approved products in Australia.

[Huggles]

Jessi, you will stay forever curious. Hah!

Home now and tried it again. It took 15 minutes to get it where I supposed it should have been. Did one hour and 20 minutes of yoga. That's right. I'm Huggles. I BRAKE stuff for fun. Didn't leak for the first 45 minutes. Spent another 15 trying position it again. Finished yoga, leaked more. Spent another 15 minutes putting it in and now I can say that it does indeed hurt.

So, more confusion. I've read lots of women saying that they position the cup so it fits around their cervix, which would indeed be higher up for me and also contradicts the website itself. So far, I'm not liking it and I'm not seeing it as worth all the effort if it's going to take months to figure out how to work properly. If I have to use any sort of liner too, then I'd rather just stick to a pad. But I will stick it out for you, because I luv you. At least, for the moment. I'll probably hate you 23 minutes from now. This is not exactly prime time for brain functioning.

[AngharadTy]

Try it higher up, or try another size! I mean, if you push it around and smoosh it into place, really the worst thing you can do is temporarily bruise your cervix. But like I said, mine sits much farther up than "recommended." I open it low--still sticking out a bit--to get a good seal, and then relax the muscles and push the cup up nearly a fingerlength in. That's probably the weirdest sentence of TMI I've ever typed. But it works well!

I stopped using a pantyliner on all except my heaviest days (as a just-in-case, because I tend to... not remember that time exists and passes in a steadfast fashion) or if I know I'll be out for many many hours, because it doesn't really leak. I do use black/dark blue/purple underwear during my period, because smudges happen, I guess? But I don't have any problems with my cup unless I forget it for ten hours on a bad day. And the liners I use are the cheap-o paper ones, basic store brand, only a few bucks and they last me... I dunno, I can't tell time. Probably 6 months or so. I used more when I was still getting used to my divacup, but now I trust it well enough.

[daisybell]

The pictures they show are very, very misleading. I don't know what the average length of a vagina is (though of course it varies and cervixes move around when you're aroused and so on) but they look so much longer in the pictures. Anyway, I seem to be on the short side and therefore it goes in and there isn't much option as to exactly where it sits. And my cup is one of the shorter ones, as well.

The rotation thing is misleading, too, and apparently most people who get their cup to fit well and not leak can't do it. The cup popping open properly depends on the brand you buy- it's never been an issue for me and apparently the UK Mooncup pops open much more easily than most because it has a thicker rim.

Jessi- cups are great for not making you all dry and icky, because they don't absorb from the walls of your vagina, unlike tampons. Potential grossness spoilered ahead, though this topic has had lots of TMI already...

Spoiler: open/close

I've been amazed at how much non-blood has collected in my cup on light days at the end of my period- it's kind of separated out from the blood like oil sits on water- different densities, I guess. Anyway, a tampon would have absorbed all of that rather pointlessly and caused the nasty dryness.

If you wanted to give a cup a go, then it would be worth choosing one of the shorter ones if you think length will be a problem- the LJ comm Ty pointed to is full of useful info and advice on that. You could always measure yourself to find out how long a cup you could use. Or get Lindsey to do it...

As long as you don't have issues with putting your finger(s) in your vagina (ohnoes! honestly, I couldn't get on with applicator tampons at all so I got used to it, but given the number of women who do use applicators, there must be a fair few who don't want to) I think cups are an option worth trying.

Slightly off topic anecdote that I just remembered: at school, when the lady from Tampax came in to talk to the girls, she was describing how you apply a pad to your knickers and how tampons are put in. She told us that one girl had volunteered in another school to be a model for tampon application o_O

[Huggles]

Yeah, so I'm done with it. I tried, but I can't stand the thing. Sorry guys.