Periods: Have you tried the 'keeper' or anything similar?

Question

I have heard about the new enviromently friendly sanitry for women, there are various makes and are made of rubber or something and basically catch the blood inside of you and you just rinse it out. Have you tried one and what are they like. Also how do you deal with using them when you are out, ( in a public toilet) you can't rinse it out in a public sink and also i imagine it could be pretty messy. Would it be best to have two of them? I use tampons now but would like to help reduce sanitary waste. Thanks

Answer 1

I use a Mooncup and have done for about three and a half years now; I've also used Instead (softcups) and used my diaphragm as a menstrual cup.

I couldn't live without my Mooncup, I would never ever use tampons again, not even if you paid me, and that is even without knowing all I know about tampon risks now.

I 'suffer' from menorrhagia so the fact you can leave a menstrual cup in for 12 hours without leaking or health risks is fantastic as well as of course far more convenient than tampons and pads. I also like that I can put my menstrual cup in before my period is due, at night and during swimming without fuss, you also learn some funky things about your period making menstrual cups very body-positive.
Another huge advantage to me of course is also that they are better for health, when I used commercial tampons and commercial pads I of course used to get constant bacterial and yeast infections and had no idea why, in these three and a half years of using a menstrual cup I haven't had a single infection.

The Instead softcups are not too bad, a lot of women find them really difficult to get the hang of, I did as well because I wasn't sure that I had it in the right place, but I preferred them for nights out because chances are when I am drunk if I had to empty my Mooncup I'd end up dropping it down the toilet or something, so disposables are better from time to time for that sort of thing – plus Instead cups and diaphragms as menstrual cups mean you can have penetrative vaginal sex while on your period without blood escaping from the vagina, which some people prefer.

As strange as it is discovering menstrual cups had a lot of positive effects on my life, I wondered if I did not know about this then what else did I not know about, as a result I began studying gynaecology, learning about my body which helped me gain control after sexual abuse in my early teens. I became a menstrual activist – educating people about menstrual options, risks of menstrual options, social issues dealing with menstruation, etc. – that opened up a lot of information for me on sexual health and the environment. In short, as crazy as it is, in a strange way discovering menstrual cups changed my life.

Menstrual cups are FAR safer than more commonly known options such as tampons or commercial pads because they do not disrupt your vaginal environment by absorbing discharge, causing vaginal splitting, irritation or giving bacteria a place to multiply. Commercial tampons and commercial pads also carry the added risk from their manufacturing because they use super-absorbent materials and plastics that increase risk of infection by giving yeast or bacteria a great place to multiply. Chemicals and bleaching are also used unnecessarily (because apparently super-white is needed to deal with the dirty thing that is menstruation – detect note of sarcasm and mention of social issue menstrual cups help to combat) in commercial tampons and commercial pads, these can interfere with vaginal PH and in turn balances of yeast and bacteria, which causes infections, those chemicals and bleach are also more easily absorbed into your body by your vagina.

Environmentally is it not just waste either – obviously the 12,000 tampons or pads per lifetime is a big issue, but also take into account to make the products they only use around 30% of the trees they harvest to make the tampons or pads, they do not use organic cotton, chemicals and bleaches are put into the environment, bleaching uses up large amounts of energy, and there are lesser environmental concerns associated with commercial tampons and commercial pads as well.

Menstrual cups are very hygienic, simply because unlike options like tampons they do not give bacteria a place to multiply or contain chemicals that can cause infections by interfering with your vaginal PH, and in turn normal vaginal bacteria and yeast levels. Tampons are sanitary, where as menstrual cups can be sterilised, although a lot of people just wash with soap and water, or their own little methods at the end of their period, equally as many women will sterilise their menstrual cups by boiling or using sterilising fluid, depending on what type of cup they use.

With menstrual cups there is no need to carry around spares, so no real chance of getting caught without a menstrual product, or having to loose a load of change in tampon machines in the ladies bathrooms.

Menstrual cups are also a lot cheaper, more convenient than many options, body-positive, the companies are run by some wonderful people, and a load of other positive points – also bare in mind all reusable bell-shaped menstrual cups have money back guarantees so there is nothing to loose in trying them.

They really are not an issue when you are out because if you consider the fact you can leave them in for 12 hours, sometimes longer if you are willing to take the risk, the chances of your needing to empty a menstrual cup when you are out are very slim. With having menorrhagia I often do need to empty my cup in public toilets.
I simply empty and reinsert, it is menstrual blood and the fact menstrual cups are not linked with any health problem means it is safe to do so from time to time, occasionally I will wipe off with toilet paper and if I could be bothered I'd have no real issues about washing my cup in a sink. On my lighter days (which would equate to an average day for most women) I can leave my cup in all day without leaking, I normally just pop it in when I am getting ready in the morning and then at night I empty and wash it while I am in the shower.
Some women deal with public bathrooms simply by taking a bottle of water in the toilet with them, but I think most people I know will either not need to empty their cups, or if they have very heavy periods they just empty and reinsert or give a quick wipe.
When you look at tampons and all you have to do with them in public bathrooms; you have to change them a few times a day, take tampons into the toilet with you, remove and wrap up the tampon, find a bin for the bloody tampon, get the new tampon out of the wrapper, find somewhere to bin the wrapper and the tampon (horrific if you are at someone's house and they don't have a bin in the bathroom, or worse they do and the bathroom ends up smelling of your used tampons!) and wash your hands.
Where as with a cup, if you do have to empty it all you have to do is remove the cup, empty in the toilet and pop it back in again, simple.

Keeper isn't exactly new, the brand itself is one of the earliest starting up in the 1980's, with other brands starting up a little later, but menstrual cups have actually been around as long as commercial tampons, since around the 1930's – they simply did not take off as much. Now we know all the risks of tampons, and after TSS in the 1980's and Dioxin in the 1990's a lot of people don't trust tampon manufacturers (rightly so) and are looking for safer options such as menstrual cups – now they are becoming very popular indeed!

Types of menstrual cups [for anyone interested]:

-Rubber bell-shaped menstrual cups (Keeper).
-Silicone bell-shaped menstrual cups (Divacup, Mooncup, Lunette).
-Soft plastic diaphragm shaped menstrual cups or softcups (Instead).
-Diaphragms as menstrual cups.
-Homemade menstrual cups.

Links to products:

http://www.keeper.com – Keeper US
http://www.menses.co.uk – Keeper UK
http://www.divacup.com – Divacup Canada
http://www.dcltd.co.uk – Divacup UK
http://www.mooncup.co.uk – Mooncup UK
http://www.lunette.fi – Lunette Finland
http://www.softcup.com – Instead US
http://oochi.biz/instead/public - Instead UK

A few links of interest;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstrual_cup - Wikipedia entry on menstrual cups.
http://menstrualcups.org - Menstrual cups community with FAQ on menstrual cups.
http://www.geocities.com/angua_nemi/index_eng.html - Alternatives to tampons, with good images.
http://www.mum.org/MenCups.htm - Information on history of menstrual cups.

Answer 2

I use the Diva Cup, a silicone form of the Keeper, and I love love LOVE it! I used to use tampons, and they gave me headaches every month. Now I use my Diva Cup and I swear, I'll never use a tampon again. They definitely take a few tries inserting the cup to figure out exactly what to do, but once you get the hang of it it's just as easy as a tampon. It comes with detailed instructions so I won't mention them here.

As for the public restroom deal, what you do is before you go into the stall, you wet a paper towel. You take the cup out, dump it in the toilet, and wipe the cup with the wet paper towel, and reinsert the cup. It's perfectly sanitary to do so, just be sure to wash it with antibacterial soap and water once a day. In this way you don't need more than one, although if you really wanted to have two that would work as well. Obviously if you're at home or anywhere you can clean it with soap, that's what you do. It doesn't make a mess when you pull the cup out, because you pull it straight down and just tilt it before it even gets above the rim of the toilet.

I definitely recommend either the Keeper or the Diva Cup, although I only have a Diva Cup, anyone I've ever met who has either one loves it and never considers using tampons again.

Answer 3

visit THE health care professional! this isn't known you want to be regarded at, esp if its affecting your existence a lot. is there a reason you do not favor to pass on the tablet? only questioning bc i used to have fairly abnormal classes also, and it might want to often times pass as a lot as 4 months for no glaring reason, so even as i changed into 18 i went on the tablet that changed into 2.5 yrs in the past and it fairly works fairly properly

Answer 4

I grew up when women used to plug the leak with a thick hunk of good old irish soda bread.. And none of these silly things with wings... Or u could alternatively try the old method of shovin a sea sponge up but be careful to rinse it first cos odours from the sea could still lurk...

Answer 5

Im sure who every inveted it, is rolling in his money(NOT) ive never heard of these and if i come across i wont be recommending them to friend, eeeuuuuwwwwwww yuck

Answer 6

that really doesn't sound very hygienic!

Answer 7

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