What are the safest tampons to use?

Question

I seem to get extrmely irritated & infected by Platex and noticed when I opened one up that it sheds cotton, so I think thats why. Are there any safe tampons to use or should I stick to pads?

Answer 1

I use Kotex those work great. They also have organic tampons that I have tried that work good to.. For those you can go to drugstore.com I can't think of the name right now.. But the organic ones don't "shed".. I have had the same problem with playtex and tampax

Answer 2

Safest Tampons

Answer 3

I am unable to wear tampons because of tss. I found an item called " instead". It's a latex cup that fits inside the vagina and under the uterine opening. I have had wonderful results with these there are no toxic shock associated with them . They are messy so if you get queasy at the sight of blood anyway they may not be for you. You can wear them for a max of 12 hours depending on your flow. It took me a couple of periods to get the hang of put in them in so wear a liner but they are the best and most reliable things i have found on the market.
you can find them at most wal mart or wal greens from 6 to 8 dollars.

Answer 4

I use Kotex. By the way, there are no safe tampons since all of them have the risk of TSS.

Answer 5

Pads are best or try mooncups or natural sponges. Never put anything man made inside you (except a condom!) its sooo bad for you

Answer 6

I would stick to pads, (always ultra with wings) just because it's less to deal with but my sister uses tampax pearl and she thinks they're great.

Answer 7

i use ob there all right they made by a women so they be allright

Answer 8

The safest thing to do is to avoid tampons all together, all tampons are a risk to vaginal health because they prevent normal vaginal cleaning, give bacteria a place to multiply, dry out the vaginal walls leading to splitting and leave fibres within the vagina.

You have more options than just tampons or pads, if you prefer internal menstrual options I would suggest looking at menstrual cups, there are a lot of different kinds some have advantages over others, but the main advantages remain the same with all menstrual cups – menstrual cups can be worn for up to 12 hours, can be worn during swimming, can be worn at night, can be worn before your period is due, totally safe with no health risks associated, rarely leak, body-positive, environmentally friendly and easy to use.

Information on menstrual cups:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstrual_cup - Wikipedia entry on menstrual cups.
http://www.menstrualcups.org – LJ menstrual cups community site.

Reusable menstrual cups are the easiest to use as some women find softcups to be difficult to insert, reusable cups are of course also more convenient because you don't have to worry about buying more as one lasts for up to ten years, cheaper of course and more environmentally friendly. Reusable menstrual cups offer money back guarantees, Divacup give a twelve month guarantee, and Keeper and Mooncup offer a three month guarantee.

Softcups however are disposable, which is something a lot of women prefer, and like a diaphragm used as a menstrual cup softcups can also be worn during penetrative penis to vaginal sex. Instead offer free samples from their web site, although you do have to pay for postage and packing, they also give you money off vouchers and an instructional DVD.

Menstrual cups:

http://www.divacup.com – Silicone reusable bell-shaped menstrual cups.
http://www.keeper.com – Rubber reusable bell-shaped menstrual cups.
http://www.mooncup.co.uk – Silicone reusable bell-shaped menstrual cups.
http://www.lunette.fi – Silicone reusable bell-shaped menstrual cups.
http://www.softcup.com – Soft plastic disposable diaphragm-shaped menstrual cups.

If you want to switch to pads then you will find commercial pads may very well cause the same sorts of infections and irritation, this is because like commercial tampons [such as Playtex or Tampax] commercial pads [such as Kotex or Always] are also treated with chemicals to make them whiter or to add scent. These chemicals interfere with vaginal pH that can cause infection and can irritate the delicate mucosa of the vagina/vulva, synthetic materials in commercial pads can also cause irritation against your skin and prevent aeration making your genitals sweaty and more prone to yeast infections.

You might want to look at organic pads, they are disposable just like commercial pads however they are made form natural cotton and contain no chemicals so more comfortable and less likely to cause problems.

Alternatively there are also cloth options, from normal cloth pads through to the G-style and belts that seem to be becoming more popular now, you can even make your own at home, there are also padded panties that are just like normal underwear but have padded areas to act like pads.

Pads:

http://www.natracare.com – Organic disposable pads.
http://www.lunapads.com – Cloth pads, padded panties and other options.
http://urban-armor.org/urban-armor - Cloth reusable pads.
http://www.wen.org.uk/sanpro/reports/makeyourown_web.pdf - Homemade cloth pads.

If you are going to use tampons then you have a few options as well;

First of all would be organic tampons, like organic pads they are disposable and essentially just the same as their commercial counterparts, only they are not made from synthetic materials nor do they contain chemicals – cotton tampons are also prone to fibre loss, the 'official' stance is that the higher the cotton content the more fibre loss there is, however with that said that information has come from commercial tampon manufacturers and I have yet to see strong evidence that supports this claim, like so many other things I believe it is another case of whitewash of the issue on the side of the commercial manufacturers, but I'll save you the politics.

Second of all you have sponge tampons, these are as they sound, sponge, so they are made from natural materials and do not contain chemicals, unlike commercial tampons however these are reusable, they normally last for three to four cycles, they are simply rinsed out between use. The fact they are reusable means they are environmentally friendly and cheap. There has been some bad press about supposed sand within the sponge tampons but this was found to be pure urban legend.

Third option would be homemade tampons, reusable, cheap and safer than commercial brands, again, but not everyone's cup of tea. Simply you take white unbleached cotton, rip into appropriate width and length for your flow and roll up to insert into the vagina, then either reused of disposed of – like I say, not everyone's cup of tea.

http://www.natracare.com – Organic disposable tampons.
http://www.jadeandpearl.com – Sponge reusable tampons.

I have used commercial tampons, commercial pads, organic pads, cloth pads, silicone bell-shaped menstrual cups, softcups and diaphragm as menstrual cup.
For me personally I can say there is a huge difference between commercial and organic – I had constant infections with commercial tampons myself, even without knowing what I know now about all the issues with tampons I would still never use them again. Cloth pads are a totally different animal from commercial or organic pads. Softcups I found to be really difficult to rely upon because of the difficulty inserting, diaphragms much better fitted but terrible for my heavy flow. Menstrual cups however are always going to be the best in my opinion, I've had mine for three or four years now and it was a life saver for me – not one single infection, very convenient and the only thing that has ever been able to deal with my super heavy flow.