Day 7

On the last day, it is the same only less emptying and more washing.  It’s time to go back in the bag for a month – but this isn’t farewell.  I’ve got a month to celebrate that I no longer have to buy products; that my C-Town might not have the ones I want because all women of Bushwick and Ridgewood seem to bleed light to medium on wingless kotex and scented medium tampax cardboard…que lastima!  I have a month to celebrate clean underwear and a few extra dollars in my pocket – green for me.  And hey world, here’s some green for you too.  If it weren’t for my professor and her quest to educate us about the “social constructs and images of menstruation”, I might have never come to love the cup.

Schwinn

Day 6

I can tell that it’s coming to an end by the color, consistency and amount of blood that is left in the cup by the end of the day.  Really, I have begun to luck out.  Knock on wood.  I used to bleed for 8 days, heavily the entire span…but today the cup filled only after the majority of the day passed.  I made it through class and work without worrying so much about changing it.  It’s funny to think that just a few days ago, I was lamenting over the toilet while my cup bobbed bloodily in it’s failed debut.  I appreciate the new sense of curiosity that comes with a cup full of my own blood…and the fact that it is so well contained.  Perhaps it is good to become more connected this way.  

Schwinn

Day 5

Ahh it’s been a crazy day of class and rehearsal.  I managed to change it during school.  Still haven’t faced the public bathrooms, but I didn’t intentionally seek out a private stall either.  It happens that I choose this bathroom on the way to anatomy every Monday and Wednesday – so the Diva Cup was no exception for this manic Monday.  VyNL has been having difficulty with the cup due to some vagina-eating-creature or just your average infection.  VyNL, maybe you pee too much and your vagina is starting to get pissed off...or maybe it IS the tab portion of the cup.  Hopefully it will get better.  I’ve been glad that for me, I don’t even feel it.  Even the cramps that I (jokingly) linked to the cup subsided after that first day…granted, that’s what my cramps typically do.

Schwinn

Day 4

It’s only been four days, but by this point, it seems pretty natural.  I’m a diva cup super pro, yeah!  Halloween is coming up and I have no costume.  Maybe I can be that.  A diva cup.  Or a diva cup super hero.  I’ve fallen in love with this thing.  I just started to laugh because I recalled moments from the weekend of parties.  VyNL and I had taken to discussing our cups to the other party guests while laughing about emptying it in the bathroom or the thought of it coming out.  I’d better be careful or I might end up guilty of laughing by myself in a public place…one day people will think I am crazy.

Schwinn

Day 7

Today is my last full day of my period.. i guess you could say it like that. tomorrow it will be over for the most part.. it will just be brown nasty instead of cool red! it was a very interesting experience... i like being able to sleep in it and i really feel clean and i don't worry about anything that i would normally worry out (leaks, smell, slide-age). i don't feel gross when i pull it out and i am going to miss it. i enjoyed the connection and the examination. and i really liked to see how much i bled in different time periods and different days. with a tampon it just soaks it up and i never knew but now i do. it's cool. i suggest trying it. 

VyNL

Day 3

Third time is a charm.  I’ve figured out that either my periods have lightened in flow considerably over the last couple years or the diva cup is large enough to accommodate my needs and overnight pads are deceiving.  I’ve survived by emptying the cup twice today without much disaster.  Basically, that just means that I love the cup even more.  Regardless of what has been discussed in class in light of odors and scented products, I’m convinced that there is an odor about bloody pads, especially if they linger too long.  The cup seems to prevent this.  The blood is a different consistency and color since the lining sheds and settles in the cup as opposed to smeared in and about a pad or tampon.  Strangely enough, I just feel more connected to it – though more like a scientist.  Pads, no matter how friendly and comforting the advertisement, gross me out with the sight of stale blood, while the cup incites a curiosity about what’s in there.  If I were a bit crazier, I’d probably toss a sample on a slide and analyze it under a microscope.  Ok, maybe not.  After all, blood is blood, no?  But really –it’s wholly different when it is presented in one neat little cup.

Schwinn

Day 2

            I guess I had cheated by the end of Day 1 as I worried I would not be in the proper state of mind to change the cup a second time.  During that special time of night where jello shots, cider and spiked hookah pass quickly and time beings to pass much more slowly, the last thing a woman might want to do is stumble to the bathroom in a conflict of euphoria and drowsiness and attempt to empty her menstrual cup, knowing that her first try was a bust.  Double-lining seemed to be the way to go, but just this once.

            After settling in on my round chair and taking in an excess of marijuana, I wasn’t moving from my spot…not for McDonald’s trip number one nor number two (made by some friends desperately seeking what are fondly known as “nugs”).  Several times I thought about the filling cup and the 12 hour caveat – “don’t wear the cup longer than that or it turns into a bloody pumpkin in your vag”, but I was fused to the chair and comfortable.  In the morning I somewhat waddled to the bathroom.  When I stood still, I was certain it gurgled at me – queefing against the sides of my vaginal wall, “Let me out!  I’m a bloody mess!”  It was rather amusing.

            I began somewhat of a wrestle to pull the cup out.  I couldn’t break the seal, pull the tab or get it to slide down.  Sure, for one moment I thought “this is what happens when you leave it in longer than 12 hours – it fills so much that the seal vacuums!”  Then I even momentarily worried: what if after all of these years of laughing about tampon emergency stories, I went to the ER with this diva cup trapped against my body – for some reason, I felt like the hospital down the street wouldn’t know what to do except speak a lot of Spanish while wheeling me around on a gurney.  ¡Que horror!  La pobre chica con su taza sangre…no podemos ayudarla.  Que malo.  A couple more splurging attempts and it came out and remained in my control.  Once again, not for crowded bathrooms…it seems high maintenance.

 

But I can tell I like it and it works….or will work when I get the hang of it.  I want to tell my mom to use this – or ask her what she was thinking…but she is beyond menopause now.  I think she had used a cup before though.  In any case, she cannot use it now, but I feel like she missed out something good.

Schwinn

Day 6

so look at the link i found... (Click "Day 6") very interesting. this woman tried the cup and she really liked it... she used a pad one of the nights and after called her self a diva cup user... but it was a disposable pad instead of a cloth one like she has used before (she talks about it in the post) so i feel like it went against the point of the cup. i know i gave up after one night and used a tampon but i actually didn't have my period and i was going to resort to one again but i didn't. so i don't know. i guess she was trying to win a contest but she failed... well i can see why.. i would have failed the contest too. she should have used a cloth pad instead of a disposable one. but it is interesting that she blogged about it like me! it sounds like we had some of the same issues. she actually cut her tab but i am scared too. 

VyNL

Day 1

I had every intention of trying this thing out prior to having my period this month.  It seemed challenging enough to merit some getting used to – but it was now or never as I had pushed my wait to the max and had no choice…no surprise there.  Alas, I was spotting.  Quickly, I boiled it, washed my hands like a surgeon and folded it once, twice maybe.  Popped it in with remarkable ease and no bother.  Suddenly I had this hollow feeling inside.  For much of the day, my cramps were intense – reminding me of the cup’s presence...as if they somehow were related.  Silly, of course.  Several hours passed and I decided to empty the cup before a swinging party was about to ensue.  Positioned over a toilet, I tried for the tip, the bottom, felt it slide somewhat and pulled it out oh so successfully, about to watch the first cup-full of blood…dark mucosal blood…spill out until PLOP – it slipped out of my hand and fell into the toilet.

 

            Now as I grabbed it and ran it under hot water for several minutes before deciding to boil it again, I could only envision that I was in a crowded bathroom at any number of places beginning with Coney Island, NYU medical center, the mall, MMC…women are standing in line and hogging sinks and here I am with this bloody mess of a cup that has now fallen into the toilet.  Smooth.  Herein I decided without reservation that every woman needs two of these...one for emergency back up.  Can you tell?  I’ve been sold.

Schwinn

Day 5

So today was good. i really enjoy using the cup. i know i have said it before but i really like it. the tab is, again, bothering me and i am really worried. i did remember that my gyno said that i have a very short vaginal canal so i guess that has something to do with it. I am afraid to cut the tab because i don't want to mess up the cup. It doesn't hurt to pull it out or put it in. just the tab is uncomfortable. i wonder what it will feel like when i can start to wear thongs again. the doctor said another week and i can but i wont have my period anymore. i guess i will just have to wait until i get my period in december when i will use the cup again. (november is the sponge). the tab is causing a bump and i am really worried because i already have an infection (not and STI/STD.. i got a cut and it got infected... its gross and painful..)  and i don't want the infection to get worse. and the bump also causes more pain and discomfort. 

Seeing the blood at the bottom of the cup is like the most amazing thing to me. i like to look at it. i know that sounds weird but try the cup and you will understand (i hope). 

i also really like the security of the cup. i know that it isn't leaking or slipping out. which is amazing because when i would wear tampons that was always a worry! also i love the "environmentally friendly" aspect of using the cup. especially after watching the video in class where these two women went to a sewage plant and there were so many pads, tampons and applicators that couldn't be broken down! it was insane! so i am glad to know i am doing my part now. 

I will figure out some way for it to not be uncomfortable. i tried to twist the tab but it didn't work.. maybe i should file down the ridges... hmm... i'll look into that. 

VyNL

दक Inspiration

She had recently gained my full respect and was now before us, passing around a sizeable silicone cup and its junior. Soon a satin blue bag reached me complete with a mini pamphlet on its purpose and directions of use – without more advertisements aimed at making me feel embarrassed or proud about my period. Though, I tend to be pretty neutral on these things. Here I am, an avid tampon user (I prefer the Tampax Pearl WMD wicked menstrual device), a masturbator, a sexually active (though on an extended voluntary hiatus) woman and an irregular visitor of the gynecologist. I have no qualms about putting useful and helpful objects in my vagina and have so far enjoyed decent outcomes barring momentary discomfort…but until now, I’ve not considered being a menstrual cup user long enough to try it.

Tampons and the issue of the “bleach leech” never quite worried me, nor did the threat of TSS despite my mother’s warnings and my sister’s recent admonition that “I better never sleep with a tampon”. Even flushing has rarely been an issue – after all, the single experience I have with a clogged toilet will forever be questionably the fault of my tampon, my distressing bowel movement or the crossed Q-tips that managed their way down there by the owner of the toilet. I can’t say I am green enough to consider the environmental effects without stumbling upon stray applicators on beaches, in bathrooms and curbside.

I’ve regretfully lined or double-bagged, flooded thin maxis and worried when overnights were overloaded in under the time limit noted on the package. I’m not a fan of anything lingering where I can feel it, leaking when I don’t have time to change it or shifting to a chafe. But given the options, that’s what I’ve used…and have seldom complained.

But there was something there – was it a freeing feeling associated with the blue in the bag? Was this a blue period, the kind Always says I should be happy about? Was it the smoothness of the curious cloudy silicone, a refreshing vacation from cotton and gauzy gluey (bloody) catch-all? Was it my own intrigue in a self-constructed taboo? I would never catch my blood in a cup…I mean, what do you DO with that after? Suddenly I was enchanted with this chalice। It was worth a try as I’d have nothing to lose but a week…and that is to say only if it were a nightmare. Imagine if it were better than the rest?

Schwinn

Day 4

I had no problem with sleeping in it. I did get quezy at the sight of the blood this morning when I pulled it out which is weird for me but maybe it’s because its 7:30am. It hurt pulling it out but I was fine putting it back in. On to school!

Ok so at school I could feel the tab all day and I would try to rotate the cup or push it up but that didn’t work. I was really surprised with the amount of blood I would get. 

another weird thing i noticed is that when i pull out the cup there is excess blood that tends to leak out of me. it is as if it was in the cup or about to be in the cup but then just came out instead. 

i still feel the tab and it is starting to get painful but i think i will try to cut it so i wont have the discomfort. sometimes i dont feel it but i usually do. even though i am having this discomfort i really like the cup. it does get me more in touch with my menstrual cycle. i also really like that i dont have to change it very often. i was getting scared that it may be filled with blood but it never was. i could have kept it in longer but since it is my first full day using it i was scared. what does scare me is that i can feel the tab and it feels like a tampon sliding out so i am constantly scared the cup is sliding out. it hasnt yet so i am slowly becoming less neurotic about it. 

i was worried about the community bathroom issue for when i do change it but so far it hasnt been that bad. i am able to rinse it out and go back into the stall to put it back in. when i take it out, i pour the blood into the toilet and wipe it out with toilet paper. then i use toilet paper to contain the blood so i wont bleed onto my underwear while i rinse out the cup then i go back into the stall and insert the cup. it seems like a long process but it only is if both of the stalls are occupied. 

today went a lot better than i thought it would. 

VyNL

Day 3

So I got my period today and I didn’t have the cup with me at school so I used a tampon. When I got home and showered I put in the cup. It was a little hard to do it but I finally got it in and secure. The only thing that bothers me is the little tab that extends from the bottom. It pinches and is uncomfortable. But other than that the cup is fine. I am going to sleep in it now and I hope I don’t wake up with a blood puddle cause that would be gross. I am a little worried about taking it out tomorrow morning. How will I rinse it when I have a community bathroom? Ugh.. I hope I can do it without problems!

VyNL

Day 2

False alarm.. I don’t have my period. Something must have caused spontaneous bleeding when I tried the cup. I hope this doesn’t happen when I really do get my period

VyNL

Day 1

so i thought i was going to get my period on wednesday but i think i just got it. i took out my NuvaRing and wanted to try out the cup to see how it felt. when i first put it in it felt weird so i pulled it out to try and readjust it, there was no blood. the second time i put it in and pulled it out there was blood and it scared me because I know I’m not supposed to have my period for a few more days. So I wonder if somehow the suction from the cup caused an early onset of bleeding or if the antibiotics I have been taking really did “decrease the effectiveness” of my birth control. Either way… I have my period now and the alternative menstrual product journey has begun!

So I can feel the cup inside of me and it’s a little annoying. But as I am getting used to it, I am slowly starting to feel it less but I am still aware of it being there. It is actually really cool because I have already pulled it out once and saw the blood collecting on the bottom. It will be really interesting to see how much I actually bleed a month. I know that I am not going to keep a record of how many ml I bleed because I just don’t have that kind of time and I don’t have the brain power/memory to try to remember. I will also remember to keep the cup away from animals especially rodents… so I guess I won’t be lying naked in the subways. So I just sneezed and it moved the cup a little and now it is pinching me or something... Ahh! Pain! I am afraid to take it out or move it around because I don’t want to have problems putting it back in. what sucks is that my bathroom is public and I can’t just clean it out in the sink and put it back in. I would have to walk over to the sink rinse it and then go back into a stall and put it back in. What a hassle. I know at school it wont be so bad because I can just use a single person stall. Ugh.. it really hurts so I am going to go fix it because I don’t want another freak infection! 

i posted the lunette cup website incase you want to check it out... just click on "Day 1" at the top and it will direct you there.

Ok so pulling it out was so painful!! I am wearing a tampon tonight. I’ll try again in the morning. This is a lot harder than I thought.

Well even the tampon is hurting.. so I guess I hurt myself trying to use the cup. I think I may have done something when I was trying out the cup. OUCH! 

VyNL

Hello

Hello, 

i'm Vynl. I'm a 20-year-old college student and my friend Schwinn and i are doing a project for our Social Constructs and Images of Menstruation class. we are going to be trying out different alternative menstrual products. I will be using the cup and the sponge. I have been interested in these products since i was 15 and saw them in a magazine. i didn't know anything about them, what they were or how they were used. i am really excited to have this opportunity to learn about these products! I hope they work out for me so i can continue to use them for the rest of my menstruating years. 

Also i would like to thank the people at Lunette for the menstrual cup! 

VyNL

P.S. i hope this blog will open your eyes to alternative menstrual products...