Since I bought my small Lunette, I've only used it at home and my periods has started in the morning so inserting my cup at the right time was no problem. Now, I realise this will seem pretty stupid to ask because I could use a pantyliner and some women don't mind dry runs but I wonder when do you start putting you cup on? Right when your periods begin or before?

I'm asking this especially to people who, while still being fairly regular, do not always menstruate when expected and may end up wearing the cup during three days before it actually starts. I wonder if it has any impact on health or risks of infections.

Okay so here's the deal.  I have PCOS and know nothing about my womanly parts save for the copious amounts I know about my ovaries.  I have no idea why and am super embarrassed I don't know more about my body, but I'm getting better and you all are doing a fantastic job of teaching me a plethora of things I had no idea about.   Like that my cervix moves, how cool and weird is that. I am set on trying out this cup lifestyle because tampons are really irritable and leak on me unless I'm using O.B. for some reason and they are crazy expensive!  And I feel like a spoiled brat for throwing all this bleached cotton in my body and wherever it ultimately ends up, like I'm not being grateful to the planet and my body or something.  I tried finding my cervix this morning to figure out cup size...and I'm not really sure what I found.  Basically I'm convinced there is a monster living in my vagina, but maybe one of you more knowledgeable folks can confirm if I found my cervix?

Everything was going fine and dandy while I was looking for this elusive body part when I ran into the end of "to infinity and beyond".  At that beyond point I began to bleed everywhere like I just lost a limb or something.  It started out as a little drop on my finger and then WHOOSH the flood was a comin'.  It is approximately an hour later and I'm not bleeding anymore and havent been for quite a while..I have NO IDEA if that is normal or not! I don't think it was any left over hymen but I could be wrong.  I've had pap smears and all kids of poking and prodding appointments over the past 7 years thanks to my PCOS so I feel like it should just not be there. It did feel kinda weird and had an interesting texture.  It wasn't my grumpy g-spot that feels like a carpet of walnuts or anything like that.  Maybe it was my cervix and it was being particularly sensitive and I made it cry tears of blood...hopefully someone can shed light on this topic.

If it WAS my cervix, apparently it is sitting back around 4 inches...which is pretty far for my tiny little stubs of fingers...but I have no idea if normal fingers consider this high or normal or low.  I am also currently ovulating so idk if that affects cervix position or is helpful information or not.

Because I'm ovulating it hurt pretty bad doing this little dance up in there...but I'm particularly sensitive everywhere during this time of the month.  Is there anyone with PCOS out there who use cups that can speak of its pain level during a period?  I'm not a wimp, I'm just also not all WOO YEAH PAIN BRING IT!

Ive seen people mentioning sneezing and losing suction and various levels of squishiness helping it not leak during sneezes.  Is there an ideal squishy factor I should be looking for?  I have pretty bad spring and summer allergies, think multitudes of tornadoes exiting my body per day.

I've never been penetrated by anything other than a million medical tools which always cause a crapload of pain but I can wiggle a few fingers around pretty freely without pain so I'm guessing a small size cup isn't required right?  I don't really know how to figure out these things.

I had my eye on a LadyCup but I'm not really sure if this will fit the bill or not?  If anyone has any suggestions please let me know!

Thanks to everyone who is so amazing here and reading that ridiculous amount of information and randomness.  :)

P.S.  I did take an in depth look at the sizing charts, faq, and all of that monkey business...but it still just isn't clicking in my little brain! :|

I'm 16 and a sophomore in high school. I have a Divacup and love it, so I wanted to share how great of a product this is and to spread the word that there's more than just tampons and pads. I looked in the flyers section here and found these really awesome, youthful flyers that might spark some teenagers interest:

http://menstrual-cups.livejournal.com/2433854.html#cutid1

So a few weeks ago I printed some out and taped about 10 of them on the inside of some of the bathroom stalls ( So when your sitting on the toilet you can read it because it's taped on the door.) Every once and a while I would tape a few up. Then yesterday I put 6 up on different floors. So far I hadn't heard anyone talking about them. Then today I was in class and I heard two of my friends talking.
Girl #1: Did you see those flyers for those things in the bathroom.
Girl #2: Yeah ... menstrual cups?
Girl #1: Yeah, I just threw it away.
Girl #2: Good, that doesn't belong here.

At first it bummed me out. It doesn't belong here? It's sad that people can't talk about menstruation without feeling that there's something inappropriate about it. I just had to remind myself that I was grossed out at first too and I never did any research because I wasn't interested. Then a little later I started researching because I got curious, and that's the point of posting these flyers. I want other menstruating person's to at least know what menstrual cups are and that they DO have options.

I just wanted to share.:)

Hello again! I believe I just asked a question last night, but this time I want to get opinions from this whole community rather than asking a couple of people at a time. So I'm looking to buy a new menstrual cup -- I've already had experience with the small DivaCup and after quite a few tries it did not go so well. 

I'm fifteen and I have a rather small build (so smaller cups are probably more useful for me) and I am a virgin who does not have much experience with having anything inside of my vagina. The DivaCup had much, much too strong of a suction for me and it was also too big for me, unfortunately. I have a rather heavy flow, and you can tell me if my cervix is high or low: I'm on my period, and just about my whole index finger can go in until I can feel it.
I also have a hard time holding onto the folds of my Diva as the cup is rather stiff / firm. 
So I'm typically looking for a cup that has a weaker suction than the Diva, is smaller but can accommodate my heavy flow for at least a decent amount of time, and is softer. (Sounds like I'm looking for a perfect cup, but anything that's not as big and strong-suctioned as the Diva may be suitable...)

I heard the Lunette is good for people like me as well as the MeLuna, but I also heard some controversy over the suction and size of the UK Mooncup... anyone who is similar to me, or has in the past had a cup that could be good for someone like myself who can give me recommendations would be absolutely fantastic. Thanks in advance and I'm very excited to see the possible suggestions as I know there are many cups out there!

Hello! I'm thinking of getting myself a menstrual cup. However I'm afraid to buy one because I don't want to buy it and then figure out that it's too hard to use or I'm too small to use one, etc. So before I decide to buy one, are there any things I should be able to do to be able to use one? Kinda like any self checks? An example is  I should be able to fit at least two fingers in my vagina to use one. Sorry if my question doesn't make sense! Thanks for any answers!

This just landed in my inbox and I thought some of you would find this interesting; www.familypracticenews.com/news/more-top-news/single-view/menstrual-products-don-8217t-increase-iud-expulsion/443f99a671.html

To quote the above article; 

"Use of tampons or menstrual cups does not increase the risk of early expulsion of an intrauterine device, according to findings of a retrospective cohort study of nearly 1,000 women."

"In the study, the overall rate of IUD expulsion within 2 months of insertion was low (3.5%), and was statistically no higher for women who used tampons or cups than it was for their counterparts who used pads."

Since soft cups are getting increasingly popular (three brands have made softer versions (MCUK, Femmecup, Meluna) and the two newest brands, Cuplee and Naturcup, are also said to be pretty soft), there have been a lot of posts/comments like "I got a soft cup because I thought it would be more comfortable, but I have difficulties getting it to open" or "I'm considering brand X but it's soft and I'm afraid it'll be difficult to pop open" etc. I found myself writing the same things over and over and I thought I'd make one big post to link to it later.

( Read more... )

( Bonus: cup icons! )

Looking at kuradi8's incredibly useful size and shape charts made my HTML muscle twitch. Granted, I'm about 15 years behind the times in webdesign, but I figured I could still add a little more usability to the charts. The information in those charts is so good that it needs to be as accessible as possible.
So I made this:

http://www.klabru.nl/sizecharts.

Please check it out and see what you think.

Good Morning Community!

I wanted to Share some of my latest theories on The Morning Flood and otherwise unexplainable Night, or Daytime Leaking.

Now, I'm sure many of us are familiar with the usual issues that lead to leakage -cervix outside the cup, bad fit, overflow, residual slobber- but once you've found your goldilocks cup, and goldilocks fold, and timed your changing needs, and gotten pro at that circular finger sweep for slobber removal etc....There is still those out of the blue leaks, or night related issues that make you scruch up your face and go aljfkladsjfkldsgsgldskjgdsjgasg!!

I have some ideas... And please provide evidence contrary to my hypotheses so we can come up with an all inclusive theory. Also try some experimenting and report back!   :D


 

( My Theories: )( *The Morning Flood )

 

Hi everyone :) it is modpost oclock at menstrual_cups right now!

Gender neutral language - why do we care?

We've noticed there is a tendency in this community to assume that all members identify as women. This is an understandable assumption to make. However, we'd like to point out that not all members of this community identify as female. There are people in this community who identify as female-to-male transgender, as genderqueer, or as other gender identities other than female. While they do not identify with terms like "woman" or "lady", they still menstruate, and this community is potentially relevant for them.

We say in the userinfo that 'We want people of all ages, genders and confidence levels to feel comfortable here', and we mods feel really strongly about that. We've been told several times over the years that phrases like 'Hi ladies!' make our non female-identified members feel invisible and unwelcome, and that is the last thing we want.

As such, we have two requests:

1. To everyone - please be mindful that this is a very diverse community, and be respectful of all people who may be reading regardless of gender, sexual orientation, etc. In this context, this means using gender neutral language. So instead of saying, "Thanks, ladies!" something like, "Thanks, everyone!" would be more appropriate.



2. To the non-female identified members of this community - is there anything that we as moderators (or community members) can do to make menstrual_cups more accommodating? If you don't feel comfortable leaving a comment here, you can leave an anonymous one on this post, or please feel free to email us at menstrual_cups at livejournal dot com.

Thanks for your understanding! If you have any questions about why we feel this policy is important, please feel free to (respectfully) ask in the comments.

lintilla and scien

PS if you think this post is about you, don't worry, it isn't :) this issue has come up a lot recently.

Edit: so many comments! If you find long threads difficult to read in this community style, try http://community.livejournal.com/menstrual_cups/2439847.html?format=light

Hello everyone, 2 points I wanted to mention really quick:
 

1-- I finally got around to making a comparison chart of the brands I own (size, capacity, stiffness).  I'm sorry its taken so long, but better late than never, I suppose.  Also, there are some brands I have now, that I did not before, so there is more info now.  I suppose its one more we can add to the wealth of lovely charts that have been shared here.  I put it in my WordPress blog, but I may also add it to my friendhood.net discussion forum.  Here is the link:

http://menstrualcupinfo.wordpress.com/cup-stiffness-comparison-chart/ 

2-- For Lunette customers, www.ladyfreedomstore.com now ships worldwide :)  

Hope you guys like the chart, I used varying color shades, so the rows are easier to follow.  Hugs, everyone! 

Edit:  Ok, cm measurements have now been included, everyone! Although I broke the chart into 3 pictures now, and included the blue title bar at the top of each page, so if you click it to make it bigger, the blue bar remains as a guide :)

I've finally got around to making a chart people have been asking me to do :) But I'm missing some details... if anyone can help me fill them in, and check it's right - it would be much appreciated - thanks



http://menstrualcups.wordpress.com


I'm missing a few things though... ( (click here to see) )

Hi, I've made a Cup comparison spreadsheet.

It allows you to sort by any criterion/criteria you wish, and includes other useful bits and bobs that might be of interest. It's a compilation of information from here and around the web, that hopefully makes choosing a cup easier.

I've had to leave the document 'unlocked' for editting, so please revert it back to how you found it so I don't have to keep restoring it. Annoyingly, only one person can really sort at a time, because any changes you make will affect other readers' views too.

To sort, you need to select all the rows you want, go to 'tools' then 'sort,' click 'data has header rows', then choose what and how you want to sort it by.

If anyone knows a file sharing site that will let me upload it, have it edittable for people, but read only (can't save changes), please let me know.

AND if you know of anything missing or wrong, please let me know and I'll fix it.

As veteran cup users know, there are some things that are said by the cup companies that just aren't true. Maybe they're saying them to cover their butts. Maybe they're saying them to sell more product. Maybe they're just... saying them, and we don't really know why. Whatever the situation is, these myths can be off-putting for some potential users and can even make people think they're using their cups incorrectly when they're working just fine.

Here are some of the myths that I've seen.

Myth: You must replace your cup every year/every five years/every X years.

( Reality: You probably don't. )

Myth: You must use our branded wash/tablets to clean your cup.

( Reality: There are many ways to safely clean your cup. )

Myth: Your cup must sit at the bottom of your vagina, way below your cervix.

( Reality: Your vagina may vary. )

Myth: There are only one or two ways you can fold your cup when you are inserting it.

( Reality: There are at least eight different folds you can use. )

Myth: You have to rotate your cup to make it seal correctly.

( Reality: Rotating your cup is only one way to make sure it's sealed. )

Myth: You can't use any lubricant with your cup.

( Reality: Water-based lubes are fine, but they must be water based. )

Myth: The size guidelines are hard and fast.

( Reality: Not really. )

Myth: Menstrual cups can only be used when you're on your period.

( Reality: As long as you remove and clean every 12 hours or so, you'll probably be fine. )

This is by far not an exhaustive list, so if you can think of any other myths, please mention them in the comments!

Sorry, fellow cuppers.

It has come to my attention that there are companies that mine web sites such as Wikipedia and other free sites in search of material that they can copy and paste -- without the author's knowledge or permission -- into books that they sell.  Since this post is referenced directly from Wikipedia, it becomes a prime target for such plagiarism.

I am unwilling to allow plagiarists to steal and profit from my work so therefore my comprehensive guidelines have been removed.


EVERY brand says that their Small is for younger users who have not had children that and their Large is for those over a certain age and/or have given birth.  But what they are called doesn't fall within any range of physical sizes.  For example, some "smalls" are larger than some "larges."  Don't pick a brand or a size first. The chart below is divided into three widths and 5 lengths.  You know your body best.  Figure out where you fall within those length and width categories and then choose from those cups that fall within your fitment parameters.


RED = "discontinued, restricted distribution or otherwise hard to get"
NEW: La Copita.  One Size?  No further info yet.

So I've been interested in menstrual cups for a while. A week ago I ultimately decided I was going to get one. However, I had one problem. I am virgin, and one week ago I had never had anything in my vagina before. I couldn't even find the entrance to it in the first place! How pathetic is that? But, I made up my mind, and when I want to do something, I do it. So I did a little research and decided the best cup to buy would be the Lady Cup, because it's so small. But then my period started today, and I still hadn't bothered to order one, so I got in the car and drove to the nearest Whole Foods to buy a Diva cup.

Anyways, I believe that the best way to learn how to do things is in baby steps. I play the clarinet, and I know that you can't just look at a difficult piece of music and play it perfectly right from the start. You have to develop some muscle memory in your fingers first, starting slow and gradually up until the piece of music is now so easy you wonder why you ever thought it was hard in the first place. Using a cup is the same way. Since you've never had anything in your vagina before, it naturally is going to be awkward the first time.

So I thought up a set of baby steps to introduce myself to the cup, and I'm going to share them here. These steps are going to seem small and insignificant, but hey, that's why they're called baby steps :) If you can do more then one step at a time, then do so, if you are ready. But if you feel any discomfort, wait until later to try again. You will be able to get the same step you were at before, because the muscles will remember how, and then you will be ready to go on to the next step.

Before your period starts

1. Find the entrance to your vagina. This sounds stupid, but I honestly thought it was higher than it really is.

2. Relax, and try to stick a finger in. Just a little bit. Enough just so you get used to having something in and out of your vagina.

3. With one finger, try to reach as high as you can inside of you. If it hurts, then stop and try again later.

4. Once you get good at all that, explore your anatomy. Feel where your hymen is, and stuff like that.

5. Stretch your hymen a bit. Put some pressure on it with a finger, but not so much it hurts. You can also try putting more fingers in, but I never got to that point.

When you're on your period

1. Explore your anatomy more! When I'm on my period, I'm a lot looser and my hymen is more flexible.

2. Now get your cup out. Decide which fold you want to use. I like the 7 fold best, because it's small and easy to hold onto.

3. Now, separate your labia, and put the tip of the folded cup at the top. Move it downward towards your vagina until you feel the opening. I found it was tricky to find it without actually touching it with my hand, but it gets easier with practice.

4. Try pushing the cup in. Make sure you are aiming for your tailbone! At first I wasn't, and it hurt! Put the cup in a little at a time. If you have discomfort, stop and try again later.

5. Eventually you will be able to put most of the cup in, but don't put it in all the way yet. Practice putting it in most of the way a couple times.

6. At this point you should be able to put it in all the way. It's a little tricky to tell if it's open. Running a finger around the edges helps. The first time I put it in, it didn't hurt at all. In fact, I could hardly feel it.

7. Okay, now that you've got it in all comfy, just get it over with and take it out. This is the hardest part. Make sure you're relaxed. The first thing want to do is stick in a finger, and break the suction by pushing in on the cup rim. Then bear down, and twist it out. OK, I'm not gonna lie, it hurt because my stupid hymen was in the way. I'm not sure if I tore it or not, because I can still feel it there, but it's less in the way now.

Whatever you do, don't panic about getting it out. If your hymen is in the way, just remember that it's temporary and won't keep the cup in forever :)

UPDATE: More removing tips!

So, apparently my cervix is quite high, even on my period. So when I tried to take my cup out after my first full day, I had quite a shock! I could hardly reach it, and it was slippery because the cup had started leaking. So the natural thing to do was, of course, panic. But I did manage to get it out! First thing I had to do was squat and bear down, really hard! It does move down when you do that, even though I was freaking out! Anyways, eventually I was able to get in a finger to push in on the side of the cup and break the suction. Then, I pretty much just grabbed it and pulled it out, while bearing down.

It didn't hurt that time, but I highly recommend doing it in the bathtub or shower, because I got blood everywhere, but thankfully I could just turn on the tap and wash it out.
---

Here are some tips if the cup leaks. At first mine didn't leak, but once I got adept at inserting it, it starting leaking. However, it would only leak for about half an hour then it would stop. Turns out I wasn't putting it high enough up. It would eventually move up on its own and stop leaking, but it's much better, at least for me, to put it up higher in the first place. It also pokes me if it is positioned wrong. So, if you have leaks, experiment with where you are putting your cup. You might even want to try different folds, as that might help position it properly.
-----

Anyways, I think the most important thing about using a cup is not to force it in. Make sure you are ready. It's unacceptable for a guy to force something in you, so you shouldn't force anything in you either!

Also, remember that you will be able to get the cup in eventually! It WILL fit. The vagina stretches beautifully! Anyways, I hope I was helpful and didn't bore you to death!

Hello everyone!

I noticed recently that the awesome post with folding pictures is dead.  All the photos don't work.  So I took it upon myself to take some pics for everyone.  I know I missed the labial fold, but I can never get it to fold right, and there are already pics of that, and one more recent one.  Maybe we should tag those posts?

Anyway, in case someone who is not a current cup user stumbles accross this post, here are a couple pics to give you an idea of how big the cup is.  It is a smaller size DivaCup, as I am 15 and a complete virgin.  Excuse the zany bedsheets.  Haha!  My room's colourful. :)



There you go!  If I've forgotten some vastly important fold, comment me, and I'll edit this entry and add it. :)  

EDIT:  I've added pics on how to do all but the C-fold, as that is self-explanatory.  If you think I should add text to the how-to, comment. :)

Hope that helps some.  :D

God bless,
Sheila

As an update to the FAQ we were talking about a few days ago, I've sorted out a comparison table of the different cups. Unfortunately I'm missing quite a bit of information which I couldn't easily find from the various company websites, so input is very much desired! (Especially anyone who knows anything about Instead cups, but I'm missing info from all brands.)

( The Table. )

Any other columns you feel would be helpful? I figure that we'll post one of the comparison line-ups with this table for visual questions, such as number of ridges on the outside. Preferences as to the layout/order of rows etc?

I'm open to any and all input on this, though obviously the mods get final say. :)

( Early version of FAQ, very much open to suggestions )

I took a bunch of pictures of the different folds as I understand them, for future reference!  Trying to figure out the "7" fold in particular was really difficult until I found some pictures.  I thought it would be good to have step by step pictures of all the folds in one place.

I also am planning on taking comparison pictures of ALL the different menstrual cups (Lunette included).  I wrote to the companies asing for samples.  I plan to put all these photos, as well as the folds, on a webpage for easy access, for beginner cup users!  Hopefully I can make the process of getting used to a cup easier than it was for me!  And maybe some other information too, who knows.

WARNING!  For those on dial-up, there are a TON of pictures behind the cut.  It will take awhile to load.  Pictures approximately 100 kb each, and there are 18 of them behind the cut.


My Keeper.  Approximately 2 1/2 years old, Size "B" (smaller size).  Yeah I know I need a manicure. :P  The Keeper was dry too, much harder to hold the folds!  Oh and it's not that easy taking pictures of your own hand, but way better than sucking up my pride and asking my sister to photograph my menstrual cup!

( "C" Fold )

( Punch-Down Fold )

( "7" Fold )

( Origami Fold )

( Comparison photos of all folds from the top. )