Background: Small MCUK user for 1.5 years. 34yo, no kids - Paragard IUD for 10 years.
So, I love my cup and the more I've used it the more I don't want to go back to tampons. But, this cup and I don't get along. And it's sad. I have the right cup - it's the right size, holds the right amount, doesn't leak, etc. But.
Half the time I get this super annoying sensation once I start using my cup for the month that goes away a couple days after I stop using it. If I wouldn't know better I'd say it was the feeling of a yeast infection coming on. (But of course we know we can't get yeast infections during our period...) Some months it's just a little twinge of recognition that something is not right. But other months (like this one) it's completely uncomfortable and it hurts to take my cup in and out. The feeling nearly borders on itchy - but not exactly. I can feel the whole canal, but the inside of my vagina is perfectly fine.
Sometimes it starts within a day or two of me using the cup; sometimes it doesn't start acting up until the last day. Then there's the months where it's not a problem at all (which just confuses me further.) But the sensation *always* goes away after I stop using my cup no matter how bad it is. And once it's there I'm stuck with it until after my period ends. I can't tell if it's a sensitivity to something, a friction thing (from inserting and taking the cup out), if it's bacterial, or something else.
My mind has run out of ideas. Here's the stuff I've tried: Wash hands better, even twice. Scrub under nails. Changed soap. Stop having sex during that week (in case somehow that's it.) In case it's a friction thing, I've tried removing my cup less often. When it gets to the last day or two of my period I've tried just not using a cup altogether but the sensation doesn't seem to go away any sooner. I tried going back to tampons for a month or two and well that just ticked me off for other reasons, lol. I even moved a few months ago, eliminating the bacteria in the water possibility.
I boil my cup after every period is over and I boil it again before I put it in the first time. I don't use any cleaners on it and when I take it out, I simply rinse it under hot water and put it right back in.
Does anyone else have this problem? Has anyone defeated it? Any ideas I haven't thought about/tried already?
ARGH! /endwhineage