So when I got home, I put that fleur in, and life was peachy. On the first day, I went running, and the cup works beautifully. Couldn't feel it. Today was the second day with my cup. I've emptied a full cup 4 times since this morning, and with a small fleur (capacity of 20mL), that's 80mL in a roughly 24hr period (including about 12 hours overnight), maybe a little less. I've always dubbed myself as having a light-moderate period. I went through about 3 super tampons on my heavy days, and they were about half absorbed when I changed them (crappy brand, I guess.) Now I'm shocked that I just bled 80mL in a day, when according to wikipedia, 80mL is the high end of normal for a whole period. I don't know if I'm just having a freak period or what. I'm usually pretty regular, 28 days on the dot, and it starts out slow on the first day and picks up to it's peak by day 2 and 3. I never spot for 3-4 days before. Always very predictable.
I can only think of a handful of reasons for this crazy period, but I'm not sure if they're very logical. I went off birth control (for acne) about 3-4 months ago. It made my periods a little lighter but also a little crampier. I didn't really notice much change after I went off. Is it possible that my periods are getting heavier a couple months later after going off? And I did get some virus that's been going around about the time when I started spotting. It was diarrhea and a few days long headache. Could that have triggered it? The only other change is that I've lowered my calorie intake (but nothing ridiculous or extreme.) I haven't been stressed or significantly increased my exercise.
I'm really frustrated because there were two things that converted me to being a cup user. 1. Leak free (or at least just dark underwear) periods. 2. Going all day through school and practice without having to mess with pads/tampons/emptying. But emptying my cup every 4-5 hours isn't that fabulous of an improvement. I hated cutting my lunch time short to mess with my period, and it would be even shorter if I had to mess with a cup.
That leads me to a few questions. Will removal get less messy (like on my fingers) as I get past the learning curve? Do any of you wear liners with your cups and need them? Or is that a peace of mind thing? And how did the perceived heaviness of your period compare before the cup to after? Changing in gym or in the locker room for sports was always such a pain when I was on my period, and I got the cup to solve that. I was wanting to wear just underwear and no liner. Do I still have hope? Would a larger cup help? I know I have the largest capacity in the virgin sizes. Will my vagina work with something a few mm wider? My fleur fits stem and all. I can fit a finger in when it's open. I don't want to have to buy another, and I'd hate to buy another if it'll only extend my wear time by an hour.
Thanks for reading this. And any help is great! :)