This happened to me the night before last. I was inserting my Divacup and not paying enough attention or relaxing enough. Normally the cup opens gradually as it goes in, ending up completely open when it is most of the way in. This time, I could tell the cup was opening too fast, so I stopped trying to keep it folded (C fold) and just pushed it in the way I usually do when it's open in the right place. Somehow - I don't know how - I managed to push it in sideways. It was almost completely open, just bent a bit in the center, completely horizontal, and it hurt a lot. After much poking around and freaking out, I discovered that by pushing up on the rim end of my cup I could make it swing back into normal position. It actually felt like it was in perfectly at that point, but I removed it and re-inserted it just to be sure. So yep, that's how to get a Diva cup out if you've managed to put it in sideways. I hope this helps someone.