Sorry this is very long but I want to explain properly. And also vent a little bit because my first experience with a menstrual cup (Mooncup UK) was a tiny bit traumatic :) My first use of a menstrual cup left me feeling pretty bruised and vulnerable for a few days. But I love the idea of a menstrual cup so much that I want to keep trying - but I definitely needs some help.
So I bought a Mooncup UK when I was in London in October (I live in Holland), having never seen a menstrual cup before I was very excited about this alternative to tampons. I bought a size A as I'm well over 40. I'm not a virgin but seldom have penetrative vaginal sex. I don't have kids. Also I've got strong pelvic muscles and I'm very tight, using tampons is not a problem but a getting a pap smear is basically impossible. Judging by my Mooncup adventures my cervix sits pretty high on day 2, 3 and 4 of my period.
Trying out the Mooncup during my peroid didn't go very well, things ended with a trip to the ER. Hidden by the LJ cut below is a detailed account of what went wrong.
So I bought a Mooncup UK when I was in London in October (I live in Holland), having never seen a menstrual cup before I was very excited about this alternative to tampons. I bought a size A as I'm well over 40. I'm not a virgin but seldom have penetrative vaginal sex. I don't have kids. Also I've got strong pelvic muscles and I'm very tight, using tampons is not a problem but a getting a pap smear is basically impossible. Judging by my Mooncup adventures my cervix sits pretty high on day 2, 3 and 4 of my period.
Trying out the Mooncup during my peroid didn't go very well, things ended with a trip to the ER. Hidden by the LJ cut below is a detailed account of what went wrong.
On the first day of my period I inserted and removed the cup successfully twice. The cup sat rather low and the stem was a bit too long though so I cut a bit off the stem as advised by the instruction manual. Boy, did I regret that later on!
On day 2 of my period I inserted the cup without problem but when I wanted to remove it it had crept up quite high and I couldn't reach it. I tried everything I could to get it out by myself but no luck. When my friend came home that night she had to remove it for me. Very embarrassing and of course it made an unbelievable mess as my flow had been very heavy that day and the cup was almost full.
I switched to an Instead softcup for the night and morning. The following afternoon I inserted the cup again, made very sure the cup was positioned low and that I could reach the stem easily. All was well until a few hours later when once again the darn thing had worked itself out of reach of my fingers. Once more I tried the 'bearing down' trick and 'relaxing in a bath' and so on. Even tried a toothbrush to try and break the seal, feeling very silly :) Nothing worked. When I used my muscles to try to get the cup to go down it would move down a tiny bit – but only as far as the phenomenal seal would allow it to go.
Before going to bed with the cup still inside me I sent off an email to the Mooncup company. Their customer service is absolutely wonderful, can't say enough nice things about them. I called them the next day in a panic and they called me back (internatlonal call!) and they were so nice and encouraging. They said that size A probably was a bit too big for me to form a good seal down low in my vagina and because my inner muscles were so strong they had pushed the cup upwards.
After talking it over with them it was obvious that I'd tried out all the troubleshooting tips available so I should ask my friend for help again. Well – we tried! We struggled for an hour and a half but because the cup was sitting so high she couldn't reach inside me far enough to break the seal. After poking around down there for so long I was pretty sore and cranky with it. But the Mooncup people had told me that the cup really had to come out at the end of that day so off to the night GP we went! Thank heavens the female GP on duty managed to get it out fairly quickly – but I was whimpering in pain the whole time. I'm not convinced either she managed to break the seal, it certainly felt like she just ripped it out. Ouch! Still, I was very relieved it was finally out!
The Mooncup company very kindly sent me a small(er) size mooncup (size B) but it still looks pretty big to me! To be honest I'm a bit nervous to try it out as I don't fancy another trip to the ER. I feel it might be best to use another cup which is a bit smaller until I've become more experienced. But which one?
Ideally I'd like a small (narrow) but long cup with a long and easy-to-grip stem. I looked at the sizecharts but long and small isn't available although a small size Keeper comes pretty close.
Also I wonder what stiffness I should go for? With being so very tight a stiff cup might be best, because my muscles might squish a softer cup so that it might not develop a good seal and/or might leak. On the other hand it might be easier to break the seal of a softer cup, making removal a whole lot easier.
And I have to say the ring version of the medium Meluna cups appeals to me because you can tie a piece of string to it so I won't “lose” a cup again. But will a string really help me push the cup down? Are there any people here who've had similar problems who can help me decide?