have anyone used the menstrual cup

"So one of the many new devices I purchased for this trip was a Diva "Moon Cup". Since feminine hygine supplies would be hard to come by and waste-producing, I opted instead to buy a thing like a Barbie Deluxe Toilet Plunger, and stuff it up my hooha.

My best friend uses a diva cup but I never, ever could. There's just so much about it that is incredibly icky to me. I just.. I couldn't.

I don't see how people can call pads gross. I never. EVER get my hands bloody using a pad. I change frequently and no mess. I'll stick with that thanks.

So sitting on a blood soaked chemically bleached rayon/cotton/plastic wad of fluff for a few hours at a time isn't gross?

I use cotton pads. And no. I suppose what you're used to is what you're used to and anything outside the norm seems gross.

But honestly I just find the Diva cup distressing. I'm sure I would bleed through (I bleed HEAVY) and I'm just not willing to even try. Haha.

Ah well. To each her own.

But honestly I just find the Diva cup distressing. I'm sure I would bleed through (I bleed HEAVY) and I'm just not willing to even try. Haha.

Ah well. To each her own.

see i dont mind it taking forever oh another question how does it feel to sit in it

Can you use it if you have an IUD?

I had a friend, and by friend I don't mean me, who used one and it got stuck! She had to have a nurse remove it! Then she said she didn't want the rest and asked me if I wanted the rest! Um yeah cuz I want something that seems to be an accident waiting to happen! No thanks!

My question is concerning if you have to remove the cup in a public restroom. Would I have to rinse it out in the sink? That's the only option I can think of which would be very embarrassing to do in front of other people in a bathroom. And it would definitely gross out others to see someone else's menstrual blood. What do others do if they can't empty it at home and are out and about?

Practical Q.

How would you use this in a public restroom situation, Like at work or out and about you have to take it to the sink in front of everyone to wash it? Or how does that work?

Sorry i know this is a pretty direct Q, just wondering how I could make something like that work

for me personally- i put one leg on the seat and keep one leg straight. I pull out my cup and dump it in the toilet. I then put it in its little drawstring bag and insert another cup. When i come out of the stall, i quickly rinse the cup with hot, soapy water and then wash my hands. Thats it.

ETA: you could wait to wash it, its not a huge issue. I just do it then so i dont worry about it later. No one has ever said anything to me. Its not like i wave it around and say " LOOK AT ME"

"So one of the many new devices I purchased for this trip was a Diva "Moon Cup". Since feminine hygine supplies would be hard to come by and waste-producing, I opted instead to buy a thing like a Barbie Deluxe Toilet Plunger, and stuff it up my hooha.

The theory is that the cup catches your pan drippings, and you empty it a couple times a day, washing it with hippy soap, and reinserting. It presupposes you are enough of an Earth Mother to be OK not only with your monthly outpourings, but also with generally fossicking around in your flaps. Now, I am no stranger to gore. Nor am I squeamish about my delicate rose of delight, except that I have no such illusions about it and indeed am always reminded of nothing so much as stuffing an oddly-warm raw turkey. So, when after several weeks of teasing, the Period Fairy threatening to postpone the Communist Invasion until I was actually getting on the plane (I was about ready to scream and cry at some hapless unwary male just as a sacrifice to appease her) at last I greeted the rosy-fingered dawn and set about embarking on my new life as a eco-friendly Diva.

The Moon Cup comes in two sizes; Size A, for youthful nymphs under 30 who have never given birth and have silken tresses and tinkling laughs and are all size 0, and size B, for Big Ol' *****es like m'self, who have either spawned, or are so old (ie over 30) that they might as well have been poppin' them out like Duggar Donuts, because their sugar walls are now echoing corridors full of cobwebs and slackness. Of course the packaging phrases it more nicely, but I was miffed to see that despite having never replicated, I was still doomed to the Big Gulp size because of my age alone.

So, chalice in hand, fingers washed, and let's fold that thing like a taco (no, not THAT thing, the other thing!) and cram it up where only one man has gone before and even then not for a damn long time even when he WAS still around. I'm sure I imagined the rusty creaking sounds as I tried to shove something which was larger than anything previous (with the exception of various medical speculums which, I believe, were constructed by the same person who designed the Montlake Drawbridge)into the Gaping Maw.

Now, you're supposed to roll the cup up, smuggle it past the border, let it expand, then turn it clockwise (or counter clockwise, or then one way and another, stopping when you hear the click, or something...) anyway, you're supposed to be able to turn this thing like a dial in there."If the cup does not turn easily, you did it wrong" Oh, of course, I'll just grasp hold of a thing about the size, shape, and slipperyness of the pointy end of a peeled hard-boiled egg, which is now buried in the meaty folds of my innermost femininity, which, I may add, are well-sluiced with the special effects from a Quentin Tarantino film, and spin that sucker like a dredel.

There is, also, a small stem at the base of this cup, which, being made of the same slippery silicon and about a centimeter long, is about as helpful as providing a live, untrained earthworm for a handle. More on this later.

So, rotate this thing in situ, to ensure a good 'seal' and a comfortable fit.

Does. Not. Happen.

Ladies (and gentlemen, although I hope for your sake none of you gentlemen are reading this), I tried. I hauled that thing in and out of there more times, and with much less joy, than Eeyore with his birthday present, and not once could I get that thing to "turn easily". I finally gave up, since it seemed, at one point, to be "fully inflated" and more or less in the right place. Frankly I think that having left my furrow unplowed for so long, I'm not exactly the proper degree of hotdog-hallway that the instruction-writer was intending to address, but so be it. Let's give this thing a whirl, if we can't give it a twist.

Fast forward a few hours in which I've done nothing much. To its credit, I don't feel the presence of THE CUP at all, no discomfort, not even a vague sense of "eugh" as I sometimes have when knowing all that stands between me and my khakis is a small cottony Dutch boy. In fact, I'm getting rather concerned that the Diva Cup has wormed its way in like some form of parasitic jellyfish and is now eagerly migrating up my fallopian tubes, with me all unknowing. Time to go fishing.

And that is where I discover that, while it's difficult to try and 'turn' a Diva Cup newly lodged in your sanctum sanctorum, it's a freakin' log-fall compared to trying to recover said Cup after it has gotten comfortably settled in the downy folds of your blood-engorged tissues. Yes, indeed, if cram my fingers up there to the point of pain, I can just, tantilizingly, tickle the end of that goddamn silicone 'stem'. Grasp it? Not in hell.

Of course the instructions say, if this happens, DO NOT PANIC. Well, thank god for that, because I was already running through the list of people I'd trust with a flashlight, a set of forceps, and an experience that would scar both of us for the rest of our lives. There were instructions for different positions, and "bearing down" and so forth, which I tried, to no avail, and I was pretty sure that my ham-fisted efforts (ahem) were just making things worse on the "swollen" front, so Diva and I took a break, and retired to our respective corners for an hour or so.

Now I brought out my secret weapon: Beer. If, gods help me, I ever have to have a baby, I intend to be drunk off my *kitten* for the delivery, and I surely hope that the Fairy Prince Unicorn Elvis who is my chosen Babydaddy will provide a bedside IV of godly ambrosia, or at least Jim Beam. But anyway, two beers and I'm good to go spelunking in quest of the Holy Grail once more.

Either the beer, or the break, or the combination of all of these and squatting on the bathmat like a Neanderthal crapping, finally, produced enough of that goddamn 'stem' to grab (which was good, because I was dreading having use the kitchen tongs Up There or something) and, with a surprising amount of horrible suctioning "discomfort", the invader was routed! And, wonder of wonders, it was indeed partially filled. Not filled with DELICIOUS CANDY, no, but it did seem to have been, you know... -working-, before I so rudely dislodged it from its parasitic feeding. I felt a combination of grudging respect and intrigue, as one might upon meeting a foe worthy of their steel. Provided we could agree to disagree on the whole "turn 360 degrees in place" aspect, perhaps this could indeed be a workable partnership. Better than bleeding into the Rupununi and attracting every caiman, pirahna, and candiru fish for fifty miles.


But not without some boundaries first. I tied a ROPE to that stupid stem this time."

Practical Q.

How would you use this in a public restroom situation, Like at work or out and about you have to take it to the sink in front of everyone to wash it? Or how does that work?

Sorry i know this is a pretty direct Q, just wondering how I could make something like that work

for me personally- i put one leg on the seat and keep one leg straight. I pull out my cup and dump it in the toilet. I then put it in its little drawstring bag and insert another cup. When i come out of the stall, i quickly rinse the cup with hot, soapy water and then wash my hands. Thats it.

ETA: you could wait to wash it, its not a huge issue. I just do it then so i dont worry about it later. No one has ever said anything to me. Its not like i wave it around and say " LOOK AT ME"

Thanks!

This is a pretty gross question..but what about the clotty stuff? I usually get some big clotty pieces of yuck during my period that come out.. Would the cup hold those??

This is a pretty gross question..but what about the clotty stuff? I usually get some big clotty pieces of yuck during my period that come out.. Would the cup hold those??

see i dont mind it taking forever oh another question how does it feel to sit in it

I totally forget I even have my period. I have a desk job most days. Cramping was reduced. Seriously don't notice it! Never could get used to tampons!

Practical Q.

How would you use this in a public restroom situation, Like at work or out and about you have to take it to the sink in front of everyone to wash it? Or how does that work?

Sorry i know this is a pretty direct Q, just wondering how I could make something like that work

for me personally- i put one leg on the seat and keep one leg straight. I pull out my cup and dump it in the toilet. I then put it in its little drawstring bag and insert another cup. When i come out of the stall, i quickly rinse the cup with hot, soapy water and then wash my hands. Thats it.

ETA: you could wait to wash it, its not a huge issue. I just do it then so i dont worry about it later. No one has ever said anything to me. Its not like i wave it around and say " LOOK AT ME"

Thanks!

Ew, sorry but that is disgustting to wash it out in a public sink, If I saw someone doing that I'd probably throw up right there. And it is also pretty disgusting to carry it around in your purse -whether it is in its little bag or not. Sorry, no.