rjw76: Mooncup: For Science!

Rosemary Warner (

rjw76) wrote,
@ 2008-08-30 00:03:00

Mooncup: For Science!
So, I got one of them Mooncup thingies.

The Mooncup itself is great, though also you get to see the gory details close at hand so it probably isn't for those people who'd rather pretend periods are blue with no clots and goop in.

Insertion is easier than the internet told me it would be- I seem to be using the "fold it in half and Just Shove" method which isn't usually detailed on websites, but I suspect I am pretty resilient to these things. Anyway, I must be doing it right because it's not leaking.

Haven't tried it for particularly heavy bleeding yet as I bought it on Day 3. But I can't imagine it'll work much differently.

Further experiments: Apparently the average blood loss during menstruation is 35ml, with 10-80 considered the "normal" range. The Mooncup has volume gradations on the side. (I am very glad that the STUPID STUPID PERIOD LEAFLET we got in school saying "you only lose a tablespoon of blood" appears (at least, according to Wikipedia) to be incorrect.) The obvious experiment will be conducted in a few weeks' time.

But.

I think the box is talking bollocks. Apparently "one woman uses 10000 tampons in her lifetime". So, as I was happily wandering home, I worked out that at my rate of 15 tampons per period and 11 periods a year, I'd have to menstruate regularly for sixty-one years to use ten thousand tampons. IE, until I'm 75. I think not.

Is this just me? Do I get through far fewer tampons than anyone else? I'd love to know...

(34 comments) - (Post a new comment)

	mpettitt 2008-08-29 11:29 pm UTC (link)
	Obviously, you are not the one woman who uses 10000 in her lifetime. The poor woman they mention must have heavy flow and/or long periods, else be very worried about TSS and insisting on changing tampons more regularly than strictly needed... (Reply to this)

	st_lemur 2008-08-29 11:34 pm UTC (link)
	The obvious experiment will be conducted in a few weeks' time. "Can Ralph tell the difference between coffee grounds and dried menstrual blood at 6am on a Monday?" (Reply to this) (Thread)

	rjw76 2008-08-30 09:27 am UTC (link)
	If you think I'm that unhygienic, fuck off. (Reply to this) (Parent)

enismirdal
2008-08-29 11:37 pm UTC (link)

Hooray fellow Mooncup user! Yay that you decided to experiment. I succumbed a few months ago. Buying a Mooncup was seriously one of the best purchase decisions I've ever made. It's already paid for itself, I think, and it's just nice to be clean and dry all the time, totally forget I'm having a period, and also nice not worrying about TSS, and creating less rubbish (except for a bit of extra loo paper).

As an additional point, I've been swimming in the sea and hit by lots of waves on Day 2, and the Mooncup didn't leak at all (inwards or outwards). Now that's beautiful.

I'm vaguely curious about some of the other brands and thinking of buying a LadyCup or something just for comparison.

I got that bollocks about tiny amounts of blood in sex education at school as well...I was even told "a quarter of a teaspoonful" once. My arse! Must have been a man who calculated that. I might just have believed that not all of the ~50ml of Red Stuff is actually blood, but a substantial amount must be. And now having it all conveniently caught in a graded measuring cup makes it pretty frigging obvious.

My back of an envelope calculations reckon that if some woman goes through 20 tampons a period (I never did), using tampons from her first period aged ~12 until her last aged ~50 (I certainly didn't), and has a regular 28-day cycle from the outset (13 periods per year) (again, I don't), she would probably manage that. But I strongly doubt that many women at all fulfil all those criteria. (I always used more like 6-8 tampons per period as I refused to use them at night and tended to give up on them on Day 1 as well as they made me more crampy.)

I gave all my sanitary towels to my flatmate as I don't use them any more. Unfortunately she hates tampons even more than I do so I have 2 boxes of Bodyform in case they ever come in handy again...

(Reply to this)

	sarahfeeney 2008-08-29 11:50 pm UTC (link)
	Ermm I don't know I'm olde fashioned and use sanitary towels and have never worked out how many I use on average. I know a couple of people with moon cups and it seems to work well for them. I will be interested to see how you get on. (Reply to this)

	i_am_toast 2008-08-29 11:59 pm UTC (link)
	I am the woman who uses 50,000 to balance the other women she knows out. Oh the joys of waking five times a night, soaked in blood, no matter what. The men I know, on meeting me at that time of month, are usually just treated to 'two eggcups my fucking arse' and a steely glare. (Reply to this)

	sian_shoe 2008-08-30 12:06 am UTC (link)
	Me too. It's like a massacre down there one a month, no matter what I do. (Reply to this)

	mistress_helly 2008-08-30 12:24 am UTC (link)
	see, I had the contraceptive implant, so I don't get periods at all. I love it. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	perdita_x 2008-08-30 11:25 am UTC (link)
	Same here - another 2 years of period free study! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	lupie_stardust 2008-08-30 03:30 pm UTC (link)
	I still got periods on that! Dramatically strange ones - every other month would be barely a nailful - but I still got 'em. Ohhhh lolmones. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	atreic 2008-09-01 12:15 pm UTC (link)
	Me three! Yay for the stick-in-the-arm (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ruthi 2008-08-30 12:33 am UTC (link)
	It is just you. HTH. Women vary. Some have cramps that make getting out of bed in the morning a herculean task, others don't get cramps at all, others get light cramps that make them think the women curled up in the corner whimpering cannot be for real. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	rjw76 2008-08-30 09:25 am UTC (link)
	Er. I wasn't saying anything about cramps. I was talking about the amount of blood. I'm fairly sure there is a minor correlation between these at most. I am fully aware that women vary. This is why I am asking other women what they have experienced. Who knows, I may be average... (Reply to this) (Parent)

	caerleon 2008-08-30 02:52 am UTC (link)
	I think the box is talking bollocks. Apparently "one woman uses 10000 tampons in her lifetime". Easily possible.. it doesn't say what for.. for example: http://www.centripedus.com/tamponart/ (Reply to this)

blackcurrants
2008-08-30 03:02 am UTC (link)

I've had a mooncup for ... god, it must be six years now. Once on a visit away I was confused and forgot to pack it, and bought tampons. They were all dry and horrendously uncomfortable, and I was fussed and bothered about how long I'd been using one and if I ought to change it to avoid TSS/leakage. The whole experience of using tampons again after so long really confirmed for me why I Never Went Back.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	rjw76 2008-08-30 09:25 am UTC (link)
	Also, trying to hold the string out of the way while you're wiping your arse :-P (Reply to this) (Parent)

gipsy_dreamer
2008-08-30 06:21 am UTC (link)

I've got a mirena so don't have more than a couple of periods a year.

Before I had that I think I was that one woman; but then I was bleeding very heavily with clots and flooding and horrendous pain every single day for five and a half years.

I like my mirena, and I'm even allowed to keep it in while I go through the menopause in about ten years time (with blood tests to determine if I'm there or not). All good stuff :)

(Reply to this)

	dmwcarol 2008-08-30 07:47 am UTC (link)
	Before I had my Mirena I had horendously heavy bleeding and could easily get through a dozen tampons a day, plus pads for backup cos of how quickly they needed changing. Even with the Mirena I get light bleeds but am not quite over the fear of doing a Carrie impression while at work so the mooncup is much appreciated. (Reply to this)

megabitch
2008-08-30 09:58 am UTC (link)

Hm... maybe 6 tampons per period max. I don't bleed at all during the night/when lying down, so don't bother with anything at bedtime. I used to have much heavier bleeding (before I had kids) but never seemed to need more than about 6 tampons - I only bleed properly for 2-3 days, then a day or two of what is more like a slightly discoloured light discharge that doesn't require tampons at all.

I realised I was going through tampons at a faster rate a little while ago... K had started using them without telling me and not bothering to buy her own!

(Reply to this)

martinoh
2008-08-30 10:56 am UTC (link)

"you only lose a tablespoon of blood"

It's traditionally difficult to estimate the exact proportion of whole blood in menstrual discharge, although Delaney, Lupton & Toth put the figure at between 50% and 75% ("The Curse : A Cultural History of Menstruation", University of Illinois Press; 2Rev Ed edition (1 Mar 1988)). Taking a tablespoon to be a 15ml measure and assuming the 35ml average discharge volume that you cite, this puts your school leaflet's assertion on actual blood loss at the low end of the normal range, but it wasn't necessarily as inaccurate as it first appeared. Whether quoting blood loss figures without qualifying percentages or indicating the full extent of normal range was even remotely helpful is of course another issue...

(Reply to this) (Thread)

rjw76
2008-08-30 02:47 pm UTC (link)

I also think it's rather unhelpful to quote a figure that the people actually having the periods is going to assume means "total fluid landing in tampon".

The school leaflet appeared to be designed to set the minds of delicat young ladies at rest at the expense of all else. So perhaps it *was* the right thing to print given that was their aim. Whether this is a sensible aim, of course, is a whole new can of worms :-)

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

martinoh
2008-08-30 03:09 pm UTC (link)

I'm inclined to agree on both points. There is a certain abstract amusement to be gained from the idea of printing something intended to reassure but that in practice gives the impression that the levels of discharge that most of its readers would be experiencing were 2-3 times higher than normal. I strongly suspect that the irony would be lost on many of those exposed to this nonsense though.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	ciciaye 2008-08-30 11:00 am UTC (link)
	I don't think there's any way around seeing the gory details, no matter what sort of protection you use. Tablespoon of blood - yeah right... I don't think I'd trust a mooncup not to leak - I don't entirely trust tampons as it is. CCA (Reply to this)

lupie_stardust
2008-08-30 11:45 am UTC (link)

I don't know how many tampons I'd get through, having never used them, but I do know I got through mountains of pads. I will fight for my right to be at the front of the queue of girls shouting, "IS THIS A TABLESPOON? IS IT?! ISS ITTT?" because it isn't (it really isn't - from the obvious experiment that I've already carried out, it's more like a tablespoon every half day) so it's only taken me... three months before the cup has started paying for itself.

Where does yours sit, exactly? Mine leaks from time to time, but I think that's because I sometimes sit it in wrong. Or laugh too hard. That made it leak once, but the situation was so funny, the leak was hilarious too, so I only laughed more. One of those vicious cycle things.

BUT ISN'T IT THE BEST COLOUR EVER. Seriously, also it's a better texture than normal blood. If only all blood was that syrupy.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

rjw76
2008-08-30 02:44 pm UTC (link)

I've cut the stem off at the first ridgey thing and can *just* feel the end of it without inserting my finger far enough for any muscles to get hold of it. If that makes sense.

I've found it sometimes heads in a little further all by itself. Just enough to make removing it cause Hilarious Contortion that Ralph found far too amusing :P

Incidentally, days 3 and 4 produced about 2ml each, but my flow tails off very dramatically indeed after the first couple of days of Lol Doom. So who knows. I don't think I've ever been so excited about the next one starting in my life...

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

lupie_stardust
2008-08-30 03:34 pm UTC (link)

Wow, that's really high up compared with mine! I've cut the stem all the way off, and I can feel the bottom of the cup if I put an index finger in up to the first knuckle. Sometimes, it sails all the way up and gloms onto my cervix. Even then, though, it's only up to the mid-point between my second knuckle and my ..third one. Small Lupie is small, I guess. No idea.

Have you found out about the exciting thing that happens sometimes? You fold it up, and are about half-way into inserting it and then suddenly, like one of those weird cuppy toys you encountered as a kid that you'd fold inside out and then release, it unpops and twats you on the, er, twat. It's great.

I like the noise it makes when you take it out, too.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	zebbiejohnson 2008-09-02 02:45 pm UTC (link)
	Eek! I am very paranoid about being able to definitely get tampons out, I think this puts me off mooncups more. It all sounds kind of sticky and liable to spilling it all over your leg whilst fishing around for the little bowl, too. :-( (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	rjw76 2008-09-02 10:07 pm UTC (link)
	I've not been in any danger of spilling it, FWIW. Getting it out does involve a certain amount of fishing around in there but frankly if you can get a penis up there, it shouldn't really be an issue... (Reply to this) (Parent)

cherade9
2008-08-30 01:10 pm UTC (link)

I use the highest absorbency type of Lil-ets and I get through anywhere from 5 to 10 in the day and 2 at night for the first 4 days and then half that for the next 2 days. It all depends on whether I have ovarian cysts at the time.. in which case I bleed for months at a time with huge clots etc etc.

I'd love a mooncup and I'm going to have to pop to the big Boots in town to get one. It would be fun to see how much I produce :) The tablespoon idea was laughable when I was told it at age 11 and 14. I'd been having heavy periods since i was 7 and i know exactly how much blood I make.

(Reply to this)

pavanne
2008-08-30 07:39 pm UTC (link)

15 is a bit on the low side for me, depending on circumstances (for example whether I have any of the smaller ones for the annoying not-quite-finished days). Also, I could probably squeeze in 12 periods a year on current form. Assuming 17, this means I only need to be menstruating for 49 years to use 10,000 tampons. Hah.

And yeah, the 'tablespoon' notion, even allowing for it always looking more blood than it actually is, doesn't seem right. Could it be that in schools they were trying not to scare girls? Frankly I found the idea quite terrifying. But, it's not very good education if it's not accurate.

(Reply to this)

	bouteillebleu 2008-08-31 06:37 pm UTC (link)
	Well, given my menstrual cycle has turned into somewhere-between-35-and-50-day hilarity, I'm pretty certain that even if I used tampons I'd also be far, far below that number. (Reply to this)

	atreic 2008-09-01 12:19 pm UTC (link)
	It's been years since I had a period, and they always seemed to be light. 3 tampons a day, 5 days per period, 13 times a year, aged 12 - 50 would be 7,400 tampons. So I think they've got the order of magnitude right, but I agree it's probably an overestimate. (Reply to this)

naath
2008-09-01 02:43 pm UTC (link)

I found that I had to cut my nails in order to use a mooncup without scratching myself... but then I got Implanon and don't get periods.

When I had periods I guess I used about 4 tampons a day for 5 days - so more like 20 per period which is 220/year or 45 years of menstruation for 10,000 tampons - which would mean I would have to be menstruating without contraception/pregnancy induced breaks until I'm 60 which doesn't sound so very likely really.

(Reply to this)

loopymushroom
2008-09-24 09:02 pm UTC (link)

Mooncup is great. At least once I got the hang of it, which was faintly traumatic and took me a while, as you know. (Bloody stem. No use at all for me. I cut it off entirely in the end.) Sooooo convenient, especially for camping. Not having to lug tampons/towels around = win. Except by the end of a period it makes me very very sore down there from putting it in/taking it out. :( *is not very resilient to such things*

Hmm, tampons. 4 a day at the start, going down to two by the end, over 7 or 8days. So that's around... maybe 19/20 per period. Twelve periods a year for me = around 41 years of menstruation in order to use the quoted 10,000 tampons. less if I used at night, which I didn't, but a number of women do, I believe. So that's quite a long time to be menstruating, I guess, but not outlandishly so, maybe.

Unless my maths is way out, which it may be.

(Reply to this)

(34 comments) - (Post a new comment)

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