Is it true that fundy girls can't use tampons?

[Sunnichick31]

Is it weird that I kind of love this thread? Periods are something that nearly every woman experiences (excluding those who are trans or have gyno issues, though, to be clear, that doesn't make them less of a woman), so they transcend borders, generations, etc. in a way few things do...and the culture surrounding menstruation is so interesting and varied and historied and tied up with gender issues and sexuality and...*lets out anthropologist squeal* I could talk about this all day and read about it for WEEKS!

For anyone who feels the same, I HIGHLY reccomend Flow: A Cultural History of Menstruation. I got it for Christmas and read it in just a few days. Very informative and cheeky, with loads of kitschy old tampon ads as illustrations. I'm keeping it around for when I have really bad periods, as a reminder that at least I don't have to wear that horrific-sounding belt/pad combo and go without my beloved Advil.

God, I'm nuts.

Your not alone, it is pretty interesting to talk about. You're right that this is something that the majority of women go through, but it is taboo to talk about. It almost seems like it's made out to be some sort of disease, and in many cultures, it is. For example, (and I really don't mean to offend any Orthodox Jews, I really don't!!) in Orthodox Judaism, men can't touch women who are on their period because they are considered unclean. The sleep apart, they don't have any sort of contact whatsoever, and I've heard that some won't even pass object directly to each other, they'll just set it down so the other person can pick it up.

And in Nepal, were not allowed to stay in their homes while on their period.

Wikipedia has some interesting cultural notes about menstruation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_and_menstruation

(not breaking the link cause I doubt wikipedia cares.)

[ilovetchotchkes]

Your not alone. Your right that this is something that the majority of women go through, but it is taboo to talk about. It almost seems like it's made out to be some sort of disease, and in many cultures, it is. For example, (and I really don't mean to offend any Orthodox Jews, I really don't!!) in Orthodox Judaism, men can't touch women who are on their period because they are considered unclean. The sleep apart, they don't have any sort of contact whatsoever, and I've heard that some won't even pass object directly to each other, they'll just set it down so the other person can pick it up.

And in Nepal, were not allowed to stay in their homes while on their period.

Wikipedia has some interesting cultural notes about menstruation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_and_menstruation

(not breaking the link cause I doubt wikipedia cares.)

Hence why I'll NEVER be Orthodox. I have horrific cramps and tendonitis and bursitis flare ups during my monthlies, and my husband rubbing my back is the ONLY way i can get to sleep without bawling because of the pain.

[Sunnichick31]

If women choose to not have any contact with her husband during her period, that's her choice but I can't imagine it. I'm certainly not going to be going all the way when I'm on my period, but not getting to hold hands or kiss goodnight? Not sleeping in the same bed? Not being able to sit on the same couch while watching TV? Or after giving birth, not touching for weeks?? I really can't imagine it. (any Orthodox Jews want to shed some light on it?? Help me to understand the reasons and how you can do it.)

[WonderingInWA]

My mom was a born-again Baptist gal, but she also divorced when I was 13 (can't blame her -- dad was cheating with a woman down the street). And she allowed me and my sister to use tampons because we had a pool and needed to use it during the summer!

Does anyone remember Rely tampons? I would pay a lot of money to have those back on the market. They were awesome!

[HOTW]

I have a box of instead cups. I'm actually pretty pissed. I bought a box just before I was due to get my period in Nov. I was all ready to jump on the cup bandwagon.

!

You'd prob do better to take those Instead cups back for a refund and look into a real cup. The Insteads are a manufecturers answer to the cup so people can feel it's better ecologically! I spend about $20+ on mine and since it could last anywhere from 5-10 years it's a heck of a bargain. I find it pitiful that it is not an option that comes up when the whole isssue is discussed in school but not many people know about it. I have less cramping an dmy periods are actually changing from very heavy flow to some periods being somewhat more moderate! I tried the Insteads and they fit like a Diaphragm(which didn't work for me cause I got PG using it) whereas the cup sits across the vagina

[nolongerIFBx]

Is it weird that I kind of love this thread? Periods are something that nearly every woman experiences (excluding those who are trans or have gyno issues, though, to be clear, that doesn't make them less of a woman), so they transcend borders, generations, etc. in a way few things do...and the culture surrounding menstruation is so interesting and varied and historied and tied up with gender issues and sexuality and...*lets out anthropologist squeal* I could talk about this all day and read about it for WEEKS!

For anyone who feels the same, I HIGHLY reccomend Flow: A Cultural History of Menstruation. I got it for Christmas and read it in just a few days. Very informative and cheeky, with loads of kitschy old tampon ads as illustrations. I'm keeping it around for when I have really bad periods, as a reminder that at least I don't have to wear that horrific-sounding belt/pad combo and go without my beloved Advil.

God, I'm nuts.

I'd just curl up and die without Advil! Seriously, I have almost near panic attacks if I am out of or can't find the bottle when I need it. I try to stay stocked up (there are two 200 count bottles in my med cabinet right now!).

[bellicosebroad]

They had these stupid dry no-applicator tampons called Pursettes when I first got my period. I knew nothing and my mother was kind of a sadist (yes). When I wanted tampons, she gave me those to use and said I wouldn't like them and that I should just use pads (I found out later that she was just trying to discourage me from using them, and I'm still not sure why; it might have been a "fundy, don't-defile-yourself" mindset, because she was horribly religious). Boy howdy, those things hurt like hell. I didn't know enough to know that you had to push the tampon waaay in, past the pelvic bone (and couldn't have anyway because they were too dry), so I put one in just enough to have it stay put, and every time I sat down it just tore me to bits. But boy, I was determined to prove my mother wrong, so I suffered through that for several months until I just gave up and went back to pads.

Fast forward a couple of years and I was at a friend's house when I got my period. I sort of furtively poked around in their bathroom to see if they had pads, and they didn't. Just tampons. But, wait. These were in plastic applicators. Plastic? I had no idea. Nice, slippery-slidy plastic applicators that didn't hurt! And, they pushed the tampon waaay back automatically so that it was positioned just right and I couldn't even feel it! Oh, THAT'S how this is supposed to work! I was a convert from that day forward. (And have never really forgiven my mother for what she let me go through.)

[bellicosebroad]

Is it weird that I kind of love this thread? Periods are something that nearly every woman experiences I could talk about this all day and read about it for WEEKS!

That's it. I grew up in a household where you just never talked about it (bad, shameful, horrible thing), so it was a relief to me to go to college and actually live with girls who were open about it. (I don't think I stopped saying, "Oh, that happens to you, TOO?" for about six months.) It's a shared experience, there's nothing shameful about it, it's part of being a proud, strong woman for most of us, and it's great to get insight and advice from others about better products, use of a heating pad, things that make (for me) painful days more bearable, all of that. And before the Internet, you just really couldn't find truly good and helpful information whenever you wanted it at the moment you needed it without that kind of sharing.

[lilwriter85]

I was raised Catholic, but my mom was ok with her daughters using tampons. My sister doesn't like to use them. Some of my other Catholic relatives didn't let their daughters use tampons.

A friend of mine is a dance instructor and she once worked with a cheerleading coach and her team, there was an incident a couple of years back when the mother of one of the girls complained about her daughter using tampons and losing her virginity, and she blamed the coach and my friend.

[gilora]

Question for cup users - don't you have to take out the cup and wash it before reinserting? How do you do this in an office bathroom? Also, what do you do while the cup is out to be washed? Since I've had a tubal ligation I've gone off the pill and my periods are much heavier and I've been wondering whether the cup is an option.

[Daenerys]

Question for cup users - don't you have to take out the cup and wash it before reinserting? How do you do this in an office bathroom? Also, what do you do while the cup is out to be washed? Since I've had a tubal ligation I've gone off the pill and my periods are much heavier and I've been wondering whether the cup is an option.

I don't use cups but I know that they last all day so you would never need to remove and deal with one in the office.

[Conuly]

They don't always last all day. However, even people with a heavy flow often find they can go a full 8 - 10 hours before emptying them.

My sister, who uses a cup, says she only occasionally has to empty it in a public bathroom. Because it's going from her body back into her body she just dumps it, wipes it out, and doesn't worry about it. She reasons it's not out of her body long enough to develop dangerous bacteria. (And you wouldn't sterilize it until the end of your cycle anyway.)

Alternatively, if you really want to rinse it, you could bring a water bottle in with you and dump the water over the cup into the toilet. But that sounds like more hassle than it's worth.

[clarinetpower]

I have very light periods, so 2 pads/ day are fine for me, and the new ones are so thin, it doesn't bother me. I sometimes back up with an OB tampon (especially the first day or so), but it's not necessary, though I am too scared of staining to go without a pad, too. (When I was younger, I had some trouble with that--do not want a repeat.) I prefer OB now after kids, but when I was 12 I used the applicator ones. Didn't much like them, because I couldn't ever get them in comfortably. Dryness is an issue. :( Now it's fine. My mom used OB, too, but I was too scared to use them, and had trouble when I tried. Much more comfortable with my body now! :D

But like some others, my sex talk/menstruation talk was having a book shoved at me. I think I'll be more open with my kids, and my 4 year old has already seen evidence. She tends to follow me into the bathroom talking a lot. :-\

I tried a cup for a while, but since I'm a frequent pee-er (and since I taught music lessons back to back all day long and didn't want to leave kids alone for long due to liability issues), I would bear down too hard to be quick and push the darn things out. It was messy and annoying, so I gave up on that.

I feel a bit guilty about the paper/plastic waste, which is why I switched to OB, but I still just can't go to the washable maxis you buy on Etsy. I wash cloth diapers nearly every day, but the thought of bloody pads just grosses me out. Also family cloth--ew. I just can't. Good thing I was born in the 70's. ;)

[sea_gale]

My mom was a born-again Baptist gal, but she also divorced when I was 13 (can't blame her -- dad was cheating with a woman down the street). And she allowed me and my sister to use tampons because we had a pool and needed to use it during the summer!

Does anyone remember Rely tampons? I would pay a lot of money to have those back on the market. They were awesome!

[link=http://www.mum.org/Rely.htm]They were pulled for causing TSS.[/link]

BTW, everyone should check out the [link=http://www.mum.org/]Museum of Menstruation[/link]. It rocks.

[Rosa]

They don't always last all day. However, even people with a heavy flow often find they can go a full 8 - 10 hours before emptying them.

My sister, who uses a cup, says she only occasionally has to empty it in a public bathroom. Because it's going from her body back into her body she just dumps it, wipes it out, and doesn't worry about it. She reasons it's not out of her body long enough to develop dangerous bacteria. (And you wouldn't sterilize it until the end of your cycle anyway.)

Alternatively, if you really want to rinse it, you could bring a water bottle in with you and dump the water over the cup into the toilet. But that sounds like more hassle than it's worth.

My period is super heavy, when I worked 8-10 hour days I did have to empty once during the day. I did just dump it & put it back, on that same "it just came out of my body how bad can it be?" theory. And when I've been camping or hiking and used it, I did just rinse with drinking water (NOT over the latrine, I can't imagine anything worse than losing it mid-period on a camping trip) and reinsert.

The real thing for me is having blood on my fingers in a public/office bathroom stall - taking a wet wipe in is really helpful for that, but even when I forget and have to wipe my fingers with t.p., even though it makes ME feel like I'm walking out of the stall looking like a murder scene, nobody has ever noticed. Some of my officemates thought it was kind of weird that I scrubbed my fingernails with a fingernail brush on my pee break, though it wasn't a super high level of eccentricity.

I don't think everyone even gets blood on their hands when they change theirs, probably because not everyone fills the stupid cup in 4 hours. But it is SO MUCH better than having to change a tampon every 2 hours or a pad every hour.

[RebelJinger]

Another cup user here. It seriously changed my life. Not only is it cheaper in the long run, it's so much more comfortable and less stinky (TMI? haha, sorry, but it's true). If I ever have a daughter, she's getting a one as soon as she's old enough. If anyone has any questions, one really good resource is here: http://menstrual-cups.livejournal.com/

I really can't imagine having the fundy approach to period management. What do they do with bloody undergarments? You know it has to have happened, at least once. I guess they'd better hope it's their turn for laundry that day.

[snarkbillie]

They don't always last all day. However, even people with a heavy flow often find they can go a full 8 - 10 hours before emptying them.

My sister, who uses a cup, says she only occasionally has to empty it in a public bathroom. Because it's going from her body back into her body she just dumps it, wipes it out, and doesn't worry about it. She reasons it's not out of her body long enough to develop dangerous bacteria. (And you wouldn't sterilize it until the end of your cycle anyway.)

Alternatively, if you really want to rinse it, you could bring a water bottle in with you and dump the water over the cup into the toilet. But that sounds like more hassle than it's worth.

It seems like you could buy two and have a spare "clean" one in your purse. If they last 8 hours or so even if you had to change it in the middle of the day you wouldn't have to change again for awhile. You could wipe out the other one and clean it good when you got home.

[loratliff]

I really can't imagine having the fundy approach to period management. What do they do with bloody undergarments? You know it has to have happened, at least once. I guess they'd better hope it's their turn for laundry that day.

Lots of stained panties, I imagine. :shock: Is "panties" a dirty word? I could see how it could be defrauding.

Anyway, for everyone else who's enjoying the period party, is there anyone else who has no period? I've been on the same BC pill for the past few years and am, joyously, period-free! :clap: :dance:

[Rachel333]

Is "panties" a dirty word?

I'd like to make it one. I hate that word. :lol:

[snarkbillie]

Lots of stained panties, I imagine. :shock: Is "panties" a dirty word? I could see how it could be defrauding.

Anyway, for everyone else who's enjoying the period party, is there anyone else who has no period? I've been on the same BC pill for the past few years and am, joyously, period-free! :clap: :dance:

I wish I could be period free. My only saving grace is they seem to be slowing down. I'm going 8-10 weeks between them now. I hope they stop soon. Although part of me hopes this is normal because I don't wanna go to the gyno!!!!!!

[bananacat]

Lots of stained panties, I imagine. :shock: Is "panties" a dirty word? I could see how it could be defrauding.

Anyway, for everyone else who's enjoying the period party, is there anyone else who has no period? I've been on the same BC pill for the past few years and am, joyously, period-free! :clap: :dance:

I'm not period-free, but my period is very light, short, and predictable. I am so regular that I can even narrow down the start to a 6-hour window. I've tried Seasonale which is continues pills for 3 months. Sometimes it worked great, but then other times I would start spotting and it would last until the end of the 3-month period. I stopped using it after a year but I would be willing to try again in the future when there has been more development.

[FakePigtails]

Another Diva cup user here. It's made periods so much more tolerable! I no longer have gross bathroom trash after each period, I can put it in before my period starts (I'm on the pill so I know what day to expect it and put the cup in that morning) and use it even at the very end of it, and when I have a heavier flow I no longer have the discomfort when standing I had with tampons.

[Mommy22alyns]

Lots of stained panties, I imagine. :shock: Is "panties" a dirty word? I could see how it could be defrauding.

Anyway, for everyone else who's enjoying the period party, is there anyone else who has no period? I've been on the same BC pill for the past few years and am, joyously, period-free! :clap: :dance:

I had Mirena for almost 5 years and had no period after the initial spotting stopped. It was awesome. Now it seems like I'm having a super light period alternating with a regular period. :?: I'm not sure what my body is doing.

[failsafe]

For those of you looking for a middle ground between cups and tampons, the Instead cup is a disposable cup (but I reuse it for a couple days, as do many on the internets). If I find myself in a public bathroom and need to change it, I just toss it and switch to a tampon or another one. If I'm home, I wash it out and reuse. You can also have (relatively) clean sex with it in (which I don't think you can with the Diva), though it does feel different.

[ladypuglover]

yeah at my 36 week visit my midwife discussed birth control options with me because she said that breastfeeding was no birth control

,

Off topic but i had to fight with one doctor because he told me that I couldn't get pregnant while breast feeding. I kept insisting I was pregnant for months and he kept insisting I wasn't. After one bad row, he marched me down to have an ultrasound insisting it was a tumor. Turns out my tumor was a healthy fetus around 5 months along. I never saw the bastard again but at long last I had prenatal care. This was Army care if that helps explain anything.