I had to explain to my elderly male GP what a mensural cup was

[Nosig]

With hand gestures.

His reply?

“Well personally I would advise against putting anything like that inside yourself for any length of time it doesn’t sound very comfortable”

Wtf fella?

I only found out what one was when I saw a Naked and Afraid interview. I wondered what they did when the jungle painters were in.

I had a mooncup for several years before the menopause. Absolutely the best sanitary method for me. Worked like a dream.

And they shouldn't cause any harm as they are made from medical grade silicone. However, I've seen some disquiet being raised on potential harm from tampons, not just TSS, but harm caused by minute fibres remaining behind.

@Toilenstripes

I’d never heard of them until a few years ago. I’m 53 and they weren’t an option when I was having periods.

I’m the same age and have been using my moon cup for the last 15 years (and still using it as no signs of periods stopping yet )

I’m not surprised GP’s don’t know about everything. I’ve had similar when I’ve presented with persistent uti and I mentioned taking d-mannose ( info from here ) ) as a preventative measure, to be told it wasn’t a good idea to add extra sugar to my diet !

I wouldn’t be surprised. Most GPs I’ve seen don’t even seem to have much medical knowledge never mind know stuff like this. I now have zero expectations of most of them.

[quote Nosig]@unmarkedbythat, I had a swollen lymph node in my groin. He was looking for a source of infection from my lower limbs. I mentioned I had possibly scratched myself changing my cup over[/quote]
Is it possible that he thought that you scratched yourself with the actual cup?

@AuntyFungal

Was I the only one that thought grandparent at first read of the title

No, I was wondering this too. I had a vision of lovely old Johnny from three doors down holding forth on reusables!

“Well personally I would advise against putting anything like that inside yourself for any length of time it doesn’t sound very comfortable” hmm

This made me laugh, in an ironic way, since many GPs’ standard response to most women’s health issues is to try to fob you off with a Mirena coil.

I'm amazed at the number of women on here who are so accepting of this level of ignorance from their GPs. Do doctors not have to do CPD courses? Should they not be aware of different options that may or may not benefit their patients?

You do realise that general practice is everything? Obstetrics, paediatrics, orthopaedics, trauma, all forms of surgery, gastroenterology, cardiology, respiratory medicine, diabetes, immunology, neurology, mental health, sexual medicine, psychology, epidemiology etc etc. If GPs are expected to do CPD to keep abreast of everything that affects their patients in every area of medicine, I'm not sure when you think they are going to see patients?

I was wondering how a moon cup came up in conversation with your grandpa...

Hee hee, he must be elderly.
Obviously he knows how women's insides feel :-).

I think they are uncomfortable and unreliable but that's just my opinion.

There's a clue in the name 'general' practitioner. They can't know everything. Having said that he shouldn't have gone on to make an uninformed comment about it!

Sadly not surprised. Many GPS are hopeless in dealing with women’s health. My GP initially refused to prescribe me the HRT I requested- told me he wasn’t allowed to until I brought the NUCE guidelines to his attention. Then he actually prescribed the wrong version- if I hadn’t spotted it it could have had long term health implications. He was pretty sheepish about it. My daughter’s encounters trying to get PCOS and endometriosis diagnosed- long after we’d worked out what it probably was were eye opening. The pill and anti depressants are seen as a cure all. Basically you need to educate yourself and be really assertive to get anywhere.

@NosigI , when I read GP I thought you meant Grand Parent

A year or so ago I had been suffering and I mean suffering with horrible urinary infections which affected my kidneys. I felt so ill at one point I feared I was going to die. I subsequently read about the work of professor malone lee (there is still the article I read in the guardian about him). He says that the standard uti test does not detect the bacteria hidden in the bladder. He recommends low dose long term nitrofurantoin. When I mentioned his work to a fairly young women GP she brushed me off and said ‘that sounds a bit too scientific’. His work is pretty much accepted now. I have not had an infection since I started the regime.

Slightly different from the original thread, so sorry if I have gone off target!

People saying they'd never heard of the, are yiu a gp?

I'd expect GPs to have good knowledge of things people use for health and personal care.

My first thought was whether the GP had trained outside the UK.

@Toilenstripes

I’d never heard of them until a few years ago. I’m 53 and they weren’t an option when I was having periods.

I've been using one for at least ten years, and I knew about them for a while before I tried one so I think they must have been around in your period years even if you hadn't heard of them.

I don't remember how I heard about them originally, but I've only been on MN for a couple of years so it definitely wasn't here.

[quote Justnormajean]@NosigI , when I read GP I thought you meant Grand Parent [/quote]
That would be fair enough!

I would love to hear the advice he'd give for peri-menopause.

"It's all in your head" springs to mind.

@doctorhamster

I didn't know they existed until a couple of years ago.

Same.

I'd expect GPs to have good knowledge of things people use for health and personal care.

I wouldn't expect an older male GP to be fully conversant in all kinds of menstrual products as a matter of course.

I'm not surprised he doesn't know about them. Why would he? It's not something that would be covered by CPD .While they are fine some people, they aren't suitable for everyone. I certainly found it very uncomfortable.

OP, this is why I have a female GP and gynaecologist.

Some things just have to be assumed.

I mentioned to my GP if had a chemical pregnancy and they didn't know what I was talking about - perhaps the term only exists on google?

I wouldn't expect an older male GP to be fully conversant in all kinds of menstrual products as a matter of course

Why does him being old and male stop him from knowing about stuff that affects 51 percent of his patients. Youd expect a female dr to know about condoms or viagra