To collect all my menstrual stuff in a bottle?

[MOIST]

Just to see exactly how much there is lost?

I have a new cup so I'm a bit intrigued by it all. Does anyone else have a FemmyCycle? It's a shit name but it's a special 'low cervix' version for fat old people with a falling out uterus.

Anyway. Having taken to bleeding what feels like 4 litres every month I'd like to know how much it really is so propose a bit of a collection.

I've always wanted to do this. Do it and let us know

Plus measuring things is cool - when I was in hospital with a swollen kidney they made me wee into a jug for about a week and it was fascinating to see how much I actually wee in a day.

And YY to this. I have a medical issue where I sometimes need to collect all my wee for 24-72 hours. It IS fascinating to see how much I wee! And I am oddly competitive with myself to up my results from before, which makes no sense at all, as I am not doing the exercise for volume reasons, but for hormone levels.

However many waves feminism has supposedly gone through since I was a little baby-dyke feminist, seems that the menstruation conversation hasn't changed a bit! . Although menstrual cups seem to have improved things a bit, and the demise of those god-awful sanitary product incinerators they used to have in my college when I was first at uni.

But the hard figures seem to be as daft as they ever were as regards how much flow is normal or heavy, and how much we all actually spend on san-pro every month for years and years.................( I excuse here the gay men without sisters who thought that a period lasted about a day, and involved a few drops rather than the stuck-pig situation, but not the idiot who seemed to think we should be able to 'hold it in' until we got to a loo................).

The tablespoons thing reminds me of the "average" pregnancy weight gain figures. According to the NHS it's only 10kg. Yet most mothers I've seen on forums etc have said closer to 15 or more.

I've been a mooncup user for about 11 years now. I'm borderline evangelical about them, absolutely life changing item - but the OP has actually sold me on the idea of trying a femmycycle low cervix edition, on the demographic description alone. I too am old and fat with a falling out uterus, so this might be the cup for me!

The website I found quoted figures from 1966 and 1971. Quite old now.

Perhaps the range of experience might be better captured by looking at the range of sizes offered by tampon manufacturers? Okay, we have the whole teenage and mini thing, but surely the fairly recent super-plus and then super-plus-ultra has to be something more than all of us old farts hitting the perimenopause (as opposed, say, to my mothers generation who seemed not to use tampons. Anyone else remember pads with belts? And loops and safety pins?). I'm sure when I was a teenager, you had mini, regular, and super, and that was it?

So why have manufacturers seen fit to increase the maximum absorbency?

Story related to women's health issues being minimised so I'll share...

I recently had a gynae op. Few weeks later, I woke up one morning having bled heavily overnight. The pad I was using was completely saturated. I called the gynae ward and was asked about seventy two million times if it was my period. (Like a woman in her thirties doesn't know what a period looks like!) Went in to see a doctor, they said it was an infection causing the wound to swell and pull apart, gave me ABs and sent me home.

Later that day I started bleeding heavily. I sat in the bath and it was literally pouring out. Call gynae who again ask if it is my period. It doesn't stop after about an hour of me lying in the bath, so they say to go in. I attempt to get ready to leave and pass out. DH rings for an ambulance on advice of gynae. First response paramedic arrives and mentions that he has been told I have heavy vaginal bleeding and is it my period. He attempts to get me out of the house, I pass out on the stairs leaving a lovely puddle of blood. He calls for an ambulance, who again ask about vaginal bleeding. Wait a while but get to gynae, stitches have ripped open, end up staying in for nearly a week, and then a few weeks of anaemia on top of that.

Again and again and again I was asked if it was my period, despite telling people 1. It wasn't, it was bright red, thin blood, and 2. I had just had an operation and had stitches internally (plus 3. I have a coil and don't get proper periods!)

I honestly feel that even in the gynae department itself, "vaginal bleeding" was written off as unimportant and something not to make a fuss over.

Beyond that's awful, I hope you complained

Uterine linings were mentioned upthread; old-timers might remember a thread where the op was freaked out and wondering just what the hell had fallen out of her fanjo...

It was me turned out to be uterine lining, although I did overhear the doctor saying 'Surely it can't be retained products 13 months post-birth?!' in slightly frantic tones

I'm still awaiting my first measurement. If things go as normal all hell will be unleashed tomorrow. My measuring station is set up in the bathroom to the disgust of DD2 and amusement of DH.

I'm slightly envious of a big chunk of lining. I only get piddling little cloth things.

The same what's had their linings microwaved..... do you still get pain?

'The same what's had their linings microwaved..... do you still get pain?'

Despite v. heavy periods I never used to get much pain at all. Post ablation I get the odd twinge/dull ache but no pain. Sorry, not much help really

Hmmm. I'd push for a zapping if it would stop hurting. It's feckin paining tonight. Bastard.

:(

I had a gynae op recently and asked the surgeon to take a pic of what she removed. Few raised eyebrows, but she obliged.

That's not fair. I had my appendix removed and it kept being described as nasty ... I asked if there was a photo and got a look from surgeons.

I think if I had something removed I 'd have to request to keep it in a jar. Although this is probably 'not allowed' but I would love photos of my innards and an actual organ in a jar on the mantelpiece,

I had the ablation and it did feck all. I had it because of consistent bleeding between periods (i.e. every month), which is still ongoing. It was not massively painful (although all the pre-assessment interviews included me getting up close and personal with a speculum, which is never fun) but the side effects included 3-4 weeks of watery discharge literally pouring out of me (Mooncup full more than once an hour at the heaviest point). Since then nothing has changed period wise. No change in pain (never got much except when I had a coil), amount (2-3 tablespoons my arse, more like 2-3 bucket loads), duration or anything else.

Is it weird that I'm kinda excited to find out your menstrual blood loss measurements? This shouldn't be the kind of thing that interests me, but it does... And now I want to do it too

I'll start measuring from tomorrow. And also record other stuff.
Paining is bad. Feel puky.

It could be the next Tracy Emin/Turner prize attempt. Display in bottle and call it something like 'renewal'. £££ right there. There has got to be some sort of bonus for all the shit we go through.

I'm so going for that. I could go viral and everything. Maybe even the daily fail will pick this up too. Last time my thread was fail poached it was about shampoo and hair which is very shallow and not important at all. Where as this is obviously a big feminist thing and Important towomankind.

Yes yes, to measuring and to suspicion of the 'two to three tablespoons' of blood.
I must've had a similar book in the 90s and have always been unconvinced.

But mainly - a moon cup for the low of cervix???!!! I'm off to look it up right now (I am not old but I am unusually low of cervix bloody prolapse ).

@MOIST my cycle and my partner's have synced. I have endo and a coil and yet still know exactly when she's due.

@BeyondTheStarryNight I once pulled out a Mirena with my mooncup. I took it to the doctor in a baggie. She didn't know quite what to say - about the accidental removal or the fact that I had brought it back to her.

I am oddly fascinated by this thread, really want to know the results now.

I have access to a centrifuge at work, so could possibly find out more about the division of blood and other stuff...not sure I could sneak bottles of menstrual products into work to experiment with though!

I'm put off by the price and the Amazon reviews!