Are mooncups overrated or am I incompetent? (Bit gross)

[1wokeuplikethis]

I bought a mooncup on Friday for my period that started that day. Have heard great reviews and seen many mn-ers raving about them & love the concept entirely. But holy hell have I had a bloody (pun intended) nightmare with it.

Bought big fanjo size because I'm over 30 & had 2 vaginal births. Put it in and couldn't feel it; great! 30mins later I was suffering horrendous cramps radiating through my lower back akin to labour pains. Took pain relief, took the cup out & reinserted in case I had done it wrong, followed the origami of folding the thing and heard the seal...squelching (soz). Pain was so bad I felt sick. Couldn't sleep, eventually at 2am I took it out & shoved a tampon in.
Saturday morning, I was still in agony, so carried on with tampons & the pain had worn off by the evening so I put the mooncup back in. Had a coughing fit a few minutes later and felt it practically shoot out. Ran to toilet with fingers trying to hold it back in and the frigging stem scratching my innards to shreds.
Emptied, chopped off entire stem & reinserted. Ran my finger round and it was definitely in and sealed but I could still feel it and only felt comfortable lying on the sofa BUT then it leaked.

Basically, since Friday I have spent my period switching between the cup & tampons because the pain was unbearable, it was uncomfortable to have in and the times that it felt comfortable, it leaked!

I am a stubborn sod and not prepared to throw the (sanitary) towel in yet. Also ignored manufacturers advice to use it for the last 2 day and of my period for the first try because I know my vagina/insides/workings/flow etc and thought I'd just jump straight in.

Mooncup users and lovers... I summon you! What is going wrong here? I really want this to work. But with the pain and the leaking, I'm getting disheartened. Any advice?

I have had one for 7 years now and think it's the most amazing thing ever. However I did find it uncomfortable (though not with cramps) and leaky for the first few months. Cutting off the stem worked for me too, I say persevere it does take some getting used to.

I haven never used one but it does seem a bit of a faff to carry on using it if its not working for you. There is being stubborn and there is making your life unnecessarily difficult for yourself.

God I've never had it cause me pain (although sometimes inserting/removing it isn't the most fun I've had with my clothes on). How high/low are you positioning it? Mine is only, I dunno, half a finger in? Also, when you were on the sofa, we're your legs higher than your hips? I've had it leak in that situation too.

I'm going to follow because I keep thinking about buying one for the first time too

how does it hurt?

I'm a mooncup fan but wouldn't use it if I continued having the trouble you are. It's not meant to hurt.

There is a facebook group called The Bloody Waste which discusses resuable sanpro. I get on ok with the mooncup (didn't when I had a coil) but lots of women don't and there is actually quite a wide array of menstrual cups in different sizes and shapes. You will probably get some good suggestions here on mn but if not try facebook.

I used to wear mine inside out, because I'm short vagina'd

That seems odd that it's so uncomfortable (not helpful, sorry). But with the leaking - once I cut the whole stem off and I'd cut it too far and made a small hole - could this have happened?

I found the moon cup too hard (also leaked like billy-o) so switched to a softer 'Diva cup'. Much better. Still has the propensity to leak and I never feel entirely at ease because of this, but I am persevering because its better for the environment.

Never had pain with one - but I think there are slightly different designs - you might find another one suits better.

I think its brilliant - been using it for years - saved so much money on tampons and its great when travelling and much more environmentally sound.

Did have to cut the stem off - can't imagine how you'd manage with it on! I think its worth persevering as they do take a bit of getting used to.

They are so not overrated - but they aren't for everyone.

The only pain I experienced was before I cut the stem off.

As far as leaking goes, maybe it wasn't sealed properly. Its best to tug on it after using just to make sure it doesn't budge. Then it's in properly.

I find it a bit uncomfortable if I don't put it quite far enough up. Maybe try changing how far up you put it (higher or lower)? I mean, it's not all the way in, but a cm side way makes a difference to me.

Hi, I had that cramping on my second month with my moon cup but then never again since and am glad I didn't throw the towel in like I wanted to. Maybe leave it for now until next month and see how it goes then?

Had you tried the stem at all to begin with? I wonder if the pain was due to scratching from the stem, which you've now removed?

I've never had a problem with mine, except when I bought a new one post birth and didn't trim the stem enough. Once that was sorted, it was fine.

Maybe leave it for now and try again next month by which stage any minor scratches you've given yourself will have hopefully healed?

Side way? I mean either way!

I think some people get the clench response to mooncups. This creates pain in a delayed but ever increasing way...which sort of matches your symptoms.

I thought it was weird that having something in your vagina could give you cramps but it definitely IS possible.

I basically think that for all things menstrual, you can't do better than let Bree tell you all about it:

I recently bought a Lunette cup (size 2 - the bigger one) and used if for the last two days of my last period. Overall, I definitely want to persist with it. There are loads of good youtube videos with really good advice on insertion and removal. Without those I probably would have given up after the first attempt tbh.

The first try I did the 'low down fold' I think it's called, but it was so painful I wondered for a second if I would die right there and then on the loo! And taking it out was awful too. So I gave up on it for a couple of days but decided to try again at the end of my period with much better results.

The second time I used the 'C fold' which was much easier. Taking it out again was interesting but doable with a bit of practice (definitely keeping the stem on until I have the hang of things).

My top tips: Use lube to insert; make sure the bit that pops open, pops towards the back of you as it's less painful/you won't feel it; try to feel around the cup to make sure it has popped open. When taking it out, 'bear down' and it will move right down, even if it feels stuck initially.

I love the thought of it and there seem to be so many advantages to using it... (You can wear them for 12 hours, so no having to change or think about it during the day; no environmental waste; no risk of TSS; you can sleep with it in etc). I'm looking forward to trying it out again on my next period!

Anyone else think they should sell these things in Boots and Superdrug? Why don't they? It would be great if they were more 'normalised', along with Thinx underwear and cloth pads as a backup to use with the cups (next on my list of things to try - and I'm not even a hippy!).

It might be worth trying another make. I was scared about using a cup (I'm a recent convert!) as post 2 vaginial births, tampons hurt. I asked a website retailer (I used stressnomore) and they recommend an intimina lily travel one as its softer than others as its designed to fold up. After a few teething problems getting used to it I think it's great.

They do sell mooncups in Boots, they're just hard to spot on the shelf because there's only the two varieties in amongst acres of scented sanitary towels!

I can't bring myself to use a mooncup but then I can't use tampons.

I love cloth pads though and use them.

I did the 'c' fold but it seems to cause leakage, the punch down fold was better for comfort but still leaky. Perhaps I'm not putting it up far enough, I'm aware it needs to be lower than a tampon and I'm squeamish on the thought of t vacuuming against my cervix bleurgh. But yes perhaps it's too low because after I've put it in and washed my hands etc come out of the toilet and have to poke it up again through my trousers/pants and am definitely very aware of it.

I am going to persevere. I'm going to put it in again next time I do a wee and will keep trying. And will have another go next period. As I said, I'm stubborn and really want this to work out. And don't have the money to try loads of different brands.

What do you use to clean out the little holes? I tried giving those a really good clean because they are there to create the vacuum and were a bit blocked, but it was a bloody faff. A fork prong was too wide, don't have any cocktail sticks so had to use my nail in the end which is not hygienic.

I had hideous hideous cramps. Tried it for 3 months then gave up. Hated the bloody thing!!

I've tried Mooncups twice and both times, though never painful, they've ended up being unreliable. After third major leaking incident I put it in the bin and went back to tampons. I had always checked the seal and it would be ok at first before just kind of dumping its contents without any warning!

I did try and sort the issue and had a lengthy email correspondence with the customer services department. However, no advice they gave worked for me.