AIBU not to understand tampons?

[Secretlifeofme]

I have really heavy periods and up until this year I always just used pads, but recently thought I'd try tampons. However I don't understand the appeal! Issues I have are :
They don't absorb my heavy flow properly, even changing every 2 hours, so I have to wear a pad as well anyway
Putting them in feels weird
Taking them out is messy! How do people do it without getting blood everywhere?

Am I doing it wrong? I don't understand why they're so popular given the above points, but maybe I'm missing something

Needs to choose the right size one. The tampon needs to be in a certain place and if u put it right you will not feel it.
There are some with applicators, make it easier to get it into the right place.
Different brand of tampons will feel differently and absorbs differently. I would recommend to write to brands to ask them for some samples to try.

When I remove the tampon. I fast pack it in some paper, but can get some small plastic bags now and it makes no mess.

I've never been that keen on tampons cos I'm absent minded and always worried I'll forget to take one out (towards the end of the period when my flow is light). I tend only to use them for swimming.

However someone here made a throwaway remark on another thread about cramping etc. feeling different (worse in her case) when wearing a tampon, and that got me thinking. I have a "retroverted uterus" (it flops the wrong way on its supporting ligaments). This means it behaves a bit like a limp ballon with a fold in it - it gradually fills, then gets to a certain stage of fullness where it "pings" into shape, at which point all the pooled blood gets to flood out in one go! I can actually feel this happening now (decades of getting used to the process) with the result that I can tell from cramps "now is the time to go to the toilet" (and mercifully I have a desk job where I can do that). So I'd say 90% of the blood on my heaviest days goes straight down the loo (I can actually squeeze quite a lot of it out doing pelvic floor exercises). I find tampons totally mess up my ability to feel what's going on inside - with the result that, even with a back up pad, I do flood if I try to use them on my heaviest days.

Thanks everyone. Actually I didn't say I had tried a cup and it leaked I am not interested in trying a cup I'm afraid, the idea grosses me out. No offence to those who use one. Also, my fibroids really are not a massive problem. They are very small and haven't really grown much since they were first diagnosed. I am TTC so don't want to be messing around with treatments for the fibroids!

I was more interested in finding out if I was doing something wrong with the tampons! Turns out a change of brand may be the answer, although unfortunately that will probably mean I have to stop using them for a while, as I don't live in the UK and there is not the same range of brands here.

I got on with then when I was on the pill and only a light (normal?) flow. I was on the pill purely because my periods were very very heavy and very painful and that made them manageable. I'm on the depo shot now which stopped them completely and is completely life changing and something I should have done years ago.

But off hormonal contraception my periods in their natural state are way too much for a tampon to deal with and I have to wear a pad with them too. Even the super plus ultra absorbant dooblies don't do the trick and they do seem pretty pointless then I agree. If they don't catch it all you and your underpants end up covered in blood, it smells gross and drips everywhere. Grim. 🤢

Just use whatever you prefer, there's really no right or wrong way.

I’m the opposite OP, hate towels, hate wiping when I change it, hate the bulk, hate the smell. Tampons for me are heaven, quick and easy, no mess. It’s just personal preferences, I know lots o people who are the same as you.

Also I’m pretty sure the new tampax pearl compact things expand widthways too?

You shouldn't flush tampons down the toilet.

I couldn't wear them because I found them uncomfortable, even post babies. I had no option really but to wear pads, slim ones thankfully as my flow was medium to light. This was before mooncups were widely available.

I have the same issue, OP. My periods are just too heavy for tampons to cope with. I still wear them as I would rather have to wear a pad to catch some of the leakage than only wear a pad that gets saturated and heavy in an hour or so.

I keep meaning to try a mooncup but never get round to investigating properly.

Applicator Lillets are totally different to Tampax. Much much better imo.

I use pads and tampons because otherwise I have to change my pad too often.

secret Yes lots of women have small fibroids. The advice is always to leave them alone unless they are causing problems. I have small fibroids and have been told that is pretty normal for someone my age.

A bit late in the day for me as I'm 50 now but maybe I should try Lillets - I've used Tampax forever and they really don't cope well with fibroid perimenopausal bleeding. Are pads more absorbant than tampons? I've never really worked it out as my periods were light until 2 years ago.

I too am leaving my fibroids alone in the hope they shrink. In fact one of the massive buggers does seem to have shrunk recently. Hyseterctomy is the only option offered to me which is very drastic. Tranexamic acid is a definite godsend on really heavy days though.

Love lillets higher absorbency user them for years have never experienced them being messy etc. Have to change them a little more reg now as I get a heavier couple of days.

Have never got to grips with the other brands which have all kinds of insertion telescopes going on

Tampax always leak for me, the put some kind of frilly bit on them which doesn't help. I don't leak with Lilets but only use them for swimming. Cloth pads are my usual.

What brands do you have where you are? It looks like Lil-lets are only sold in UK, Ireland and S. Africa, but when I went to the US, I tried a brand over there that were similar (don't remember the brand though). If you have a look on the Lil-lets site, you can see what they look like, so you can compare them to the brands you can get where you are.

I could never understand why Tampax were popular because they expand lengthways, allowing blood to flow down the sides of them. I also didn't like using the applicator because it was hard. A finger feels more gentle.

If you can feel the tampon when it's in, it's because it's not been put in properly, you shouldn't be able to feel it.

Ooh, going to try some lilets! Exciting!

To remove a tampon without the mess:

Get a sanitary bag, or a nappy sack if you can't find the bags.
Put your hand in it, and invert it back over your hand.
Now "gloved" you can start to pull the string out.
When the tampon is coming out, pull it out, ie not via the string.
Pull the bag back over your hand, with the tampon now inside it.
Tie up and bin.

Messless.

Never flush tampons or towels. Unless you want a really embarrassing conversation with the Dynorod chap and a row with your teenage daughter. Which you don't. Trust me.

Secretlifeofme have you had your iron levels checked? Heavy periods can mean a tendency toward anaemia.

You lot who say you have heavy periods and have to change a tampon every 3 or 4 hours do not have heavy periods! I have to use 2 or 3 ultra tampons and a pad all of which have to be changed more frequently than hourly for the first 2 or 3 days. I used to work an hour's drive and has to stop at services half way to change them!

I love tampons.

No issues with using them, they are comfy for me and don't leak.

Different things work for different people. Sounds like your periods are super heavy, mine aren't at all.

I use supermarket own brand of non-applicator tampons, they're just as good as Lillets ime. I have heavy periods and use the 'super mega fat extra plus plus' absorbency type.

Tampax tampons are useless. I think it's the applicator type of tampon, rather than the brand though. I haven't used applicator tampons since the 80s!

I always had v heavy periods. Used tampons and pads at the same time, and still would get leakage. For couple of first days almost could not leave the house for more than half an hour. Was constantly anemic. Then one of my friens told me couple of months’ ago that she’s had coil (Mirena) fitted in just for that reason. Had one myself in the middle of April, and what a difference! For the firs time in ages I was able to function like a normal person during my period, sleep without worrying and only needed a pad, not tampon or a mooncup.
Go to GP, ask for your options, and enquire about further investigation as to why your periods are heavy.

I couldn't get on with pads and they were impractical (horse rider). My fingers are short and stubby and my vagina is, apparently, very long, so non-applicator tampons were a no-no. Tampons only hurt if they don't go far enough up!

Max Tampax all the way (but you do need to size-down as the flow lessens, it's very uncomfortable to take a nearly-dry tampon out).

Don't need anything now I've passed that age and the relief is enormous!

Lillets were never comfortable. I could always feel them so gave up on them, but I was never even aware that a tampax was there. They were so comfortable but I agree that they never quite did the job post childbirth.
I never tried a applicator lillet. Are they relatively new?

I think you need to have a good understanding of your own body to make sure a tampon is in the right place to catch the flow.
Like the OP I sometimes used to find a bloodclot somehow 'bypassed' a tampon !

I remember the nurse telling me I had a low-lying kinky cervix when she did my smear (!) and I realised I needed to make sure tampons were sort of low and off to the left for me.
You also need to learn to relax when you put them in and bear down as you push them up.