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General health

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Original poster

A TMI question for Mooncup users....

20 replies

SummerRain · 18/08/2010 17:53

Finally bought one last month when my period reappeared (17 mnths after having ds2 ) but didn't get a chance to use it as it arrived too late.

Decided to boil it today as period was due and rather conveniently period turned up while it was still cooling down... there's timing for you!

Insertion went fine and it's very comfortable so i chanced going to the pool with it in. Emptied it there out of curiosity as i normally have a very heavy flow the first few days and sure enough it was half full of perfectly normal red gunk. But when i went to the loo an hour ago and emptied it again it was full of black lumpy liquid I've never had black/brown blood before and was a bit taken aback but thought maybe it was just a bit discoloured after sitting in the cup for a few hours so i googled but I can't seem to find a single internet article/post describing similar.

Could it have been the chlorine in the pool? If so should i not swim with it in do you think... if water's getting in blood could get out right? Or have i developed some hidous infection in the last few hours and my womb is simply rotting inside me and dissolving into black slime?

Help... and sorry for the graphic nature of the post... i'm probably going to wish i'd namechanged

OP posts:

Heartsease · 18/08/2010 18:00

I don't think it could have been the chlorine, or that your womb is rotting .

The Mooncup does bring you face to face with stuff you've never truly seen before -- it looks surprisingly different in the cup to how it does on something white and porous. I never knew that I produced some of the, erm, textures and consistencies I have been able to observe in my Mooncup. So I wouldn't worry about it, really. It sounds totally normal, especially if it doesn't smell weird or anything like that. Also, if it's only your second period after your DS, might it be a bit different to before? I have no DC yet so no idea, but others will know. Don't panic!

Original poster

SummerRain · 18/08/2010 18:06

Thing is, I'm well used to my blood. I gush for the first few days so have had plenty of opportunity to see what comes out of me while i'm standing in the shower for example (and am a distubingly curious individual who likes to 'examine' things )

This was black.

The blood from the first empty was perfectly normal, deep red with lumps and stringy bits.... exactly what i'm used to seeing. But this time it was jet black thin liquid with lumps floating in it.... the 'bits' were discouloured, as if they'd been bleached whereas normally they'd be reddish.

Actually the more i think about it it had to be the chlorine in the pool right? I knew i shouldn't have chanced swimming with it.

OP posts:

FreeButtonBee · 18/08/2010 18:17

But the mooncup was in the way of your flow and the clorine? So don't see how that would work.

I think plenty of people swim with a mooncup and haven't heard anyone mention any problems.

I find the same as Heartsease - texture and colour really change over the course of my period. I have had really deep black discharge - I think because there is no white tampon to absorb it, it does appear darker than normal. When you're in the shower, again the blood is diluted by the water in the shower. Blood is really dark when undiluted.

Original poster

SummerRain · 18/08/2010 18:31

I've given birth to an 8lb10oz bay who came out back to front with an arm over his face and i didn't tear.... I have very little faith in the tightness of my undercarriage I think it's entirely possible water got up there and some worked its way in.

This wasn't thick blood... it was thin black liquid. It wasn't the deep red tinged black colour of dark blood it was a greyish black and the clots were colourless instead of the usual red.

OP posts:

Heartsease · 18/08/2010 18:33

Agree with FreeButtonBeee that it's hard to see how the chlorine met your Mooncup contents -- it forms a seal if it's properly in place and nowt goes out, nowt goes in. If it wasn't leaking when you got out it would seem unlikely that the swimming was anything to do with it.

Also, this might not have come out of you as a lumpy black liquid obviously the contents are everything that came out in the time in which you had it in, all mixed up in a menstrual cocktail (mmm). So things which you might not usually observe on the same tampon are in the Mooncup together the lumpy bits and the liquid might not have come out at the same time.

But short of posting a photo (which I am not suggesting!!) it's hard to know. Maybe you should go back to your old methods so you can observe in a more familiar context?

Heartsease · 18/08/2010 18:36

Just read your latest post. Does sound rather icky so I'm not dismissing your alarm! Maybe just see what happens next?

Original poster

SummerRain · 18/08/2010 18:59

lol at photo.... it's long gone down the drain It was only about 3.5/4 hours worth of blood as being day 1 i'm emptying often.

Just emptied again and it's back to normal: thick reddish blood with extremely dark clots.

It had to have been the pool water, i'll find out for sure if i brave going tomorrow

OP posts:

Original poster

SummerRain · 18/08/2010 19:02

And for more embarressing proof that pool water does get up there... i've been swimming alot recently and find that later on in the day i tend to have water trickling out of me

So all it would have had to do it get in the air holes really.

OP posts:

purpleduck · 18/08/2010 19:31

If you have only had one period for 17 months then it is old blood

Innat · 18/08/2010 20:02

water definitely can get in mooncup. Mine fills up if i go in the bath or swimming, so i always empty immediately afterwards so it doesn't leak out. I don't think it's to do with putting it in wrong as it doesn't leak normally...

I think it if formed a completely air/water tight seal that would be a little scary considering you can leave them in overnight!

Also in terms of your flow coming in contact with the water i don't see how it's any different to going swimming with a tampon as they are always saturated with water after a swim. this is why they have chlorine etc in a pool to kill any germs (besides i imagine menstrual flow to be fairly harmless bacterial wise)

Just my musings but hope it makes you feel better :)

active · 18/08/2010 23:20

hello all, well for starters i'm a mooncup user (duh, i know). i've had black bloody lumps with little liquid that sometimes have seemed greyish. i never worried about it and never gone swimming with them so highly doubt that Cl had anything to do with it.
reading everyones remarks, however, made me wonder if perhaps i should have been worried?? when you put it in the loo, didn't it appear dark red? mine always do even though the dark lumps tend to stay dark. as for innat, i'm not sure about the microbes in the blood, but i've always imagined it to be hughly toxic

Original poster

SummerRain · 19/08/2010 17:34

Thanks Innat... good to know I'm not the only one who's not watertight

All normal today but i was too busy to get to the pool so will have to wait til next month to find out for sure if that was the cause.

active... it wasn't the usual reddish black (see above) and it was still grey/black when it was being rinsed out in the sink, so there was definitely something odd going on with it.

OP posts:

shongololo · 19/08/2010 17:50

i think its just normal clotting - that blood has pooled in the cup over a couple of hours and you should expect it to.

The later check that was not black was not clotted as you had changed more recently.

Have been using a mooncup for years and, despite having had 3x9lb babies, I can honestly say there is no way there's water getting up there.

Did you ever use a tampon and find it floated out or smelled of clorine? Im sure not. You'ld end up with all sorts of problems if your min was not protected against water intrusion.

Also, the smell of chlorine is very distinctive, esp in our nice clean bathrooms -if it was clorine contaminated, you would smell it.

I would just accept that blood will clot, esp overnight, and esp if you are heavy.

Original poster

SummerRain · 20/08/2010 11:29

Erm yes... my tampons always got saturated in water in the pool, even before having babies. And the odd blood was changed after 2.5 hours, I've left it in for over 10 hours on other occasions. And as for the smell.. I still smelled faintly of chlorine myself so i doubt i would have noticed and additional smell from the cup.

Again... i'm not naive, it wasn't thick red blood, it was watery black liquid. I'm well used to the sight of congealed mentrual blood even before having a mooncup... this was not that. [sighs]

Thanks for all the advice everyone, i'll post if i go swimming again to say if it happens again just in case anyone is using the search function for a similar problem down the line.

OP posts:

shongololo · 20/08/2010 14:47

I have found that when I have been sat at the computer mumsnetting working, and then get upfor a loo break, there can be clotting much as you describe - as though the blood has pooled and clotted inside and then come out?

Just a thought.

Heartsease · 20/08/2010 16:13

SummerRain, maybe you should get it checked out -- if it's not normal for you, and doesn't seem to ring a bell with anyone else (and it does sound weird).

Original poster

SummerRain · 20/08/2010 16:29

Don't worry heartesease, if it happens again and definitely isn't because of the swimming i'll head to the docs but it was only the once and i am fairly convinced the swimming is to blame I think i might wear the mooncup when i had to the pool on sunday, period will be over but if the cup gets water in it i'll have an answer for definite!

OP posts:

Heartsease · 20/08/2010 18:04

Didn't want you to think nobody believed in your black liquid and bleached 'bits'.

At least you know your pool has some pretty powerful sanitising agents. Maybe it will sterilise your mooncup while you swim .

bran · 20/08/2010 18:35

I agree with purpleduck that it's probably old blood if it's only your second period after so long. I have PCOS and used to only have a couple of periods a year, when I started taking Metformin my periods became regular every month and the first few (about 3 or 4) had a fair bit of black blood and an old smell to the blood.

Original poster

SummerRain · 20/08/2010 19:32

I guess it's possible bran but it's odd that it started noraml and reverted back to normal so quickly. Last month was totally normal... like they'd never been gone and this month was bang on time when it was due (unusual for me.. i'm normally waiting a few days to a few weeks after they're due)

OP posts:

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