Tampons and period question

[Ama28]

Hi,
Im off on hols soon, but curse mother nature, i am bleeding. It is due to finish very soon - as its very very light, however, my super tampons are not stemming the leakage of blood.

Is this because of childbirth - the tampon is not absorbing hardly anything, im leaking onto a towel, but the tampon comes out mostly dry.

Do i need to get the really big tampons?

Ive never been swimming in a tampon before so im really concerned about making a mess.

Anyone got any last minute tips or ideas?

Thanks

That sounds odd. Is the tampon falling out? (That would suggest pelvic floor issues post-birth?)

Try a mooncup.

Tampon is not falling out - i have to pull it still to get it out so it holds in there ok. But then the blood leaking would say its not. Ugh! No time to get a mooncup - we go tomorrow!

i would try the super duper tampons, i sometimes have this problem on the first day of cycle. its fairly light overall but sometimes it becomes heavy like i have air bubbles or something (don't know its odd!!) but the green lil lets seems to sort the problem for the first day then as the days pass i move down to super then regular, might just take your body a while to adjust to your normal cycle if you have recently had a baby.

on Lil-lets, pull the string from side to side to make that end wider iyswim? solved it for me.

I would second the mooncup idea - boots definitely sell them in-store. You could also try something like a health food shop (prob independent - not holland & barratt anyway) or cloth nappy shop if you have anything like that nearby.

Third to the Mooncup idea - www.mooncup.co.uk/wc.php?u=1741 - you can get Mooncups from most Boots stores, health stores, etc.

If you have a diaphragm...it's a long shot, but if you have one you can use diaphragms as a menstrual cup too - these may leak more than menstrual cups, but as they sit higher up they'll definitely catch the flow better than tampons.

Cups are safer than tampons so can be worn up to 12 hours, with any flow, and overnight, plus no need to alternate with pads, and as they hold more flow and have light suction they don't leak like tampons. Cups are also better for swimming as no string showing outside your body, don't absorb water, don't contribute to cramps as tampons do, and again they don't leak like tampons.

It might be that tampons aren't expanding enough widthways, so the blood is essentially missing the tampon...

It may be that you'd have less of a problem with tampons constructed as a Swiss-roll as these expand more evenly widthways. Where as rectangular construction will expand more lengthways so not filling the width of your vagina and essentially blood may be 'missing' the tampon. The UK tampon code of practice shows different construction in case this makes no sense - www.ahpma.co.uk/docs/stage3_June10_v3.pdf (page 3) - the problem is tampon manufacturers refuse to inform women of how their tampons are made so figuring out which brand uses what is tough.

Try brands like Cottons or Natracare - Cottons in particular!
As far as I remember these are Swiss-roll construction, but the benefit is also that cotton tampons are safer than rayon tampons like Tampax (FYI Tampax are rectangle construction, so one to avoid) and obviously if your tampons are coming out dry then TSS is a serious concern, so using a higher absorbency in cotton tampons are not as harmful.

For future reference sponges may be a better option for you too, they're larger and so may fit your vagina better to prevent leaks in comparison to cotton or rayon tampons. But menstrual cups or softcups would be best.