The grossest Mooncup-related question ever: really, do not read if averse to TMI and a bit squeamish

[Pruni]

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yep. certainly is... with kids on top on that... but hey let's make a deal ok?! by september, i will have seen someone and i 'll have sorted my smear test. that gives us...say 10 weeks... deal?!

DEAl!, my dt's are up now, so have to go, thanks to every one

can you use moon cups with the coil?

did you know a large bowl of tesco cornflakes (not sure about Kelloggs!) contains all your recommended daily intake of iron? Nicer than the tablets...

you are right both ladies.... i am going to see a gyne; now have top private healthcare with new job so no more excuse for me. sorry but finding it hard to trust gps with womens issues.

I swear they are incentivised by having a lower referral rate (for things like heavy periods)

I also think some doctors genuinely do not believe it is a 'real' health problem

i think you are right there! and it infuriates me - i have suffered from hormones for a very long time and frankly i think i would have had a happier time as a teenager had my hormones been properly looked at etc. i do think hormones are at the root of many problems for women.

Ovrerun - I too suffer from v heavy periods and therefore tiredness, it turned out that I have an underactive thyroid and this is a typical symptom. It really is worth asking your GP to do a blood test. A few others on MN have been diagnosed after having children and apparently its quite common.

do you think that is because the majority (IME) of GPs are men, foxinsocks ?

Must say I have never looked at mooncups as I know i wouldnt be able to insert it

I don't know Alan. The three (different) GPs I have seen were women and they all seemed to be sympathetic but then they have done bugger all to help me (other than one suggesting the mirena and then when it all went pear shaped failing to come up with any other suggestion!). One did a thorough internal and said she couldn't feel any fibroids but I didn't know you could 'feel' them that way (maybe you can??!!).

I was used to a different medical system (abroad) where you see a gynae anyway and I had always had male gynaes and they were all brilliant. I feel totally comfortable with male doctors/gynaes but have been told that they are now not allowed to examine you (internally) unless you have a female nurse present so in most female reproduction cases, the male GPs don't deal with these problems anymore.

PC: I know the threads moved on. But with good pelvic floor muscles, you don't need tampons etc, you just pass the blood when you go to the loo. Ok, this doesn't work with biking, and you have to scoot out of bed in the morning carefully, but still, I used to manage with, at most, one tampon/month, before I had kids.

(I have quite mild flow, no scary clots. Which no doubt helps.)

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Your kegels are your friends. (I had a brief incident of stress incontinence when I was 15. Oddly enough, I got good kegels after that.)

it is entirely possible to have fibroids which a doctor can't detect via an internal exam, particularly if the fibroid is embedded in the endometrium - womb lining - on the posterior wall of the uterus.

you should have a scan and/or a hystogram which should show up any fibroids.

at any rate, you need to see a GYN.

I'm sorry... I try to avoid these thread.... really I do.... but:

*>SSSSSSSSSSSPEW

NotQuiteCockney
is that really possible?

bloody hell fire, only popped in for a cuppa and a rich tea, weren't expecting this filth. I'll get me coat....

NQC - extraordinary! I've never heard that before.

I had perfectly good pfms before having children, but could never control menstrual flow.

About clots: while I've never had quite such 'majestic' clots, they were a regular feature on my sanitary towel, but since using the Mooncup I rarely seem to pass them at all any more. I wonder whether it's something to do with the way the stuff's collected? Whether being absorbed into a piece of cotton causes a clotting reaction which doesn't occur when the blood is collected in the Mooncup.

This is a fascinating thread - I struggle to comprehend why it repels women who, after all, generally have to deal with periods every month in any case.

nqc. Respect. I am seriously impressed that you could do that. I seriously do not think with my flow that it would be possible with the best pelvic floor in the world, mind you. But still....

I think the good kegels thing was only part of it. I would also (and still do) expell menstrual flow when going to the loo, so there was less in there to "hold in", iyswim.

I haven't yet found anyone, not even on here, who's ever had the same habit.

My flow is pathetically light. I have four or five days max, and it's never that bad.

Expell - you mean deliberately? I find that the position of sitting on the toilet tends to encourage increased flow but I assume you mean more than that.

Well, if you're pushing, you're pushing, iyswim. If you bear down to pee faster, then other things come out more, too. Leaving less to hang about and annoy you. (This is a problem with tampons, though, as they get expelled, too.)

I'm glad this thread has squeamishness warnings on it btw.

NQC

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[awe]