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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Feminism: chat

Original poster

Enjoying your periond???

80 replies

thefinerthingsinlife · 25/08/2010 09:37

I have seen on here a few times about how some of you manage to enjoy your periods Shock

I hate every minute of mine. I end up getting really upset about it because it's so heavy and painful.

I really wish I could be more positive about mine, and hopefully that will rub off on dd.

Please can you give me tips on how not to hate my periods.

TIA

OP posts:
Original poster
thefinerthingsinlife · 26/08/2010 12:45

I normally end up taking a combination of paracetamol and ibuprofen, you can take the altenately every 2 hours (well thats what I was told atleast)

OP posts:
gingercat12 · 26/08/2010 14:03

Steamedthreaclesponge I'll try ibuprofen then. Thanks. Although I try to manage without painkillers if possible.

ElephantsAndMiasmas · 26/08/2010 15:08

me too ginger. My mum makes "hilarious" jokes about me being addicted to them, but if I spent 5 days a month literally curled up into a ball and unable to function, rather than just take some pills, people might think I was a bit of a twat.

steamedtreaclesponge · 26/08/2010 16:41

I don't really like taking painkillers myself (although am lucky as I don't really get headaches or anything like that), but there aren't any medals for soldiering on! Period pains are so hideous that I'd quite happily stuff myself full of pills to make them go away.

nooka · 28/08/2010 05:40

Discovering neurofen really turned around the way I thought of periods (going on the pill helped hugely too). Now that I know I can kill the pain I find I can cope with it much better. However I still find the whole affair really irritating and unnecessary. I've finished my family (dd is 10, and dh has had the snip) I have no wish to ever be pregnant again so still having periods (probably for another ten years or so) seems just so redundant. Today I've had the dog sniffing around me, which is really quite gross, and even when my period finishes I'll be sore for a couple of days after that from the towels. I can't wear tampons (putting them in makes me cramp and then I always feel them inside as a nasty hard lump, which isn't great when I am trying to consciously relax that area). I can't imagine that putting in a mooncup (or more importantly taking it out) would be better, although I've thought about it once or twice.

I don't care if it tells me I'm fertile and there are other ways to know I'm healthy. I'd just like to stop having the bloody things!

fluffles · 28/08/2010 12:56

sorry to not be saying anything original here but i have to add to the weight of testimony - mooncup is amazing!!!

it reduces cramping and makes you feel so much more clean and 'normal' - honestly when you go for a pee your vulva feels totally normal, no horrible string, no horrid padding, no bleached cotton..

and i do all kinds of sport with mine and have never had a leak Grin

and emptying it and wiping or rinsing is even easier than wrapping a slimy icky tampon up and putting it in a bin thingy.

amberleaf · 28/08/2010 14:35

When you empty the Mooncup does it not go everywhere?

I just envisage having to clean it after ive emptied it IYKWIM?

amberleaf · 28/08/2010 14:36

Also i imagine blood getting on my hands, wouldnt fancy using a public toilet to do it.

RamblingRosa · 28/08/2010 14:41

Just going back to the original OP, there's a thread on Chat at the moment about telling DCs about periods and there are several people posting that their 9 yo DDs don't know a thing about periods and they've never told them Hmm.

So maybe it's not so crazy to think about celebrating our periods. It hadn't even crossed my mind that lots of mums still hide periods from their DCs like it's a dirty secret to be ashamed of.

Imagine how scary it would be to start your period aged 9 (apparently menarche is getting younger and younger and lots of girls do start periods well before their teens now) never having been told about it, never having seen a tampon or a sanitary towel (let alone a mooncup Grin), never having seen your mum dealing with her period. You would think that you were mortally wounded!

fluffles · 28/08/2010 14:48

amberleaf - it's cleaner than changing a tampon or towel because all the blood is 'inside' the cup. if there's a lot of blood you pour it down the toilet, if there's just a little then you wipe it with toilet paper.

it's cleaner than wrapping a tampon or towel up to stuff in those silly fliptop bin things.

to return to the OP and Ramblingrosa's post i think it's the secrecy that makes using something like the mooncup seem so foreign and 'disgusting' to some people... i mean hopefully people are washing and wiping their vulva all month long so i don't know why touching it during menstruation is so repulsive to some people.

amberleaf · 28/08/2010 17:10

I think i may give it a go. but i have a bicornuate uterus so im not sure if it will work for me?

solo · 28/08/2010 17:19

I 'enjoy' every one of mine even though they are heavy and I get terrible moods sometimes.

The reason I like having them is that I know that I am still 'young enough' to have them, to conceive if I wanted to and was in a position to do so and that I'm still producing all the hormones I need for young skin etc. Call me delusional, but I am happy to still have them at 46 and hope for them to continue until I'm at least 50.

solo · 28/08/2010 17:21

And I love my Mooncup. It's so convenient. Can't say it's reduced my flow though.

solo · 28/08/2010 17:23

Amberleaf, give them a call or email them. They are very helpful trained nurses.

Email

solo · 28/08/2010 17:24

Sorry, that should be: [email protected]

nooka · 28/08/2010 18:15

It seems a bit irresponsible not to have told your dds about periods by the age of nine. And quite a palaver to hide them from your children for all those years. However I'm certianly not going to tell my dd that they are in any way nice. I've told her that I hope her periods come late like my cousin (at 18) but that as she has now started puberty they might come in the next year or two (she's just turning 10) and she is well aware that they can be painful for some people, that painkillers and baths and hot water bottles help and also why they happen and what they are all about. As does my son. I think that if all parents were open with their sons and daughters it would be helpful in normalising periods. My mother felt that any evidence about periods (including tampons and pads) should be hidden away "in case your father sees them" because in some weird way that would be traumatic. He had a wife and three daughters!

amberleaf · 28/08/2010 18:35

Thanks Solo

Original poster
thefinerthingsinlife · 28/08/2010 18:36

amberleaf I have a bicornuate uterus and use a mooncup. I love mine.

On the subject of dd's knowing about periods, my dd who's 4 sees me empty my mooncup and has a tendancy to shout "ooooo peri-ment" Grin I have told her a hundred times it'd peri-od, but she has descided thats when it's called Confused. So it's not the not knowing about it, I just don't want her to hate it.

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 28/08/2010 20:44

It isn't in your uterus, so bicornate or not shouldn't matter. I have a tilted cervix and it's fine :)

It's slightly messy at first but you get the hang of it. Don't you get blood on your hands from changing a tampon? I can't remember now. It wipes off with loo roll anyway and then you wash your hands when you are done anyway. I have never got more than a tiny drop/smear on a finger once I got the hang of it (which took about 2-3 periods). The cup itself does get messy, you rinse it under a tap or if in a public loo wipe with toilet roll and reinsert. TBH if I'm in a public loo I just reinsert it anyway - it's only blood, which it's going to get more on anyway.

I've found that I am indifferent to my period now, whereas I used to hate it. I still get period pain but I never got it that badly in the first place. I love my mooncup though. Barely have to worry about it and you can do anything with it in that you can do when you're not on your period (apart from sex!)

Also I used to be absolutely repulsed by the blood etc in tampons and on pads, but the blood in the mooncup doesn't bother me, I don't know why. It doesn't smell though, which is much more pleasant. Not sure why pads etc always do - must be like disposable nappies in that way.

Nooka if you hate being able to feel the tampons and the pads make you sore it's definitely worth trying a mooncup. Or washable pads maybe? Disposable ones make me sore too.

Also whoever said above that their friend told them pads are better than tampons for cramping - mooncups are even better.

If you don't want to shell out the £20 for a trial, they sell disposable ones called instead softcups.

Morloth · 28/08/2010 21:01

I take Feminax Ultra, that is seriously good shit. So yes I do enjoy my period.

Am allergic to Mooncup, it wasn't fun finding out.

solo · 28/08/2010 21:16

Goodness Morloth! what happened? Shock

nooka · 28/08/2010 21:49

I've never come across reusable pads. Are they made from soft cloth? I always use Always, they were just so much better than the ones I used before (mainly due to the wings holding them in pace and the thinness of the pads).

I guess I just worry about the taking in and out and whether that will make me stressed and tense, as the one thing that really really makes a difference to me is keeping as physically relaxed as possible. I found the weird positions and poking around inside just horrible with tampons. Are mooncups really swishy?

ElephantsAndMiasmas · 28/08/2010 23:50

So silly not to let the DDs know about it. The Samaritans was started because of the case of a girl who knew nothing about periods:

"Samaritans was founded in 1953 by Chad Varah, a vicar in the London Diocese. His inspiration came from an experience he had some years earlier as a young curate in the Lincoln Diocese. He had carried out a funeral for a young girl of 15 who had taken her own life because she feared she had contracted an STD. In reality she was menstruating"

:(:(:(

IfGraceAsks · 29/08/2010 01:25

finerthings - if nobody's mentioned it before: your GP can prescribe an anti-inflammatory muscle relaxant. You only take them while you're on; they help a lot. One's called Mefenamic Acid. I also had pills that increase clotting (my periods were very prolific) - I've forgotten the name.

My doc said "Nobody should have to suffer pain on regular basis" and gave me the scrip. I lurved him ... all those years of being told I should just be happy I got periods! Bah.

BertieBotts · 29/08/2010 01:31

Yes, cotton or bamboo usually, some have a fleece outer. A bit like cloth nappies really.

I find them much more comfortable than disposable pads. But I couldn't use Always now - the best disposable pads I ever found are called "Cottons" - they sell them in Boots/some Tescos. That is what I used to use before I converted to a mooncup! About the same price as Always, and they just felt a lot more comfortable. I guess they have less chemicals etc in.