What's with the Cup? The Diva Cup that is!
So today was just one of those days where my lovely annoying aunt flow who was scheduled to arrive in 3 days decided "Oh why wait? I am going to make my visit starting today." And of course I was on my way to work and was completely unprepared. So I made a quick stop by my local drugstore to see if they carried anything comparable to my normal menstrual disk ( I personally have been pad and tampon free, with the exception of emergencies and after child birth procedures etc., for the last almost 6 years). Much to my dismay they did not.
While browsing through the dreaded selection of "feminine hygiene" products trying to decide which was the lesser of the evils, I noticed that they carried both sizes of the diva cup. I have always been interested in making the switch but it seemed like there was a lot of women who had a lot of problems with the fit of a lot of cups and especially the Diva Cup and I didn't relish the idea of spending so much money on a single item if there was a large chance that I would have an issue and it would not be a good purchase for me. But, with this new chapter in my life and being head strong to try new things I decided to throw my caution to the wind and give it a fair shot. I grabbed it up and headed to the check out.
Now, while the instructions do not say anything at all about sanitizing the cup prior to use I grabbed a cup of hot water from the kettle at work because unlike a pad which sits outside the body or a tampon which comes individually wrapped, this thing is just sitting in a box with the only seal being a single round sticker. Once in the bathroom I sat down to read the instructions and let my new diva cup soak for a few minutes. The instructions in themselves are fairly simple so I began to wonder why people seemed to have such an issue using the cup.
Well it looks like I am going to give this a good go. So here we are at DAY 1.
So now that it is almost time for me to actually begin working I figure that I better get on with it and drained the cup of hot water. I found the Diva cup was pretty easy to fold in the recommended way However, the sides seemed to be quite smooth and did give me some issue with slipping and popping back open. This also gave me a bit of an issue once I had the cup in place as I was supposed to turn it 360° to pop it back open and create the seal. But with some minor fiddling I was able to successfully get it to pop.
Now, the first thing I noticed was that for about the first half hour into wearing it while moving around it almost felt like a mild scraping/pinching sensation which was unpleasant but not intolerable and still less uncomfortable than I find tampons to be. After that time I am assuming that my vag finally stopped trying to fight against it and the sensation went away and I could not feel it at all.
I made my way through my busy workday which includes lots of walking, climbing, bending, crouching, kneeling and squatting while carrying moderate weight and other than a few more bathroom trips than normal nothing seemed to be any different.
Once home after an 10 hr day I headed to the bathroom and grabbed my peri bottle that I always use with my menstrual disk and set to work for my first dump. Now, the first day of my period is usually pretty light so I wasn't expecting much to be honest but this was a good time to work on figuring out how to get this thing out before the floodgates open full blast. Another quick reference to the instructions and I set to work. With the issues I had with getting a grip I thought that this would be more of a task but I was able to get it out pretty easily. I gave it and my fingers a good rinse with my peri bottle and reinserted. This time I was able to get it in, opened and turned without any issue.
Now it is time for the first overnight test.
DAY 2
As expected I made it through the first night mess free. I attempted to remove the Diva Cup while I was in the shower and really had to contort to be able to get a decent grip on it which was vastly different from the disk that i usually use but once I got there it was easy enough to break the seal and remove it. I gave it a good wash and rinse and attempted to try to replace it while I was in the shower. The odd angles made it a bit difficult and resigned to just replacing it after I got done showering. I imagine if you have a tub where you could perch yourself on the side for a moment it wouldn't be a problem but that was not available to me in my shower only bathroom.
I set about the beginning of my day working around my normal cramping and just doing some minor housework. After about 8 hrs I decided to go ahead and empty my cup before I took an afternoon nap before I had to get ready for an evening shift at work. It was quite obvious that my cup was near full because as soon as I broke the seal I had a decent mess on my hand. I went ahead and switched to one of my disks so that I could give the Diva Cup a proper clean and re sanitize it. While cleaning it I noticed that it had several holes near the top rim that seemed to have accumulated yuck. I gave the cup a good scrub with a new toothbrush and the yuck seemed to dislodge pretty easily. I popped it in a mug and poured some water from the kettle over it and allowed it to soak and cool while I took a nap.
After my nap I switched my disk back out for the cup and set off to work. Another night of bending, stooping, jogging, and squatting and still no leaks. Once home I again gave it a good rinse with my peri bottle and headed to bed wondering if I would wake up to a mess now that my period was in full force.
Day 3
For the most part my routine seemed to be working just fine. However, I did come across an issue that I had not anticipated and that was the need to empty my cup in a public restroom. Not enjoying the idea of having to go through the process without a bathroom with a dedicated sink, I put off emptying my cup as long as possible hoping I could make it through my day without having to resort to the public restroom. Unfortunately about 9 hours in I felt the tell tale leak. In the restroom I washed my hands and filled my peri bottle at the sink before heading to the stall. While was able to remove my cup and give it a decent rinse my fingers still had yuck that the capacity of my peri bottle just couldn't remove. I then used some toilet paper to remove as much of the remainder as possible but was not keen on having to leave the privacy of the stall with any trace of my aunt flo on my hand but I sucked it up and headed to the sinks to remove the remainder of the residue from around and under my nails. I definitely am not a fan of having to deal with emptying my menstrual cup in public.
Days 4 and 5
After having to navigate emptying my Diva Cup in public on day 3, days 4 and 5 went pretty smoothly. It was nice to not have to worry about if I needed to switch absorbency as my period began to lighten and fade away.
Overall, I would say that the Diva Cup worked well once I got the hang of how to get it inserted and sealed correctly. While I did notice a slight increase in the frequency of which I needed to pee it was not so much that it was annoying. Until I can get my hands on a fully reusable disk I will definitely continue to be using the Diva Cup.
While browsing through the dreaded selection of "feminine hygiene" products trying to decide which was the lesser of the evils, I noticed that they carried both sizes of the diva cup. I have always been interested in making the switch but it seemed like there was a lot of women who had a lot of problems with the fit of a lot of cups and especially the Diva Cup and I didn't relish the idea of spending so much money on a single item if there was a large chance that I would have an issue and it would not be a good purchase for me. But, with this new chapter in my life and being head strong to try new things I decided to throw my caution to the wind and give it a fair shot. I grabbed it up and headed to the check out.
Now, while the instructions do not say anything at all about sanitizing the cup prior to use I grabbed a cup of hot water from the kettle at work because unlike a pad which sits outside the body or a tampon which comes individually wrapped, this thing is just sitting in a box with the only seal being a single round sticker. Once in the bathroom I sat down to read the instructions and let my new diva cup soak for a few minutes. The instructions in themselves are fairly simple so I began to wonder why people seemed to have such an issue using the cup.
Well it looks like I am going to give this a good go. So here we are at DAY 1.
So now that it is almost time for me to actually begin working I figure that I better get on with it and drained the cup of hot water. I found the Diva cup was pretty easy to fold in the recommended way However, the sides seemed to be quite smooth and did give me some issue with slipping and popping back open. This also gave me a bit of an issue once I had the cup in place as I was supposed to turn it 360° to pop it back open and create the seal. But with some minor fiddling I was able to successfully get it to pop.
Now, the first thing I noticed was that for about the first half hour into wearing it while moving around it almost felt like a mild scraping/pinching sensation which was unpleasant but not intolerable and still less uncomfortable than I find tampons to be. After that time I am assuming that my vag finally stopped trying to fight against it and the sensation went away and I could not feel it at all.
I made my way through my busy workday which includes lots of walking, climbing, bending, crouching, kneeling and squatting while carrying moderate weight and other than a few more bathroom trips than normal nothing seemed to be any different.
Once home after an 10 hr day I headed to the bathroom and grabbed my peri bottle that I always use with my menstrual disk and set to work for my first dump. Now, the first day of my period is usually pretty light so I wasn't expecting much to be honest but this was a good time to work on figuring out how to get this thing out before the floodgates open full blast. Another quick reference to the instructions and I set to work. With the issues I had with getting a grip I thought that this would be more of a task but I was able to get it out pretty easily. I gave it and my fingers a good rinse with my peri bottle and reinserted. This time I was able to get it in, opened and turned without any issue.
Now it is time for the first overnight test.
DAY 2
As expected I made it through the first night mess free. I attempted to remove the Diva Cup while I was in the shower and really had to contort to be able to get a decent grip on it which was vastly different from the disk that i usually use but once I got there it was easy enough to break the seal and remove it. I gave it a good wash and rinse and attempted to try to replace it while I was in the shower. The odd angles made it a bit difficult and resigned to just replacing it after I got done showering. I imagine if you have a tub where you could perch yourself on the side for a moment it wouldn't be a problem but that was not available to me in my shower only bathroom.
I set about the beginning of my day working around my normal cramping and just doing some minor housework. After about 8 hrs I decided to go ahead and empty my cup before I took an afternoon nap before I had to get ready for an evening shift at work. It was quite obvious that my cup was near full because as soon as I broke the seal I had a decent mess on my hand. I went ahead and switched to one of my disks so that I could give the Diva Cup a proper clean and re sanitize it. While cleaning it I noticed that it had several holes near the top rim that seemed to have accumulated yuck. I gave the cup a good scrub with a new toothbrush and the yuck seemed to dislodge pretty easily. I popped it in a mug and poured some water from the kettle over it and allowed it to soak and cool while I took a nap.
After my nap I switched my disk back out for the cup and set off to work. Another night of bending, stooping, jogging, and squatting and still no leaks. Once home I again gave it a good rinse with my peri bottle and headed to bed wondering if I would wake up to a mess now that my period was in full force.
Day 3
For the most part my routine seemed to be working just fine. However, I did come across an issue that I had not anticipated and that was the need to empty my cup in a public restroom. Not enjoying the idea of having to go through the process without a bathroom with a dedicated sink, I put off emptying my cup as long as possible hoping I could make it through my day without having to resort to the public restroom. Unfortunately about 9 hours in I felt the tell tale leak. In the restroom I washed my hands and filled my peri bottle at the sink before heading to the stall. While was able to remove my cup and give it a decent rinse my fingers still had yuck that the capacity of my peri bottle just couldn't remove. I then used some toilet paper to remove as much of the remainder as possible but was not keen on having to leave the privacy of the stall with any trace of my aunt flo on my hand but I sucked it up and headed to the sinks to remove the remainder of the residue from around and under my nails. I definitely am not a fan of having to deal with emptying my menstrual cup in public.
Days 4 and 5
After having to navigate emptying my Diva Cup in public on day 3, days 4 and 5 went pretty smoothly. It was nice to not have to worry about if I needed to switch absorbency as my period began to lighten and fade away.
Overall, I would say that the Diva Cup worked well once I got the hang of how to get it inserted and sealed correctly. While I did notice a slight increase in the frequency of which I needed to pee it was not so much that it was annoying. Until I can get my hands on a fully reusable disk I will definitely continue to be using the Diva Cup.
Comments
Post a Comment