Warning, this is a brutally honest review of a menstruation
cup. Content may not be suitable for those uncomfortable with their body and
its functions.
I am a woman who has a heavy period. For at least the first
two days of my cycle, I go through a super tampon every 45 minutes. I have
never cared for pads, for I just deal with the frequent trips to the bathroom
throughout the day.
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| Dutchess Cup comes with 2 reusable cups |
At night, I use 3 super tampons at once, then get up in the
middle of the night to change them. Sometimes I have to do this twice a night…that
is nine super tampons just to get through the night.
Needless to say, this uncomfortable. I experience crapping
due to the tampons and I frequently bleed through my pants. Not to mention, I
have a bathroom trash can full of bloody tampons, which comes with its own
issues.
Every cycle I go through 40 plus super tampons.
After 25 years of menstruating, I started looking for a new
solution. I Googled “tampon alternative,” and that is how I learned about menstrual
cups. I asked around and found that only one of the women I know uses a
menstrual cup.
Based on her recommendation, I decided to bite the bullet
and try it out for myself. I went to Amazon and bought the Dutchess Cup. I got
the size A, which is the bigger cup, suitable for women who have had children
or are over 25. I am both.
Day one, I opened the box and read the very simple
instructions. Mostly, I looked at the picture of how to fold the cup to make it
small enough for insertion.
The material is silicone based, so it is very flexible, but
still strong. The cup itself fits in the palm of my hand. You insert it just
enough to hide the whole thing, pull nubby and all, maybe 2.5 inches.
I was able to insert it on the first try. I was worried that
it didn’t unfold all the way, so I wiggled it a little from the pull nubby. Then,
off to my son’s soccer game…of which I am a coach, so no bathroom breaks for me.
Ladies! Let me tell you, I forgot that I had my period. I was
so comfortable and had zero feelings of impending leakage. I came home from soccer
and was still fine. That first cup lasted almost five hours. I could feel a
slight difference and so I decided that I might be full, sure enough I was.
Now, taking the cup out for the first time was a bit harder
than putting it in. The cup had a pretty tight suction going on, so I had to
pull harder than I had anticipated, which made me a little nervous, but once it
started to move a little, I yanked it right out.
Unfortunately, that first yank was not the best idea. When
the cup popped out, it sprayed blood everywhere. If I am ever murdered, my
husband is definitely going to jail, because that bathroom had tiny blood splatters
everywhere.
My second attempt at taking the cup out went much better. My
suggestion for a clean removal is to pull the nubby until the cup is about half
way out, then grab the cup and pull it the rest of the way out slowly.
I dumped the cup out into the toilet and rinsed it in the
sink with hot water. Put it back in place and washed my hands. The more I did
it over the course of my cycle, the better I got at it.
On my heaviest flow day, overnight I had to empty in the
middle of the night once. That next morning, I did experience a very small
leak, but it was because my baby daughter prevented me from getting to the
bathroom. I could feel the sensation of being too full and needing to empty,
but I couldn’t get away in time. That being said, the leak was a teaspoon or
so, not the half cup I am used to.
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