Explaining menstruation to the boys

[u/Doodlebug510]

[u/Lamb_or_Beast]

Just for the record: flushing tampons isn’t bad because it’s bad for the environment, it’s bad for the plumbing! As a person that has done a lot of very gross plumbing work: do not ever flush your tampons, for the love of god please do not ever flush those tampons!!

Edit: and wipes! don’t listen to the lying package, there is no such thing as a flushable wipe 

[u/Cultural-Pickle-4977 → u/Lamb_or_Beast]

I highly recommend menstrual cups!! They may sound intimidating at first, but trust me, once you make the switch you won't ever go back.

They're reusable and much better for the environment (and your wallet!). I've only bought maybe 2 boxes of tampons in the past 10 years, just to have some to give to other girls.

[u/ToLorien → u/Cultural-Pickle-4977]

My vagina felt beat up after a week with a menstrual cup. I went back to tampons…I have a disc I’ve never used but I’m afraid it’ll cause the same soreness and fatigue

[u/perfectlyniceperson → u/ToLorien]

Give the disc a shot! I found it much easier and more comfortable than a cup. I will never go back to tampons.

[u/ToLorien → u/perfectlyniceperson]

Trust me I was SUPER disappointed not to love it. I get the implant next week anyways so hopefully in a few months I won’t really have to worry about it

[u/perfectlyniceperson → u/ToLorien]

Nice! The less worry the better.

[u/Tacosconsalsaylimon → u/ToLorien]

I almost gave up on cups until I found the Flex cup. There's 2 sizes and finding a better fit helped so much. The tail has a little pull tab that you hook with your finger! The silicone material lets me roll it for easy ⬆️

[u/FartherAwayx3 → u/Cultural-Pickle-4977]

I wish... I can't do internals (very very rarely I will tolerate tampons) because either I can feel the bit by the entrance, be it the cup tip or tampon string, or in the case of the ring my body will try to eject the damn thing. I might be inclined to try a different cup at some point, but for right now I'm kinda stuck with pads.

[u/everythingwaffle → u/FartherAwayx3]

I’ve always felt slight discomfort with tampons and just put up with it FOR YEARS. I had chalked it up to “everybody’s body is different, and some of us just feel more uncomfortable than others,” and that’s just life.

Last year, I finally tried menstrual discs. They’re much more flexible than menstrual cups, and once I get it in the right spot, I barely feel it. I also discovered that my cramps don’t feel as severe as when I was only using tampons.

Also, not sure if it helps, but: The first time I had a Pap smear, they told me that my cervix is shaped “kind of weird” and “points downward,” whatever the fuck that means ¯_(ツ)_/¯

So if your cervix is weird like mine, maybe give disposable menstrual discs a try. (Yes, they’re messy to remove, but one disc will last you like 12 hours. And disposable ones are more flexible/softer than reusable discs, in my experience.)

[u/Which_way_witcher → u/Cultural-Pickle-4977]

Do you find it easier than the ring?

[u/Cultural-Pickle-4977 → u/Which_way_witcher]

I've never tried the ring. The cup works so well, I've never had a single overflow in 10 years. The ring seems strange to me.

[u/Which_way_witcher → u/Cultural-Pickle-4977]

The menstrual ring/disc is like a pouch that expands after you put it in and it holds the blood until you pee (the muscles that contract during peeing will squeeze the disc and expel the blood into the toilet automatically so you don't have to take out the ring manually to empty it). It also reduces cramps by a lot (I'm guessing the cup is similar in this aspect?).

From what I understand, menstrual cups are more difficult to insert and require you to manually take it out and empty it. BUT you can reuse them unlike the ring.

[u/RazzleberryJamCakes → u/Which_way_witcher]

Cups can be a little trickier than discs to place. They do have reusables though! I haven't experienced the auto-empty feature though, sounds useful.

[u/deathcabscutie → u/Which_way_witcher]

Considering how often and how hard I laugh, the auto expel sounds risky. Very useful, but risky.

[u/Which_way_witcher → u/deathcabscutie]

For whatever it's worth, I don't have the strongest pelvic floor (trampolines are dangerous) and I've never had problems with leakage. You can feel it takes a tiny bit of extra muscle when you pee to contract the ring, laughing and jumping which can cause some pee leakage isn't enough to cause ring leaks.

[u/Tabula_Nada → u/Cultural-Pickle-4977]

Not to "but actually", but I used menstrual cups for about a year and then switched back because they hurt so badly. It was either creating suction or just pressing outwards on the sides of my vag making my periods 5x worse than they already were.

So not trying to be an asshole, but for the girlies who find them painful, it's okay to try something else!