Cramps

A while ago I posted about how much I love my Diva Cup. Well, I have something else to add. I don't get cramps anymore. That's right, none. This has nothing to do with using the Diva Cup and everything to do with NOT using normal store bought pads and tampons. I don't even know when my period is coming. I used to get really bad cramps for the first two days of my cycle. I would always know when I was going to get it. Now I don't and I have some personal, very non-scientific evidence as to why that is.

I started getting my period at the age of 10. The first time I got it, I had no cramping and after that I always had pretty bad cramping for the first two days. I had to take Advil every 6 hours for two days. Fast forward to my first child. I discovered the Diva Cup when he was a few months old and it took a while to get the hang of it so I always used a pad with it until the last two months or so. I only used it alone for a couple of months, then I got pregnant with my daughter and did not have to worry about periods for a while. After I had her, I used pads for a few months until I decided to go back to the Diva Cup. While using pads I had my normal cramping. After three months of using ONLY the Diva Cup, I stopped getting cramps.

At first I thought this was a fluke. Just a one month thing, then it happened again and again and I remembered that many of the women that reviewed it on Amazon, said that they had no or less cramping then before. That was not proof enough for me though. I started taking an exercising class that required me to where a pad for um "leaks" (women who have had children know what I mean). I used normal brand name pads. That month I got cramps. Really bad ones. I went out and bought the natural organic pads and threw away the others. This month, no cramps, not one. To be honest, this pisses me off. So for years I had really painful bad cramps and they were caused by my PADS??? As I said before, this is in no way scientific, just my own experience. And I grantee there will never be any research put toward this idea. Who would pay for it? But I will say that my daughter will never use "normal" pads or tampons. I will pay the extra money for the natural ones for her.

Ode to my Diva cup

**Warning: This entry deals with gross TMI topics.**

I love my Diva Cup. It has to be the smartest $30 I have ever spent. But I have not always been a convert; no I am a very recent devotee of the Cup. It all started when I was reading a chat board and came across some posts about Diva Cups. I had no idea what this was so I looked it up on Metacrawler. The Diva cup is a menstrual cup made in Canada. It is a small cup (imagine a tulip shape) made of silicone that is put in your vagina to catch menstrual blood. Every 4-12 hours (depending on flow) you take it out, dump it in the toilet, wash it in the sink and put it back in. Well this looked interesting but I put it out of my mind and went about my life. Pads were what I have always used and I saw no reason to change.

Then, after I had my son, I stopped in a local store that sold cloth diapers. I came across the Diva Cup. I talked to the store owner who said that she loved hers. I asked how long the cup lasts and she said 10 years. I was amazed. That is 10 years of not having to buy tampons or pads. That makes the $30 worth it. This is what sold me at first, then I started using it. Menstrual cups have a wide learning curve very much like cloth diapers. It took me two and a half full cycles to get the hang if it and no longer need pads at all, but once I got the hang of it, I fell in love. My cycle is fairly even medium flow for 4 days then tapers off. I only need to empty the cup every 12 hours. This is wonderful! I no longer have to change pads in the middle of the night, or when I am out and about at the store or mall. I don’t have to worry when I am at a park with no trash can to put my garbage in. I only think about it when I get up in the morning and before I go to bed. I also love that clean feeling. No more slimy feeling down there. It is as if I am not on my period at all. You may wonder how this is any different from tampons; I hate tampons because they always feel so big to me (even the smallest size), they dry me out, when I take it out it chafes me and I hate when you pee and the string gets wet, so gross. I have none of those problems with a cup. I even cut off the little stem on the bottom of the cup so I don’t feel it at all. I also should point out that you no longer need to worry about carrying extra pads or tampons with you. If you already have the cup in you don’t need to bring anything and if you don’t, the cup is small and comes with a little bag that fits in a purse. Best of all I an reducing my foot print on the earth by reducing the amount of waste I produce.

Now just to be fair, menstrual cups are not a new idea, they have been around since the 1920s. There are many different kinds that come in many different sizes but mostly the same shape. There is one that is made in the US called a Moon Cup. I bought a Diva because that is what the store sold. I don’t like ordering on-line if I don’t have to but you can order any cup, from any country, on-line. I also should point out that the package for the Diva says that it lasts one year. All of the other cups say 10 and I was told the Diva used to say 10 but the health laws in Canada now require them to say 1 year. I see no reason why a silicone cup can’t last 10 years. If you have problems with your cup I would say keep trying and look up any questions on the internet. Diva did not come with very good directions so I had to find my answers on-line but it was worth the effort. My Diva is super easy to use now, super cheap, and I no longer dread that time of the month. I even converted my mom. He he he.