I love the OB non-applicator tampons, but find it awkward to put them in, so have switched to the OB applicator ones. They’re great. And they make an Ultra absorbency, which I need these days, PLUS a pad – Og, I hate approaching menopause, I never knew you could bleed like this much of a stuck pig – and I use the Always with wings, too.
That Keeper looks interesting. At this point, however, I figure I’ve probably only got another year or two of this tsouris and then hopefully it will be OVER.
A pads (with wings) girl here…
I’m not exactly large inside, so if I use a tampon that is absorbant enough to be worthwhile, it is a #*#(*$# to get out. Feels like I’m ripping my insides out. If I use one that’s easy to remove, I either have to change it every 30 minutes and/or I have problems with leakage.
So I use the Always ultra-thin overnights (green club/shamrock making on package). Don’t even notice they’re there most of the time.
<< BUFFERS=20 FILES=15 2nd down, 4th quarter, 5 yards to go! >>
One more question about the Keeper…
according to the site, you get used to the feeling after a while. But I know how uncomfortable it is when you don’t put a tampon in properly. So how do you possibly get used to having the Keeper in?
I started my period when I was 9. It REALLY SUCKED!
My mom was very much an old fashioned woman who had never used a tampon, and was convinced, incorrectly of course, that you had to lose your virginity to be able to use a tampon.
Nevertheless, as curious as I was as a teen to try a tampon, I did not until I did lose my virginity and boy was I a convert to tampons after thar. I had so many leaks and accidents through out my young school years that I vowed my little girl would not suffer as I had. She will be educated. The keeper looks cool, but Im somewhat squemish and worried about putting it in wrong. I tried Instead but didn’t have much success.
I used the Keeper for about three months.
Let me tell you, it was risky business for me. First off all, it’s hell getting in. The last thing you feel like doing when you’re bleeding and bloated is to repeatedly jam an upside-down plunger into you. Then, once it’s in you have to be sure its oriented the right way. If it’s not flush with your vaginal walls, you can get leakage.
The leakage! OMG, when that thing leaks, it LEAKS. The Keeper is like a little bowl that collects all of your secretions. Leaks from tampons or pads are usually drops that don’t have a chance to be absorbed. Leaks from the Keeper are overflow spillage. So when you leak, you really LEAK. To make it all the more TMI, leakage increases when your colon is full. Which happens a lot when I’m on my period.
It’s so messy taking out that you have to wait until you get home. Once I couldn’t go home and I had to use the school restroom. When it was over and done with, it looked like someone had been murdered. And I still ended up leaking by the time I made it home. 
The Keeper was much harder to use than I thought it would be. You have to be really knowledgeable of your anatomy and comfortable with blood to use it. But YMMV.
I use pads. The large, chunky Kotex overnights(with velcro wings if I can find it) I carry two tampons for emengencies, but I hate them. They hurt and they leak.
Of course, the Patch has reduced my blood flow to nearly nothing, so I think a tampon would be dangerous.
Kotex max-pads w/ wings for the first day or two, then tampons and a liner afterwards. For some reason, the ones with the velcro wings are hard to find. Popular, I guess.
I loved how the Always pads kept my drawers clean, but I had to give them up due to the constant, incredibly annoying chafing. Ugh.
I still get the odd stain or leakage with the Kotex but they’re much more comfortable.
I have two friends who used the Keeper and both of them gave it up due to the difficulties described above.
So far two for, three against the Keeper.
When I started have adherence problems I opted for the lowest absorbancy I could find - which is a little like going into McDonald’s and attempting to order a small anything. They just aren’t geared to servicing the need for “less” instead of “more”.
I should also point out that some of the allergy medicines I take can reduce mucus secretion not only in the nose and sinuses, but everywhere. And even without them I tend to be a bit “dry” on the mucus membranes regardless of location. So that may or may not have had anything to do with it.
Yes, pads, are uncomfortable at times and can chafe. However, having to pry cotton tenaciously gripping from one’s intimate places is not fun, either.
When I started have adherence problems I opted for the lowest absorbancy I could find - which is a little like going into McDonald’s and attempting to order a small anything. They just aren’t geared to servicing the need for “less” instead of “more”.
I should also point out that some of the allergy medicines I take can reduce mucus secretion not only in the nose and sinuses, but everywhere. And even without them I tend to be a bit “dry” on the mucus membranes regardless of location. So that may or may not have had anything to do with it.
Yes, pads, are uncomfortable at times and can chafe. However, having to pry cotton tenaciously gripping from one’s intimate places is not fun, either.
Morelin, the former toxic shock problems of tampons have been virtually eliminated by changing the fibers used in them. I haven’t heard of a single case for many years now. So the major reason to not use tampons if you have low flow is discomfort getting them out. Nothing worse than pulling a dry tampon out!
Pads girl here.
I prefer tampons, actually. Then I read an article (veracity unchecked as yet) that mentioned the cotton in tampons is bleached with dioxin. The article went on to advise that dioxin is not great stuff to put up your privates, so I quit using tampons… they really aggravated cramping, too.
So I switched to pads. But man, leak city, no matter what absorbency I use. Actually, I use the super-huge night absorbency ones all the time, and even switching them every few hours isn’t enough. Night-time, forget it. Have ruined countless sheet sets.
I admire the ecological benefits of The Keeper, but HOLY COW! Sticking a toilet plunger-type thing up there? No, thanks. 
Mrs. Furthur
Uch, I don’t even want to think about that ** Mama Tiger**. It was bad enough when I was a lifegard for three months and had to use them, with my normal flow(which even then was light, but I had just awful cramps). As light as it is now, half the tampons would be dry to barely touched.
Are there people here who do not wear pads as a back-up when they’re wearing tampons? If so, aren’t ya’ll scared? I know I’d be!
I didn’t start wearing tampons until my junior year in college, which is a damn shame because my teenagehood could have been much more pleasant.
I’ve tried everything you can get in a drugstore. Pads, Instead, various types of Tampons.
Still, when I plan (I’m in denial - it’s been 15 years, and I’m still in denial) I use Tampax Slender Regular during the day and sleep with a pad (or use Tampax Slender Regular… fifth grade health class half scared me into thinking that I would get TSS if I wore a tampon all the time, but if there isn’t a pad around, what am I going to do?)
Still, I don’t like pads, am not a fan of non-applicator tampons, and I might be weird, but Playtex is incredibly uncomfortable while I barely even notice Tampax.
I would try the Keeper - but seeing that I didn’t have any success at all with Instead, I’m guessing that won’t work either.
I’ve been thinking about trying the Keeper for a few months now, since I will be going back to getting my period soon. It’d be nice to hear more people’s experiences with them.
In the past, I’ve been a tampon girl all the way. Specifically, a Libra mini Ultra Fleur girl, the lightest and most comfortable tampon I’ve ever found. One does me all day 
I hate, hate, hate pads with a vengeance. Despise and detest them with a passion. Ugh. Not for me.
I have actually never worn the two together. It’s always one or the other. I was terrified of leakage and such the first month or two I was using tampons, but eventually I got used to it and now I can usually tell if there’s leakage.
And another note about pads: Part of the reason I like the Always w/ wings is because of the way they’re folded. A lot of pads have the wings folded under to the back, held together with one sticky strip, so you have to un stick the wings, peel off the normal sticky strip, stick the pad on then fold the wings under. And the wigns always end up sticking to each other or to the bottom of the pad. Always has the wings folded on top, so you just peel and stick the pad strip, then pull off the wing strip and fold 'em down and around. Sooo much easier. And Dri-Weave, people! (I luvs the Dri-weave.)
And I’ve still never worn a tampon at night. Not sure why, but I just don’t feel safe, I guess. I’m sure it’s safe and all (I have a friend who never wears underwear, so she’s solely a tampon girl all the way, obviously) but I just… don’t… eh, nah.
Regular, non deoderant, plastic applicator tampons.
I’m kinda weirded out that the feminine hygiene industry has women convinced they have smelly coochies that REQUIRE deoderant products. It makes no sense in the case of tampons, blood doesn’t really have a smell until it is exposed to air, tampons inside the body keep the blood in, what exactly is there to get stinky?
Well, that’s just my own little female hygiene soapbox
I used pads growing up and was so happy when I discovered tampons, no more nasty, thick pads and blood clots caught in the pubic hair (sorry any guys reading). I’m on the pill, so my period is blissfully light. 3 tampons a day and no pad needed at night, I just go without anything at night, never had a leak. I haven’t bought any type of pad or liner product in over 10 years. The pill is a beautiful thing for so many reasons.
I wear pads and tampons. both at the same time. The flow and clots can woosh right around a tampon, so going pad free is out of the question. Wearing a tampon helps stem the sudden gushes. Sometimes when I stand or sneeze, it is like my insides are coming out all at once. Tampons help keep the gushes contained until I can get in the bathroom and change my pad. I have had gushes that instantly overflowed a pad by itself.
I remember when I first got my period, all my mother had in the house were the old-fashioned kotex with belts. Imagine me, at 10 years old, terrified and angry about “becoming a woman” if this is what it meant, and having to wear what is basically a hard cotton tube from belly button to top of the ass crack, all held together by one of my mother’s old belts. Ugh!
I wore pads until I was sixteen. For years I had wanted to try tampons, but I was so virginal I had never touched myself and was afraid to. I wasn’t even sure where exactly the blood came from until I did eventually try to (and chicken out) insert a tampon. I used a mirror, and even called a friend to ask where exactly the tampon needed to go. In the course of looking in the mirror, I saw some blood and figured it out.
It was having my very first yeast infection at 16 that prompted me to finally use tampons. I had to insert the medicinal eggs for the yeast infection. I was terrified, but I had to do it because I was in pain. After that, it didn’t seem like such a big deal to use tampons.
So, I use Playtex tampons in the day (coupled with a panty liner if I’m wearing light coloured pants) and Always pads or nothing at night. (At night, laying in bed, I don’t usually bleed. So, sometimes I’ll just spread a particular towel under me before falling asleep.)
However, if I’m home on my first day, which is horribly heavy, I will use pads because I can use the washroom as often as I please and I have the idea that I shouldn’t hold back such a tidal wave.
I hate pads in the day. I want to change them every five minutes. I can’t stand the idea of blood being smushed up against my privates like that. I particularly dislike those “overnight” pads (reminiscent of the old-fashioned kotex) or anything with wings.