I have tried natural sponges. Some people say that they leak when you sneeze. No really. But that has not happened to me.
Inserting instead is similar to inserting/removing a diaphragm, at least according to them. I have never used a diaphragm, and therefore lack firsthand knowledge.
I too am a keeper user and have been since about 2000 as well. The biggest thing for me is the amount of money I’ve saved over the years on tampons. You make up the price of Keeper in about three months and they last 10 years.
I have had leaking issues with it but find that sometimes it has more to do with not giving it a little twirl and making sure the vacuum seal action is working than anything else.
Also you can put the keeper in before you actually get your period so if you know the day you’ll get it you can avoid any of the mess.
I leave my keeper in while I’m at work all day and then just empty it when I get home so it’s actually easier in my opinion as you don’t have to bring supplies with you. But I do agree that it gets a little hairy when you have to use a public bathroom.
I started out using thin pads and used them until about 9th grade. I now use cardboard-applicator tampons.
The thing that suprised me when I read this thread was the amount of brand loyalty. I’ve always used store-brand tampons. I guess it never really occured to me that one brand would be that different from another.
I tried the OB applicatorless tampons when I started using tampons, but I found them hard to use. I may give them another try, as a lot of posters use them.
Well Guess I have to be the cheap doper.
Equate Overnight pads.
Long have I wished for the disposable pad. I have heard of the keeper, but I have never ordered one. Lo, and Look, a link for glad rags!(angels sing)
I think I might cry:D
Store brand tampons? Eek! I hate Tampax enough (they get too long and then they leak!) and they are, I think, the cheap end of branded ones. I’m okay with the Kotex ones, though they’re not as good as the OBs. I may be stuck, though, because once my OBs are gone, they’re gone for good. sob I’ve tried applicatorless tampons and just couldn’t get them to work, and not because I’m scared to stick my fingers up there – the angles just don’t work for me barefingered, don’t ask me why.
I’m rather fond of the Velcro-winged Kotex pads; the wings don’t come unstuck and get wedged in uncomfortable places and cease to function to protect the edges of my underwear.
On the other hand, I hate those velcro wings!!! To me, they work the same as if the pad didn’t have any wings! they don’t stay in place, and the pad ends up moving to the middle and thus my panties end up stained on the sides. No thanks!
I prefer Always, but I’ve found that Target-brand pads are the cheap version of Always, and they work just as well for me. Yay!!
In other related news… I wish to know why I changed from a regular 28 cycle to a regular 21 cycle.
Huh. Well, as anybody who reads this thread can see, there is a widevariety of opinions about this sort of thing. I don’t like the feel of the Always covers very much, though their ultra-ultra thin pads are pretty nice otherwise.
I’ve used both, and I find that inserting Instead is pretty much exactly like inserting a diaphragm.
I’m a mixed user. I like Instead for overnights when I’m really heavy. I often insert a tampon after the Instead (because I’m really heavy those first few days.) I couple both Instead and tampons with a pad because no matter what I use, I have leaks after half an hour to an hour.
I hadn’t tried OB tampons for years until I read this thread a few months ago. After hearing the glowing reviews here I decided to give them another try. I love them, and now won’t use any other type of tampon! So a hearty thanks to the women of SDMB!
I’m also very fond of the velcro wings! Yea velcro! No more having the wings come unstuck from where they are supposed to be and having them get stuck to where they are most emphatically not supposed to be!
[hijack]Ok. This guard really does not get the idea behind feminine hygiene:
http://www.thestarpress.com/articles/3/015553-4673-004.html
And this is just sad:
http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/66381/1/
[/hijack]
Back on topic, here is an ad for disposable panties:
Okay my Keeper came in, and I want to make sure I’m using this thing right. I cut the little stem down, but is it supposed to stick out, or be completely tucked up in there? Any other helpful tips you ladies can give me?
Well, the web site says the pull-tab should be “at the entrance.” So it probably ought to stick out a little bit. . . .
Good luck
Have any UK dopers tried the Libresse Bodyform micro pantyliners? I read a review of them and am now curious. But they don’t sell anything like that here in the US.
Wow, you mean people actually throw stained underwear away? I thought that was just a TV commecial gimmick thing.
A little hydrogen peroxide on panties, pants, shirts, bedsheets, whatever. Works wonders. Never thrown away anything because of stains, since.
After dealing with the rigors of childbirth and the messy aftermath, I’ve decided to invest in some goddess rags a friend of mine makes and sells. I saw an Instead on clearance at the market, but didn’t get it, not knowing when I’d be back in the ‘cycle’ again (which of course then happened a couple of weeks later).
I don’t know when I first got my period … I really don’t remember, but I was anxious for it. I also wore a bra a lot earlier than necessary just because I could ;).
Used pads for a long time. Eventually moved to tampons, then I just used whatever was cheap.
Unlike most of the posters here, I was pretty heavy, but I only cycled a few times a year, mostly in the fall. By the time I was seventeen, I was regularly missing days of school because I would black out from the pain and/or be severely exhausted and sleep for days. Finally went to the doctor after 21 days straight of bleeding.
The diagnoisis? Fibroids (I saw the ultrasound and the junk in my ute). The “cure”? The pill. Funny because he had to call my mom and tell her he was prescribing them (though if I’d listened to him and paid attention, I could have “asked” for them instead of being “prescribed” them and he wouldn’t have had to call her. But I wasn’t worried about her being upset - I knew my sister had been on them, too).
I’d get the clot things, but eventually that stopped (because of the pill? who knows). I haven’t had that in years (excluding post-partum expulsions).
I was on and off the pill for years, my cycle was lighter for a while, but my moods were worse … eventually I swore it off and we figured if our other precautions didn’t work, oh well. (Then I found out I had PCOS, explaining the odd cycles, etc, and why it was taking so long to get pregnant. Oh, and somewhere along the way I found out I was mis-diagnosed with fibroids - my ute was clear. I suppose I just had a lot of junk backed up when I was first diagnosed).
So, what did I use before I decided to switch? Whatever was handy. I liked Always with wings, I liked most tampons. I was really tired once and put one in w/o removing the other (found it a couple of days later) and managed to not die.
Eventually, I got tired of the tampons extending my cycle (plugging me up … I’d get a huge gush after pulling one out), and would use pads during the day and nothing at night (I stopped flowing heavily at night) and just made a beeline for the bathroom first thing in the morning. I wouldn’t use pads at night becuase I got tired of the diaper rash (sweat overpowered the effects of dri-weave). I’d use a tampon for one or two of the last days to help alleviate the diaper rash problem.
Helping with cramps … Vibrator was always good for it, also have a vibriating pillow (on my lower back at work), or uncooked rice in a sock nuked in the microwave for 2 min. Excercise always seemed to up my flow and clean things out faster. Also sipping hot tea all day long.
Old pads and new … we had the old ones at summer camp (I was a counsellor at sleep away camp in 1993) by the case … used them for torches. We’d wrap them around a stick, soak them in some flammable liquid, and ignite them. March around and then light the nightly campfire with them. New ones were standard by the time it was my time (Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret puzzled me for years) and my favorite comment about them from an unnamed male friend was “Oh, the sticky side attaches to the panties”. Stopped getting stuck on them when I finally invested in a package of saftey razors. Makes cycling so much less sloppy.
Applied externally
Sticky side down. LOL.
A band name even.
I would hope so.
I had visions of home-made tampons … hot dry rice rolled in a handkerchief …
I bet you would crunch every time you stood up or sat down.
Put me down as another Keeper convert! In fact it was Shurley Ujest’s original thread that convinced me to give it a try.
I started with pads but grew to hate wearing what amounted to a diaper and the inevitable icky feeling when you stand up and everything comes gushing down.
I switched to tampons (Tampax mostly) and that was better but I still felt icky/crampy all the time during my period. Plus I was going through a big box a month of Supers. Talk about expensive.
I’m so glad I decided to try the Keeper. No more icky/crampy feelings! It does take some trial and error to get the placement right the first few months and you cannot be at all squeamish about blood on your hands. For me though the early troubles were worth it because I no longer dread getting my period. I can’t imagine going back to tampons. I’ve even already bought the larger “post-childbirth” size so I won’t be without when Tally-Hubby and I finally have kids.
Tally
Question about the post-childbirht keeper … what if you had a c-section? I’m trying to figure out which I should try.