Diva Cup aficionado here - but not until I read on one of the “cup” boards of the suggestion to turn it inside out if you have a problem with the stem sticking you. For some reason, that one little trick made several problems immediately disappear - including not getting it to sit right consistently, and leaking. I have no idea how just turning it inside out cured that, but there it is. Now it works perfectly every time. Yeay!
Bibby
Inside out? I didn’t even know it could do that.
Ok, I need a little more explanation here. I read this and said, ooh, maybe that will fix the issues I’ve had, but…you put it in inside out? I tried and that seems even less likely to hold its shape, but maybe I’m reading you wrong?
This thread happened to come up at the right time for me to give it another shot. I’m still not sure that it’s worth the struggle yet.
I’m the one who was mentioned earlier in the thread as having to use pliers to remove their cup the first time. What I learned is what has been mentioned here already: you have to PUSH. You bear down like you’re having a bowel movement, then you pinch the bottom, which deforms the cup and breaks the seal. If you just try to grab it and pull out it won’t come out. I also find that pulling forward and down rather than straight down helps a lot.
Two weeks isn’t long enough to make a zombie, is it?
I finally tried my Keeper Moon Cup! Am trying it now, in fact. It is hour one!
I’ve had the thing since April but have been too intimidated or lacking in privacy to give it a run. It looked huge, and I wasn’t convinced that any of the folds would “streamline” it enough to get all up there.
So finally I had an afternoon at home with the boyfriend away at work and “aunt flo” visiting, so I could take my time. I looked up this thread and practiced some folds from the livejournal group. After reading the pros and cons of stem-trimming I decided to split the difference and cut it halfway.
I washed and rinsed it well, leaving it a little damp, and attempted the “origami” fold, but really just ended up squishing it as much as possible and giving it a good shove. 
Standing with one foot on the tub seemed the best method, and byOg it worked! I couldn’t really tell if it had “sealed” or not, but I tugged slightly at the stem and felt around the bottom and it seemed open, so I figured it had done what it was going to do. Nothing to do but wait.
The first thing I noticed was that it felt a little “scrapey.” I correctly assumed that this was the cut end of the stem hitting precisely the wrong place just inside the labia minora. It didn’t hurt, really, so I decided to leave it to see if it repositioned or something. I had lunch (or dinner, I guess) and read the dope some more.
After that I got up and walked around and definitely had that scrapey, itchy feeling. This would not do. So I decided I might as well practice taking it out, and see how much I needed that bit of stem, anyway. I put my foot on the tub and tried pulling on the stem but it was too slippery. The bottom of the cup was easily reachable, so I grabbed onto that and pulled (bearing down). If it was moving at all, I couldn’t tell. So I remembered Ludy’s story and decided to try sitting down. Lo, with some bearing down and pulling on the bottom of the cup, it came right out!
It had been in for about half an hour, tops, and so there was NO fluid inside it at all, but there was (somewhat disconcertingly) some collected on the outside of the cup, underneath the rim. I wonder if that might be fluid that was already inside the canal and got pushed up - and/or down - with the insertion and removal? I washed it, trimmed the stem off entirely, and stuck it back in.
I’m going to try going the rest of the evening without a pad at all (Leaks? That’s what Shout is for) and see how it goes. I just got up and did a little jig and I couldn’t feel anything, so I figure that’s a good sign.
Yay! I did, by day 4 or so, snip off most of the stem on mine. I’m not entirely sure why there’s a stem at all - as far as I can tell it serves no actual purpose. Maybe it’s just an artifact of the manufacturing process or something?
Rachael Rage, I did have “stuff” on the outside of my cup throughout the cycle. Mostly it was clear mucus and/or whitish greyish stringy bits of…something. Looked like chalaezae - the white bits in a chicken’s egg that keep the yolk stable. Only once did I have red menstrual fluid on the outside, and it was after I’d had the cup out for a bit, so I think your hypothesis is quite likely.
One of the things I was amazed by is how *dark *menstrual fluid really is. On a pad, mine looks about the color of a red Crayola marker - very bright fire engine red. In the cup, it’s so dark it’s almost black! The reason it looks red on a pad must just be because it’s so dilute spread all over that white paper pulp.
I’ve owned a Keeper for a while, and have liked it, but discontinued use because it seemed like it was making my cramps worse. I believe I mentioned this on a previous Diva Cup thread, and someone said that was common.
Does anyone know if that’s common for all insertion methods (tampons, Keeper, Diva Cup, Instead, others if there are some)? Other than the Keeper I’ve only used pads on a regular basis.
I use the DivaCup. When I have cramps (pretty rare), I often switch to tampons, which somewhat relieves them. So, I would say that tampons do not cause/worsen cramps. YMMV.
I don’t know, but you may want to try a different cup. The Keeper is large and firm, most of the other cups are smaller and softer and you might have better luck?
Indeed, yay! 
Now I can definitively say that the Dope changed my life! I had not even heard of menstrual cups (or I had and just dismissed them, or something) until I stumbled across one of the DivaCup threads. I wish I had done this ten years ago - think of the money I’d have saved! I guess I’ll work on convincing my little sister now.
Er, that is assuming I’ll still love it many cycles from now. I know some people tried it for a few months and weren’t thrilled, so that could be me. I was over the moon (heh) about Instead about a decade ago, but after one too many slip-sploosh-Carrie-at-the-prom incidents I had to give them up (plus I didn’t like the plastic trash). Hopefully this will be more successful.
I’ve been weaning myself off disposables since April when I first got (but didn’t use) the cup. In the same shopping trip I got a 3-pack of GladRags to be my backup until I could get used to the Keeper. Since then I’ve existed solely on those GladRags and a handful of leftover tampons and pads, so even though this is only Hour Two of the Keeper, I haven’t bought any pads or tampons in almost six months. One of the reasons I decided to try it this cycle was that I didn’t want to break down and buy another box of anything. Crossing fingers!
Good to know. This was all red, no white. No leaks as of now, so I won’t worry about it.
I dunno, mine has always looked pretty black. I just figured that since I have a light flow it must be extra-concentrated or something. (I can’t wait for one of the guys to chime in with a :eek: response about now).
I can’t answer this, but I noticed just now that I felt a little crampy, and I rarely suffer from cramps at all. However I think it’s just my body adjusting to this new object, or could be entirely psychosomatic, for all I know. I’ll report if it continues.
Oh I meant to add my “me too” on the white-stuff-on-the-outside bit. That’s normal. Sometimes a little bit of blood, too, but it isn’t usually a problem, because it’s not enough to drip down and out.
Alas, it appears I have resurrected this thread only for me. Oh well, one last report for any other cup neophytes that stumble by…
Last night (after about six hours with the cup) I had a little bit more difficulty removing than the first time. I had a hard time getting a grip on the cup itself - too slippery. But I dug in with my fingernails while bearing down hard and I could finally grab it. At the same time, I had to try to give it a twist to break the seal, since merely pinching the bottom of the cup didn’t do the trick.
There was hardly anything in there, but I thought I might as well wear it overnight, to see how it went, so I washed and re-inserted. This time I did have to give it a twist before it popped open, but that wasn’t too tough.
Overnight, no problems at all. I felt sexy not wearing a pad to bed! 
In the morning, it was even harder this time to reach it, it seemed to have settled a bit farther back overnight, but again bearing down brought it within reach. I had an even harder time getting a grip on it though, so I had to bear down with some force and dig in hard with the tip of my index finger and thumb. Again, simply squeezing the cup wasn’t enough to break the seal, and I couldn’t reach in far enough to catch the rim. However, once I dug in, bore down, squeezed, wiggled, and managed to give it a slight turn, it came out. It was a bit of a workout. I don’t think I’d want to try it in a public toilet.
Once again, it was for all intents and purposes empty, so I don’t know how much of a mess it might have been had it been full! But then again it might have been easier to remove. In any case, it really didn’t seem worth putting in again if I had essentially stopped bleeding, so I am using a GladRag today. In this case I sort of wished that my periods were longer than 24-36 hours, but there’s always next month.
I can see now why it might be a good idea to try it a couple of times before trimming the stem. I might have ended up doing so anyway - I don’t know how I could have stood the poking - but it takes some effort to reach the cup itself and the stem may have helped. Oh well! It should only get easier from here, right?
Two tips: First, pull forward and not down.
Second, when you put your fingers in to grab it, keep them pressed tightly together so that they’re still dry, and sort of slide them onto the cup. Then you don’t have as much natural lube between your fingers and the cup, and it’s not a slippery to grab.
You know, I tried the Diva, and I could not make it work. I had a constant sensation of pressure that was not painful, but was unpleasant - kind of bloated and constipated feeling. Even when I trimmed the stem all the way off and did away with the perpetual poking sensation, the pressure was too uncomfortable and I chucked my Diva in the trash.
This thread was well timed - it reminds me to put in an order for sea sponges to be ready for my next period. They really have been the best solution for me, now that the naughty bits are too sensitive for tampons.
First off, let me say that threads like this make me grateful I don’t have to deal with menstruation any longer (what with having had a hysterectomy and all).
But boy can I empathize on the “Stuck Sponge Syndrome”. When hubby and I were first dating (about 24 years ago, thankyewverymuch), the Sponge was our birth control of choice. Twice, mine got stuck.
Thankfully (very, very thankfully), I never had to ask my Mom for help. But both times, my now-husband-then-boyfriend had to retrieve it. We referred to these episodes as “spelunking”.
Oh yes, that reminds me, I also got a tampon stuck when I was 16 and my mom had to pull it out. Yikes. It’s amazing what you can endure when you’re panicking about TSS. And I’m still really annoyed with the GYN who was offering advice over the phone. The problem was I used a super tampon toward the end of my period, and it was still really dry. Reflecting on it now, I realize she could have just had us use one of those baby nasal aspirators or something to squirt some water into the thing and make it much easier to get out.