Man, there needs to be a TMI warning on this thread title. I had no idea WTF a DivaCup was when I walked in here, but now I will NEVER forget.
Maybe we should put it in the SDMB glossary.
“Warning–lady fluids ment.”
Every DivaCup thread has some hapless male that must come in and make a big deal out of it. Welcome to the club!
You know, I very nearly put a TMI warning on the thread title, and then figured the men of the SDMB were mature enough to handle it if they accidentally wandered in.
So I was wrong. Sue me. 
I’m pretty curious now. How many of you have cut the stem on your cup? Have you cut the whole thing off or just part of it? I’m part of the menstrual_cups community on Livejournal, and sometimes it seems like I’m the only one who has found the cup still comfortable without cutting the stem.
Thanks for all the answers! This is a fantastic invention. I’m off to find one asap.
I just finished up my second cycle with one. I had problems the first cycle with leaking because it got too full on my heaviest days. I did MUCH better with it this last cycle.
It was wonderful beyond words to get through an entire cycle without once waking up in the morning with drenched undies, PJs and sheets. :eek:
I kept getting poked, so I’d trim it a little. It was still pokey, so now the stem is all gone. Now it’s only pokey if it’s in there wrong.
Well, at least I didn’t run away screaming “ICKY ICKY ICKY!” 
I took a little of the stem off. It had been poking my labia, and I don’t take it out by the stem anyway.
Story time: I converted my roommate to DivaCup awesomeness last year after using it for about a year myself. Yesterday a friend asked her if she could borrow a tampon, and she handed her the entire left-over box and said how she didn’t need them anymore. Later she realized, the friend probably thinks that roommate is pregnant or infertile or something now. Whoops!
Love it love it love it.
I’ve been using mine for about 3 years now. It’s awesome. To remove, I use my middle finger and thumb to grab, and my middle finger is easily long enough to get far enough to push against it to break the seal and partially fold it. It’s meant to “ride low” so I think that if I weren’t able to reach it without the stem or I had to depend on tugging alone to break the seal, it’s either riding too high or I’m being too squeamish (over the course of the day when I pee I tug it back down to keep it in place).
It’s glorious to only need to empty my bathroom trash pail every 3000 years or so, and then it’s all toilet paper tubes, razor blades, and subscription-postcards from magazines.
Awesome invention…don’t really need it any more (Mirena period-free fabulousness) but I always have it handy just in case.
I liked it much better when I stopped folding it into quarters and started doing the poke-down method to get it in, I just couldn’t get it to open up easily otherwise. I also cut the stem all the way off.
You may not have, but my husband did when I explained to him what I was now using for my period :D.
Okay - so removal wasn’t totally smooth, but it wasn’t bad. I need to figure out how to stay a little…ummm…cleaner? It certainly could’ve been worse. And I’m sure with practice, I’ll get better at it - getting it out wasn’t anything, it was the cleanup that took a good ten minutes (although I didn’t make a mess - it was just trying to figure out what I was doing.)
I haven’t, but it works well enough with the stem in that I wouldn’t want to bother with such a good thing. Besides, the stem is pretty darned short on mine to start with-- why would I want to trim it off completely?
Y’know, y’all make this DivaCup thing sound so good, I almost feel like ordering one myself.
‘Course, I couldn’t use it as originally designed what with having the outy bits an’ all, but something that good must have some uses a guy could appreciate.
Maybe mount it on a stick and use it to change high light bulbs, or retrieve golf balls, or something.
What would Red Green do? I’ll have to think on that…
I’ve been wanting to try this out, but I only have my period once every 3-4 months (I think my last one was in … :: thinks :: … August) so I keep forgetting to order one. I should get one now, while it’s on my mind.
What is the pokedown method? I fold it in quarters, like the little paper said, and sometimes end up leaking when it doesn’t open right. Not enough that I don’t absolutely love my Diva, but still.
Also, the stem only pokes me if I’ve got it in wrong, and helps me get it out when it migrates further up than I expected. So my stem is still all there.
Okay…another update. Can I just say that I am on my second day of my period, and thanks to the Aleve for my cramps from this morning - I have pretty much forgotten that I have my period right now??? That never, ever happens. Between cramps and tampons, I never feel very well the first few days - which makes me think that the tampons have been contributing to my cramps because Aleve usually takes the edge off, but they’re still pretty painful - and right now, they are non-existent.
I do have the suction thing right because I hear a ‘pop’ when I take it out, and holy crap - this thing rocks. The ONLY thing right now is emptying it, but I’m getting better at it - this morning only took a couple of minutes. And it’s a little odd coming out - I can’t seem to get it to come out at a comfortable angle, but I think that’ll change as I practice a little more, too.
Call me a DivaCup convert, too!
What? You been taking elucidator lessons or something?
Anyway, in regard to the Divacup, I’m curious as to whether or not it would function well for birth control. Since no one has commented on it as such I’m suspecting not but just thought I’d ask.
The instructions that come with it specifically say that it is not to be used for birth control, and to remove it prior to intercourse. As mentioned upthread, it doesn’t interfere with, um, manual stimulation, but I can’t speak to anything beyond that.