Stupid damn tampon!

The BBQ Pit
1

Will somebody please explain how a tampon can be leaking and when you take it out, its still all white?? I mean how on earth does the blood bypass the white cotton plug and slip out without even touching the damn tampon??

I’m 33 and I don’t have any children so I don’t have a gaping hole thats impossible to plug. I just don’t get it. This has infuriated me for years.

Doesn’t it seem like if blood is leaking out that the tampon would be full to capacity and overflowing? Now see, that I can understand.

(TMI warning) And what about clots? Today I went to the bathroom after inserting a tampon about an hour before and saw that the panty liner that I (thankfully) put on was all bloody. So I start yanking on the cord. Of course its all tight so I have to yank even harder all the time thinking “stupid damn tampon, if you want to be all leaky then just come the hell out!!!” I finaly get it out (after riping my vaginal lining to shit) and what do you think I saw?? A perfectly white, dry tampon with a clot stuck on the bottom.

So let me get this straight. A clot of blood was able to squish itself past a white absorbant tightly fiting tampon with out so much as leaving a dot of red? How on earth does that work?

Anyway I was so mad at it that I didnt put another one in.

I’ll show you, stupid tampon! I don’t need you see? You guys can just sit in the box and I won’t even use you! Ha! I win, you lose, tampon!

2

Are you sure you’re putting them in the right orifice?

3

I HATE that! You think it’s obviously SOAKED with blood, then pull it out and the damn thing’s spotless except for one itsy-bitsy little spot on one side.

//Jerry Seinfeld//

I mean, WHAT is UP with THAT?

//Jerry Seinfeld//

And what the hell was up with my period this month? I’m on the Pill so it usually only lasts 3-4 days. It lasted 6 1/2 this time AND came late, so I had a lovely few moments of “Oh, crap…hope I’m not pregnant”. And I was having bad cramps until it ended. So I’m not sure what was up with that.

I hate being a girl sometimes.

Good rant.

Ava

4

Change brands, really. I swear that there are some brands designed to make you use more by designing the string in such a manner that the fluid gets to it first, then works its way through the middle of the tampon, leaving the tampon clean and neat, yet allowing the ruin of underwear. I don’t use Tampax brand for this reason.
Or maybe it’s a conspiracy by the underwear manufacturers.

5

Lsura, it is tampax!!

Avabeth, tell me about it. And while i’m at it why do my periods come anywhere from 11 to 32 days apart. You know period, its a tad hard to plan things when I have no idea when you are going to arrive.

6

IMO, Tampax evil-- if you use OB or either of a couple groovy organic ones I get you’ll note that it’s about half as long but denser-- you can kind of pull the string side-to side before using it to flare out the end a bit, ad push the tip in to make the cotton expand a bit, and they not not do that wicking thing like that, honest to God. Whenever I have to buy tampax or another of the same form-factor I have this exact problem.

7

I realize that this question is terribly insulting to your intelligence, and I hope you realize that I am only asking this to help, and that I can’t see you or know how alert you are to this potential problem. I am also not sufficiently familiar with Tampax to know whether this is a silly question:

There wasn’t an applicator still on it, was there?

8

Now Nametag, it says right in the instructions to remove the applicator after insertion.
It also reminds you to remove the old one before inserting the new.
:smiley:
Bad part about it is, that this must have been an issue for someone somewhere otherwise the warning wouldn’t be there.

When I was still having a period it was only towards the end of the cycle that I would have the issue of the pristine tampon. Still a enough for a tampon, but for some reason it would bypass.
As stated it very well could be the brand.
I was also a Tampax user.

9

Always use OB! Applicator or non-applicator, whichever you prefer, but you will not have this problem with them. I can’t stand to use another brand these days!

10

Yes, yes yes. OB, OB, OB.

That always happened to me with Tampax. Or the “generic” brand that you have to pay a quarter for in the restroom of your office building (restaurant, store). It’s never happened with OB. They are somehow denser, more absorbent, and not as long.

11

So, while we’re on the TMI thing…

I’ve switched to the Instead cup. They kind of leave you feeling like you slaughtered a pig in your bathroom until you get used to changing them, but gone are the days of messy pads, torn vaginal walls and pristine tampon syndrome. They also are good for up to 12 hours between changes. Wonderful little things they are. It also seems (to me - YMMV) that my period doesn’t last as long with them. I’m down to about four days per cycle where before I was going 5-6 days.

I’ll never go back to shoving a wad of cotton up there.

12

I’ll stick to super-flat Always with wings, thanks. So thin you can barely feel it.

13

OMG! you mean it doesn’t shrink back to more or less pre-baby size and that there’s just thus huge, gaping, cavernous maw in women who have had kids?! :eek: How do they absorb their period flow? They must have to cram a roll of Bounty paper towels up there. Making love to them must be like trying to get the last of the mayo out of the wide mouthed Hellman’s jar. Poor mommies, they have sacrified so much for their kids, even their once tight little vaginas.

14

You did remember to take the cellophane wrapper off first I presume?

:dubious:

15

This shouldn’t be funny, b/c it’s happened to me too many damn times, ArtyDooDoo, but I give your rant a 9.5 on the I’m-Glad-I’m-Not-The-Only-One Scale. For those of you who are doubting her…of the Did You Remove The Applicator/Did You Remove The Wrapper school of thought…pox on you. This shit happens. And it sucks. It isn’t our fault. It’s the tampon’s, somehow. I feel certain of it.

Speak of the devil…I started my oh-so-lovely period yesterday, and today after work I go to Wal-Mart to buy tampons…throw the 40 pack of Tampax Super into my cart…and then, suddenly, I tell Mr. Levins that I Have. To. Use. The. Restroom. Now.

It’s like a dam, isn’t it. A tampon reaches capacity; it can hover there for an indefinite period of time, and then suddenly, for reasons unknown, it just fails. And you don’t know whether to blame yourself, your damn uterus, your tampon absorbency, or life in general. (I’d like to blame Wal-Mart. Somehow. They sold some more underwear tonight b/c of it.)

On the subject of Tampax, has anybody tried their new Pearl tampons? I thought I loved them at first…mainly b/c I like to keep a tampon in my purse (for emergencies, whether mine or someone else’s) and their plastic wrappers don’t disintegrate and fall apart like the old paper wrappers…[sub]Have you ever kept a loose paper-wrapped tampon in your purse, only to pull out the actual tampon with your wallet, or lipstick, or something? The wrapper and the applicator are totally gone and it’s just this naked, furry, dirty-but-never-used tampon that you don’t notice until it’s already above the perimeter of your purse, so that everyone sees it and you feel like an ass? Like, “Why is that girl carrying around old dirty tampons that she doesn’t use?” If I’m the only one this has happened to, kindly disregard the above.[/sub]

Anyway, my point was that even though the Pearls have superior wrappers, that thick little string-section at the bottom of the tampon that’s supposed to prevent leakage actually causes it, I swear. It’s like a wick. It just draws everything out onto your underwear. I hate it. I’ve gone back to the old ones I’ve always used.

And now, after reading this thread, I’m sorry that I bought that 40 pack of Tampax b/c I’d like to try O.B., but I’m a cheap bitch and I don’t want to waste the $4.22 I spent on 40 of the damn Tampax. sigh And if any of you think I’m going to return tampons, even in their untouched packaging, you’re crazy.

I’m just going to think mean thoughts.

16

I’ve just read this entire thread and I had no idea that it was all this complicated.

Hmm. Makes you think.

17

Astro, no, it’s possible to produce offspring and still have a functioning vagina. I swear. And nobody tell me different because I wish to preserve my illusions intact. In particular Mr P would be well advised to preserve my illusions.

Hate tampons in any case and don’t use them.

18

Well I think i’m going to buy some O.B. The annoying thing is, like **Audrey Levins ** I too just purchased a 40 pack of tampax from walmart. And theres no way I’m taking the damn things back either.

Kambuckta & Nametag I think I would notice that, in addition to a piece of cotton stuffed up my crotch, I had one piece of plastic the same size of the tampon, another piece of plactic the same length but thinner than the tampon and a crinkley plastic cover the size of all three hanging out of my vagina.

Somewhere, sometime, somehow I’m sure someone did do this. However I have not.

I did smoke the wrong end of a cigarette once. But I was drunk.

Cherrybomb I tried that Instead a few years ago but I got terrible horrible cramps from it. I remember that it did work well but the cramps were too unbearable.

19

I use those after my first two days - otherwise, I’m cleaning up blood EVERYWHERE at home and at work. I love them - but I just bleed too much in the first two days.

They’re a nifty little invention, though. Unfortunately, it’s kind of difficult to find them sometimes - I’ve gone to four different drugstores looking for them before.

Ava

20

To regulate your period, use birth control pills. Works like a charm.
For me, I only worry the first and third day(only have 3 days)
One those 2 days, there comes a time (I never know when) I get the half a cup of clot stuff.
(I know guys have stopped reading this by now…)
So I have taken on those 2 days to wearing my mums diapers just in case. The second day is fine though. never a worry.
Our bodies are so weird.
And gross sometimes.

Though my pons (usually kotex) never leak" they are usuaally filled or somewhat so.
And I alwasy use Super Plus!