Or that not having one means you aren’t?
I am.
According to the Planned Parenthood site the exam may be optional depending on your history. I might still try to get a prescription without an exam (and if a doctor doesn’t believe me what I tell them, I’m unlikely to want to have anything to do with them anyway).
er… am I the only one thinking “why does the step-mother have any say at all with what menstrual products your daughter uses?” I mean, come on… some things are private!
I’ve been doing this for a little over two years now, and wish to erect several temples in the honor of this concept. It’s probably the best thing ever for my periods, which used to be “curl up in a corner and die every four weeks” hell and are now just “meh, I want chocolate now every three months” drudgery. My pills come in three-month packages, so I finish one and then have a week’s break.
Probably wouldn’t buy her anything but tampons, thinking anything else was “unclean?”
(That being said, I haven’t tried tampons for a while-maybe I’ll see if they’ve improved since then)
NOOOOO!
Did you not see the lists? Tampons are on the list of things that DO NOT go in the vagina. I would have thought your reading skills were better than that! 
My mother couldn’t use tampons after the “delicacy” of the ObGyn who almost massacred us during my birth left her with heavy scarring. Yes, there.
I used to prefer tampons, but my periods are usually light enough to use only the lightest pads (most days I can even do with panty liners), so now I only use tampons when I’m going swimming. Using them on a low flow day is very uncomfortable for me.
No evax for me, though (it’s the most popular brand in Spain), it irritates the hell out of me.
I am always mystified by the women who can’t get a tampon in, but yet somehow manage to fit a penis in there. Is it the lube factor? 'Cause comparing the two side by side: tampon=small; penis=big. Anyway, I use tampons and find them easier to uh… insert, by far. (Was that TMI?)
Anyway, I haven’t needed any period protection for 4 months because of breastfeeding! Yay! It almost makes up for having to wear those giant pads for weeks after giving birth. Ugh. I hate sitting in my own blood.
In regards to things that should never come into contact with vaginas, I have taken the liberty of opening this thread http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9771722#post9771722
I have never had personal experience with tampons, so I find myself unable to comment in such a capacity. I hear wonders about the DivaCup though.
I don’t quite get it either, but I’m guessing the instruction illustration does not match every woman’s, uh, canal. At least not according to gynos I’ve spoken with.
One tip: Vaseline (but not for the peen!) Also, and this may be TMI, but if you’re stressed and crampy, try to think of something really sexy before insertion.
Having passed the wonderful threshold of menopause, I haven’t had to use anything for some time now, but when I started using tampons, I found the biggest problem was finding the right angle to insert them. And then, of course, finding ones that expand sideways rather than lengthwise – Tampax does indeed suck! OB was my favorite, by far. Although the last few years I had periods, they could be so heavy that I’d have to use a tampon and a pad to catch any leakage. So sometimes I didn’t even bother, and just used pads for my heavy days.
At least, ladies, be grateful you aren’t still dealing with pads that had to be fastened on that ghastly little belt thingy. Last time I saw pads that worked that way was over 30 years ago, thank heaven, at the hospital where I gave birth to whiterabbit. You want uncomfortable? You got it right there.
Although my mother told me about growing up dirt-poor in the Depression and having to use rags for pads, that would then have to be washed. So I guess we really shouldn’t complain too much about today’s multiplicity of choices!
It isn’t that I can’t get it in there, it is the fact that once it is in there it feels like one of those scrubbing bubbles from those bathroom cleaner commercials is running around inside of my vagina. Believe me, penises fit in there but they are generally smooth, covered in latex and lube, and moving about. None of that can be said about tampons.
And, um, not that I have any personal experience with the matter, but aren’t penises supposed to come back out in a reasonably short amount of time?
I mean, minutes rather than the 3-4 hours that I want the tampon to be inserted, absorbing and unthought about.
The Playtex with the plastic applicators are really easy to get in, IMHO…you hardly feel them go in at all.
Vaseline is probably not the best of things to put on something that’s going in the vagina, since it can throw off the balance of flora and lead to infections. Water-based lube like KY Liquid or Astroglide is better (though the glycerin in some lubes can cause infections in some people as well, so glycerin-free lubes are a better bet for them). Some lucky folks may be able to get away with it, though.
But once they’re there, they make their presence known until they’re removed.
When I read these threads, it seems that I’m the only person who likes the ones that expand lengthwise rather than widthwise (I’m looking at you Playtex and OB) and find the latter uncomfortable (still better than Instead, which is just a cruel joke or the menstrual cup I tried, but not good).
I like tampons. I use the Tampax Pearl ones and they don’t bother me at all, other than the odd time when I’m in a hurry and I just don’t put them in right, but that’s pretty rare, and pulling them out and inserting a new one is fine.
I used to use pads only, due to habit mostly (when I first got my period at 11, my parents only bought me pads, so that’s all I used, and never thought to try anything else for a long time). A couple of years ago I figured I should give tampons a shot, and now I much prefer them. I’ll use a pad occasionally as a back up, and I always use a pantiliner otherwise. I’ve never had problems with “duds” that didn’t absorb. I have a box of Tampax cardboard which I’ve used maybe 2-3 of, mostly when I realise I’ve run out of the Pearls. I hate them, but once they are in, they do the trick. They are more uncomfortable to remove, too, though.
I may get yelled at for this, but some of the online pharmacies will dispense seasonale/seasonique and other BC pills by just filling out a little questionaire that their instadoc goes over. If you dont mind paying the full nick for the pill, you can just get whatever pill you happen to like.
Or get your doc to prescribe Norethindrone. It is whatever the single chemical is and it totally supresses my menses like there was a cork shoved in there or something. No cramps, no bleeding out, no sudden whang of an egg releasing and annoying one cyst or another, no mood swings, and no hormone induced migraines. Sheer heaven. 30 pills to the prescription.
I m a Planned Parenthood client and they DEFINITELY will not give out a year-long prescription without a pelvic exam. You can get three months on a blood pressure tests in some states, but they will not renew.
In fact, my doctor told me I don’t even really need a yearly pap, because I have sooooo many negative ones I could go to every other year… but I have to have one to get my BC renewed.
Add me to the tampon haters. Can always feel them, worse yet, I don’t trust them and constantly rush to the bathroom to check that I’m not having a tragic accident. Always with wings for me. Intriguingly, I am also one for whom a pelvic exam, always, always hurts.
I also know my uterus is at some strange angle, so maybe that comes in…?
Yeah, I never understood the allure of tampons. I don’t stick things in my vagina except for, you know, pleasure. The times I’ve used tampons, I never for one second forgot that I had it in my hooha. I have a small vagina, apparently (and a lazy cervix, according to my gyn)… and small ear canals. I don’t think that’s related, though.
Pads kinda suck, but I’m amazed at the advancement in technology. They keep coming up with new weaves and softer covers and better wrappers. Lordy! I try to use LunaPads, but when I’m lazy, I use Always with wings. Never ever *ever *Kotex. Lord, those people should be run out of town on a rail for incompetence.
My latest complaint, though, is that after 15 cramp-free years of menstruation, I’ve lately started getting bad cramps (where I can’t poop, of all things) and really bad mood swings. I mean, I’ve come to terms with to the heavy flow and the short cycle, but not being able to get out of bed because I’m crying hysterically about god-knows-what… that’s not cool.