OK, last night my wife was acting all crampy, so I suggested that she take a bath. Now, she doesn’t use tampons normally, she only likes to use pads. Because of this she said that “Woman can’t take baths or go swimming or anything like that without a tampon during their periods or else they can get an infection.” To which I replied “Bullshit!” I don’t buy it. I think this is some strange thing she heard and has just refused to believe anything else.
What say you? Are tampons mandatory equipment when getting soaked? What infections can you get anyways?
Well, in a pool, yeah you’d need a tampon but not because of any health risk to yourself. It’s just gross to make other people swim in your blood & there is a small risk of blood-bourne disease. As for the baths, I really doubt that you could give yourself an infection but I am not a doctor so take this FWIW. I take at least one bath per day, usually more, period or not, and I have yet to have so much as a yeast infection.
When i take a bath while mentruating, first I wash off with a washrag and rinse with the shower. Then i rinse the tube and run the bath and get in. Just relaxing in a tub is not likely to force water into the vagina. However, wearing a tampon into a tub and leaving the string hanging out will wick bathwater into your vagina, yuck. I don’t see much blood at all during my bath. Usually just a tiny bit as I get out of the tub. The dirt that comes off and the soap scum and the hair from shaving grosses me out more. I always take a quick shower after a bath. Bath can help my cramps, though not as much as orgasms and intercourse.
I’ve never heard of any such thing – and I’ve swum in some filthy water while menstruating. Obviously you don’t get infections from taking baths without a tampon at other times of the month; why would things be any different because you’re having your period? It’s not like you suddenly acquire an extra orifice or anything…
Yes, orgasms help. The whole area can vasocongested during this time for reasons not apparent to me at least. Kinda nagging bloated feeling. This seems to magnify the cramps and general ickiness. A good orgasm causes the blood to drain quickly away from the area providing general relief. Intercourse helps not just for orgasms, as they don’t always come together but as a kind massage that helps the cramping. The position that helps me the most is me on my back, knees up.
I do believe that there’s a greater chanvce that you’ll give some sort of infection to someone else than getting one yourself. The vombination of tampon and swimming isn’t really bad if you do it right but if yoyu’re highly talented you might get an infection because of the tampon. But I’m not exactly all that knowledgable on the subject so don’t mind me.
Tomcat, I don’t have a cite for this, but as a 40-something female who has been menstruating (and swimming) for 25 years, I can assure your wife that you don’t get infections from swimming without a tampon plugging up your vagina. Think about it–if it were possible to get infections that way, women who swam would have been removed from the gene pool during evolution. The vagina is normally closed up, like a squeezed-flat tube of toothpaste, not hanging open like a cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels. So there normally isn’t any way for water to get up inside there.
Also, if the vagina weren’t normally closed-up rather than hanging open, all those girl babies who poop in their diapers would be getting horrible vaginal infections from the bacteria in the poop. And they don’t. I’ve certainly changed plenty of female infants’ diapers that were loose-caboose all over, and cleaning them up, I never noticed poop up inside there.
The reason you wear a tampon while you swim during menstruation is so you don’t get menstrual blood in the pool, which is icky.
but as a kind massage that helps the cramping. The position that helps me the most is me on my back, knees up.