no boys allowed in the room!!!!

My period used to be problematic because I got really bad cramps, nausea, and hot flashes! Pill fixed that. Now my period is not too bad, but because I have developed a bunch (6 at last count) of FIBROIDS I don't want to risk getting off the pill even though I otherwise would. Apparently it is the only thing keeping me from whoa levels of bleeding and between-period spotting.

Kinda of just want to go ahead and get a hysterectomy already.

A friend of mine actually did that. She had terrible fibroids and when she was in her 30s was like fuck it, take it out. She totally mocks me when I complain about my period, too.

I don't like being on the pill for huge lengths of time...I think it's just a mental thing where I want to know what my period is like without it from time to time, just to make sure nothing is weird.

idk, I'm weird

No, you're not. I am pretty anti hormonal birth control for myself for similar reasons. It's one of the main reasons I had a copper IUD for so many years. That said, I'm really lucky in that my periods aren't really bad and more often than not a couple of Advil alleviates any pain.

I'm gonna try a low-dose (mini) pill when I'm back in the states; my gyn and I agreed we didn't want to experiment while I was out of the country (and with minimal health insurance) for several months! My blood pressure has been on the high ("prehypertensive") side for a couple of years now; all the more reason to get off the pill. But there is no way I can go back to the agony of the off-the-pill periods of my early 20s!

The minipill isn't necessarily low does but it is a progestin-only birth control pill and doesn't contain estrogen. It's often recommended for use in women who are at risk for certain health issues including high blood pressure.

iirc the only drawbacks is that it really has to be taken at the exact same time every day in order to be effective and it may make periods irregular and/or cause spotting.

I feel like I'm the only person who has no bad side-effects of the pill. Well, I have a small patch of discolouration (melasma) on my cheek that could be caused by it.

I never had any side-effects, I just don't take a lot of medication in general, so it kinda weirds me out taking it for long periods of time.

But that being said, I tooooottttally get having to do it, especially with heavy/painful periods and all the other stuff that goes along with it, solidarity for life etc

My only problems on the pill was the Crying for No Reason Whatsoever while on a trial of Yasmin. Otherwise, it does wonders for my irregular, painful periods and my acne! Also: no babby, which is also the point. Spouse is happy to get vasectomified for the no babby bit, but I am nervous about what my crazy uterus will get up to on its own devices :(

the pill helped w/my period pains but it made me super emo all the time. plus i couldn't remember to take it. plus i just could not except that this little teeny pill would stop me getting pregnant.

I hate those plastic applicators for many reasons including:

1. yay more petrochemical waste!
2. do they recycle? I do not know! but our recycling supposedly gets hand-sorted at the depot so basically no, that would not be cool
3. this might just be me but I cannot even work the things and usually end up just peeling the plastic off
4. makes the whole product giant and harder to hide discreetly in a small bag pocket
5. also 1+2 make you feel more guilty when you find an elderly one stashed as in 4 and throw it out unused because it's been hanging around so long

etc etc tmi

whenever i am walking around or jogging and see a plastic tampon applicator on the ground (because apparently people are always throwing these out car windows or dropping them, or rats are carrying them out of dumpsters maybe) i think "whoa those exist???" because they are so absurd imo!

*i still use them*

sry

I never used to, i always used the ob ones

...tmi blah blah I had some difficulties a while back,the plastic applicator was kinda necessary and then I never switched back to the regular ones

but I don't throw them out in the street

srsly who does that

it wasn't a judgment they're just weird to me!

lol it's okay I just have a guilty conscience

yeah, I don't mind other people using them (though the ones I've seen do seem a bit bulky and wasteful but that's the manufacturer's fault and def. not yours) but they are not for me.

I usually just removed the old-style card applicator tubes too, so I am not really target market, but at least I could get them to slide out when wanted and not when not wanted, and they seemed less wasteful and less annoying to dispose of somehow.

my mum was too cheap to buy the app ones when i was a teen (they are way more expensive in nz), so non-app is basically all i've known. the few times i've used app ones, i've found it... awkward. TMI ALERT!!!!--> with app ones i'm never sure if it's in properly? and man there is nothing more uncomfortable than walking round with a tampon that is not in all the way.

otm

yeah it's a horrible feeling

I can't get the non-apps to feel like they are in the right place!

Hmm maybe this is a fingers too short or vagina too long problem?

I have very short fingers and don't have that problem so that seems...unlikely, but what do I know, I've only ever had the one vagina so

I have pretty long finger so idk maybe I will have to experiment further. But this is one reason why I am diva cup shy--how will I get it in the right place?

occasionally it takes multiple tries but if you fold it correctly it just opens in the right place and sits there

i had depression-related probs on every form of hormonal birth control except the nuva ring, which is probably because it's such a low dose. not "mood swings", but like complete personality/interest-in-life loss, lethargy, etc.

my periods are agony for a couple of hours before they start, and this has def gotten worse over the years. i used to have 0 problems and only a couple day long period. now its a couple hours of seriously crippling cramps/back pain, and like a three day period. my sis has endometriosis and i think that is genetic(?) and i pray i and my other sisters don't have/develop it. she's had terrible problems as a result

endometriosis is awful. one of my friends in high school had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and was on a lot of cortisone and painkillers through her teens and early 20's...later on she found out she had endometriosis and the crazy thing is that as painful as endometriosis is, she had had no idea she even had it because of all the painkillers she'd been taking.

I went off hormonal bc in an effort to stop having migraines and 1) it worked, so yay, but 2) I think the process of weaning myself off the hormones sent me into a weird emotional storm that I'm just now crawling my way out of. Super weird, not easy, but ultimately glad I stopped. Maybe I'm attributing more powers to hormones than they deserve, but I feel better in p much every way now, finally. That's my $0.02 about hormonal bc for women.

Oh and now that I'm off, cramps wake me up at night but at least I feel alive.

never been on the pill, cramps are pretty minor, in that it just feels like a mild hangover, so getting my period is often a complete surprise. it makes me feel like i fail at being female. i also use applicators, because it's like a tool, and tools are cool.

I saw a blue plastic tampon applicator on the ground at the bus stop this morning and thought of you, harbl.

I wrote, "harbl was here" on a post-it note and stuck it on the applicator.

:D

since itt we discuss tampons and applicators
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/magazine/2013/innovations-issue/#/?part=tampon

my favorite part: "digital tampons"

FASCINATING! Update: someone I know really believes that tampons can uh harm? your "virginity" and has never used them in her life (despite having given birth!) and won't allow her teenaged daughter to have them in the house. I am so weirded out. This just came up like 2 weeks ago and I don't know where to go with it. I think at a minimum I'm going to let the daughter know that I am at least open to talking about it if she has any questions?

Oh dear. That is too bad.

is this the neighbor?
i would not interfere behind mom's back but i would tell mom to her face that i don't agree that tampons have an impact on "virginity"

It was unexpected. She's mostly normal and modern and realistic about life things.

xp I did tell her, and I don't think she has any rational reason (I mean even in her own mind), it's just learned emotional prejudice.

My mom tried this gambit on me when I was 13. Swiftly got the Mayo Clinic medical book (her Bible) out and fought back with BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE.

"I lost my virginity to tampax."
Who the fuck even thinks this is a reasonable thing to think?

The sad thing is that the person in question was also sexually assaulted at least twice in her life, which makes me think like when that happened to her and whenever she has thought about it in all the years afterward, did she think it was "sex"?? What must that mean for a person with those beliefs to think of it that way? It's horrifying.

Guys can we talk mooncup? I know some of you use them and now that I no longer have an IUD I think I might give one a shot. Which do you use and do you like them etc.

i am wondering about them too. i have a v short but v heavy flow, and super tampons are waay too absorbent, normals are not absorbent enough etc tmi tmi

Mine's not really bad. I'm OK with regulars throughout etc. I don't know if that matters but there it is.

i just hate having to change them so often, is my thing with regulars

Pretty sure I've talked about this before, but:

I primarily prefer pads, because I don't want to lose my virginity to tampons. JUST KIDDING. My period is BANANAS heavy so tampons are a joke. But after the first couple of Shining-elevator-scene days, I really like the Diva Cup because I can just stick it in and go about my day and only empty it once, maybe twice if I'm out for a long time. That is with a flow that would still be too heavy for regular tampons, so you regular users would probably find that you can empty it even less.

Dealing with it in a public restroom, especially a stall, takes some getting used to but once you do it a couple of times it is pretty easy. I have found that carrying a little packet of some kind of vagina-friendly wipes so I can clean off the cup and my hands and not risk getting little bits of TP stuck to everything makes it much easier. It is also useful to practice taking it out and putting it in before you find yourself with your leg propped up on the stall wall, bleeding all over everything while you try to get the fucker back in the right way. I would also wear a backup pad/liner with it the first few times you take the show on the road just in case you don't have it situated quite right. But seriously, by the second or third day you use it, you'll be an expert at cramming it up there the right way.

Other pros - environment, cheaper by far in the long run.

Oh, I have tried The Keeper long long ago and didn't care for it. I do like the Diva Cup. That's the only other one I've used, and I've had this one for a long ass time.

The only thing I tried in this vein was the instead cups years and years ago and I could ever get the fuckers to sit right but I think they work differently than the keeper, diva, and mooncup do.

I can't remember what thread it was on that we talked about this stuff but since i"m here and too tired to look I'm gonna put it here anyway. I have started washing my face with coconut oil. I am very scared about this but it's been three nights and my face has totally cleared up? I had these little bumps that I thought were tiny spots but they're just gone. I'm kind of amazed. Will keep you posted.

My best technique is to fold it in half, insert it, let it unfold, and the twist and pull slightly until it feels like its created a seal. It's also important to figure out how far up is comfortable/appropriate for you. Pro tip: practice inserting it in the shower.

xp that is exciting about the coconut oil!

intrigued by coconut oil face washing