Ladies – let me introduce you to my new favorite thing about my period. The Diva Cup is a menstrual cup, which means its a cup that – yup – you know where I’m going with this – catches your blood during menstruation. If you’re the kind of gal who can’t handle a) a little bit of blood or b) your own vagina, this isn’t for you. Stop reading now.
If you’ve come to terms with your womanhood and are even a tinyyy bit curious, I’m telling you, you need to give this thing a shot.
Back in college, I bounced from birth control to birth control, suffering from side effects that ranged from horrible, uncontrollable fits of crying to headaches to constant spotting. During my journey I found myself on the NuvaRing – this, while not at all the right medication for me, got my quite familiar with my – you know.
Flash forward 7 years, I’m still on the “trying not to procreate” bandwagon and I’m still struggling with the misery that is popping pills full of baby-preventing hormones. This time, my symptom is my period. Not just the 28-day-bleed-once-a-month-for-4-days variety. Nope. More like the hey-its-me-your-period-just-kidding-bye-oh-hi-again-ima-stay-for-12-days-or-2-days-or-whatever kind of deal. The cramps are a nightmare and the headaches never fail to make an appearance for exactly two days each month. It’s wonderful.
Anyywho. I got seriously sick of trying to keep tabs on what was going on down there while trying to live my life. I had already made the switch to organic cotton tampons after reading one too many articles about what is actually IN a tampon (seriously – read about it – chlorine bleach being absorbed straight into my vaginal walls? no thanks) but it was seriously such a drag to never know if I had 2 hours or 6 before I’d have to swap ‘er out.
Enter the Diva Cup.
One day as I was scrolling through Groupon I came across the Diva Cup – it’s a small, flexible, silicone cup that gets inserted, removed, emptied, and re-used. I’ll admit that the re-use part kind of freaked me out at first. I mean, it sounds so…. convenient. Could it seriously be that easy?
I’ll admit that the “gross” factor really wasn’t an issue for me. I was more freaked out about no back-up plan or dropping the thing in the toilet and needing to reach in to get it. So for $32.99 on Groupon, I decided to give it a go. *I’m included the link to the Groupon that I used HERE but I can’t promise that the link will remain active*
I got the cup in the mail right on time for the party to start. Following the instructions, I washed it with soap and water and then prepared for what I thought would be 20 minutes of major struggle city. 10 seconds later, we were good to go! It was SO EASY. My first impression was that I could tell it was in place but it wasn’t uncomfortable at all… and then I danced around a) in excitement and b) for quality control.
Over the course of what turned into an 8 day experience, I fell in love with my Diva Cup. Each morning I would take it out, empty and clean it, and put it back in. Each evening I would do the same. Zero leaks. Zero trips to the bathroom at work with a tampon shoved discretely up my sleeve. Zero emergencies during HIIT workouts – other than that one where my hair elastic lost all it’s elasticity mid-sprint. Seriously, I LOVED this thing immediately.
About three weeks later (because I’m oh-so lucky!) I started the whole process again. This time everything was lighter and a little less hell-ish and the cup continued to do it’s job flawlessly. After reading a little bit about other ladies’ experiences I realized something – I haven’t had cramps in two months. Where I would normally be lying stomach-down on a heating pad for 2-3 days, I was going about my business like a normal human. When I would have skipped the gym because it felt like my uterus was falling out, I was working out without thinking twice. I can’t claim to know for sure if the cup really has improved my menstrual cramps, but I can say that after two full cycles I really do think it to be true. One theory that I read about is that during your cycle you lose two things – blood and tissue. With a tampon, the blood is taken care of, but the tissue – not so much. The cup takes care of it all with little-to-no discomfort.
I’ve been generous and spared you the details that I did NOT spare my mom and my closest girl friends – but if you want to know more about my experience or you have any questions before giving it a try yourself – comment below or find me on Facebook and I’ll be happy to tell you more!
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Note: I am not a doctor so I am in no way capable of providing medical advice. I suggest talking to your doctor if that’s what you’re looking for. I am also not endorsed or sponsored by Diva Cup in any way – I’m simply an extremely satisfied consumer hoping to spread the word!
