Cloth pad users - does the smell make you nauseus?

I've been using cloth pads for a while now... I guess almost a year. I've enjoyed the environmentally friendly aspect of it, and felt more in touch with my body because of it. I want to get a keeper/mooncup/diva cup (haven't decided) when I can afford one... but that might not be anytime soon! I was able to make the pads myself with some fabric I had laying around and a small amount of terry cloth or warm&natural batting.

Anywho, I just started my period yesterday morning and seem to have hit a new hurdle. The smell of my menstruation is completely nauseating to me. It's not the old "ew, the blood grosses me out!" complaint, but just the smell... in fact it's even bothering me throughout the day (since I can always seem to smell a hint of it on myself), when I pee, anytime I can smell it AT ALL... which just makes it worse when I'm rinsing out the used pads so I can hang them dry.

The nausea is so bad it makes me gag. It's extremely unpleasant. Does anyone else experience this? Is there anything I can do? It's never been like this for me before...

 

Well sorry i dont have much advice but if it makes you feel any better i dont think others can smell it...i read womens sense of smell is heightened during menstruation, or something. I can always smell it too, but it never gets so bad i gag. Sorry to hear you have that problem, doesnt sound nice. Hope you get it fixed

 

P.s-yay for using cloth pads for a year!

 

I'm not sure where I saw them, but they have underwear that have built in pads. I plan on purchasing them once I make enough money to go underwear shopping-haha. Maybe you should try those. They have some really nice ones.

As for me, I can't use cloth pads. I have to get mine from the doctors because everything I use is never enough-haha

 

Yeah, I'm not worried about others smelling it. Except maybe dogs and cats... they always react to me funny when I'm on my moon, lol... I never even thought that other people could smell it though, I know it's my own sense of it, and my own awareness of it... it doesn't get so bad that I'm nauseous until I'm actually rinsing it out, and there's a lot, you know?

It's probably just hormones. Haha, as long as I've been getting my PCOS under control I've been much more regular than I've been in my whole life, but every period is completely different, never the same from month to month because my body is still getting used to this and my hormones are still fluctuating I guess (I'm uninsured, so I can't get bloodwork and find out what my hormone levels are actually like...). Haha, it's like puberty all over again. Or for the first time maybe, since I never had much of one to begin with.

Hell, this is my 9th period since December. That's the most regular I've EVER been, most periods I've EVER had in such a time span without the aid of BC (which I tried a couple times for a couple months w/o liking it...)

I'm not worried about the pads themselves though... they do just as well as they always have and I'm sure I'll get over this hurdle. Like I said it'll probably go away by next time around, and I'll have some other weird thing bothering me... Ah, the joys of womanhood!

 

Interesting; has your aversion to the smell only developed recently?

 

Hold on a second - you can use cloth pads for period blood. Do you use it just like a towel? I think that it maybe how much blood you're losing - maybe if you change the cloths more often, then there'll be less blood at a time and so smell less.
Ive never heard of em... I guess thats just me...

 

Yeah, I noticed it very slightly last month, but it was only like, a passing less than momentary sensation. This time it seems much worse. (To be clear, I'm not talking about a cognitive gross-out or anything, it just goes straight to my stomach). I'm not bleeding any more than usual... it's pretty heavy, but my second day always seems heavy... that seems like the only consistent thing. Anyway, since I've been using the cloth for a while and love it I don't see how anything's changed this month...

The worst though, is that I injured my lower back, I think I have a problem with my tailbone, I need to have someone who knows what they're doing feel it out for me... anyway, the only thing that makes it feel better is ice. But ice makes my cramps way worse, they only feel better with heat. It's a no-win, that one... I've just got to wait out the cramps and put ice on when they're over.

 

I don't use cloth pads, though I intend to get a mooncup thingy when I leave home, yet I hate the smell. Apparently the small only appears when the blood hits the air, so using tampons and mooncups are the most odour free options. I'd go for a mooncup type thing, good for the environment and better smelling!

 

i didn't know what a moon cup was and I just googled it---can anyone tell me how that works?

 

I have always been able to smell menstrual blood (it has a very noticible, distinct odor). I worked as a housekeeper in a rehab and the female clients would, more often than not, leave bloody pads and tampons uncovered in the garbage, and on one memorable occasion, someone had removed a tampon and flung it against the stall wall in the women's room (though I suppose it would have been far more memorable had it been found in the men's room). I have worked for a child protection agency for quite a number of years and there's nothing like walking into a girl's room to wake her up and having that smell hit one full on.

Not to make you worry or feel self conscious but if you can smell it, odds are that others can smell it but are either too polite to say anything or can't identify from whom the scent emanates. Cloth pads are great but they require frequent changing. You can also get all natural tampons made from organic cotton without applicators ... the ecological footprint of these is smaller than that of regular pads or tampons.

 

I can't handle the smell of period blood. I get those pads from the doctors and still wear a tampon to cease the smell a little.

I hate the feeling of the blood dripping when I'm wearing a pad.

They have organic tampons? That's what I need. I hate knowing that they put asbestos in tampons.

 

I don't believe everything anyone tells me-I just heard that they put bleach and small amounts of asbestos in them (or they used to anyway) to make a woman bleed more so that they buy more.

I know they can be bad for you...That was just one thing that I happened to see on Discovery Science about women's health.

I don't understand how I happen to be ignorant. But thanks!

 

Your not the only one that hasn't heard of them... But as for the smell, I buy store pads and I still smell it, it makes me feel sick too, its the smell of iron that makes me sick...

 

^^^
It's the smell of the lack of iron in my blood that kills me-haha

 

i couldnt use the keeper cups because it would scare the crap outta me, id go to take mine out and would have to feel around for awhile until i could find it. i didnt like that at all. i use organic tampons right now, but i think i will switch to cloth pads beofre long

 

i couldn't use the cup because of severely tilted cervix, it's agonizingly painful for me. i wish i could use it, though. i tried it for a few days, but it just didn't work out. i have to use pads.

 

I dont mind the smell. I dont get it much only when i dont change regularly enough but its not so bad for me.
I've never seen organic ones or anything but then again my ma buys the towels and i just help myself. Cloth Pads are surely high maintenence.