Pads or Tampons???

and the best thing I've used are old socks aka the rag (hence why they call it 'being on the rag'). Circumstances will determine what I use. If I'll just be around the house I'll wear an old sock with 2 holes cut on each end and half a nylon stocking looped thru the holes then the 2 ends of the stocking tied around my waist. The knot does bulge thru clothing but if I’ll be wearing loose clothing than I can get away with it. On the first 2 heaviest days, I'm starting to put a pad on top of that so I'll have less socks to wash.

My biggest problem with commercial pads is they always get squished and shifted so as to allow blood to get around the sides of them and onto my panties :$ . Even when I get the pads with the most generous wings they still allow blood around them. But the sock-nylon contraption holds closer to my body and no blood gets to the panties. Either way, I’ll be washing either something

I got commercial cotton pads when they first came out so they have Velcro. I’ll have to find some way to replace the Velcro if I’m to use them. Even my Keeper needs alteration and is not convenient to tend to in public washrooms

 

i dont like tampons, just the idea of it being shoved up there for ages is irritating to begin with.

pads all the way.

but eitherway, im still seriously self consious on my period, like omg has anything leaked, or do i smell, or please dont make me do naything that makes me move out of this rigid position that im in to avoid any leakage or anymore discomfort.

i wish i was a kid again...

 

Pads. The only time I use tampons is when I am going to sit in my friend's hottub and I'm on my period. Then, I insert one only for the time while I am in the hottub. As soon as I get out and dry off, I change back to a pad.

 

Pads only.
I think menstrual blood is meant to flow out of your body, not sit there for hours in a cotton or rubber contraption. That doesn't feel right to me, like blocking the flow of energy.
I know my body rejects tampons, it'll actually push them out if I try to wear them to go to the beach or something. I won't even try anymore, just wait another week for the beach.

 

I see what you mean, but there are times when my cloth pads just aren't practical.
At least using a "rubber contraption" is better than filling the landfills w/disposable products.

 

yeah i think our menstrual blood should be let out, like onto a pad, not sucked into a tampon. my cramps are WAY worse when i use a tampon. i like cloth pads, but i will use a tampon when i'm rock climbing. throwing my leg up high with a pad on is wicked annoying.

 

hello all

brighid, i have never even thought about it like that. i think you make an interesting point about how the blood is there to flow.. i always use tampons, and only tampons because i like to feel like i am not having my period.. but your post made me think.. maybe i should stop trying to ignore my period.. can you tell me more about what you mean and why you think the blood needs to flow? am i denying myself something with tampons?

 

Menstrual blood is the unused lining of the uterus, there to provide nourishment for a growing embryo after conception. If there's no conception, the blood has to leave the body, it's use is over. It needs to be eliminated from the body, allowed to flow out and away, and the energy needs to be expelled.
There's a certain, powerful feminine energy that culminates as the cycle comes full circle, the building of the lining, the release of the egg, the hormones, the pheremones, the sexual energy, the body trying to procreate. During ovulation a woman becomes very, very sexy, her body is trying to attract a suitable mate and make a baby (with or without her conscious consent ). When the cycle comes to an end, that energy needs to exit the body, return to the earth, the body cleanses itself of it's unused and no longer needed blood, and the woman's body rests and gets ready for the next cycle.
Throughout the history of woman kind, women have always secluded themselves during their period (ever read The Red Tent?) to take a break from the demands of keeping house. Nowadays, it's not feasable for most women to take a week off and lay around eating bon-bons with other menstruating women (but think about how nice it would be!) and we are told that we should not be confined by the ugly demands of our female bodies, we should get to work on time, do the shopping, clean the house, cook the food, and while we're at it, go to the beach or the party! We can forget about the female-ness of our bodies and carry on as usual. But I really think that all these period discomforts are caused in part by the stress put on our bodies by trying to live as though our periods didn't exist.

I don't think any body likes having tampons in it. But they get conditioned to accept them. The vagina is an internal organ, and most internal organs don't appreciate having a foreign object in it, unless the hormones released by sexual arousal makes it relax. The vaginal muscles constrict in an effort to expel the foreign object, which ironically is what keeps the tampon in place, and this may be experienced as cramping, irritation, or, in my case, actually pushing it out spontaneously.

of course, this is my personal theory and comes from my own spiritual beliefs!

 

very interesting. thanks for sharing that.

i use both right now. i kinda like pads better and i dont know why... i just kinda like to see it come OUT in the toilet (yeah, maybe im odd)....

who ever sometimes pads do feel too bulky and i wear them to bed always.

i switch them up to avoid TSS.

 

I use pads when I'm at home, sleeping, etc. And tampons when I hang out with friends, etc.
I'm also considering 'cloth pads' to replace regular pads, you know, the environment.

 

Neither one, HA HA! I'm on Depo and don't have a period!!!! That means more sex for me! WHOOOO-HOOOOO!!!

 

Pads for me, I'm just more comfortable with them.

 

I use pads. I could never get used to tampons.

 

neither...I can't have a period...

 

Tampons only

 

pads... the first time I tried a tampon I threw up and felt so sick afterwards... yea I don't like tampons they make me sick....

 

only tampons.. I hate pads..

 

i only use pads. i used tampons in school when we had swimming and i hated it. it feels way too weird to have a string hang out of my vagina and later pull out a wad of blood and cotton. ...and the thing about most commercial tampons having a sort of irritant that makes you bleed more freaks me out.

 

I use a Diva Cup as well. There is a good bit about it here:
http://www.feminineoptions.com/divacup.html

I've been breastfeeding for 4 years, so between that and being pregnant, I've only had 2-3 periods in the last 5 years...

 

tampons freaked me out for the first two years i had my period, but once you use them a few times, you get used to them, and they're way better and comfortable than pads.

but sometimes i wear pads overnight cuz im afraid of TSS