Do you have heavy periods? Heavy menstrual bleeding is commonplace, but most women don’t experience the severe blood loss during menstruation that’s categorized as menorrhagia. That’s the medical term for abnormally heavy menstrual bleeding that’s severe enough to interfere with your daily life. If you suffer from heavy bleeding or menorrhagia, can you use menstrual cups?
Some common reasons for heavy menstrual bleeding include:
- Hormone imbalances. If your estrogen and progesterone aren’t balanced just right, you may experience an excessive build-up of the uterine When it sheds, you’ll experience it as heavy bleeding and possibly clotting, too.
- Uterine fibroids are very common. These are non-cancerous tumors that develop in the uterus during childbearing years. Their presence can cause abnormally heavy periods.
- Intrauterine devices (IUDs). Heavy periods are a well-documented side effect of these intrauterine birth control devices. If your IUD is causing excessive bleeding that interferes with your life, you may need to have it removed and use other methods of birth control instead of an IUD.
There are many other possible causes, but these are three of the most commonplace reasons for heavy menstrual bleeding. Fibroids are so common that 70 to 80 percent of women will have them by the time they turn 50.
IUDs
Some women are concerned that the suction caused by a menstrual cup could tug an IUD out of place. However, there appears to be no link between early IUD expulsion and the use of menstrual cups. One study followed 1,000 women and didn’t find any difference in early IUD expulsion rates among women who used tampons, pads or menstrual cups. So if you wear an IUD, you should be able to use a menstrual cup.
If your IUD is causing heavy bleeding, you may need to consider switching your birth control method. But in the meantime, wearing a menstrual cup can be helpful because it can hold a lot of menstrual flow before you need to empty it.
Fibroids
Can women with fibroids use menstrual cups? It really depends on the individual. Depending on where your fibroids are located, they may prevent the cup from forming a seal, which is essential for a menstrual cup to work properly and prevent leaks. If your fibroids don’t prevent a proper fit, then menstrual cups can be useful. They let you easily monitor the amount of bleeding you experience since they collect the blood until you empty it out. Many cups also have measurement lines that are particularly handy for collecting that kind of data. You can also see if you have more clots than usual.
The LoonCup is a high-tech option that isn’t released yet, but it’s undergoing development. It’s a menstrual cup that will actually track your blood flow for you and is planned to give you a nudge when it’s time to empty your cup. Details on just what kind of nudge that will be are yet to be released.
Can Menstrual Cups Cause Heavier Periods?
You might be wondering if a menstrual cup can make your flow heavier. I haven’t found any evidence that wearing a cup can make your periods heavier or lighter. Some women say they’ve noticed a difference in their flow after they started using menstrual cups. However, so far it’s only anecdotal evidence that’s not backed up by scientific studies. It could just be their period became heavier or lighter for reasons not related to wearing the cup, but women assumed the cup was to blame when in fact it was not.
If you have concerns about heavy periods, the best thing to do is to tell your doctor about it. They can help find out what’s causing your heavy bleeding and see what can be done to help alleviate it.
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10 years of using that thing and it’s been the same for me as well – I’ve googled and googled and I’ve been terrified that there was something wrong with me! But I can’t stand commercial products; the wet is unbearable. I don’t know what to do. Is there anything that doesn’t create suction? I used to use a diaphragm before, and that was quite good…
firstly, thank you all for sharing your experiences so that someone like me
can find some support and answers <3
omg! I've been seen by gyno specialists so many times and no one could explain why my periods would last for weeks/months. It's been ruining my entire life- not just sex life but my mental health as well as making m physically weak. I've been a walking train wreck, constantly in tears, feeling like my life is completely out of my control and like I could be dying!!! All doctors and specialists have been perplexed and just keep telling me to 'keep an eye on the bleeding' but that everything looks fine with me. …That is where they leave it at! :/
IT MAKES PERFECT SENSE now. two months ago I had my copper coil replaced to see if it makes any difference. It didn't. BUT… after a few weeks I randomly used pads for a day (which i hate due to the 'wet' feeling and how messy it is) just to let everything flow out of me 'naturally'. The bleeding greatly reduced by the next day so I didn't see the point of putting the cup in. Just carried on with the pad and after 2/3 days the bleeding finally stopped!
I agree, someone MUST research this, and in the meantime MAKE ALL MEDICAL SPECIALISTS AWARE of this! took me ages to find this website and learn that there are less than a handful of women who seem to experience the same issues in correlation to menstrual cup use!
I’ve experienced the same! I’ve been using a cup for about three years (Merula 38ml for most of this time), and since I started, my periods became insanely heavy, I would pass clots, and I would experience nausea & vertigo & cold sweats sometimes. I even went to two doctors about it and they couldn’t find anything wrong, and it never occured to me that it might be the cup.
I’ve only used my cup for 4 months, but my period was very heavy before. I would have to change my pad during the night and would fill several each day for 3 days. Now I only fill the cup a lot for 2 days. I’m looking for a larger cup so I don’t leak during the night. 8 hours completely fill the Diva #2 on the second night of my period, but no other night. Even when it’s half full it leaks when I lay down.
Hi Tara!
You have a few options that have a higher capacity than the largest Diva Cup (30 ml).
In no particular order other than alphabetically:
Casco Cup– 40 ml
LaliCup – medium 36 ml/large 40 ml
Venus Cup – 47 ml
Some other cups that might interest you but are different lengths or shapes, or noticeably softer or firmer than the Diva Cup:
Merula XL – 50 ml
MyCup – large 40 ml
Super Jennie – large 42 ml
TieutCup – large 42 ml
*You can check these out by using the Cup Comparison Chart from the menu here on Menstrual Cup Reviews site.
I hope that one of these will take care of your very heavy night. Let me know if you have questions or need more details about any or all of these cups.
Good luck! <3
Red Herring
@redherringtv
RedHerringTV on YouTube
Ended up here for the same reason as the others. I’ve been bleeding for pretty much 3 months due to fibroids. Not heavy, but still annoying. I consistently used a cup those three months. I randomly switched to a pad last night and I barely had any bleeding except for some very light spotting.
I have noted a similar effect when using the menstrual cup. Whenever I use the cup on heavier days I experience flooding and large clots. But when I switch to pads the flooding and clots are drastically reduced. Not sure what the link is though….
Ive been using menstrual cups for about 3 years now and at first it was great easy clean up and not having the hassle of stuffing my purse or pockets with pads and tampons every month… but in the last year ive started bleeding so bad my cup will over flow withing 2 or 3 hours if that, i have to wear the cup and a pad and wake up atleast every 4 hours at night to clean up. I thought something was wrong with me becuase it was so heavy and it also started lasting longer and longer between 1-3 months. I went to the doctor got tested for all kinds of things and i started switching between pads and the cup every other cycle. And my periods are shorter 5-10 days with pads and or tampons but with the cup i have now been on it for 3 months now again. I switched back to pads 3 days ago and its barely bleeding now. I talked with my doctor and a few other people that use them to make sure that i was using it correctly and to see if anyone else has noticed the same and no one is having the same problem and ive triple checked instructions several times now and im not sure whats going on but i feel like the cup is causing my bleeding so heavy and so long and a lot more bigger blood clots. There is no other thing i can think of. I hate to put the blame on the cups because they helped me but i wish someone would do a serious study on this.
I to have experienced the same with menstrual cups. This seems to be pretty self explanatory. The cup creates a suction and likes Chinese cupping, brings mass blood flow to the area under the suction cup. I think that these can not only greatly increase blood flow but also can be dangerous in other ways. If you can shrink fibroids by cutting off blood flow can you increase fibroid growth by increasing blood for to the area? Furthermore, if you have any type of cancer in that region can you accelerate the proliferation or spread the cancer faster? These are issues I believe the makers of these products are avoiding. They know better.
Wow! That IS strange! Can I ask which cup you were using?
I feel you girl i have been on my period for 4 weeks now and I feel like its the cup. When i put the cup in i will feel it overflow and have to constantly go empty it. But then ill put a tampon in and think im flowing as much so i take it out only to find barely any blood…