What’s wrong?
Hello, I’ve started to use menstrual cup for the first time 4 days ago. The first 3 days it was perfect and I enjoyed my new life!! I wasn’t sure I’d entered the сup correctly and it really opened up but all 3 days I thought it was ok because there wasn’t a single blood leak, the blood went straight into the сup and I didn’t feel any discomfort. The blood exuding was normal, on day 3 even poor, I emptied the cup every 9-10 hours. But since yesterday morning my bleeding became heavier like it’s the first day of the period and blood seems to flow past the сup (?) and flows down the “walls” (sorry I don’t know how it is correct on English) of the vagina. So when I entered the cup I stained fingers in the blood, although all the previous days it never happened, and the blood started flow down past the cup. I was scared and thought maybe it wasn’t menstrual blood and I’ve damaged something. Now I’m upset and using the pads again 🙁 Сould I have done something wrong for the previous 3 days and damage something? Althought it seems like everything ok… Or maybe I should use another size for heavy flow or to enter the cup deeper/in a different way?
Congratulations on making the switch! I’m happy to hear that you had some success with using your new cups at least for a few days. I’m sorry to hear that your whole first experience was 100%.
For some people, using a menstrual cup can take some time getting used to. There are a few things that are great to make a habit when inserting or removing a cup to ensure everything is where it should be, that the cup will work as intended and that there is no pain.
First, since you’re a new user, you might not know that you can actually insert the cup pasted the cervix into the vaginal fornix. This will push your cervix to the side and no collect the flow. This is a common issue, even with experienced users, so don’t feel bad. It happens the best of us. To help avoid this, make sure that the cup is completely open and positioned correctly right below or right around the cervix. Insert a finger as far up as you can to feel around the rim. If you can feel an indent or feel your cervix, wiggle the cup down a bit and check again.
Second, after you insert the cup, squat down and wipe the stem and/or grip rings the best that you can for any excess blood. This will help keep down any ‘spotting’ that occurs from residual blood that’s left coating the vaginal walls and your cup.
How to Insert & Remove a Menstrual Cup + Tips!
If it’s just that you overflowed your cup, the only things that you can do is either to schedule your empty times more frequently or to find a higher capacity cup that is still comfortable.
Can you tell me what cup you’re using? I might be able to give you some suggestions if you do decide to shop around for another cup.
Until then, good luck and congrats again!