I only found this website after buying my Mooncup size B, but it has still been very useful!

Saki: (and anyone else with heavy flow) The Mooncup is actually a low capacity cup compared to many of the other brands. My size B holds about 13-15ml.
Lunette menstrual cups hold 20-25ml and there are several brands that hold 30ml!!!

I have found the menstrual cup livejournal community to be incredible helpful in terms of advice and answering questions but also for research!
http://menstrual-cups.livejournal.com/

I will also say that Melissa’s website (and youtube videos comparing cups) is really informative!

http://menstrualcupinfo.wordpress.com/

If the mooncup isn’t working for you for whatever reason, don’t give up! most likely, another cup will fit you better as they are all different to accomodate for different cervix/vagina lengths/widths and flow. :):)

Keep spreading the word ladies!!

I cant see myself sharing that I am using it for a while as I know the reaction I will get from friends is gonna be EWWW but.. it is now ordered, just intrigued as to how my next period is gonna pan out! Thanks everyone for so much advice and when I eventually use it I will deffinatly share my views and experience of how it went!!

Lynn – I would agree with Christa that the half hour of ‘leakage’ after insertion probably is blood that’s worked its way down further than the height you keep your mooncup before you get to reinsert (especially if you say its ‘dead’ blood). I find this is more likely to happen at your heaviest stage as obviously it’s coming out thick and fast, and can’t reinsert in time to catch it. I find wiping the entrance with a piece of moist loo roll after insertion mops up the majority of it…but bear in mind if you’re wearing it higher up, I expect you will have a larger surface area of blood to make its way out. I simply wear an everyday thin pantyliner that you might wear at non-period times to catch the small amount of leakage that happens at this time.

Mooncup does recommend you keep it lower than you would a tampon – other than supposedly aiding a better seal, I don’t know the exact reasons why it needs to be lower…but as far as my knowledge of anatomy goes, I think most vaginas tilt, so I suppose that means the mooncup will tilt more the further up you go – perhaps causing the premature leakage through the air holes? From what you say though, I think you only tried wearing it higher to try and fix the same problem you experienced keeping it lower down…so it could be a case of the direction you tilt it in (which incidentally took me a while to figure out) or maybe it is the larger size that is the problem…Anyone else have any ideas?

If you get no joy, I would contact the mooncup nurse and tell her what you’re experiencing, and she may be able to tell if that sounds like a likely suspect, and also if it may be stretching you unnecessarily (although I can’t imagine it’s going to have caused any damage if it isn’t uncomfortable). If you do end up getting the smaller one, just take heart – at least you’ll have the larger one ready for when you come of age :)

About the rinsing – I’m not sure if it’s a great idea to leave it sitting around for so long where it might grow some nasties – you wouldn’t leave your hands unwashed for so long after being inside you ;) Equally, I wouldn’t think boiling it so often is necessary as its so time consuming. Personally I keep a little pot of diluted Milton to submerge it in if I’m not wearing it for a while, and then rinse it off before insertion. I would toy with the idea of just washing it with a gentle soap and keeping it in dry tissue in the meantime, but I’m uneasy about the bits inside the air holes that you can’t reach so well with soap…but that might just be me :)

A little note that Christa has reminded me of – I have had recurrent thrush for years, and the mooncup didn’t change this for me in any way (I used to wear towels). Last year I asked my doctor if my anemia (caused by heavy periods) might be related to this, and he said “it’s not going to help”. Since then I have upped my iron intake again, and along with improving my anaemia, I get thrush a lot less too – bonus!

Just wanted to say what a great resource! I bought my Mooncup awhile ago, and I’m just on my fourth cycle with it.

I just thought I would mention first, for anyone with the same issue, I had a lot of incidences with thrush when using tampons. And I don’t have light periods, but I would have to be very vigilant about which stage of my period I was up to, changing tampon absorbencies accordingly or I would definitely get thrush. It seemed to get to a point where it didn’t matter how careful I was though, I had had bouts of thrush every month for three months when I bought my Mooncup in hope! I wish someone had recommended trying a menstrual cup – my doctor had said some women just get thrush a lot (lucky me!). Since I started using the Mooncup, I haven’t had thrush in four months. So I do think for me it was a lot about disturbing my natural balance by everything getting absorbed with tampons.

For those struggling with removal/insertion, I really only started feeling at ease about it for my third cycle – no pain or discomfort now, so keep trying! I read some advice awhile ago which recommended when removing to sort of “walk” the cup down once you’ve got a hold of the base (bearing down is the best way to make this easier – something I had to google, never having been pregnant!), and you do this by sort of tilting it side to side while bringing it downwards. When you get to the vaginal entrance, you want to use your finger to push in the cup a little at the rim to break the seal. At this point I tilt it forward to bring the cup upright in relation to gravity to prevent spillage, pushing in the rim to the other side so that I don’t get the cup popping open while it is coming out. As has been said, relaxing is the key, and you know, if you’re not relaxing your face, or you’re holding your breath, then you’re probably not very relaxed in your vaginal walls either!

Anyhow, I am actually looking around for answers to the same as Lynn’s problems! The little bit of leaking after insertion (I wonder if this could be blood that was already past where the cup is placed as it was put in?), and the beginning to leak again after several hours, when I’m not even up to the 6mL line!

Thank you for any help!

also: about 5 hours after inserting the mooncup i start leaking again, so i guess its full, but when i take it out, i see that its not even half full. is that because i maybe put it in with a wrong angle? if so, how do i get my angle right? ive tried everything that ive read in the forum, (putting it in very deep and rotating it)…

i accidently bought the mooncup size A (for women over 30 years old) but im only 25. But i have no problems inserting it or taking it out , and whilst inside, i dont feel it but i do wonder if my pelvic floor tone will reduce quicker than normal because of my oversized mooncup? Maybe i should drop the size A and buy myself a size B??

thank you for your advices!

Insertion- I think I used the ‘punch down’ fold and it allowed the insertion to be quite smooth, just don’t forget to relax. Although I found that while holding the fold in place I needed to use fingers on both hands to carry out the act (one to hold down fold, the other to push it in) or it’d open up too soon

Duration- At first it seemed fine, although I sort of could feel it in the abdomen area. Then it started to slip down and the stem was poking bits of me, making it very uncomfortable. I tried pushing the stem back up but it kept falling slowly so eventually I decided to remove it….

hmmph, Removal- quite horrible, and quite time-consuming but considering it’s my first time makes it ok… I squatted, I squatted lower, I ‘beared down’… Reaching for the base didn’t see so easy, and I had to rely on the stem to keep hold of it (How do you all ladies trim the stem off completely yet can grab hold of it easily?)
S’cuse me for the following bit, but I tried ‘fishing’ for the base with my finger but (even with cut nails) I kept pinching myself, not nice..
Eventually I pressed the base enough, and wiggled it side-to-side very slowly, it started coming loose… BUT! I must have pressed down the cup too much I felt a bit of the suction feeling, though it was solved with a bit more wiggling…

Verdict- I’ve now trimmed half of the stem, hoping it won’t poke me next time, I will remember to wiggle it, and maybe not insert it as far up as I did this time… no pain no gain, I suppose… (?!) attempt #2 tomorrow evening!

Thank you all

I used to get terrible ‘pain at the pop’, and eventually found that the 7 fold allowed me to control it more once inside and i can make sure it opens slowly – i’ve not had any pain since. Plus, the shape the fold creates means it has the added bonus of having a narrow tip which makes insertion a much less bulky experience :)

Hope it works for you xx

I’m just thinking this may be just because I’ve started using it but I’ve never had experience with tampons so kinda new to that. Any help will be greatly appreciated!