This might be a topic to which some are averse; it falls into the category of bodily functions that invariably need to be discussed as one considers prepping. The post about garbage accumulation and the risks it poses reminded me of this.
It’s assumed that most women stocking up have a hefty supply of tampons, etc. What I’m wondering is…has anyone considered purchasing a Diva Cup? It’s a reusable feminine hygiene product that would DRASTICALLY reduce the amount of waste that other feminine hygiene products are wont to cause. http://www.divacup.com/ I haven’t ordered one yet but I have many friends who have been using the Diva Cup for a long time and they are happy with it. I’m sure you all have planned for these needs, so what I’m wondering is…are there other waste-conscious methods that could be considered?
On a similar subject, for those of you with infants/toddlers, what about diapers?
I haven’t seen this discussed, and I felt that it needed a thread of its own. Sorry to bring up something so ishy!
It is a topic that needs to be addressed. I realized the other day I had completly forgotten this issue. Not an issue for me but it is for my daughter. I felt pretty inconsiderate when I realized I hadn’t even considered this issue for her. I’ll have to check out that Diva Cup. Thanks for the link.
It’s funny how many of these important processes we forget as we go about our preps. I’m so focused on food, water, and meds that I often forget some of the personal care/hygiene issues.
Wow, thanks for telling us about this product, I had never heard of anything like this. I am going to try this, as I would need a shed to store the immense amount of feminine hygiene products I go through, not to mention what I’d have to store for my daughter. I have boxes and boxes of such stuff stored, but at the rate I go through it it wouldn’t last long, and I’d have to be building bonfires to get rid of the stuff. If the divacup works as advertised, I can donate all the feminine stuff I’ve stored to a women’s shelter. VERY interesting, thank you!
anon, JMHO but if you “would need a shed to store the immense amount of feminine hygiene products I go through” then you might want to talk to your ob/gyn about that. I used to be the same way. There were never enough pads and I was using the biggest I could get. Then I finally told my ob/gyn about it. Turned out I was well on my way to having endometrial cancer. One Hysterectomy with BSO later and I don’t need any feminine hygiene products. It wasn’t until after the surgery when I was well again that I even realized how ill I had been. We caught it just in time. The next stage would have been cancer. It simply is not normal to use lots of pads and bleed heavily. Sorry to be so graphic. Trying to be helpful.
Poppy, thanks for the concern, but my gyn says everything’s “normal”. What really interests me about this product is that some women say that it may reduce menstrual cramping… That is something I could definitely use! At 49 yrs old, I just keep hoping the whole problem will go away soon, I am very tired of the whole thing. Besides, I like the idea of it being more environmentally friendly, to me that in and of itself is enough reason to give it a try. That and the promise of no leaks, can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to leave work, or turn around and drive back home from somewhere, because of a gushing leak that not only ruins the clothes you’re wearing but sometimes also even bloodies the chair or seat you’re sitting on. YUK!
neon_answer - Thanks so much for posting this, I’ve been wondering what I would do if I ran out of tampons and pads, this is the perfect solution.
I have a question for anyone out there with young daughters. Mine is 10 years and well on her way to puberty. I suspect she could start any time.
The question is how heavy is a young girls flow. I honestly can’t remember and I’m trying to store enough supplies for her. A diva cup is out of the question for her. I don’t want to call the GYN and ask, it’s bad enough explaining in stores when people comment on all the cans I have in my cart, I can only guess the reaction if I asked the doc how many pads to store for my daughter.
Teese - I believe it really varies from person to person. I remember though that when I started at 12, it was incredibly heavy, complete with debilitating cramps. It lessened over the years. I don’t know if that’s something that’s common for young girls & their first flow, or if that was just me. I remember it very clearly though because it was awful !!
Thanks Kristy, I don’t have any real memories of those early years, I suspect it was mild for me. But now that you mention the cramping I remember my younger sister spent a couple days at home from school every month or so. So it most likely is a very individual thing. I’ll just prepare for the worst.
Just stock up on loooots and lots of advil ;) She’ll be just fine =]
Just a comment about the issue in general. When my wife and I started prepping, a 3 month supply of these was among the first things we thought of
Each time that PBS broadcasts one of those “living in the past reality shows” like Frontier House and 1900 House the women are always the most resistant to the rules that don’t allow them to have modern consumer goods, insofar as it means they can’t have tampons/pads etc. In 1900 house mom and two girls snuck off and bought some on the sly. As a man, it definitely helped me put this issue in perspective. Sure, we can live without electricity, running water, good heat, phones, TVs, etc, but I’m going to have those things or there’ll be hell to pay.
No way are we going to be caught without a supply of them, and decent toilet paper as well.
teese - I have daughters and our general rule of thumb is one package of 28 pads per female per month. Obviously it can differ greatly, but I would rather have a package last longer than one cycle than run out.
WIT- Thanks I think that’s a good plan for us too.
I have 3 teenage daughters and I just buy tons of girlie supplies. I have always been well stocked every since the first one started, but now I buy 3 packages every time I go to the store. It is less than $10 each trip and my goal is to have an entire package for each girl for each month which I have probably bypassed by now. They all cramp really bad so I am making sure they have plenty of PMS medicine too. We plan to burn our trash in a 55 gallon drum out back so the bathroom wastebasket contents will go in there too.
And I, like Michael Donnelly, will also have a huge supply of decent TP. My husband likes the hard stuff (Scott tissue) where I like the soft stuff (charmin ultra). So we compromised. We are going to buy 500 rolls of each. I am not taking any chances in that department. Drip drying when hiking or camping is one thing, home is another. :) :) :)
Teese, I guess it’s only been about nine years since I first started and I seem to remember a fairly mild flow. I think that was the case among most of my girlfriends as well.
I have two good friends who use the Diva Cup, one who never gets cramps anyway and the other who said that she has not had cramps since the first month that she began using the Diva Cup. They explain it a bit on the website, about how tampons absorb EVERYTHING and that can contribute to cramps.
In any case, advil aside, there are some very good natural remedies for cramps that work a helluva lot better for me than ibuprofen. Most notably, Dong Quai Root, which can be found in pill form and in tea (I like it in tea), as well as rose hips, which are in many different teas. Also, magnesium is good for muscle relaxation. I have a supplement I take, PMS Relief by a company called Rainbow Light. On the label, they have a website listed: rainbowlight.com
Yogi Tea’s selection of women’s tea is marvelous, IMO.
Don’t forget monostat!
Libbyalex thats a great reminder thanks
anon, Glad to hear your doc says you’re fine. I totally know what you are dealing with. I was home schooling my middle child when I was dealing with it all before my Hysterectomy. Every month my bathroom would look like something out of a horror film. I had to shower and change several times daily. I think it really had an effect on my then teenage son seeing mom go through that. As for the needs of young girls: Everyone is different. My daughter started out with light periods but so much PMS she seemed to just barely get through one when it all began again. Now the periods are heavier and she cramps more but she has less PMS (thank God!). One good big box a month is still plenty of pads for her. I would say buy what you think you will need then just get 25–50% more for safety’s sake. Our doctor also recommends Ibuprofen for her cramps. You might also find it helpful to have a heating pad and a hot water bottle available to aid with cramps.
Thanks Poppy. Love hot water bottles, we use them often whenever something needs soothing. So low tech but works so well, esp if power is out and can warm water on top of the woodstove.
Yeah they are great. Saved my sanity when my youngest son was a baby. It was the only way to get him calmed down when he was colicy.
Wow! This was the first thing I thought of..but each time I decided to increase amount of time I was prepping for, I had to shop again…wiped out Sams, K-mart, and two Walmarts. The last trip, I decided to load up on powdered milk as well. I’m pushing that grocery cart, over loaded with tampons,pads, and powdered milk…and this big guy looks at me and says “gonna make a wedding cake?” Yeah baby! That’s what us girls should do…make sanitary pad wedding cake…that first bite and those grooms will know just who is going to be boss!
mom11, I can’t believe you’ve never seen the little caketopper bride & groom tampons, all dressed up in their wedding finest?????
That Monostat idea had not yet occurred to me. Thank you. At 12 I had to stay home at least one day a month because I had to change the pads every 20 mins! 28 pads per month per female, then one box 40 ct tampons for every three months. That way, you have plenty. If you need more than that, store iron pills. You need them.
Wedding cake? Things must be pretty freaky at his house;/
anon, as your GYN about whether you are a candidate for a thermal ablasion. It’s an outpatient procedure in which boiling hot saline solution is circulated inside the uterous. If it goes off perfectly, it will scald the entire lining and you will never have a bleeding period again. I had the procedure done at the beginning of November and haven’t had cramps nor bleeding since. Obviously also, without a lining, it’s virtually impossible to conceive. It’s a wonderful alternative to a hysterectomy as it does not throw your body into menapause like a hysterectomy does. As far as the body goes and the hormones, they don’t have a clue that there isn’t a uterine lining.
BTW, I’m only 31, but I’ve had 2 kids and know that I do not want to have any more. My bleeding was horrendous and was greatly effecting my life to the point that I could not leave home for 2–3 days per month because I was a prisoner to the bleeding. My choices were, continue to deal with it, thermal ablasion, or hysterectomy with menapause. I’m SO GLAD I got the ablasion. It’s great not having a period, although I do still have PMS. That wasn’t affected.
A friend on an e-mail list was helping out at the Houston superdome where evacuees from NO were taken. The top 2 items that were needed were feminine hygeine supplies and footwear.
Gee ladys, I quit buying those products long ago. I use cloth, I started by using cut up cloth diapers- the newborn size doesn’t need to be cut. I’ve even begun to use old sox that my kids can’t wear because of holes- I turn them inside out, then turn them half inside out so there are actually 4 layers of cloth with the terry cloth part of the sock on the inside and the smooth on the outside. no problems when flow is heavy, and if I’m out somewhere they are quite disposable!
After reading this thread I ordered a Divacup. I can tell you that I LOVE IT and will NEVER go back to tampons. No leaks, very easy to use, and will save lots of money (not to mention storage space) over the long haul. Many thanks to neon_answer who brought this up, because I’d never heard of this product.
Even if you are no longer menstruating, panty liners and pads are great to extend the wear time of underwear. In an emergency, you could wear your underwear for several days if you had to to save water for washing. If you have a burn barrel or outdoor fireplace, they can be burned later (the liners, not the underwear :-) My husband, who is on chemotherapy has a big problem with the too liquid #2 and his rear-end gets very tender and burned. If he uses a maxi pad in his underwear, it is much more soothing on that area too. God! He would kill me if he knew that I just said that! Those pads are also great for wounds. Somewhat steril and self adhesive.
Yep, tomorrow every last box of tampons that I have stored is getting donated to local charity, now I can use that storage space for something MUCH more important… CHOCOLATE! (So I went a little crazy on a sale for Hershey’s kisses… anybody got a problem with that??? BTW, the Divacup does seem to take away the cramps some, but unfortunately does nothing for the PMS, that’s what the chocolate is for!)
Kim - keep a couple of boxes. Ya never know what will happen. What if you have to bug out and no diva cup or someone else needs some? Reduntancy is good!
Good barter item.
I second or third the Diva Cup. They’re wonderful!! First time I wore it, I forgot about it- I would never have done that with a tampon!
I’d like to add another voice in support of the Diva Cup… I bought one at our local grocery co-op (it was actually a bit cheaper there than on line, so shop around). It worked very well and I’m looking forward to NOT using pads or tampons in the future.
I had no idea they sold the Diva Cup (or another brand) in stores! That’s fantastic.
I got mine in the mail a week ago. I have to say, I’m excited to try it out. First time I’ve ever been “excited” for a visit from Aunt Flo.
If I can figure out how to create a page in the wiki preparedness section, I’ll add a page on feminine hygiene so more women will be aware of their options.
For all you folks worried about this issue, I would suggest if your doctor says you can/should and you have no adverse reactions or risks if you take it, go on long cycle birth control pills. You can get them now so you only get 4 a year. I spoke with my doctor and she said that most women could do absolutely fine just getting 3 a year. You could merely take your normal pills for 4 months and for the last week, take the “period ones”. Your period won’t be any longer than it normally lasts though for some folks, they may be a little heavier, but not much. I worked in a group home for troubled teens and the docs put them all on the long term pills so they would be easier to track drug interactions without potential fluctuations in hormone levels, and all the girls did fine on them. If you go on long cycles, you can dramatically reduce the amount of supplies you will need.
Older thread, closing for speed purposes.
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