Lunapads

we wish all our friends and readers a very merry christmas, felice navidad, happy hanukkah, happy winter solstice and other festive greetings of the season. a tradition we started last year was to have an annual year end lunch at a fabulous hangout called rahda, not far from our office. not only is the food great, but the entire menu is vegan, which makes sandra happy. baby garret joined us, since he comes with me where ever i go. while it is hard to see, i’m wearing a fabulous new headband that madeleine sewed for each of us. (it’s kinda falling off my head, so madeleine is making adjustmens so it will fit me perfectly.)

here at lunapads, most of us are celebrating the holidays with family. i’m staying in town and my in-laws are visiting us, madeleine is island hopping around the vancouver area, marie genevieve is going to see her folks in kelowna and gonie is staying home too (having spent some time in the phillipines with her family last month.) sandra however is on a big adventure touring south america with her boyfriend. you can keep up to date on her blog here. we also want to welcome lisa, who has joined lunapads in december to help with the staffing gaps over the holidays.

where are you this holiday season and how will you be celebrating? we look forward to connecting with you more in 2007.

I’ve been using washable pads for four years, but just found out about Lunapads and Lunapanties a year and a half ago. When I first switched to washable pads, I hung on to a stash of plastic disposable pads and tampons for jogging and long-distance cycling because the washable pads I was initially using were just too bulky and mobile for really active sports.

Also, the pads I was first using had these big metal snaps that became painful after about five seconds of sitting on my bike seat. Since switching to Lunapads, I can happily use a Maxi Lunapad for cycling, even on long-distance rides. In fact, I used them on a 800-kilometer bike tour. Unfortunately, even Lunapads don’t really work really well for jogging, just as I find disposable pads don’t work because there’s just too much movement. Previously I always had to use tampons for jogging but now I use Lunapanties, which I consider to be one of the most genius inventions of the 20th century! Seriously, Lunapanties are just fantastic for jogging, and have totally resolved my discomfort at having to keep tampons on hand if I want to continue my running schedule while I have my period. I LOVE my Lunapanties. Thanks!!

My experience with Lunapads began out of frustration with off the shelf menstruation products and a desperation for something better. But I should probably start at the beginning.

I have highly sensitive skin. So much so that anytime I got my period I was in pain from the rash and soreness that store-bought pads brought. Further, I was always embarrassed by my period. I lived in pain and fear of getting my period, eventually choosing to completely suppress it rather than go though another cycle of pain, embarrassment and frustration.

Then I heard about Lunapads. I read the testimonials of other women on the site, women who had experienced similar issues to mine. I realized I was not alone. With much skepticism, I ordered my first set of Lunapads and stopped withholding my period. I held my breath, hopeful that I may finally have the key to a good period. I revisited the Lunapads website many times while I waited, nervous and anxious, rereading the testimonials. Then it happened. I finally got my period again, and my “trial” with Lunapads began. Even better – it was successful. I was surprised, elated, ecstatic! Not only did I not have to use a cream to rid myself of the rash, but also I wasn’t sore either!

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This is a very exciting opportunity to contribute to Hanne Blank’s upcoming anthology about menstruation. If you’re not already familiar with Hanne Blank’s (she is a Lunapads customer!) unique brand of hyper-progressive writing (her latest book is a history of virginity), learn more here. For those of you who are already fans, you can look forward to this…

Breakthrough Bleeding:
Essays on The Thing Women Spend A Quarter Of Their Time Doing, But No One’s Supposed To Talk About
Edited by Hanne Blank and Moira Russell
Forthcoming from She Devil Press, an imprint of Suspect Thoughts Press scheduled publication date Fall 2008.

FINALLY, a book that isn’t afraid of a little blood!
Between puberty and menopause, most women spend close to a quarter of their lives dealing with menstruation. But except for coming-of-age stories and the occasional Stephen King novel, all this spilled blood hardly creates a blip on the cultural radar. It’s as if someone has removed it all with a super-duper magic cleanser is ironic, considering what the rest of us go through to get the stains out!

Breakthrough Bleeding is here to change all that. Thoughtful, challenging, political, and maybe even sexy, this collection of essays looks at menstruation from the inside and the outside, a super-maxi size dose of heavy-thinkin¹ menstrual mojo.

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Yay! The 16th Biennial Meeting of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research will be hosted in Vancouver by the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research (CeMCOR) at the University of British Columbia, June 7-9, 2007. This is a multidisciplinary conference for womens health scholars, health care providers, advocates, writers, students, artists, and others interested in the menstrual cycle and ovulation.

Want to get involved?

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I’m 25 and had my first period at the age of 11. I have two beautiful daughters ages 9 and almost 5. For the past 14 years I’ve always had terrible cramps along with my period, I would often miss school on the first day of my period as the cramps were so terrible. I would miss out on a lot due to how bad my cramps were. I was put on prescription 800mg Ibuprofen for the cramping, and a mini pill birth control to try and help calm my periods down. After having been on them for 7 years and giving birth to my younger daughter, I decided I no longer wanted to take the birth control pills to ‘control my periods’ and because I was nursing.

During the last 2 years my period got much heavier, more painful, and more frequent. I was going through super sized tampons within an hour or two, using heavy flow overnight pads and going through them like crazy. I was in pain from the increasingly painful cramping, irritated at having my period 2-3 times a month, and wasting money on the disposable tampons and pads that I was going through like crazy. I saw my midwife with the records I kept regarding the dates, pain level, heaviness, and the amount of products I was using each month. She decided I need to go back on the mini pill birth control and that I should go back to ‘normal’ in the next few months. I did as I was instructed and although the pain and heavy flow was still there I went back to a predictable ‘once a month’. After everything was back to normal I decided I no longer wanted to take the pills period.

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If you live in and or around Vancouver, please join us at “maternal creations” an arts and crafts event created and hosted by my fabulous midwives.This event will feature mothers from the Vancouver community who have come together to sell and exhibit unique trinkets and enjoyables that are sewn, thrown, painted, beaded, quilted, molded and stamped. There will be clothes, jewelry, baby-carriers, ceramics, bags, cards and knitted wear. Lunapads will be there to sell post partum pads and blankets, and, with some degree of nervousness, I’ll be showing one of my own pieces of art (a chinese water painting). I’m looking forward to a great social gathering and opportunity to find some unique holiday gifts from local artisans.

Friday, November 24th, 4-8pm
Saturday, November 25th, 12-5pm
admission: Free

at: Pomegranate Community Midwives
2647 East Hastings (between Slocan & Penticton)
604-255-5556
www.pomegranate-midwives.com

A fantastic opportunity to learn more about your cycle, as well as to support the valuable research being conducted by the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research (CEMCOR).
Are you a woman who:
- Is between the ages of 20 and 40?
- Has menstruated within the last 3 months?
- Has not used oral contraceptives/hormones within 3 months?
- Has not had a hysterectomy?
- Is a resident of the BC Lower Mainland?
If you responded “Yes” to all 5 questions, you are invited to participate in a one month menstrual cycle study conducted by Dr. Jerilynn Prior, Professor of Endocrinology at UBC.

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Anyone out there using mainly tampons (but open to trying the DivaCup) in Vancouver, Victoria or Prince George BC? Family Practice resident doctors from UBC will be conducting the Finding Lasting Options for Women (FLOW) study, a randomized trial comparing tampons to menstrual cups. If you’re between the ages of 19-40 and are willing to help out, email flowbyflow@gmail.com with your phone number and city.

Being an avid camper and a die-hard natural menstrual products user for years, one would think the two had collided by now. But oddly enough I had always been ‘fortunate’ enough to often not have my period while out in the woods, or I was near some more modern services that made using cloth pads and the DivaCup much easier.

This Thanksgiving weekend I was set to head out camping for three days with only pit toilets and my period started the morning we were leaving…

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