Lunapads

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.

While searching the web about heavy period flow and such and a month of money spent on disposable products I came across someone’s blog and she spoke of Lunapads and raved about them. I typed in the web site and read the testimonials, why switch, checked the prices, fabrics, colors, I was just amazed. I had only heard of ‘washable pads’ from my Grandma telling me how ‘lucky’ we were to have disposables and not to have to worry about washing our ‘monthlys’ like her Mother and Grandmother did, or to wear a ‘menstrual belt’ as she did.

After deciding that Lunapads were what I wanted to have in order to save money and waste from just throwing it away, I had to look again and decide what to get. I chose the Starter Kit as well as the Diva Cup Kit with Mini Pantyliners. I wrote the girls letting them know this was my first time buying and trying Lunapads and I got a reply back very fast letting me know my order was set and would be coming very soon, I even got a little extra surprise in there, I was so excited. It just happened that I got my Lunapads Starter Kit and the Diva Cup Kit 1 day before my period so I got to try them right away. I’ve always used tampons more than pads so I decided to try the Diva Cup first. It was a bit tricky at first, making sure it was in the right way, but what a difference. I have had no leaking, no changing every 1-2 hours and best of all, almost no cramping anymore.

I use the Divacup the most and I don’t know what I’d do if I had to go back to using tampons. Recently I was out and didn’t expect to start having my period so I didn’t have my Divacup or and Lunapads so I HAD to use a tampon. I didn’t think anything of it as that’s what I’d always been using. After having used the Divacup for the past few months wearing a tampon was uncomfortable and remembering having such heavy periods and going right through them I was worried the whole time I might leak and be embarrassed. I will never go back to tampons again.

The Lunapads are great as well, they are so soft and comfortable I don’t even realize I have them on, whereas with a big bulky disposable pad you KNOW you have one on. With Lunapads I don’t have to worry at night about ‘messing the bed’ because of a leaky pad, or not having a backup pad because it wouldn’t fit in my purse. They fold up nice and small, fit in your purse, and have their own little ‘purse’ to go in to hold until you get home and can soak and wash them.

For younger girls who don’t want everyone to know they are on their period, I know changing a disposable pad can be embarrassing. Lunapads are ‘quiet’ and don’t crinkle like the plastic pads do. You can carry extra liners or pads in even the smallest purse. They are small, comfortable, quite, easily portable, and cute too. If one of your girlfriends sees your Lunapads when looking for lip gloss in your purse, then you can let her know about them and she can go and get some of her own and see why you decided to go with Lunapads versus disposable pads.

I know I have talked a lot giving you some history, my personal opinions, and some insight. I hope this is useful to anyone thinking about switching to Lunapads or the Divacup, or younger girls looking into options on what to use when they get their period.

Dianna R.
Pennsylvania

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 23rd, 2006 at 9:58 am by Guest and is filed under Guest Bloggers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.