Today we're going to talk about pooping
while wearing a menstrual cup.
* music *
This is Amanda,
And Kim.
We're from Put a Cup In It.
We're going to talk about how wearing a menstrual cup
may impact your bowel movements
or perhaps how your bowel movements
may impact your menstrual cup.
We had a recent discussion in our Facebook group,
and about 50% of people seem to prefer
to take their cup out while going.
So typically, when you have a bowel movement,
you have poop comin' out, you've got your cup in here.
And the vaginal canal and the rectum,
they're not very far apart, as you can see.
So if something's pushing on this,
it may push on your cup.
Or if your cup is really bulbous,
it may push on your rectum.
You may notice that as you are pushing
to have a bowel movement, your cup is also
being pushed down and out.
And that's not necessarily a good thing.
With this in mind, we have put together
a few examples of some of the most common
things we hear, and some tips to help alleviate them.
We're not doctors, nor are we rectal experts.
We're just giving you this information
based on our own personal experiences
using cups while having bowel movements,
because, let's face it, we have lots of
bowel movements while we're on our period.
It is scientifically proven that you
actually have more.
And we've also gathered a lot of feedback
from our menstrual cup group,
and what they had to say about their experience.
The most common concern we get is about the cup
pushing down, or God forbid, popping out,
resulting in the birth of your cup,
or at least a little bit crowning.
As you may have heard, there's a new cup
on the menstrual scene, and it actually
comes from Tampax.
And if you haven't already seen our review,
be sure to check that out.
One of the things that's great about the Tampax Cup
is that it has this flared shape,
which actually helps the cup hold on
a little bit higher than some other cups.
This is another brand of cup, and it's pretty standard
for most cups, sort of a cup, bell-shaped cup.
Some have a little more of a tapered bottom,
little more rounded bottom.
But generally, it's something along these lines.
Of course, this is very similar,
but if you look at the two, this body is much
more tapered, and the rim really kind of flares out.
You'll notice that it's a considerably larger rim shape,
which can be intimidating.
But as I said, it helps it hold it a little higher,
which is important for this specific topic.
Their wider rim actually helps keep it in place
while you're having those muscle contractions
when you're pushing the cup.
And even if it does move down,
what we've experienced personally,
and what they discovered during their research,
is that the cup not only stays in place,
but if it moves down, it goes even a little bit
higher than where it started from.
So this is not the norm in menstrual cups,
and that's why it is a really good option
for people who are frustrated when they
have a bowel movement that they either have
to remove their cup to have the bowel movement,
because they know it moves down or out.
Or people who are just tired of pushing it back up
after their bowel movements,
especially if it was an unexpected one.
What was really interesting is that when
Tampax was developing this cup,
they took a lot of MRIs of the cup
after strenuous activities, et cetera.
And what they found was that the cup
did stay put, or, in many cases,
it kind of nudged up a little bit.
Unfortunately, we don't have access to the MRIs,
which we were really hoping for.
But apparently there are privacy issues,
which I suppose we can understand
when peering into the vaginas of others.
So there are a few ways to tackle the issue
of having a bowel movement while using a cup
and wearing a cup.
Now, the first one is not necessarily
the most convenient, but we find that a lot
of our users do end up doing this.
And I do myself.
If you feel the motion and the urge
to have a bowel movement, you can go ahead
and go to a restroom, remove the cup,
place it on a little square of toilet paper,
and do your business, put your clean cup back inside.
And this really avoids that issue of perhaps
birthing the cup on the toilet accidentally.
Another one of the things you can do
is go ahead, do your business on the toilet as usual,
and if you do find that the cup has moved down
during your movement, you can, with clean hands,
go ahead and just really gently push inside
and just sort of push the cup back up with the finger,
and get it to the height you need.
And that's one of the things you can do
if you have an unexpected bowel movement
and you go ahead and go, and you have the cup in,
and you do notice it's moved down.
It's not comfortable when the cup has moved
down lower, for most of us, because we don't have
that much room.
So if it's lower than where it started,
it's often at the point where it's sort of
close to the entrance, or even slightly out.
So you definitely want to address that,
you don't want to continue wearing a cup
that is hanging low because it will probably
continue to sort of ride down,
'cause it's not in a secure placement
inside of your vagina.
If going to the bathroom with your cup in
is something you don't want to do because
you're afraid you're going to lose the cup,
or you've just heard horror stories of people
who have birthed their cup into a toilet
and either had to fish it out, that is not fun,
or have actually lost their cup because
they pooped the cup out, or they pooped their poop out,
and they birthed their cup at the same time
while those muscles were all squeezing
everything down there, and the automatic toilet
took their cup.
This has happened more times than I
can even tell you.
If you're afraid of that, go ahead and just
take your cup out.
I do for most of the time.
But I will say that I have not had to do
this while wearing a Tampax Cup,
because of the way it was designed
to move back up.
So I'm one of those people who have
awful period poops.
This is not TMI, 'cause there's no such thing
for Put a Cup in It, but,
there's no way to put it delicately.
I go to the bathroom a lot during my period,
so it is actually sort of frustrating,
depending on, you know, how bad it is that cycle
that I have to move my cup when I don't
have to remove my cup.
My cup can stay in for 10 or 12 hours
in terms of holding enough flow for me
without having to change it the whole day.
But because I'm going to the bathroom
maybe a few times a day, I will either end up
removing the cup, having my business,
putting it back in, which I shouldn't have to do
because it can hold so much.
Or I end up having to reach inside
and readjust the cup.
And if I had a really good fit, it's frustrating
because sometimes it doesn't quite end up
that way after.
And this is, like, this is real talk,
this is not because Tampax is sponsoring this video.
It actually really does stay in place.
So, you know, I would not necessarily choose
a cup based on the fact that I can
wear it while pooping.
But having the knowledge that I can wear it
while having a bowel movement is a bonus to me.
So it's just one of those things that,
if that's what makes you happy and you have
a good run with cup because it works for you,
and it stays in place, that's great.
Now, for those of you who already have a cup
and maybe the Tampax Cup isn't the perfect
cup for you, we would say to look at cups
that are firmer than the cup you're using
if your cup is moving down during
your bowel movements and you want to explore
an option that won't.
So the firmer the cup, the more it will hold
while you're pushing against it.
It will stay in place more.
So if you need another cup and the Tampax Cup
doesn't fit what criteria you need,
but you are looking to fulfill a cup
that will stay in place during bowel movements,
and also during exercise and other things
that you're doing.
You don't notice that your muscles,
your pelvic floor muscles are moving,
even some people have said during urination,
certain types of activities.
So a cup that stays in place against
all of those pressures is a good thing.
So even beyond pooping, something that will stay there
while you're doing those activities,
while you're walking, while you're running,
while you are squatting, that's a good thing.
So either a firmer cup, or the Tampax Cup,
which is not what I would consider a firm cup,
but I would consider it one that would
stay in place, and it fits in a different
category because it has that wide rim,
designed to stay up while you're pushing
and against the pressure.
I'm going to let Amanda talk to you about straining
and not drinking enough water.
Because this is definitely not what
I need help with.
* laughing *
All I need to go to the bathroom is coffee.
Speaking of...
I should go.
Another issue that we've heard from some
of our readers, though not very common,
is that wearing their cup might make it
harder to poop.
It might sort of slow their poop, I guess.
Or some people actually even said that they
weren't really able to poop with their cup in at all.
More likely, this is probably related to diet
or water intake.
For me personally, I know that drinking
enough water is not my forte,
and that can have some issues from time to time.
However, it may also have to do with
the size and shape of your cup.
If you have a particularly bulbous cup,
it may put extra pressure on the rectum,
which could create a little restriction.
On the other side of that, if you happen
to have a very soft cup, it's more likely
to sort of squish out of the way a bit.
So if you find that your cup
is impeding your bowel movements,
you might want to try finding a softer cup.
Again, with the Tampax Cup, because the cup
is very narrow at the bottom,
here is another brand that's fairly typical.
It's got a fairly large, bulbous bottom.
Not all do, but a lot do.
And even those that have more of a tapered shape
tend to be a little wider.
The shape of the cup, coupled with the way
that it sits a little higher in the vaginal canal,
actually keeps some pressure off of
the lower vaginal area, which to me only makes sense
that it would also keep pressure off of the rectum.
Again, I would like to point out that having
an issue using the bathroom, whether it be
peeing or pooping, is not typical of wearing a cup,
but it does affect some users.
If you find that you're having troubles urinating
or having a bowel movement, just in general,
please talk to a trusted physician.
While cups don't generally cause issues
while having a bowel movement, as we said,
roughly 50% of people in our group,
or at least those who chose to comment on the matter,
said that they like to take the cup out
before they have a bowel movement.
And if that's something that makes you
more comfortable, absolutely do it.
There's no harm in taking the cup out.
You can use this as an opportunity to empty it,
to clean it, whatever.
Personally, I don't typically take my cup out,
but there have been times.
And if I have needed to, I have just simply
placed it on a piece of clean toilet paper,
and then I wash before reinserting, obviously.
As with basically anything about using
a menstrual cup, it's all about what works for you.
There's no right or wrong way,
there are no definitive answers.
It's about what works for you, works for your body,
and works with the cup that you've chosen.
As I mentioned, we have discussed this
in our Facebook group, and some of the readers
had suggestions that they have found work for them.
So I wanted to share those as well.
One of the tips was that if you feel that
the cup is coming down and you don't have
time to take it out, or don't want to take it out,
you can use a finger to just sort of
hold it in place, and then move it back
into place once you're done.
It was also recommended to use a Squatty Potty.
Using the Squatty Potty helps put less strain
on everything while having a bowel movement,
so you're not going to be using all those muscles
that could be pushing out your cup.
So we hope that was helpful.
We've actually had a lot of questions
about pooping while wearing a cup.
It's not because people don't understand their anatomy,
it's because people have had these issues
and want to know how to fix it.
If you ever have any other concerns or questions
about using a menstrual cup, we definitely encourage
you to join our group, Put a Cup in It on Facebook.
You can just search Put a Cup in It.
It pops right up.
Request to join, answer our questions
and you will get to join almost 14,000 other members,
and get help with troubleshooting your cup,
or help others.
Make sure you've subscribed to
Put a Cup in It on YouTube.
Give this video a Like and leave us a comment
and let us know what you think about this video,
or whatever, menstrual cup questions.
And that's it, thanks so much.
A softer cup,
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Dogs!
On the opposite--
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Damn it, dogs.
On the other side. * bleeping *
For um, * groaning *
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Another * bleeping * truck.