I found this article very interesting, and I have observed these behavioral changes in my own personal observations.
I also just wanted to thank you for your great site, it has been informative and educational, and I know I will refer back to it often.
Thank you
Wow! I had no idea about all this stuff! Thanks for being so brave and giving us some very interesting information on something that happens to 50 percent of the population and seems so taboo! [Thanks!]
It appears that the Instead is like a diaphragm, so they really "should" come in different sizes. Diaphragms stay in at least eight hours and no one worries about them being a breeding ground, do they? {Not usually.]
I bought The Keeper and it was miserable to get in the first time. Some friends told me to cut the tail all the way off, and that was the problem. It became so comfortable after that, even though it seems like it would be long.
The concerns about washing in public are just silly. I didn't have to change/clean mine except at home, although I chose to do so in the shower at the club once, and just poured the blood down the drain. Makes more sense to put the blood into the sewer system than into the landfill, doesn't it? Kind of like the difference between cloth and disposable diapers.
I did try to use Astroglide to insert it initially but it made it very difficult - The Keeper is so big and it's scary when it slips out of the fingers before it's in place. Tampons were giving me the hints of a yeast infection and I loathe all pads, even the Natracare brand, one of the worst for folding and creeping around.
Those months of lactational amenorrhea (LAM) [that's the stopping of menstruation during the general time of breast feeding] were wonderful - 14 months with my first daughter and 17 months to the day with my second daughter. I attribute the length of LAM to nighttime nursing (the girls both sleep with me and nurse at will until I get my period back), and my refusal to allow artificial lighting at night while I sleep.
[Recent research has indicated that light at night - even the light from underneath a door - can interfere with melatonin production, which affects in turn the production of estrogen, which of course affects the menstrual cycle. Some researchers have suggested that a tiny amount of light at night in the bedroom can increase a person's risk of cancer, because of the increase of estrogen. Wild stuff, no?]
Feel free to post my e-mail address
mailto:kolina@cs.colorado.edu and my home page - see the URL below.
Kate Hallberg, mom to Ursula (4.5) and Sage (2)
http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~kolina
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ridge/8193/
I'm not sure you can help me but here goes.
I was using Instead until they went out of business. I am back to using tampons. Instead was great because it kept me dry (I get a diaper-rash type thing if I use a pad no matter how often I change) and I could have sex when I was on my period. It seems that I am more easily aroused at that time (all my boyfriend has to do is touch me anywhere). Is anyone coming out with a similar product? I didn't know that they were not going to make Insteads any more, or I would have bought a couple of cases of them.
Any suggestions?
Please, may I post a letter on your letter page?
I'm researching a documentary for the BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation] about menstruation - myths and facts and blessing or curse.
I have much information about the curse and prejudice but I am finding scant information about the blessing! I was thrilled to find medical information linking surgery for breast cancer and the menstrual cycle and the New Scientist report about differing medication levels required during the 28-day cycle, and the research about eating requirements differing during the cycle etc., but I want to hear from women who have evidence of the cycle as a blessing, for example, artists, writers, etc., who are at their most creative whilst menstruating.
I also want to meet women who practice menstrual seclusion, as with menstrual huts of the past [and of the present; women still use menstrual huts].
And anything and everything to do with research into menstruation.
Next week I am interviewing Mr Peter Redgrove and Penelope Shuttle who wrote the first book on menstruation that offered positive information, The Wise Wound, 1978. I am very excited about asking many questions resulting from the book. If you have any questions for them pertaining to the book or their second book, Alchemy for Women, about the dream cycle corresponding to the menstrual cycle, I would be delighted to forward them to them on your behalf. They are not on the net so any questions would have to have addresses!
Thank you so much for this glorious Web site [many thanks to you for saying that!] and I look forward to hearing from visitors to your site.
Ali Kedge.
ali@shortkedge.freeserve.co.uk or fflic.zip@business.ntl.com
Irregular menses identify women at high risk for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which exists in 6-10% of women of reproductive age. PCOS is a major cause of infertility and is linked to diabetes.