A few things I consider important: - It needs to be cleaned with cold water and ideally hypoallergenic soap before every reinsertion throughout the day; - It needs to be sterilized at least once a month, ideally two (before starting monthly use, after ending monthly use), with boiling water or sterilizing tablets—which maybe would be a more ideal solution, since you can always provide the sterilizing tablets with the menstrual cups as well.
A personal anecdote and other women’s anecdotes: - A few women with PCOS have reported feeling more cramps during periods by using menstrual cups (and there is maybe unreliable sources claiming that up to 20% of women in India, for example, suffer from PCOS); - I have personally stopped using it and noticed way less pain from cramps, which were oftentimes debilitating, during periods, unsure if causation; - Other women—and it seems a majority were mothers --, claimed to have suffered from uterine prolapse, and swollen/damaged cervix.
I am not claiming these anecdotes are significant, but they are worth looking at while attempting to create a program.
There certainly seem to be a bunch of wide range of practises with cleaning. Cup manufacturers (as I suppose they would) say it certainly doesn’t need soap every single day. My wife doesn’t use soap either daily (for what that’s worth).
A few things I consider important:
- It needs to be cleaned with cold water and ideally hypoallergenic soap before every reinsertion throughout the day;
- It needs to be sterilized at least once a month, ideally two (before starting monthly use, after ending monthly use), with boiling water or sterilizing tablets—which maybe would be a more ideal solution, since you can always provide the sterilizing tablets with the menstrual cups as well.
A personal anecdote and other women’s anecdotes:
- A few women with PCOS have reported feeling more cramps during periods by using menstrual cups (and there is maybe unreliable sources claiming that up to 20% of women in India, for example, suffer from PCOS);
- I have personally stopped using it and noticed way less pain from cramps, which were oftentimes debilitating, during periods, unsure if causation;
- Other women—and it seems a majority were mothers --, claimed to have suffered from uterine prolapse, and swollen/damaged cervix.
I am not claiming these anecdotes are significant, but they are worth looking at while attempting to create a program.
There certainly seem to be a bunch of wide range of practises with cleaning. Cup manufacturers (as I suppose they would) say it certainly doesn’t need soap every single day. My wife doesn’t use soap either daily (for what that’s worth).
I found the diversity on this reddit thread interesting on this front https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/jh5A2NXr5Lf9oXLSX/menstrual-cups-a-cost-effective-gem?commentId=w2K7jNQjQmDqoHCwR
I’m sure cups won’t be the solution for every single woman for sure—there will always be a decent number they won’t work out for.