My Instead Cup Review (Warning- TMI)

Thank you for all the nice comments yesterday. I'm having a much better day today. AF arrived this morning so I tried Instead Cups for the first time. Click here to read more about them. It is basically a disposable cup that you insert inside your vagina, up against your cervix. It collects the menstrual blood. It sounds gross, I know. But after doing so much research on my stupid vulva inflammation I realized they were my best option. I had no problem at all getting it in this morning. It looks huge but once you fold the ring it's easy to insert. I had to remove the first one because it felt wrong so I threw it out and tried again. The second one seemed comfortable so I checked for leaks. None. I wore it the entire day at work and had NO leaks. Not even when I used the bathroom. I started to panic a little this afternoon because I was imagining this cup inside me and I was worrying about getting it out. I couldn't feel it at all though! You can wear the cup for 12 hours, but I decided to take it out when I got home this afternoon to make sure I could get it out. That was the hard part. I could feel the ring but it was so slippery I had a hard time grabbing it. Then I started to panic, which is the WORST thing you can do because your muscles tense. It took about 5 minutes of feeling around and figuring out how to grab it before I finally got it out. It was very messy. I haven't put another one in because I was freaking out about getting it out again, but I've been wearing a pad for the last 2 hours and I'm already feeling itchy. I plan to put one in tonight and then another one tomorrow for work. I just have to remind myself that it won't get "lost" and this is the best thing for me. I think with practice it will get easier. I don't want an itchy vag for the next 2 weeks because I'm irritated from pads! If this cycle goes well, I may invest in the Diva cup (click here for more info) which is similar but reusable. So while my Instead cup experience wasn't perfect, I do think the pros outweigh the cons and I will definitely continue to use them!