VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: THIS TRANSCRIPT WAS GENERATED USING AN AUTOMATED SERVICE SO WE APOLOGIZE FOR ANY TYPOS AND SPELLING ERRORS.

Period miserable & magical (use a cup!)

[00:00:00] All right, here's what we're gonna talk about. Sneak peek. I was gonna talk about menopause today and ladies in menopause. I gotcha. I promise I will talk more about it cuz I'm in menopause just like you. Maybe worse, I don't know and it's important, but I got so many responses yesterday to say, can you talk about the menstrual cup? 

So I figured it's an important thing to do. today. So we're gonna talk about the cup. Here are the things I want you to know about the cup. And I am not gonna advocate for any brand cuz there's a ton of brands. I'm gonna say this for those of you who know nothing, let's talk as if you know nothing. There is a thing called a menstrual cup and a menstrual disc. 

The difference is, and I don't have that cuz this is my prop that I purchased. This is the new one, don't worry. I bought it a couple months ago. It's clean. Um, cup disc. As you can imagine, the disc almost looks like a diap. The two different categories are really up to you with regard to which one you feel more comfortable emotionally and physically with. 

There is actually a great Instagram account called Put a Cup in it. Um, and I'll tag them, but you can go there and they have a little quiz cuz you [00:01:00] decide which one you want based on a bunch of factors. Let's face it, marketing, some of them donate money, some of them different colors, but broadly, Cup versus disc. 

Disc is sometimes easier to put in and out cup requires teeny bit of a learning curve. I will tell you my funny story in a second. Um, I did the cup because at the time, a decade ago when I started using the cup, they didn't have the discs. So this is what I used. So long story short, a decade ago when one of our nurses at the hospital had been battering me to use the cup, she had been telling me since, I don't know, 19, no 2000. 

One, let's say use the cup, use a cup, and I was like, it's so gross. I don't know how could I use it? Which is hilarious cuz I deal with gross stuff all day long in blood and vaginas and I'm not, I'm not scared of it or grossed out by it generally, but somehow for me, I was like, oh, I can't use it until I hit the perimenopause. 

The perimenopause when you bleed heavily is just that time where the tampons don't soak up the clots. You end up like pulling out a dry tampon, which makes you feel like you're like ripping out your insides. Half of it's dry. [00:02:00] Then there's like clots in your underwear. Too many. Irritates your vva. You guys probably know the drill, whether or not you're in parody menopause. 

If you have heavy bleeding, you know it. And if you don't have heavy bleeding, pulling out a dry tampon or wearing one tampon all day long, sometimes just feels like you just don't feel the same. So what are the benefits of this? First and foremost, it is so much. easier because once you put it in, this can stay in for 12 hours straight. 

You guys might remember that I did a quick video on or reel on how much do we each bleed a day? And studies have shown that women think we bleed a coke can's worth, but guess what? We bleed a shot Glass worth. What is this? A shot glass size. So the way the cup works and it's typically made of some kind of an generic plastic and they can last. 

depending on what package insert you read, so please read your package insert because again, I'm not advocating for any one brand. They can last anywhere from like three to 10 years. Mine lasted 10 years. I [00:03:00] bought one in 10 years. So first, it's great for the environment because you're not throwing out pads and tampons. 

Second, it can last you three to 10 years. You do the math, you're gonna save a ton of money. Third, and probably most importantly, to convince you guys, this is so much easier when you're pulling out pads that are half soaked, tampons that are half soaked. It's just gross. It's annoying. You have to carry them everything. 

The beauty of this is once you put it, It collects about the average amount that a woman will bleed a day. There are definitely some women who bleed more than one cup worth. I mean, I joke like your cup runeth over. You might need to take this out and put it back more than once a day. And we'll talk about the drawbacks in a second because that can be messy. 

So the way it works for a cup, a little bit different for a disc. When I had mine, I actually cut this oven off because I'm not quite even sure if anyone needs that oven, but I cut it off. It's not a, it's not an open hole, it's just a blind ended hole and you have to fold. Put it up in your vagina. Let's say this is your uterus and this is your cervix. 

You put it up in your vagina, you let it open, and then it sits right [00:04:00] there so that the blood coming out of your cervi. Pours into this little cup, you might be thinking, but how do I know where to put it? And how does it know where to go? It knows where to go because your vagina only has so much space. 

It's pretty dispensable as we know. Cuz during sex it can lengthen and and open up. But when it comes to putting this in, it knows where to go. Just like a tampon. You guys know that when you put in a tampon, you're not looking for the right place, you're just putting it in. And if you feel it, you pushed it in a little bit farther because whether or not, you know, What you're saying to yourself is, I feel it. 

It's sticking out a little bit. Let me push it up more. Same idea with this. If you feel it, push it up a little bit more or maybe put your hand in and just wiggle it to see if it feels more comfortable. But if it's comfortable in there, it's sitting in the right place. Okay? So again, you roll it like this, you put it up in, you open it. 

When it comes to taking it out, don't make the mistake your arrogant gynecologist did. Cuz I was like, let me practice. I'm gonna be able to put it in and out. I'm a gynecologist. I do this all day, right? I deal with vaginas. I put it. Paul Paul. Can't get it out. Can't get it out. [00:05:00] Start freaking out, sweating. 

My heart's racing. I'm like, I can't get it out. I can't. What am I gonna do? Because I hadn't read the package insert. So I asked my husband to come help me. I'm like, you have to get this out because if I have to walk into the office and ask my partners who are like my brothers to take this out, that will be like completely mortifying to me. 

Right. Which is ironic because we deal every day with all this stuff where people are coming in and telling us all kinds of things, but they were my. . Not really just joking. They're my partners who were like my brothers and they would've been fine with it and they would've made a whole lot of fun of me. 

I digress. What you need to do, pinch to release the pressure and then pull it out. Okay? So again, roll it to put it in. Once it's in, it sits there. 12 hours. Pinch, pull it out. , empty it into the toilet. Here's where it gets messy. You can imagine there's some blood on the outside. I know that sounds gross. So when there's blood on the outside, you pinch, you get it out, your hands are gonna get a little bit messy. 

You're gonna then rinse this if you wanna put it back in. Or if you don't have time to rinse it, you just put it back in. [00:06:00] I know that all sounds gross, but let's face it ladies, our period is all at. Miserable and magical, right? Taylor Swift. It's like magical. It's what makes us a woman. It's what allows us to actually have all the motions that we have. 

It's what allows us to have a baby if we choose to have a baby. It is what sets us apart for men, which is so magical, and yet it's a fucking miserable, right? Like it's gross. Who wants to bleed out of an orifice once a month for like three to seven days and then have to do all this? Miserable and magical. 

That's the way it's, so we gotta talk openly about it. So yes, pulling it out, pouring it in the toilet. Sometimes getting a little blood on your hand if you're not in a private bathroom. Meaning if you are not in your home, in an office where you have your own bathroom, it can be gross and you have to preemptively think, let me take in maybe a wipe or two, not too many, cuz you don't wanna clog the toilet, extra toilet paper to kind of wipe, and that's the part where it can be a challenge. 

That said again, for the most, One cup will last all day, so you [00:07:00] don't need to be changing it that often. Okay. Other benefits to this are that you'll not be putting tons of stuff in the landfill, like I said, and you'll be saving money. This is probably one of the more expensive ones, and I think this brand was like $30. 

it will last you a decade. So if you get it, read the instructions. Some of 'em tell you to boil it ahead of time. Some of 'em tell you how long it'll last. I'm not ad advocating for any one brand. I support all the brands. I think it's great to do it. I think that at the end of the day, us being more open about our period, which I am so deeply happy, that there are so many accounts out there who are really devoted to ending period poverty. 

You guys have heard the term period poverty probably, which has a broad definition. I don't even know the exact definition to be honest. But the general idea is that as women, this is something that is biologically effect to us. Correct. And yet we are being treated as if it's something elective, something like we choose to do every month, meaning pads and tampons are not just widely accessible when you're in a public bathroom, the way toilet paper would be, pads and tampons are [00:08:00] not cheap. 

They're not available to everyone. If you are in an area where you. Actual poverty than you are experiencing deep period poverty because you do not have, you don't have access to it. Or if you do, they're very expensive. And a lot of the data shows that we actually, as women get taxed on things that we use at a different rate than the men, the equivalent male products. 

We know there's no equivalent male tampons and pads, and it's not an actual tax. It is a built in upcharge that women get taxed. And this is something that we really need to talk about and fix. Right? The fact that we comprise. A little bit over 50% of the population, I think, right, is absurd that this is the way it's working. 

So I do think with a lot of public discourse, we will be able to improve this outcome. But it starts with you guys. I encourage you to not like me be kind of like, Ooh, gross doubt. Like talk about it. Be open. I'm not suggesting like at a dinner party, y'all talk about your vagina, your vulva, and your period, unless you want to. 

Good job, aio. I'm just suggesting that I think us discussing it as if it's something [00:09:00] taboo and gross and needing to be closeted, which I was at fault for myself, and not feeling comfortable with myself in using the cup for so many years. I think we need to just be more open about it, be more honest about it, acknowledge that it's miserable and magical. 

Like most things in life that are amazing and beautiful, there will be a dico dichotomy. So I am not suggesting our period's amazing and you should love it. Walk around with blood everywhere. I'm not, I'm acknowledging I hated my period. And one of the best things that came from surgical menopause from my ovarian cancer is that I don't need this anymore. 

I don't get my period. I have no more uterus. And I'm not sad about that, that. it is a fact that we have to live with and we should all acknowledge the ways that we can improve the public's knowledge about it. Right. So that is my plug for the for the cup. What are the things I think you guys are gonna ask me, like, do you need to keep buying new ones? 

The answer is read your package insert, because it depends on the company. Some of them I think are okay for two or three years. Some are okay for 10 years. Is it. . I mean, again, 30 or $40 sounds like a [00:10:00] lot for one thing, but when you think about how many pads and tampons you're gonna buy in your lifetime, or even in a year, even if you were buying a new cup a year, you'd be saving money. 

Is it gross? Yeah. I'm gonna say that it's gross, but no more gross when you really think about it than soaking through pads and tampons all the time. That's gross. But what if I only need one tampon a day and I don't really bleed that much and it's really light. In fact, all I get is a little bit of brown sch. 

This is actually the best then because then you're putting it in, you are literally forgetting about it for 12 hours. You're emptying it with a little bit of brown schmutz at the end of the day, and that is it. You don't need to worry about even carrying a pat or a tampon with you or wearing a powder of tampon. 

The truth is that anything being in our vagina can throw off the balance in our vagina. Anything, cup, pad, vaginal, ring, penis, fingers, anything can throw it off. But net, net, this seems to be the. inert. Again, when you talk about all the ideas that are involved, meaning saving the landfill, saving money, not using something that's shoved in there that isn't [00:11:00] even doing its job well. 

I don't wanna disparage tampons, by the way. Tampons, thank you. You guys are amazing, amazing little apparatus, but the fact is tampons just don't seem to absorb as well as they could. Okay. I hope that all helps. I hope that answers your questions if you have more questions. You know, send me a message. Well, don't send me a message, comment, or I guess dm, but I don't get to a lot of my dms. 

Um, follow me on Tribe called V because you're gonna hear more from me and my business partner soon. Uh, go to tribe called v.com and if you like what you're listening to, please share. Bye.