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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff Mom Never Told You from how stup

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Speaker 1: Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm

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Speaker 1: Kristen and I'm Caroline. And Caroline. I feel like this

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Speaker 1: is a long overdue topic for menstrul cups. I can't

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Speaker 1: believe we haven't done it yet. I mean we've We've

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Speaker 1: made some stuff Mom Never Told You videos, We've certainly

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Speaker 1: mentioned menstrul cups. We've gotten a lot of letters about

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Speaker 1: menstrel cups, and we've posted a lot about menstrual cups

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Speaker 1: on the Stuff Mom Never Told You social media, and

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Speaker 1: they always generate so much conversation because the people who

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Speaker 1: use menstrel cups tend to be converts, like permanent forever

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Speaker 1: converts who love menstrel cups and want to preach the

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Speaker 1: good word about them. And it's similar to me as

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Speaker 1: I U D converts, where if it works for you,

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Speaker 1: it's amazing. Also, like i U D s, for every loyalist,

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Speaker 1: there is someone with a horror story that can leave

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Speaker 1: people who haven't tried either nervous exactly. And I saw

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Speaker 1: a conversation on the internet last night that illustrated this

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Speaker 1: point perfectly. So one of the articles that we were

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Speaker 1: reading had obviously a comment section under it, and one

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Speaker 1: particular woman was taking issue with using minstrel cups and

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Speaker 1: saying that, you know, y'all are all crazy. They don't

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Speaker 1: live up to the hype. They're not as great, and

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Speaker 1: much like I U d s. She said, they're not

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Speaker 1: very safe, and someone else got on there to comment

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Speaker 1: and said, actually, I U d s are very safe,

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Speaker 1: and then that woman came back on and said, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, I was uncontrollably bleeding from mine, but thanks

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Speaker 1: for telling me what my body does or whatever, whatever, whatever,

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Speaker 1: And I think that it's kind of an excellent, unfortunate

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Speaker 1: but kind of an excellent illustration of a lot of

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Speaker 1: the conversations that happened around both aut s and menstrual cups.

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Speaker 1: This one happened to encapsulate both of them. And of course,

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Speaker 1: the moral of both of those stories, whether we're talking

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Speaker 1: about birth control or period products, is the need for

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Speaker 1: us to accept that every individual body is different and

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Speaker 1: everybody has preferences. I mean, and some people are going

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Speaker 1: to love tampons forever more than they're ever gonna love

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Speaker 1: menstrual cups and vice versa. So we wanted to talk

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Speaker 1: though about menstrual cups because they've been getting so much

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Speaker 1: pressed lately, and yet they've been around for almost as long.

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Speaker 1: We're talking like only separated by months, as long as tampons. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I had no idea, but we are only now hearing

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Speaker 1: about them in the mainstream well because of the context

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Speaker 1: of period Pride, which we have you know, we did

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Speaker 1: in a previous episode. I recommend you go listen to

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Speaker 1: it if if you're interested in learning more. UM. But

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Speaker 1: a lot of people are finally talking about their periods

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Speaker 1: and in menstruation and trying to remove the stigma, and

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Speaker 1: so I think that menstrul cups have sort of come

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Speaker 1: out of the closet, so to speak as a result. Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: and sales numbers are pointing to that. Racked magazine reported

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Speaker 1: that one of the industry leaders, DIVA Cup, which you

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Speaker 1: can find in a lot of drug stores and even

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Speaker 1: in places like Target. They have reported double digit sales

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Speaker 1: in the US and Canada for the past twelve years.

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Speaker 1: And I'm really curious to hear from Canadian listeners about

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Speaker 1: menstrual cup youth because they seem to be way more

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Speaker 1: common a in Canadian drug stores, UM, grocery stores, etcetera.

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Speaker 1: And also Canadians just use them more often. There seems

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Speaker 1: to be less of a squid factor happening. Is it

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Speaker 1: because Diva cups are from Canada? Are people just more

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Speaker 1: used to them? That's why I'm asking our Canadian listeners.

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure I have there there's no qualitative study

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Speaker 1: on the Canadian menstrual cup adoption culture, but if any

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Speaker 1: Canadians listening have some insight, definitely let us know. Because

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Speaker 1: there are American menstrual cup companies, but that certainly hasn't

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Speaker 1: penetrated our market as thoroughly as Diva Cup has in Canada. Um,

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Speaker 1: but we are starting to see that a growing desire

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Speaker 1: for a more available menstrual cup options are definitely out there,

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Speaker 1: even for women who have never tried them. For instance,

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Speaker 1: the kickstarter a couple of years ago for a collapsible

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Speaker 1: lily cup made by the Swedish company Intima, exceeded its

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Speaker 1: kickstart goal by four thousand per scent. They raised more

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Speaker 1: than three dollars in forty days from over eighty five

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Speaker 1: hundred backers, a number of whom told into my that

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Speaker 1: they'd never use meshil cups. And it's got a fancy design.

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Speaker 1: They do look quite sleek. I like the look of it,

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Speaker 1: like I might even want one just on my desk.

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Speaker 1: All right, I love that. I don't I don't get

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Speaker 1: a period, but you know, you could use it as

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Speaker 1: a little snack container, put some peanuts in it. So

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Speaker 1: which lily cup are you talking about that? Because the

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Speaker 1: kickstarter was for the collapsible one. Oh yeah, no, I'm thinking, okay, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm thinking of the one that's not collapsible. And it

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Speaker 1: looks like not that I remember necessarily what the castle

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Speaker 1: from Never Ending Story looks like, but that's what I imagine.

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Speaker 1: It is a giant lily cup. And actually, when I

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Speaker 1: saw a picture of the collapsible one, I had to

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Speaker 1: do almost a spittake because in my stocking for Christmas

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Speaker 1: one year, my mother gave me a little collapsible funnel,

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Speaker 1: you know that you can use in the kitchen, you

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Speaker 1: can make cocktails with it, you can do whatever. Um,

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Speaker 1: And I was like, oh my god, my my bar

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Speaker 1: funnel looks exactly exactly like the collapsible lily cup. Well,

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Speaker 1: if you're ever in a pinch, you know, yeah if

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Speaker 1: I yeah, I know, except it's it's open at the end.

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Speaker 1: Am I going to defeat the purpose? But I did

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Speaker 1: have a moment of like, I literally for a moment

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Speaker 1: split second, just took a second to be like, oh

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Speaker 1: do I have a menstrul cup in my bar? No? Okay,

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Speaker 1: we're good. I gotta say to you. The marketing potential

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Speaker 1: of lining a lily cup to the never ending story

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Speaker 1: Castle is just pure delight because the idea of inserting

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Speaker 1: the never ending castle into your vagiant to help you

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Speaker 1: out through your period that seems fun, because I mean,

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Speaker 1: your period can feel like a never ending story boom.

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Speaker 1: Faith perfect and perfect um. What is not perfect, though,

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Speaker 1: was the Kickstarter for a product called loon Cup that

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Speaker 1: has not come onto the market yet and I don't

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Speaker 1: think it ever will come onto the market. Even though

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Speaker 1: it went viral, it generated a ton of attention. Kickstarter

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Speaker 1: selected it as one of its top projects for that

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Speaker 1: period when it was on period and O B g

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Speaker 1: U I N extraordinaire. Dr Jenn Gunter, who you must

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Speaker 1: follow on Twitter. Absolutely follow her. She's terrific. She describes

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Speaker 1: the loon Cup as quote an answer to a question

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Speaker 1: no one is asking or needs to ask. So before

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Speaker 1: we go any further, let's explain what the loon cup

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Speaker 1: allegedly does. So, it is a menstrul cup that has

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Speaker 1: in it a small battery and a bluetooth antenna. And

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Speaker 1: this is intended to much like a fitbit or something

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Speaker 1: along those lines, let you track facts and stats about

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Speaker 1: your period. And at first thought, it's like, oh, wait, no,

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Speaker 1: this could be valuable, like I need this health information.

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Speaker 1: I assure you you don't. Because one of the factors

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Speaker 1: is the color of the menstrual blood. So it tracks

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Speaker 1: the color, It tracks the amount of menstrual blood. It

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Speaker 1: tracks how many clots you're getting, if any, um. And

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Speaker 1: this is all information that Dr Gunter was saying, like

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Speaker 1: you as a human can use your human senses to

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Speaker 1: detect if your flow is heavy um. And rarely is

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Speaker 1: your doctor unless your period is unusually heavy or unusually light,

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Speaker 1: maybe your period has stopped altogether. Really, is your doctor

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Speaker 1: going to ask you for this information? You don't need

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Speaker 1: to know this information. It's like it's too much info

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Speaker 1: that could potentially send you into a tailspin of anxiety

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Speaker 1: if something looks weird because you're tracking it. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: mean the the only practical use of loon cup is

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Speaker 1: the fact that it will sense and then text you

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Speaker 1: if it's starting to fill up and you need to

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Speaker 1: change it. But again that's part of just good menstrual

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Speaker 1: health habits. Um what I do love so loon cup

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Speaker 1: in case you have no idea, what we're talking about

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Speaker 1: is spelled l o o in cup, and I get it.

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Speaker 1: It's kind of you know, the play on Luna lunar moon.

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Speaker 1: I get it. However, I can't help but like think

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Speaker 1: of like a loony loony person. He looney, Like loon

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Speaker 1: is a bird, right, the loon? Okay, cool, So the

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Speaker 1: loon I think of the bird, but then I also

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Speaker 1: think of loon. Me. That makes me think of hysterical,

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Speaker 1: hysterical women using a loon cup. And that's I'm following

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Speaker 1: you all I got. We're at the end now because

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Speaker 1: it is kind of looney considering how the very design

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Speaker 1: is something that Dr Gunter gave a massive WTF two

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Speaker 1: because the bluetooth antenna sticks out just slightly from your vagina,

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Speaker 1: so you're going to be walking around with a little

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Speaker 1: thing poking poking out of your vagina, which that's sounds

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Speaker 1: so uncomfortable, say, by the bike riding you also have

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Speaker 1: a battery in in that you're going to be inserting

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Speaker 1: into your vagina, to which that's not necessarily going to

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Speaker 1: pose an immediate health risk. But it's like, yeah, maybe

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Speaker 1: this might be too much. Um, but I wonder if

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Speaker 1: it's virality is just sort of a byproduct of our

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Speaker 1: Silicon Valley culture of Oh, yes, we need technology to

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Speaker 1: fixed periods. Yes, that's what we need. Yeah, we need

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Speaker 1: to answer every potential problem with an app. Yes. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but you know what, Uh, ladies, people, anyone who has

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Speaker 1: a period, you don't need You don't need any batteries

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Speaker 1: in your vagina to monitor your not in a menstrual

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Speaker 1: cup anyway, exactly. Um. So back to menstrual cups though,

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Speaker 1: aside from the ones that are doing way too many

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Speaker 1: things that we really don't need and like you said,

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Speaker 1: ruining bike riding, they have been a real dark horse

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Speaker 1: contender in the feminine hygiene market. Much like political third

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Speaker 1: parties in the United States, because you have right now

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Speaker 1: our two party system in the US with the Republicans

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Speaker 1: and the Democrats aka the maxipads and the tampons. I'm

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Speaker 1: not assigning any any political party necessarily to one of

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Speaker 1: the prod although I will say that Republicans are a

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Speaker 1: little more maxipad and here in the in the in

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Speaker 1: the background, you have like a third party, a menstrual cup,

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Speaker 1: where a lot of us are like, I know that

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Speaker 1: you've got like really good ideas, but I don't know

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Speaker 1: if they're too radical to really put my vote all

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Speaker 1: in for you. Do you like this analogy? Also, I'm

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Speaker 1: not implying that Hillary Clinton is in any way, shape

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Speaker 1: or form like a tampon. Just f y. I good, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I just want to put that out there. I'll totally

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Speaker 1: prevent the letters subject line. I'm with tampon. And really

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Speaker 1: from the get go of commercially available menstrual cups, the

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Speaker 1: manufacturers have known that they're a long shot, largely by

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Speaker 1: virtue of us having to come in such close contact

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Speaker 1: i e. Putting our fingers in our vaginas, and not

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Speaker 1: only are close contact with our vaginas, but our vaginas

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Speaker 1: during menstruation, and of course, our whole menstrual culture, which

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Speaker 1: I referred to as a culture of concealment, is all

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Speaker 1: about keeping ourselves as kind of distance from the mess

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Speaker 1: of periods as possible. And in two thousand four, the

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Speaker 1: New York Times actually did a trend piece on menstrual cups,

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Speaker 1: quoting Harry Finley, who had really loved to interview sometime

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Speaker 1: because he's the founder of the Museum of Menstruation and

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Speaker 1: Women's Health mom dot org, which you should absolutely check

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Speaker 1: out if you haven't, and Finlay said quote, it will

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Speaker 1: never become mainstream in America. It involves too much contact

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Speaker 1: with the body. And I think most women are squeamish

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Speaker 1: about that. I think most people in general are squeamish

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Speaker 1: about that. Oh yeah, just even the concept squix this out.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, well, so, I mean for people who aren't

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Speaker 1: familiar though, with what using a menstrel cup in tails,

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Speaker 1: let's give you a bit of a rundown. So first

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Speaker 1: of all, the cup itself looks basically like a stemless

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Speaker 1: wine glass, uh, shrunk down to actually fit inside your

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Speaker 1: vaginal canal. Thank god. Yeah. I mean, I know that

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Speaker 1: we can technically push babies out through those vaginal canals,

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Speaker 1: but let's not go sticking wine glassless wine glass up

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Speaker 1: once a month you have like a like a white

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Speaker 1: wine glass, I can you know, honestly, I'm more of

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Speaker 1: a beer stun kind of you flow um And according

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Speaker 1: to Cleveland Clinic, if you do have a latex sensitivity,

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Speaker 1: just just stop for the silicone um menstrul cup and

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Speaker 1: it's inserted into your vaginal canal. Or if you're using

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Speaker 1: a soft cup menstrul cup, it's up around the cervix

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Speaker 1: and you do it by like folding it over. Like

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Speaker 1: imagine the Liberty bell turn upside down and you're folding

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Speaker 1: the Liberty bell and just sticking it up in there. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: For disposable soft cups, which I have used, they're almost

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Speaker 1: like Livestrong wrist bands. They have that you know, that

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Speaker 1: plastic e um flexible texture with a plastic you know

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Speaker 1: catch Catcher cup. Thank you the plastic cup, but Catcher,

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Speaker 1: I know my words, but you because the lives strong

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Speaker 1: band for a very small risk is flexible. You just

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Speaker 1: sort of squeeze it in the middle, making kind of

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Speaker 1: a figure eight with it, and it just goes right up. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, your your service gets to wear a little

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Speaker 1: rubber band that shows what cause it's supporting, depending on

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Speaker 1: the color um. So you can keep them in up

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Speaker 1: to twelve hours, I mean, depending on your flow obviously,

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Speaker 1: and uh, you can sterilize them in boiling water after

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Speaker 1: each cycle. Um, you can also use like baby bottle

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Speaker 1: sterilization bags. I mean, you should rinse them out every

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Speaker 1: time you take them out, but between cycles you have

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Speaker 1: a couple different options for sterilization. And I just like

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Speaker 1: the idea of a baby bottle sterilization bag that you

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Speaker 1: pop in the microwave for your menstrul cup. Yeah. I

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Speaker 1: don't know why I like that idea. Um, I just

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Speaker 1: didn't know that that existed. So I'm like learning about

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Speaker 1: all of these accessories that are related to things in

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Speaker 1: and around my vagina. And reusable menstrual cups like the

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Speaker 1: Diva costs between twenty and forty bucks, and in addition

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Speaker 1: to the Diva, legacy brands include the Keeper Instead and Lunette,

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Speaker 1: which apparently is a menstrual cup fave. Their tagline is

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Speaker 1: also one of my faves. It's Grandma didn't use tampons,

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Speaker 1: so you're grand out or won't either. But by now,

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Speaker 1: they're actually a couple dozen brands of menstrual cups out

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Speaker 1: there to choose from if you are curious about which

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Speaker 1: type is right for you, because they do come in

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Speaker 1: different shapes and sizes because we all do have different

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Speaker 1: vaginal canals and cervic situations going on. I highly recommend

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Speaker 1: going to Yes the Menstrual Cup live journal, which is

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Speaker 1: still going and it is so thorough, so you can

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Speaker 1: find whatever kind of product review you want. And speaking

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Speaker 1: of how all of our vaginal canals are different, they

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Speaker 1: aren't going to be for everybody, you might want to

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Speaker 1: double check with your guy. No, if you do have

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Speaker 1: an I U D. Yah, is there any sort of

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Speaker 1: problem with like suction, there's there's not necessarily a risk

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Speaker 1: of it being pulled out, but possibly uh with the

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Speaker 1: strings it being maybe just a little bit just yeah. Uh. Also,

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Speaker 1: if you have uterine fibroids um and or dropped uterus,

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Speaker 1: definitely talked to your kind ecologists who's probably going to

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Speaker 1: tell you that they're not going to be the best option.

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Speaker 1: And that's okay. That's the thing. It's totally okay if

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Speaker 1: menstrual cups are not for you. Yeah, we don't want

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Speaker 1: to pressure you. It's just given you the info. There's enough,

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Speaker 1: there's enough pressure on social media for you to use

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Speaker 1: menstrual cups. And by the way, I've recommended them here

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Speaker 1: to other people. But you know, it's like the I

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Speaker 1: E D. It's like some they're gonna be for some people.

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Speaker 1: They're going to be enough for some people. But far

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Speaker 1: more fascinating than the menstrul cup. For one one, is

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Speaker 1: the history of how these products were developed. I was

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Speaker 1: honestly very surprised, and and I don't know what this

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Speaker 1: says about me, but I was very surprised that um

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Speaker 1: minstrel cups were developed as early as they were. I

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Speaker 1: kind of thought that they would have started around the

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Speaker 1: fifties and sixties and seventies, when you started getting like

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Speaker 1: women's lib and and let's get in touch with our

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Speaker 1: bodies ourselves kind of stuff. Well, they definitely have a

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Speaker 1: resurgence around that time, and they are very much associated

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Speaker 1: with a feminists. But it goes all the way back

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Speaker 1: to eighteen sixties seven and a guy named s Hawker

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Speaker 1: who patented a cat amineal sack, which y'all this thing

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Speaker 1: it's it is, it's obviously invented by a dude. I'll

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Speaker 1: just say that I don't think anyone with a menstruating

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Speaker 1: vagina whatever I think that this would work. So what

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Speaker 1: this eighteen sixty seven sack was was a belt, an

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Speaker 1: actual belt that you would wear around your waist, and

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Speaker 1: hanging from that belt is the catamenial sack, which looks

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Speaker 1: in the drawing like a an empty condom. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: you then insert that inte condom into your vagina. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: it actually it absolutely does look like some sort of

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Speaker 1: condom being dangled on some sort of thread or rope

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Speaker 1: or something that you, like you do stick up your

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Speaker 1: vaginal canal. And there's this illustration by Menstruation Museum, uh

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Speaker 1: curator Harry Finley showing that the in his illustration it

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Speaker 1: almost looks like a metal arm. But that can't be accurate, right, Harry,

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Speaker 1: Um some sort of thread that you stick the whole

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Speaker 1: entire sack up your vaginal canal. And so this like

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Speaker 1: menstrul condom like just hangs out under your cervix, which honestly,

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Speaker 1: it's not that terribly different design wise that it's like

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Speaker 1: a disposable menstoral cups. But imagine how uncomfortable when you

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Speaker 1: have something you're wearing, the belt and the arm whatever,

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Speaker 1: whether it's a threat, I'm not saying it's a good idea, no,

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Speaker 1: but like just imagine that that it's like dangling from

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Speaker 1: your waist all the way up to your cervix. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it does kind of look like a chastity belt. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: who would want to get into it? As hawker, He's

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Speaker 1: just rolling over in his grave right now, So misunderstood. Um.

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Speaker 1: There was one thing though that Natalie Shure noted in

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Speaker 1: a piece about menstrual cups in Pacific Standard magazine that

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Speaker 1: menstrual technology did really begin taking off around this time

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Speaker 1: in the nineteenth century, as women's lifestyles became more active.

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Speaker 1: We want to move around maybe when we're on our periods,

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Speaker 1: And she notes how a third of the patents for

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Speaker 1: all of these earliest menstrual products were filed by women,

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Speaker 1: which is a vast proportion compared to the two percent

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Speaker 1: of all women registered patents at the time. So it

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Speaker 1: does maybe want to come back and do another episode

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Speaker 1: just looking at menstrul technology. Yes, you know, and lady inventors,

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Speaker 1: although I mean that's like a massive category, but I

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Speaker 1: mean maybe I don't know. Same week, game week. Um,

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Speaker 1: all right, and now let's look at the timeline. Speaking

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Speaker 1: of minstrel technology, let's look at the timeline because it's

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00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:35,320
Speaker 1: all pretty rapid in co text. Disposable paths hit the

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Speaker 1: market in thirties six, Tampon's first go on sale and

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Speaker 1: then just a year later, in nineteen thirty seven, we

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Speaker 1: get actress and dancer turned menstrul inventor Leona Chalmers, who

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00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:55,399
Speaker 1: patents the first usable commercial minstrel cup. Yeah. Around that

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Speaker 1: same time, Dainty Made, Inc. Also introduced the Dainty ht

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Speaker 1: menstrual cup that came with this vaginal powder that I

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Speaker 1: think was supposed to address menstrul odor. There was a

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Speaker 1: lot of odor panic. There's still a lot of odor

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Speaker 1: panic in feminine hygiene marketing, but it was really front

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Speaker 1: and center of all of this uh menstrual development of

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Speaker 1: the time. But we got to talk more about Leonona

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Speaker 1: Chalmers because I mean, it's pretty cool that our menstrul

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Speaker 1: cups today on the market trace back to this rather

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Speaker 1: enterprising woman who had a lot of ideas. Really love douching,

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Speaker 1: and she really wanted to make menstrul cups happen, and

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Speaker 1: she imagined her menstrul cup, which would become the test

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Speaker 1: that being made of vulcanized rubber. The only problem with

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Speaker 1: that is kind of heavy to carry around in your

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Speaker 1: vagina all day and poor timing because when World War

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Speaker 1: two rolls around, all available rubber has to go to

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00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:05,800
Speaker 1: the war effort. But then when she's finally able to

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00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:10,160
Speaker 1: start making these things, she gets off on the wrong

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Speaker 1: foot marketing wise, because Leona, a woman of the stage,

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Speaker 1: takes out advertising not in places like Ladies Home Journal,

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Speaker 1: but rather in showbiz magazines like Variety, so like actresses

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Speaker 1: and other dancers can buy them, which would make sense, yeah,

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Speaker 1: because that was part of her inspiration, was having a

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Speaker 1: heavy flow and also being a dancer, and those two

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Speaker 1: things do not go well together at all, which I

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Speaker 1: can anecdotally confirm as a teenage ballet dancer who learned

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Speaker 1: the hard way not to wear her pink tights during

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Speaker 1: period weeks. Yeah. I also wasn't using t m I

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Speaker 1: alert listeners. I also wasn't using tampons for a while,

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Speaker 1: and I didn't use me too. And the chore of

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Speaker 1: first trying to conceal a maxi pad in a leotard

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Speaker 1: and then daring stretches praying that you don't hear it,

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Speaker 1: you know, the rustle of the maxi pad. Yeah, give

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Speaker 1: me rough um. But one one way that she also

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Speaker 1: marketed her test sets was through a book. She wrote

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Speaker 1: two books, but then one is the Intimate Side of

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Speaker 1: a Woman's life. Yes, and the cover is so racy. Yes,

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00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:37,040
Speaker 1: and it's of her. It's this I thought, so. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So it's a photo of obviously younger Leona undressed but

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Speaker 1: with a towel covering up her her nipples. So you

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Speaker 1: just see her her bed. You see a little cy

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00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:54,520
Speaker 1: boat too. Yeah, Leona. Leona was I mean, but pretty

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Speaker 1: open for the day. Um. The book, though the intimate

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Speaker 1: side of a Woman's Life, didn't only address menstrual cups.

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Speaker 1: She kind of tried to like sneak it in there,

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00:26:04,119 --> 00:26:07,120
Speaker 1: you know, like, oh, I've got so much information. Also, ps,

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00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:09,440
Speaker 1: you should use my menstrual cup. You can write me

387
00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:12,879
Speaker 1: and I'll send you some. But the book had a

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Speaker 1: warning on it that it was for mature women only,

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00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:21,160
Speaker 1: probably because it talked about doing so much. Well, she

390
00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:23,919
Speaker 1: was obsessed with it, and she talks about even like

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00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:27,399
Speaker 1: the right position to get in to use the douche.

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Speaker 1: Did you did you see any of the drawings of

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00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:34,440
Speaker 1: her positions? It looks like a one person Koma Sutra book.

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Speaker 1: Because I had no idea because, as we have talked

395
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Speaker 1: about on the podcast before, douching is not good for

396
00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:49,160
Speaker 1: your vagina down with a douche. But I didn't realize

397
00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:51,960
Speaker 1: and until reading the intimate side of a woman's life

398
00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:59,600
Speaker 1: that you sometimes have to contort yourself to most effectively douche.

399
00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:04,600
Speaker 1: Although effectively is um not exactly the right word, because

400
00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:08,320
Speaker 1: it's not effective because it ruins your vaginal pH But

401
00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:13,200
Speaker 1: one quote from her book says, the old saying position

402
00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:16,360
Speaker 1: is everything in life might as well be applied to

403
00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:19,680
Speaker 1: the douche, for it is a position assumed in performing

404
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:25,399
Speaker 1: this act that brings about such excellent results. And really

405
00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:28,520
Speaker 1: the excellent result that she hammers home over and over

406
00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:35,000
Speaker 1: again is no vaginal discharge. What I know, Leona does

407
00:27:35,119 --> 00:27:38,520
Speaker 1: not like cervical fluid and listeners, if you caught our

408
00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:42,600
Speaker 1: episode on period Tracker technology, you know all about the

409
00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:45,679
Speaker 1: importance of cervical fluid. Poor Leanna, I mean, she was

410
00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:47,719
Speaker 1: trying to do her best, she really was, I mean,

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00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:51,760
Speaker 1: and she believed in this product because even when it

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00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:57,600
Speaker 1: totally bombed circle World War Two, she tries again. In

413
00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:03,320
Speaker 1: nine Yeah, she successfully pitched her menstrul cup to businessman

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00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:09,280
Speaker 1: Robert Rick, to which I ask, the vacuum. I don't

415
00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:12,000
Speaker 1: know that it's the vacuum guid. I don't think it is.

416
00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:15,600
Speaker 1: It could be, though, because or put out an ad

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00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:18,840
Speaker 1: in the Wall Street Journal, saying that he wanted to

418
00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:23,560
Speaker 1: buy some patents and develop some businesses. So Chalmers sees

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00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:26,920
Speaker 1: his ad and contacts him, and she's like, hey, I've

420
00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:30,760
Speaker 1: I've got this swell patent for a menstrul cup. And

421
00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:36,879
Speaker 1: he is initially flabbergasted at the thought of working with

422
00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:41,800
Speaker 1: something so intimate, as he called it, but he gives

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00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:45,480
Speaker 1: a test to his wife. She tries it, loves it,

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00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:49,400
Speaker 1: so possibly Mr. Vacuum Cleaner. It turns out I just googled,

425
00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:53,080
Speaker 1: Oh it's not Mr Vacuum Cleaner. That was a could

426
00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:56,120
Speaker 1: be brothers. We don't know, we don't know. So Mr

427
00:28:56,400 --> 00:29:02,360
Speaker 1: Rick decides to invest in test and he even gets

428
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:07,400
Speaker 1: a time Square billboard. Of course it's it's you know, delicate,

429
00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:11,560
Speaker 1: and it's phrasing and and its imagery that the copy

430
00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:16,800
Speaker 1: is basically tesset, not a tampon, not a napkin. And

431
00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:19,400
Speaker 1: then there's a picture of a tulip. Right, and and

432
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:24,280
Speaker 1: Ric says that he chose the tulip logo because quote,

433
00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:28,480
Speaker 1: women's psychological reaction to the symbol has proved to be quick, complete,

434
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:32,000
Speaker 1: and very positive. I mean, I like a tulip, I

435
00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:36,960
Speaker 1: love tulips. I mean, you know, I love tulips, whether

436
00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:40,320
Speaker 1: we're chicken wineglasses or tulips up or who has I

437
00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:45,240
Speaker 1: love it. It's effective. Um. And then in ninety eight Tassets,

438
00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:50,600
Speaker 1: Barbara Waldron patterns a disposable menstrual cup and basically tries

439
00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:53,680
Speaker 1: to make this thing called tassaways happen. They change, you know,

440
00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:57,880
Speaker 1: tasset tass away makes sense. We're definitely like in full

441
00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:03,200
Speaker 1: throw of our consumer and disposable culture at this point.

442
00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:06,800
Speaker 1: They didn't take off, and the company ends up folding

443
00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:10,240
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy three. But the thing is that kind

444
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:13,720
Speaker 1: of left all of these dedicated menstrual cup users in

445
00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:18,280
Speaker 1: the lurch. Menstrual historian Kelly o'donald said that thousands of

446
00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:21,920
Speaker 1: women ended up writing into the company in distress. They

447
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:23,880
Speaker 1: were like, oh my god. I mean it's bad enough

448
00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:27,160
Speaker 1: when like, you know, the cosmetics company retires your favorite

449
00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:29,760
Speaker 1: foundation or whatever, Like, imagine if they retire your favorite

450
00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:32,680
Speaker 1: menstrual cup. It's like the Seinfeld episode where Elaine is

451
00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:39,480
Speaker 1: buying up all the sponges. Yes, so right around when

452
00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:44,440
Speaker 1: the company is folding, women's liberation is really hitting full

453
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:49,720
Speaker 1: steam and there is a d I y nineteen seventies

454
00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:56,040
Speaker 1: feminist self help book circulating that recommends repurposing old diaphragms

455
00:30:56,560 --> 00:30:59,880
Speaker 1: as proto menstrual cups. And apparently this has been going

456
00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:04,280
Speaker 1: on for a while, reusing a cervical caps and diaphragms

457
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:07,880
Speaker 1: as your your period product rather than going out and

458
00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:12,000
Speaker 1: buying tampons and pads or using an old zip block bag.

459
00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:15,040
Speaker 1: And it's way better than that going doing the Hawkard

460
00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:18,840
Speaker 1: method in your built some dental floss in a in

461
00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:24,880
Speaker 1: a sandwich bag. That's so horrifying. Um. And then and

462
00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:32,760
Speaker 1: then in lou Crawford introduces the keeper. I guess because

463
00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:36,480
Speaker 1: it keeps yes menstrul blood right, you can eat and

464
00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:39,080
Speaker 1: keep it up to twelve hours. Please don't keep it

465
00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:42,640
Speaker 1: beyond that. Yeah. But the thing is, and I don't

466
00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:47,720
Speaker 1: understand this, it's brown. I'm not saying that everything in

467
00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:51,600
Speaker 1: the world has to be pink glitter unicorn print, although

468
00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:57,960
Speaker 1: how amazing would a paint glitter unicororn print menstrul cuppy

469
00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:02,880
Speaker 1: Lisa Frank seriously license is her products on so much stuff?

470
00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:06,000
Speaker 1: She should really get in the met she should consider it.

471
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:08,719
Speaker 1: But yeah, like why brown. I had a moment when

472
00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:11,760
Speaker 1: I was reading the sources and uh for for this episode,

473
00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:14,720
Speaker 1: and I came across that old tidbit of information. Yeah,

474
00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:18,239
Speaker 1: credit where credit is due. Be. Julie Shaw wrote a

475
00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:22,600
Speaker 1: first person review of the Soft Cup, and in it

476
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:25,960
Speaker 1: she made me laugh out loud when she gives a

477
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:29,400
Speaker 1: condensed history of menstrel cups and saying, quote, the keeper

478
00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:32,880
Speaker 1: is an unfortunate shade of mud brown. And it is.

479
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:36,000
Speaker 1: And I was telling my husband about this because I

480
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:39,280
Speaker 1: thought it was hilarious and he so didn't get it

481
00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:41,520
Speaker 1: because he was like, well, I mean that makes sense

482
00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:45,280
Speaker 1: because you know, it's closer to flesh tones, so it's

483
00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:49,280
Speaker 1: more concealed. And I just said, you don't wear it

484
00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:55,920
Speaker 1: on your face. And I told him without even thinking,

485
00:32:56,120 --> 00:33:00,400
Speaker 1: these words came out of my feminist mouth, saying women

486
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:06,280
Speaker 1: don't like brown, which I it was a very strange

487
00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:11,480
Speaker 1: conversation to have. It sounds like, but why, like why why?

488
00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:13,640
Speaker 1: I don't know why you'd make it brown. I don't

489
00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:15,600
Speaker 1: know either. Well, maybe it's it's cheaper to do that.

490
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:18,960
Speaker 1: You probably don't have to add want to make it red?

491
00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:21,680
Speaker 1: Oh that be. I know a lot of the cups

492
00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:26,200
Speaker 1: these days are various shades of pink and purple. But

493
00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:30,680
Speaker 1: back to our history, the Keeper is kind of the

494
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:35,400
Speaker 1: go to in more feminist circles, Like old school feminist circles,

495
00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:39,000
Speaker 1: they were all about the Keeper. Um. Lou Crawford is

496
00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:41,680
Speaker 1: very proud of the fact that the storage bags that

497
00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:44,760
Speaker 1: they would come in were also made by women. Since

498
00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:47,320
Speaker 1: the Keeper is designed to last so long you can

499
00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:50,600
Speaker 1: keep it like five years. Um. She broke it down

500
00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:53,080
Speaker 1: to say that they cost only four dollars a year,

501
00:33:53,080 --> 00:33:55,920
Speaker 1: which is why some of her fellow feminist friends thought

502
00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:58,120
Speaker 1: that they should have named it the Liberty Bell totally

503
00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:02,680
Speaker 1: man liberating your finances. But it didn't take off because

504
00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:07,320
Speaker 1: partly because it's so associated this point with a subculture

505
00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:12,600
Speaker 1: more of like a vegan, super feminist radical subculture. I mean,

506
00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:15,680
Speaker 1: I think it still has a hint of that, yeah culturely,

507
00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:19,520
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, menstrul cups are advertised by and large.

508
00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:21,480
Speaker 1: If I see an ad for a menstrual cup, it

509
00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:25,200
Speaker 1: tends to be on like a specifically feminist website. Yeah.

510
00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:29,440
Speaker 1: I I might have first been exposed to them via

511
00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:32,520
Speaker 1: Bitch and Bust magazine. That's just what I was thinking too.

512
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:37,359
Speaker 1: And speaking of those though, like those types of magazines

513
00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:41,600
Speaker 1: and also the Internet in general, like so many the

514
00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:47,800
Speaker 1: Internet capital I Internet uh really helped bring the menstrul

515
00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:52,280
Speaker 1: cup into the mainstream as it is more so today,

516
00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:56,200
Speaker 1: starting with the launch of that menstrual cup live journal

517
00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:58,319
Speaker 1: in two thousand two. Dude, you sent me that link

518
00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:00,640
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, live journal, relic of a

519
00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:03,359
Speaker 1: bygone era, and I clicked on it and people had

520
00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:07,360
Speaker 1: just posted like that day. Yeah, it's still going strong

521
00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:11,320
Speaker 1: man people. That's the thing too. People who love menstro

522
00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:14,760
Speaker 1: cups love menstroke cups. And of course in two thousand two,

523
00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:17,359
Speaker 1: you'd need to find other people who were using them

524
00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:19,920
Speaker 1: to figure out, you know, what to do best practices,

525
00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:23,560
Speaker 1: where to buy them. And two years later, like we

526
00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:26,200
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, there was a trend piece on it in

527
00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:30,960
Speaker 1: the New York Times and they reported that they're hardly

528
00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:34,600
Speaker 1: the rage, but quote use of them is growing, especially

529
00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:39,760
Speaker 1: at women's colleges and through alternative health websites. Those women

530
00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:45,760
Speaker 1: at their colleges, essentially feminists really like them. Um. And

531
00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:48,480
Speaker 1: in that New York Times report they said that the

532
00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:53,120
Speaker 1: Keeper estimates around one hundred thousand women used them, and

533
00:35:53,160 --> 00:35:59,080
Speaker 1: at that time, Fledgling glad Rags reported that around people

534
00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:03,600
Speaker 1: were using the air reusable products. So a general movement

535
00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:08,360
Speaker 1: away from buying tampons and pads at the grocery store

536
00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:11,520
Speaker 1: market things. Not I mean, not a majority of women

537
00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:14,719
Speaker 1: by any stretch, but a gradual shift in in the

538
00:36:14,719 --> 00:36:18,719
Speaker 1: way of thinking. Well, and it's just clear that some

539
00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:23,480
Speaker 1: of us want an alternative. Just Land the third political party,

540
00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:28,000
Speaker 1: hello and that. And when we come right back, we're

541
00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:32,040
Speaker 1: going to look at the menstrual cup landscape today and

542
00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:35,239
Speaker 1: talk more about why those mental cup evangelists in their

543
00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:40,440
Speaker 1: praises so loudly, and also get more into why it's

544
00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:44,520
Speaker 1: taken so long for menstrual cup awareness to be raised.

545
00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:02,759
Speaker 1: So one of the benefits of using menstrual cups that

546
00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:05,360
Speaker 1: a lot of its fans tout is the whole issue

547
00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:09,040
Speaker 1: of cost savings. And of course though this would depend

548
00:37:09,080 --> 00:37:13,560
Speaker 1: on your flow, right, I mean, if you typically have

549
00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:16,640
Speaker 1: a light period versus a heavy one, you might not

550
00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:19,640
Speaker 1: get as much of the cost savings from opting for

551
00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:24,120
Speaker 1: a menstrual cup over tampons or pads. And there was

552
00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:28,720
Speaker 1: a Canadian survey that found that women used a median

553
00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:32,640
Speaker 1: thirteen menstrual products per cycle, which equates to a hundred

554
00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:35,640
Speaker 1: and sixty nine products per year, which corresponds to more

555
00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:40,080
Speaker 1: than seven hundred and seventy one million products used annually

556
00:37:40,160 --> 00:37:45,240
Speaker 1: in Canada. So that's going to go to the environmental

557
00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:49,480
Speaker 1: footprint for sure, because you're using we're throwing away a

558
00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:52,520
Speaker 1: ton of pads and tampons every year. But in terms

559
00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:58,279
Speaker 1: of the cost, the according to this Canadian survey, which

560
00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:01,600
Speaker 1: is cited a lot in none Stroll Cup literature, the

561
00:38:01,719 --> 00:38:06,680
Speaker 1: estimated costs for tampon use of their participants was thirty

562
00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:09,960
Speaker 1: seven dollars and forty four cents per year, which they

563
00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:14,600
Speaker 1: noted is similar to the retail costs of one menstrual cup,

564
00:38:14,719 --> 00:38:20,319
Speaker 1: and they concluded that the cost savings is moderate rather

565
00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:24,239
Speaker 1: than as dramatic as it's usually framed. But again, things

566
00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:29,080
Speaker 1: are just going to depend on how many disposable products

567
00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:32,560
Speaker 1: you would otherwise use, So for people with heavy flows,

568
00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:36,400
Speaker 1: you could save a lot of money. Um, And just

569
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:40,359
Speaker 1: to toss out some numbers, if you go to Target,

570
00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:44,200
Speaker 1: a Diva cup costs thirty bucks. You can also at

571
00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:47,759
Speaker 1: Target get a Lily cup, that Kickstarter product that is

572
00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:52,680
Speaker 1: now on shelves for forty bucks. And Target doesn't sell

573
00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:55,359
Speaker 1: the disposable soft cups, but at CBS you can get

574
00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:58,400
Speaker 1: a twenty four account of those for thirteen fifty and

575
00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:01,879
Speaker 1: at thirteen fifty, of course, costs a lot more, about

576
00:39:01,920 --> 00:39:04,359
Speaker 1: twice as much as a box of tampons, But those

577
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:07,640
Speaker 1: soft cups can be left in for much longer earth

578
00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:10,320
Speaker 1: than tampons. Tampons can stay in up to eight hours,

579
00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:14,520
Speaker 1: whereas soft cups can stay in twelve hours. And you

580
00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:17,799
Speaker 1: can also sleep with them them and have sex with them,

581
00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:21,160
Speaker 1: and if you want so. The potential for cost savings

582
00:39:21,239 --> 00:39:25,840
Speaker 1: is absolutely there. How much money you will actually pocket,

583
00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:30,440
Speaker 1: we'll simply depend on your cycle and whether it fits

584
00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:33,480
Speaker 1: into potentially a lifestyle where you're already doing things like

585
00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:38,000
Speaker 1: trying to recycle, trying to reduce your environmental footprint, etcetera, etcetera.

586
00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:40,920
Speaker 1: And once people try them, they do seem to like them. Uh.

587
00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:44,640
Speaker 1: That Canadian survey that we just mentioned is so often

588
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:49,680
Speaker 1: cited because it's found that the women who tried menstrual

589
00:39:49,719 --> 00:39:52,360
Speaker 1: cups said they would use them on a regular basis

590
00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:56,399
Speaker 1: and recommend them to a friend. And while they were

591
00:39:56,400 --> 00:40:00,680
Speaker 1: initially associated with more vaginal discomfort, because like the first

592
00:40:00,680 --> 00:40:03,600
Speaker 1: few times you tried to put in a tampon, it

593
00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:05,600
Speaker 1: can you know you have to get the hang of it.

594
00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:09,160
Speaker 1: But once people did, they're like, oh, yeah, so it's

595
00:40:09,160 --> 00:40:12,880
Speaker 1: no big deal. I a of them. And in industry speak,

596
00:40:13,560 --> 00:40:16,840
Speaker 1: that's called a high pickup rate. Essentially, you know, you

597
00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:19,279
Speaker 1: try something out and you're like, oh, I'm gonna I'm

598
00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:21,360
Speaker 1: gonna try this again. It's like you know when you

599
00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:23,560
Speaker 1: go to Costco and you get one of those samples,

600
00:40:24,040 --> 00:40:27,680
Speaker 1: You're like, I'm gonna go buy eighty two of those dips.

601
00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:31,840
Speaker 1: I love to picture like Betty the sample giver at Costco,

602
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:34,000
Speaker 1: like handing me one of those tiny cups with a

603
00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:38,040
Speaker 1: menstrul cup in it. There are you, guys, Wadie. It's

604
00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:42,239
Speaker 1: just a little one if if you like, and we

605
00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:47,760
Speaker 1: got a whole box back here five hundred enough really, Betty,

606
00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:50,200
Speaker 1: I'm not going to live that long to any lifetime.

607
00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:55,960
Speaker 1: But going back to the internet influence, companies like Diva

608
00:40:55,960 --> 00:41:01,120
Speaker 1: Cup have talked about how helpful social media and online

609
00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:07,799
Speaker 1: videos have been because our period buying choices, similar to

610
00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:10,760
Speaker 1: birth control, are very word of mouth. These are things

611
00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:13,640
Speaker 1: that we are going to be likelier to buy if

612
00:41:13,680 --> 00:41:16,080
Speaker 1: we hear about it from a friend. Well, yeah, I

613
00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:18,480
Speaker 1: mean I kind of. It's it's definitely not the same thing,

614
00:41:18,560 --> 00:41:20,799
Speaker 1: but it kind of reminds me of our episode on

615
00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:26,479
Speaker 1: P funnels, like the pmate things like that, where there's

616
00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:28,759
Speaker 1: a massive squick factor too for a lot of people

617
00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:32,399
Speaker 1: about like putting like a funnel against my body, where

618
00:41:32,440 --> 00:41:34,800
Speaker 1: is the is the YearIn going to go everywhere? But

619
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:39,319
Speaker 1: the people who use them, the people the people who

620
00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:44,200
Speaker 1: use pmates and P funnels and things like that are

621
00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:48,560
Speaker 1: totally evangelists for them, especially when it comes to you know,

622
00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:53,160
Speaker 1: anything from camping to working in fields to you know,

623
00:41:53,239 --> 00:41:58,680
Speaker 1: being in the military, how important they are to safety,

624
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:01,960
Speaker 1: uh not getting a bladder infection. And it's kind of

625
00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:05,600
Speaker 1: the same idea for a lot of women in similar

626
00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:10,359
Speaker 1: positions who talk about UM menstrrel cups. Yeah, you can

627
00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:12,680
Speaker 1: buy them at ri e I for that very reason.

628
00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:17,920
Speaker 1: They are very camping and outdoors friendly. Emily grass Lee,

629
00:42:18,120 --> 00:42:21,520
Speaker 1: who hosts The Brain Scoop on YouTube, who is a

630
00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:24,959
Speaker 1: super cool stem woman, made a video not long ago

631
00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:28,920
Speaker 1: about how menstrul cups are often the preferred period product

632
00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:32,800
Speaker 1: for scientists who work out in the field menstream scientists

633
00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:36,640
Speaker 1: out in the field um and way back in the day,

634
00:42:36,719 --> 00:42:41,120
Speaker 1: in fact, when all of these first commercial period products

635
00:42:41,160 --> 00:42:45,040
Speaker 1: were launching. Companies would hire what they called lady agents

636
00:42:45,640 --> 00:42:49,040
Speaker 1: to go door to door to basically say, hey girl,

637
00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:52,600
Speaker 1: you know, just speaking woman to woman, uterus to uterus.

638
00:42:52,680 --> 00:42:55,120
Speaker 1: Did she opened her trench coat and have like a

639
00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:58,759
Speaker 1: whole bunch of menstrel cups inside? Yes, although I do

640
00:42:58,840 --> 00:43:01,319
Speaker 1: hope it was just a fashion cape instead of a

641
00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:09,200
Speaker 1: trench yeah. Or she like unlocks her big briefcase full

642
00:43:09,239 --> 00:43:13,920
Speaker 1: of menstrual cups. But again, these have been around so long,

643
00:43:14,440 --> 00:43:17,120
Speaker 1: We've had lady agents trying to sell them to us,

644
00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:22,320
Speaker 1: and yet it's taken so long for them to take off.

645
00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:27,120
Speaker 1: So what's going on? Well, for one, I mean, yeah,

646
00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:29,840
Speaker 1: the overarching theme is kind of the squid factor that

647
00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:32,960
Speaker 1: a lot of people have with their periods and their bodies,

648
00:43:33,160 --> 00:43:36,960
Speaker 1: and the fact that we just tend to stick with

649
00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:39,480
Speaker 1: what we know. I mean, when I first got my period,

650
00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:41,840
Speaker 1: my mother handed me a box of tampons and a

651
00:43:41,880 --> 00:43:45,080
Speaker 1: box of pads, you know, like go forth read the

652
00:43:45,160 --> 00:43:48,719
Speaker 1: instructions and the tampon box that was off. That was

653
00:43:48,760 --> 00:43:52,640
Speaker 1: a difficult day. Um. And the fact that like culturally,

654
00:43:52,719 --> 00:43:56,040
Speaker 1: like we were saying, they've been so associated with some

655
00:43:56,080 --> 00:43:59,840
Speaker 1: sort of like radical feminist hippie underground. Almost. Yeah, for

656
00:43:59,840 --> 00:44:02,160
Speaker 1: a long time, I think people just thought the only

657
00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:05,799
Speaker 1: weirdos use them like a menstrul cup. And you know what,

658
00:44:05,840 --> 00:44:07,680
Speaker 1: I'm going to go ahead and say that the fact

659
00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:12,280
Speaker 1: that menstrul is in the name might be part of

660
00:44:12,480 --> 00:44:19,600
Speaker 1: the branding issue because the whole feminine hygiene market has

661
00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:24,560
Speaker 1: been centered around inventing an entire new language where we

662
00:44:24,600 --> 00:44:28,520
Speaker 1: don't have to say menstruation or mensis or blood. So

663
00:44:28,560 --> 00:44:32,120
Speaker 1: maybe they could rename it and there could be some alliteration. Well,

664
00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:33,960
Speaker 1: that's why you have like the Diva cup or the

665
00:44:34,040 --> 00:44:38,440
Speaker 1: Luna cup, C Word cup, the Sea Ord cup, the

666
00:44:38,560 --> 00:44:41,000
Speaker 1: C and C cup. I know we need to get

667
00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:42,719
Speaker 1: on that. We really do want to get into stuff.

668
00:44:42,760 --> 00:44:45,680
Speaker 1: And I've never told you branded p funnels and menstrul cups.

669
00:44:45,680 --> 00:44:47,680
Speaker 1: If anyone knows how we can do that, we're not

670
00:44:47,719 --> 00:44:50,799
Speaker 1: even kidding. And then, you know, going back to the

671
00:44:50,840 --> 00:44:53,520
Speaker 1: constant theme of this episode, and something that Kristen hit

672
00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:57,520
Speaker 1: on earlier is the fear and sort of stigma that's

673
00:44:57,600 --> 00:45:02,279
Speaker 1: around putting our finger is on our volvas or in

674
00:45:02,440 --> 00:45:05,520
Speaker 1: our vaginas when it's not something sexual, when it is

675
00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:07,560
Speaker 1: just to be in touch with our bodies and our

676
00:45:07,600 --> 00:45:10,600
Speaker 1: health and that kind of stuff. Um. Elizabeth Moore, who's

677
00:45:10,640 --> 00:45:15,080
Speaker 1: the general manager of the Keeper, Inc. Told Time Magazine,

678
00:45:15,960 --> 00:45:18,040
Speaker 1: you can tell a woman about it and her first

679
00:45:18,080 --> 00:45:21,840
Speaker 1: reaction is going to be gross or oh god, no way.

680
00:45:21,880 --> 00:45:26,200
Speaker 1: It had to come through the midwives and doulas and vegans. Yeah,

681
00:45:26,239 --> 00:45:30,600
Speaker 1: people who are are just more attuned to and and

682
00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:35,000
Speaker 1: less freaked out by our vaginas and yeah, and just

683
00:45:35,040 --> 00:45:38,600
Speaker 1: our bodies and our general body processes. And they're similar

684
00:45:38,680 --> 00:45:44,800
Speaker 1: rhetoric around tampons sometimes, especially among more conservative circles who

685
00:45:44,960 --> 00:45:52,560
Speaker 1: are not kosher, with the idea of something being penetrated into,

686
00:45:52,719 --> 00:45:58,440
Speaker 1: inserted into a girl's vagina that could possibly maybe de

687
00:45:58,640 --> 00:46:01,360
Speaker 1: virginize her. You know, I mean, we just we just

688
00:46:01,400 --> 00:46:06,280
Speaker 1: have so so much stigma around all of it, around periods,

689
00:46:06,320 --> 00:46:12,000
Speaker 1: around vaginal contact, the concept of virginity, the whole, the

690
00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:17,000
Speaker 1: whole shebang. Um. But for companies like Procter and Gamble,

691
00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:21,200
Speaker 1: and also for companies like say a CVS, these big

692
00:46:21,239 --> 00:46:25,560
Speaker 1: drug stores and grocery store chains, menstrual cups have been

693
00:46:25,600 --> 00:46:30,680
Speaker 1: a hard sell because they save too much money, so

694
00:46:31,320 --> 00:46:35,759
Speaker 1: they lack a quote future return opportunity. So especially for

695
00:46:35,840 --> 00:46:38,640
Speaker 1: something like a reusable diva cup where you're not going

696
00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:40,919
Speaker 1: to have to come back every month to buy. Some

697
00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:45,040
Speaker 1: drug stores and grocery stores have been reluctant to stock

698
00:46:45,120 --> 00:46:46,920
Speaker 1: them because it's like, why they're not going to want

699
00:46:46,960 --> 00:46:49,120
Speaker 1: to come back to my store. Well, but that's ridiculous

700
00:46:49,120 --> 00:46:50,759
Speaker 1: because everybody has to go to the drug store in

701
00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:53,880
Speaker 1: the grocery store. And also just personally, this is nothing

702
00:46:53,880 --> 00:46:56,880
Speaker 1: but anecdotal. I kind of look at CVS as a

703
00:46:56,920 --> 00:46:59,400
Speaker 1: toy store. I love to walk up and down the

704
00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:03,960
Speaker 1: makeup of skincare aisles for a long time. Well, it

705
00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:07,440
Speaker 1: sounds like you should be a lady agent of my

706
00:47:07,560 --> 00:47:11,319
Speaker 1: fashion cap what I stocked to menstrual cups. And it

707
00:47:11,400 --> 00:47:15,280
Speaker 1: also makes sense why companies, the bigger companies that produce

708
00:47:15,880 --> 00:47:19,760
Speaker 1: you know, mainstream tampons, pads, and pantiliners have not shifted

709
00:47:19,800 --> 00:47:23,239
Speaker 1: focus or expanded their lines to menstrual cups because it

710
00:47:23,360 --> 00:47:26,200
Speaker 1: is an incentive for them to make these products as

711
00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:30,640
Speaker 1: disposable as possible. I mean, there's even, um, you know,

712
00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:37,960
Speaker 1: some skepticism over UH brands that will donate their mentrual

713
00:47:38,040 --> 00:47:43,600
Speaker 1: products to developing countries because people say, oh, well, yeah,

714
00:47:43,640 --> 00:47:46,399
Speaker 1: this might be really great for girls who definitely need

715
00:47:46,480 --> 00:47:49,200
Speaker 1: these some kind of menstrual product. But it's also great

716
00:47:49,200 --> 00:47:51,799
Speaker 1: for your company because you're going in and establishing a

717
00:47:51,840 --> 00:47:54,879
Speaker 1: brand relationship and like that habitual use. So we talked

718
00:47:54,880 --> 00:47:57,640
Speaker 1: about what you learned with first you often stick with.

719
00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:02,680
Speaker 1: So there's a out of capitalism tied up in this too,

720
00:48:02,719 --> 00:48:05,600
Speaker 1: which is part of why I think there is a

721
00:48:05,680 --> 00:48:07,880
Speaker 1: feminist appeal to it, where it's like, no, this is

722
00:48:07,920 --> 00:48:10,719
Speaker 1: something where we don't need to necessarily rely as much

723
00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:14,759
Speaker 1: on a corporate product, shaking off the man right, get

724
00:48:14,760 --> 00:48:18,719
Speaker 1: out of my ute. And a lot of people tout

725
00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:22,760
Speaker 1: the safety of menstrual cups over tampons, and that's because,

726
00:48:22,760 --> 00:48:26,319
Speaker 1: of course, since the nineteen eighties, tampons have been associated

727
00:48:26,360 --> 00:48:30,400
Speaker 1: with the risk of toxic shock syndrome UM, because of

728
00:48:30,960 --> 00:48:36,160
Speaker 1: the danger that's inherent in using super hyper massively absorbent

729
00:48:36,200 --> 00:48:40,040
Speaker 1: tampons and then leaving them in for long stretches of time. UM.

730
00:48:40,080 --> 00:48:46,040
Speaker 1: But there's really no indication for sure establishing any sort

731
00:48:46,080 --> 00:48:50,000
Speaker 1: of like massive, uh safety benefit to menstrual cups over

732
00:48:50,040 --> 00:48:54,120
Speaker 1: tampons today. Yeah. I mean, while there's been extensive testing

733
00:48:54,200 --> 00:48:59,960
Speaker 1: on whether the products promote bacteria growth, like the silicon

734
00:49:00,000 --> 00:49:02,839
Speaker 1: they're made of um and there's no evidence that they

735
00:49:03,200 --> 00:49:06,200
Speaker 1: do that, so they're safe from a bacterial sense. But

736
00:49:06,560 --> 00:49:09,480
Speaker 1: in two thousand and fifteen, the first confirmed case of

737
00:49:09,560 --> 00:49:14,160
Speaker 1: menstrual cup related toxic shock happened. And the way this

738
00:49:14,200 --> 00:49:17,760
Speaker 1: went down was the woman accidentally, you know, cut herself.

739
00:49:17,800 --> 00:49:22,000
Speaker 1: Because our vaginal canals are sensitive skin, she cut herself

740
00:49:22,040 --> 00:49:28,240
Speaker 1: while inserting a Diva cup, and analysis determined that the

741
00:49:28,440 --> 00:49:32,239
Speaker 1: high volume of blood collection, which is a benefit of

742
00:49:32,280 --> 00:49:38,200
Speaker 1: a menstrual cup, plus though that mucosal irritation promoted the

743
00:49:38,239 --> 00:49:41,560
Speaker 1: toxic shock related bacterial growth. Although it is also good

744
00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:45,560
Speaker 1: to note that our periods and the products we use

745
00:49:45,640 --> 00:49:49,919
Speaker 1: to manage them are not the culprits of toxic shock.

746
00:49:49,960 --> 00:49:52,880
Speaker 1: All the time. Men can get toxic shock, kids can

747
00:49:52,880 --> 00:49:55,760
Speaker 1: get toxic shock. Women have gotten toxic shock even after

748
00:49:56,160 --> 00:50:01,360
Speaker 1: they stopped using tampons. So this one case does not

749
00:50:01,440 --> 00:50:04,759
Speaker 1: necessarily mean throw out all of your menstrual cups. Of course,

750
00:50:04,840 --> 00:50:08,399
Speaker 1: and going back to Jen Gunter, Dr Jen Gunter, our

751
00:50:08,600 --> 00:50:13,880
Speaker 1: feminist O B g U I N faith. She analyzed

752
00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:17,439
Speaker 1: this case study and concluded that we really can't say

753
00:50:17,480 --> 00:50:22,800
Speaker 1: for certain weather menstrual cups are safer than tampons, and

754
00:50:23,040 --> 00:50:26,400
Speaker 1: she has very straightforward recommendations of what to do with

755
00:50:26,400 --> 00:50:31,240
Speaker 1: that information. Yeah, just choose what works for you. Yeah, yeah,

756
00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:35,760
Speaker 1: she says, quote always choose the lowest absorbancy possible, although

757
00:50:35,880 --> 00:50:37,719
Speaker 1: she says, I know that some people are rolling their

758
00:50:37,719 --> 00:50:41,520
Speaker 1: eyes because some people just have a really heavy flow. Also,

759
00:50:41,640 --> 00:50:44,880
Speaker 1: wash your hands before putting in a menstrual cup or tampon,

760
00:50:45,400 --> 00:50:47,799
Speaker 1: it sounds like. Also clip your finger nails, make sure

761
00:50:47,840 --> 00:50:51,120
Speaker 1: you don't have any jagged nails going on, don't leave

762
00:50:51,160 --> 00:50:55,160
Speaker 1: them in for more than the twelve hours, And try

763
00:50:55,239 --> 00:50:58,600
Speaker 1: to avoid tampons or cup if you are just spotting,

764
00:50:58,920 --> 00:51:04,200
Speaker 1: as very low flow increases the trauma with insertion. So

765
00:51:04,480 --> 00:51:09,080
Speaker 1: for this reason, menstrual cups don't have to be for everyone,

766
00:51:09,320 --> 00:51:13,000
Speaker 1: but they are a viable alternative for a lot of people.

767
00:51:13,160 --> 00:51:18,279
Speaker 1: And to me, the biggest hope I have for all

768
00:51:18,280 --> 00:51:21,480
Speaker 1: of the publicity that menstrual cups have been receiving is

769
00:51:21,520 --> 00:51:24,560
Speaker 1: that maybe this is also pointing us in the direction

770
00:51:25,160 --> 00:51:29,960
Speaker 1: away from vagina phobia. I'm going to sound like an

771
00:51:30,000 --> 00:51:34,320
Speaker 1: old person real real fast, but I have a lot

772
00:51:34,440 --> 00:51:38,680
Speaker 1: of hope and optimism around our younger generations. Oh absolutely,

773
00:51:39,080 --> 00:51:43,880
Speaker 1: I think about the period Pride was the europp periods

774
00:51:43,920 --> 00:51:47,680
Speaker 1: in the US at least really went mainstream. Yeah, And

775
00:51:47,719 --> 00:51:50,680
Speaker 1: I mean just you see it in like free the

776
00:51:50,760 --> 00:51:54,160
Speaker 1: Nipple campaigns. You see it in all sorts of social

777
00:51:54,160 --> 00:51:58,960
Speaker 1: media based pushes. UM. I just think a lot of

778
00:51:59,040 --> 00:52:03,560
Speaker 1: young people today are leading the way in terms of

779
00:52:03,600 --> 00:52:08,200
Speaker 1: just general body positivity, UM, whether it's around weight and

780
00:52:08,280 --> 00:52:11,600
Speaker 1: body shape, whether it's around periods, ad menstruation, or just

781
00:52:11,760 --> 00:52:15,520
Speaker 1: nudity whatever. UM. I think there are a lot of

782
00:52:15,520 --> 00:52:19,400
Speaker 1: of cool people on the internet, UM, pushing body positivity,

783
00:52:19,440 --> 00:52:20,840
Speaker 1: and I think this is a part of that. And

784
00:52:20,880 --> 00:52:23,279
Speaker 1: I think a lot of young people want to be

785
00:52:23,440 --> 00:52:27,680
Speaker 1: educated about other options. UM. I think that there's a

786
00:52:27,719 --> 00:52:30,840
Speaker 1: general questioning going on about like why do we have

787
00:52:30,960 --> 00:52:32,719
Speaker 1: to do things the way that they've always been done.

788
00:52:32,760 --> 00:52:37,759
Speaker 1: That's that's how I feel anyway observing conversations online. Oh

789
00:52:37,800 --> 00:52:43,880
Speaker 1: absolutely agree. UM. People also feel though the kind of

790
00:52:43,920 --> 00:52:47,759
Speaker 1: the final worry with mentional cups, which is a practical

791
00:52:47,800 --> 00:52:51,720
Speaker 1: concern and it is something that happened to me in fact,

792
00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:56,560
Speaker 1: is what if your cup runneth over? You know, it's

793
00:52:56,680 --> 00:53:01,600
Speaker 1: it's I've talked to women before who are totally fine

794
00:53:02,080 --> 00:53:05,440
Speaker 1: with the concept of putting it in, but it's more

795
00:53:05,520 --> 00:53:08,560
Speaker 1: the worry of what happens when I take it out.

796
00:53:09,520 --> 00:53:12,600
Speaker 1: And I did have a situation once at work where

797
00:53:12,600 --> 00:53:15,480
Speaker 1: I had to manage the a little still in the

798
00:53:15,560 --> 00:53:18,399
Speaker 1: office bathroom and it was very awkward. And I think

799
00:53:18,400 --> 00:53:22,400
Speaker 1: that that stuff will just sometimes happen. But if you

800
00:53:22,480 --> 00:53:28,160
Speaker 1: use a tampon or pad, there's still potential for mess

801
00:53:28,239 --> 00:53:32,160
Speaker 1: to get places where you don't want it to be. So,

802
00:53:33,200 --> 00:53:35,360
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, it's kind of what's the old saying,

803
00:53:35,400 --> 00:53:38,080
Speaker 1: half of one half dozen of the other six and

804
00:53:38,200 --> 00:53:42,920
Speaker 1: one half dozen of the other. That's that's it. So now, listeners,

805
00:53:44,120 --> 00:53:46,239
Speaker 1: give us your mentional cup stories. We want to know

806
00:53:46,960 --> 00:53:50,600
Speaker 1: your thoughts, your feelings, your flows. We've talked a lot

807
00:53:50,880 --> 00:53:54,760
Speaker 1: about our flows, so now it's time to share. And also,

808
00:53:55,280 --> 00:53:59,239
Speaker 1: fellas listening, I'm really curious to know what you think

809
00:53:59,280 --> 00:54:02,920
Speaker 1: about this as well, partly because one of the comments

810
00:54:03,120 --> 00:54:06,920
Speaker 1: on the Racked article that we've been citing a bunch

811
00:54:07,320 --> 00:54:13,840
Speaker 1: came from a guy who was mystified at this idea

812
00:54:14,040 --> 00:54:18,760
Speaker 1: that periods have been stigmatized, and he, to his credit, said, listen,

813
00:54:18,760 --> 00:54:21,560
Speaker 1: I'm I mean, I'm talking as a person with you know,

814
00:54:21,760 --> 00:54:25,000
Speaker 1: this person with Penis and guy, I don't, I can't

815
00:54:25,040 --> 00:54:28,080
Speaker 1: personal experience this, um. But he was like, I had

816
00:54:28,120 --> 00:54:31,280
Speaker 1: no idea this was such a big deal. UM. So

817
00:54:31,680 --> 00:54:33,799
Speaker 1: I just want to know what what the word is

818
00:54:33,840 --> 00:54:37,720
Speaker 1: out there on menstrual cups. Mom Stuff at how stuff

819
00:54:37,719 --> 00:54:40,560
Speaker 1: works dot Com is where you can send them. You

820
00:54:40,560 --> 00:54:43,160
Speaker 1: can also tweet us at mom Stuff podcast or messages

821
00:54:43,200 --> 00:54:45,480
Speaker 1: on Facebook, and we've got a couple of messages to

822
00:54:45,520 --> 00:54:52,399
Speaker 1: share with you right now. So I have a letter

823
00:54:52,440 --> 00:54:58,040
Speaker 1: here from Lacy about our episode on Heroin. She writes,

824
00:54:58,520 --> 00:55:01,319
Speaker 1: I especially liked the disc session on the racism at

825
00:55:01,360 --> 00:55:03,920
Speaker 1: play and the way we view addiction in your episode

826
00:55:03,960 --> 00:55:06,560
Speaker 1: on women and Heroin, and the point you made about

827
00:55:06,600 --> 00:55:10,239
Speaker 1: treating addiction as opposed to punishing it is so necessary.

828
00:55:10,680 --> 00:55:12,719
Speaker 1: I do have one qualm with the episode, and that

829
00:55:12,760 --> 00:55:16,000
Speaker 1: it glossed over the reasons people become addicted to heroin,

830
00:55:16,640 --> 00:55:20,160
Speaker 1: maintaining at its center the trauma background of many heroin users,

831
00:55:20,200 --> 00:55:23,560
Speaker 1: as well as doctors who overprescribe opiates. Of course those

832
00:55:23,600 --> 00:55:25,560
Speaker 1: things are valid, but I want to share the unique

833
00:55:25,560 --> 00:55:29,480
Speaker 1: perspective of many people with chronic pain, myself included. I

834
00:55:29,560 --> 00:55:33,520
Speaker 1: believe one unexpected side effect of cracking down on opiates

835
00:55:33,560 --> 00:55:36,319
Speaker 1: has been an increase in heroin addictions for people who

836
00:55:36,320 --> 00:55:40,160
Speaker 1: have chronic pain. There's a significant portion of the society

837
00:55:40,520 --> 00:55:42,920
Speaker 1: who suffer from chronic pain for which we do not

838
00:55:43,120 --> 00:55:47,120
Speaker 1: yet have adequate treatment. Opiates are no longer recommended for

839
00:55:47,200 --> 00:55:49,319
Speaker 1: most chronic pain because of the lack of long term

840
00:55:49,320 --> 00:55:52,920
Speaker 1: effectiveness in their risk for addiction. But this sleaves chronic

841
00:55:52,920 --> 00:55:56,239
Speaker 1: pain patients defend for themselves and finding behavioral strategies and

842
00:55:56,280 --> 00:55:59,520
Speaker 1: medications that southe the pain. We are told to meditate,

843
00:55:59,800 --> 00:56:01,640
Speaker 1: we are told to try not to think about it.

844
00:56:01,800 --> 00:56:04,879
Speaker 1: We're given other medications to try that don't work. Out

845
00:56:04,880 --> 00:56:07,160
Speaker 1: of the desperate need for pain relief, some of us

846
00:56:07,239 --> 00:56:09,919
Speaker 1: will turn to heroin. Yes, we need to treat people

847
00:56:09,960 --> 00:56:12,359
Speaker 1: who are addicted in ways that are humane, but we

848
00:56:12,440 --> 00:56:15,320
Speaker 1: also need to continue to look for more effective ways

849
00:56:15,719 --> 00:56:19,600
Speaker 1: to treat chronic pain. Lacy, thank you so much for

850
00:56:19,640 --> 00:56:23,440
Speaker 1: sharing this and raising a very important point. And women

851
00:56:23,440 --> 00:56:25,560
Speaker 1: in chronic pain is an episode that we have not

852
00:56:25,680 --> 00:56:29,600
Speaker 1: done yet but has been requested and we absolutely need

853
00:56:29,640 --> 00:56:32,480
Speaker 1: to take a closer look at so thanks so much.

854
00:56:33,040 --> 00:56:37,000
Speaker 1: So I have a letter here from Rachel Um. She

855
00:56:37,200 --> 00:56:39,319
Speaker 1: is a family doctor just finishing her first year in

856
00:56:39,360 --> 00:56:42,200
Speaker 1: practice in Wisconsin, and so she had a lot of

857
00:56:42,239 --> 00:56:46,719
Speaker 1: feedback for us UH in regards to our heroin episode

858
00:56:46,800 --> 00:56:50,360
Speaker 1: and the opioid epidemics. So she said, there are a

859
00:56:50,360 --> 00:56:53,719
Speaker 1: couple of points your episode brought up. First, there are

860
00:56:53,719 --> 00:56:56,960
Speaker 1: definitely bad egg pill mill docs out there, but I

861
00:56:57,000 --> 00:56:59,960
Speaker 1: can just say that it is so difficult to navigate

862
00:57:00,000 --> 00:57:02,360
Speaker 1: at the dynamics of figuring out who is a good

863
00:57:02,400 --> 00:57:06,400
Speaker 1: candidate for controlled substances like pain medications. It feels like

864
00:57:06,440 --> 00:57:09,239
Speaker 1: playing with fire whenever you prescribe them, because they are

865
00:57:09,280 --> 00:57:12,120
Speaker 1: so addictive and have so many risks, and you want

866
00:57:12,160 --> 00:57:14,640
Speaker 1: your patient to be healthy, but there is such stigma

867
00:57:14,680 --> 00:57:17,640
Speaker 1: around addiction, mental health, and trauma that patients can get

868
00:57:17,680 --> 00:57:19,960
Speaker 1: really offended and upset when you try to have a

869
00:57:20,000 --> 00:57:23,000
Speaker 1: discussion about those risks. If I could give one message

870
00:57:23,040 --> 00:57:26,040
Speaker 1: to the world, it would be please, please, please be

871
00:57:26,160 --> 00:57:28,919
Speaker 1: open to all of the suggestions your provider may have

872
00:57:29,000 --> 00:57:31,840
Speaker 1: about other ways to manage a pain. There's so many

873
00:57:31,840 --> 00:57:36,080
Speaker 1: more effective and less risky ways to manage pain than opioids. Second,

874
00:57:36,120 --> 00:57:38,640
Speaker 1: I wanted to provide a little more info and clarification

875
00:57:38,720 --> 00:57:42,520
Speaker 1: on the treatment options you outlined methodone and bupreneur freeing

876
00:57:42,720 --> 00:57:46,960
Speaker 1: are both considered opioid substitution therapies. They do stimulate the

877
00:57:47,000 --> 00:57:49,320
Speaker 1: same receptors in your brain as heroin or pain pills,

878
00:57:49,520 --> 00:57:52,480
Speaker 1: though in a more reliable and regulated way than street drugs,

879
00:57:52,480 --> 00:57:55,320
Speaker 1: and notably without the possibility of the diseases that come

880
00:57:55,360 --> 00:57:58,880
Speaker 1: with intravenous drug use. Both are abused resistant and not

881
00:57:58,960 --> 00:58:02,640
Speaker 1: abused proof. It's still possible to abuse both of those drugs,

882
00:58:03,000 --> 00:58:06,880
Speaker 1: though it's more difficult with bupreneur fraine than methodon. However,

883
00:58:07,120 --> 00:58:10,200
Speaker 1: there's an important contrast between them, especially in rural areas.

884
00:58:10,680 --> 00:58:13,960
Speaker 1: Methodone can only be prescribed for addiction in the context

885
00:58:14,000 --> 00:58:17,560
Speaker 1: of a specialized methodone treatment center. In my area, the

886
00:58:17,600 --> 00:58:20,240
Speaker 1: nearest one is more than an hour away and has

887
00:58:20,520 --> 00:58:23,640
Speaker 1: several months long waiting list. If one of my patients

888
00:58:23,720 --> 00:58:26,080
Speaker 1: was fortunate enough to find a spot, they will still

889
00:58:26,120 --> 00:58:29,160
Speaker 1: have an hour drive each way each time they go

890
00:58:29,240 --> 00:58:32,560
Speaker 1: to the clinic, which is initially every day. This really

891
00:58:32,600 --> 00:58:37,080
Speaker 1: isn't feasible for most people living in rural areas. Upreneur fraine, however,

892
00:58:37,200 --> 00:58:40,200
Speaker 1: can be prescribed by any physician who completes an online

893
00:58:40,240 --> 00:58:43,040
Speaker 1: training program. The beauty of this is that you can

894
00:58:43,080 --> 00:58:45,280
Speaker 1: be your regular doctor who takes care of the medical

895
00:58:45,280 --> 00:58:48,240
Speaker 1: treatment of your addiction, just like any other chronic disease

896
00:58:48,280 --> 00:58:51,680
Speaker 1: you may have. In my area, currently, the nearest provider

897
00:58:51,720 --> 00:58:53,880
Speaker 1: for this is also an hour away, though I have

898
00:58:54,080 --> 00:58:56,000
Speaker 1: plans to change that in the next year or so

899
00:58:56,080 --> 00:58:59,640
Speaker 1: by completing the training myself. I know you mentioned nel

900
00:58:59,680 --> 00:59:02,080
Speaker 1: treux ozone as well. That's the medicine the block the

901
00:59:02,120 --> 00:59:05,800
Speaker 1: opioid receptors rather than stimulates them. It's available as a

902
00:59:05,800 --> 00:59:08,920
Speaker 1: pill by itself, as a pill in combination with buprenorphine,

903
00:59:09,360 --> 00:59:12,520
Speaker 1: and maybe most excitingly, as a once a month shot.

904
00:59:13,280 --> 00:59:16,160
Speaker 1: It works quite well, and that even if you relapse

905
00:59:16,200 --> 00:59:19,080
Speaker 1: and try to get high, it will take thousands of

906
00:59:19,120 --> 00:59:22,040
Speaker 1: dollars of heroin to overcome the medicine. So once you

907
00:59:22,080 --> 00:59:25,320
Speaker 1: get the injection, your brain essentially has a whole guaranteed

908
00:59:25,400 --> 00:59:28,280
Speaker 1: months to start healing from your addiction. The bummer is

909
00:59:28,320 --> 00:59:31,280
Speaker 1: that the shot is poorly covered by most commercial insurances.

910
00:59:31,800 --> 00:59:35,080
Speaker 1: If you or your listeners are wanting to do something

911
00:59:35,080 --> 00:59:38,840
Speaker 1: about the opioid epidemic, let me encourage you to contact

912
00:59:38,880 --> 00:59:42,560
Speaker 1: your legislators as well as your insurance companies to advocate

913
00:59:42,560 --> 00:59:46,000
Speaker 1: for better coverage. For addiction treatment and especially the nil

914
00:59:46,040 --> 00:59:49,800
Speaker 1: truck Zone shot. Wow. Well, Rachel, thank you for your

915
00:59:50,160 --> 00:59:54,680
Speaker 1: um physician perspective and I'm so glad that you are

916
00:59:54,720 --> 00:59:56,840
Speaker 1: getting that special training. So thank you for writing in,

917
00:59:57,160 --> 00:59:59,840
Speaker 1: and thanks to everybody who's written into us. Mong Stuff

918
00:59:59,840 --> 01:00:02,200
Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com is our email address

919
01:00:02,520 --> 01:00:04,440
Speaker 1: and for links to all of our social media as

920
01:00:04,440 --> 01:00:06,920
Speaker 1: well as all of our blogs, videos, and podcasts with

921
01:00:07,000 --> 01:00:10,800
Speaker 1: our sources. So you can learn even more about menstrual cups.

922
01:00:11,040 --> 01:00:13,800
Speaker 1: Head on over to stuff mom Never Told You dot

923
01:00:13,840 --> 01:00:21,920
Speaker 1: com or more on this and thousands of other topics

924
01:00:22,200 --> 01:00:31,280
Speaker 1: isn't how stuff works dot com