Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Nurses and AT hikers, UNITE!

So, this is kind of a delicate subject. I was poking around on whiteblaze the other day, dreaming/obsessing 4 years into the future, when I had a thought: What do women do that time of the month on the trail? I mean, it's a 4-6 month hike. I'm going to be 50 so the Pill is out. The thought of managing tampax and cramps while hiking 20+ miles/day doesn't sound fun. Well, it turns out that a lot of women do just that. "Pack them out" in ziploc bags until they get to a place where they can be thrown away. Again, doesn't sound like much fun.  THEN I saw input from some hikers talking about this thing called a Diva Cup. I read all the posts about it and it sounded intriguing so I checked out their website. It's a silicon cup that fits like a diaphragm only it's not as wide and is longer. It only has to be taken out and cleaned twice per day. It has a little pouch to carry it in when not in use. Yeah, it sounds a little messy but so does packing out used tampons...yuck.

Then I got to thinking about it from a nursing perspective. Ask any nurse you know and she'll tell you that during a 12 hour shift, you're lucky to get 2 pee breaks. If you're an ER nurse during flu season, finding 30 seconds for ONE is a God-send! This doesn't work well during that time of the month. Tampons generally are not okay with waiting 12 hours..."oh no, I won't leak, don't worry about it." Yeah, right. So I thought if I ordered a Diva Cup, it would work great for both. So I did. It came today. I inserted it according to the instructions and I can't feel a thing. I'm going to practice inserting and removing it for the next week before I'm due start but will keep you posted at how well it works during the critical period (ha-ha). Oh, and a plus side...something about the silicone is supposed to get rid of cramps. How awesome is this invention?? I'll keep you posted!

2 comments:

  1. Diva cup is the best gift I have ever been given. I love it and i think you will find that you do too. I have found that the fit differs from cycle to cycle depending on where everything shifts to and i don't know about the cramp-killing silicone - haven't experienced that in the 3 years i have been using it. But i would never go back to tampons ever in a million years.
    I will be interested to hear how it goes for you.

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