Learning About Tampons & Menstrual Cups

Filling up our landfill

Tampons can be a preferred menstrual product because they're less bulky than pads, people are able to go swimming, and they're quick to insert and take out once you've gotten the hang of using them.

Over the course of one's lifetime, people can use anywhere from 5,000 to 15,000 tampons. Imagine that being 30+ million people in the U.S each building 15 of these 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzles!

That's a lot of waste especially when the applicators and wrappers are made of plastic which go directly into our landfill or sewage system. In the UK alone, over 2.5 million tampons and 1.4 million sanitary pads are flushed down the toilet each day. When people flush products down the toilet that shouldn't be flushed, this raises three issues:

1) The pipes get clogged, demanding over $1 million of tax-payer's money annually to repair damages.

2) Animals are dying from accidental consumption of hazardous, non-biodegradable waste.

3) Sanitation workers are exposed to unwrapped menstrual products that were improperly disposed of. In some regions like India, these employees work without any protection including gloves which brings forth health concerns.

Unlike tampons, menstrual cups perform the exact same functions but can last up to 10 years with proper care. People should have a minimum of two menstrual cups on rotation so that's between $40 to $80 depending on the brand. With tampons, people will spend on average $50 to $150 per year.

Cultural stigmas

Unfortunately, in many cultures around the world, menstrual hygiene is a tabooed subject. Some prefer not to talk about periods and others are shunned for showing signs of menstruation. In patriarchal, developing regions, women and young girls can't afford sanitary napkins. In fact, sometimes they need to perform sexual acts in exchange for menstrual products.

Some women have been reluctant to try cloth pads because taking care of them requires washing, drying in the sun, and permanent staining which would be hanging out in the open for people to see. As a solution, there are people in underfunded regions who try to use anything they can find that could serve as tampons such as corn cobs. Non-profit organizations like Days for Girls work to provide hand-made cloth pads to young girls that are made with comfortable, vibrant materials that hide stains. They have successfully helped reduce the unnecessary pain girls have to go through from using unsafe solutions to manage their period. Access to reusable menstrual products has also helped give girls the opportunity to stay in school all year, given them more self-confidence, and reduced biohazards on the streets.

Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS): Tampons & Menstrual Cups

One of the first pieces of information we're usually taught in health class is how tampons are linked to an incredibly rare but dangerous condition known as Toxic Shock Syndrome. In the U.S, approximately 3-6 people per100,000 people are affected annually.

What is TSS?

Toxic Shock Syndrome is often associated with tampon use, but anyone exposed to pathogens via open wounds, surgery, childbirth, and infections can still develop TSS. The most common type of bacteria that secretes toxins contributing to TSS is Staphylococcus aureus. When you insert tampons and menstrual cups, they're introducing oxygen into the vaginal canal. With the presence of oxygen, Staphylococcus is able to grow and produce a toxin called TSST-1. For most people this isn't an issue since our bodies naturally produce antibodies as we age which counteract the pathogens. With the small percentage of people who don't have antibodies to successfully fight these toxins, they can develop TSS symptoms. Because the first signs are usually flu-like symptoms, TSS can often go unchecked until it reaches a more dangerous stage. Model and athlete Lauren Wasser is acknowledged for bringing to light the severity of TSS after her near-fatal experience.

Thinking about absorbency

Bacteria thrive in warm, moist, and protein-rich environments which is why medical professionals discourage people from using tampons with high absorbency since it's the perfect place for bacteria to grow. Also going back to the role oxygen plays in facilitating a rapid growth of bacteria, it's encouraged that people don't change their tampons too frequently in order to minimize the introduction of oxygen and any abrasions which allow toxins to enter the bloodstream. That's why 4-8 hours is the standard recommended time for keeping tampons in using the lowest absorbency that accommodates your flow.

Menstrual cups are constructed to be able to catch blood and last a maximum of 12 hours. There have only been two reported cases of TSS globally where one individual left their menstrual cup in for seven days straight and the other supposedly caused a small abrasion during an initial insert. If you're starting with cups for the first time, it's important to be careful because it's easy to cause irritation as you experiment with different techniques. Menstrual cups are known for having a learning curve. It took me two days before I got the hang of it. Meanwhile, for others it can take four cycles. Regardless of how long it takes you to finally go with the flow, almost everyone can tell you that the first several tries hurt. Like, really hurt. And then getting them out? Mmm....

That's why it's important to go easy the first several days because you don't want to cause too much irritation or create abrasions.

Sanitizing

Obviously, because you're actually inserting the cup into your body, it's even more important to make sure you properly sterilize your cups before use or storage. Mine came with my two cups, but I highly recommend purchasing a menstrual sanitizing cup.

You can place your cup inside the sterilizer and fill it with water. You can either put the container in a microwave with the lid off or use a coffee boiler and pour the water into the sterilizer with your cup. This process is especially important if you live in a country with unclean tap water because you don't want to expose your body to harmful bacteria.

Works Cited

Bauer, Nicole Ziza. 'I Survived TSS,' Model Lauren Wasser Shares Her Story. Darling Magazine, 6 Dec. 2017, darlingmagazine.org/toxic-shock-syndrome-interview/.

Casey, Alex. “What Happens to All the Tampons and Pads When They Leave Us?”The Spinoff, 17 May 2018, thespinoff.co.nz/society/17-05-2018/what-happens-to-all-the-tampons-and-pads-when-they-leave-us/.

Levine, Hallie. Menstrual Cup Linked to Toxic Shock Syndrome, New Study Finds. Consumer Reports, 20 Apr. 2018, www.consumerreports.org/women-s-health/menstrual-cups-linked-to-toxic-shock-syndrome/#:~:text=In%20recent%20years%2C%20menstrual%20cups,raise%20the%20risk%20of%20TSS.

Mitchell, Libby. What You Need To Know About Toxic Shock Syndrome. 2 July 2018, healthcare.utah.edu/healthfeed/postings/2018/07/tss.php.

Mitchell, Michael A., et al. “A Confirmed Case of Toxic Shock Syndrome Associated with the Use of a Menstrual Cup.” Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology, vol. 26, no. 4, 2015, pp. 218–220., doi:10.1155/2015/560959.

Oppenheim, Maya. “Kenyan Girls Forced into Sex in Exchange for Sanitary Products.”The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 15 Sept. 2018, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/kenya-girls-sex-sanitary-products-pads-period-poverty-a8533081.html.

Statista Research Department. U.S.: Usage of Tampons 2019. 20 Aug. 2019, www.statista.com/statistics/278085/us-households-usage-of-tampons/#:~:text=This%20statistic%20shows%20the%20usage,U.S.%20used%20tampons%20in%202019.

Whitaker, Hannah. “How Tampons and Pads Became so Unsustainable.”How Tampons and Pads Became Unsustainable and Filled with Plastic, National Geographic Society, 18 Oct. 2019, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/09/how-tampons-pads-became-unsustainable-story-of-plastic/.