Wishing you a beautiful holiday season and a new year of peace and happiness!
Now for a little riddle…can you guess the right answer in the comments below before watching? – “What do snowmen eat for breakfast?”
MY FIRST PERIOD
My name is Leanne, I’m 20, and have Asperger Syndrome. Like every other woman in the world, I get my period every month. Although I’m not a teen or preteen anymore, I do remember what it was like.
This article can be helpful to parents of a daughter with a disability or people who work with people with special needs such as special education teachers, speech/language therapists, occupational therapists, psychiatrists, or other people whose jobs require close contact with people with disabilities. So please read on because some of what I’m about to mention might help both you and your daughter.
My mom and I read a book about puberty and periods when I was about 9 years old. She and I had both noticed that I was starting to develop on the outside, so she knew that it was possible that I could get my period soon. I thought the book was about punctuation, because the title had the word ‘period’ in it. The book also talked about things like stuff you can use when you’re on your period, what to do if you get it while you’re at school or away from home, and other stuff about periods. If you just want to talk to your daughter about this yourself, make sure you simplify your explanation to make sure she can understand it. If you want to read a book about this with your daughter, make sure the book is appropriate to her developmental level. Social stories have also been known to work when teaching special needs kids about puberty. After I read the book, I was SO excited to get my period! It was my body’s way of saying, “You’re a woman now, Leanne!” Every time I went to the restroom, I would look for it, and one day, there it was!
By Andrina Adams
I’ve been using menstrual cups since July 2013, and they’re AWESOME! They’re definitely better than the pads and tampons I used for umpteen years.
Just when I thought period protection couldn’t get any better, I was blessed with the opportunity to try a Lunette Cup…and it was A GAME CHANGER. Before I share why, here are a few facts about the cup in case you’re not familiar with it:
– Up to 12 hours of leak-free protection
– Can’t be felt when inserted correctly
– Can be worn overnight
– Not associated with Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS)
– Menstrual flow is captured and held in the cup until you remove and empty it — which means no scent
– It’s reusable, which makes it environment and budget-friendly
* Can last up to 10 years with proper care and use
* One-time cost is around $40 online (including here at www.bepreparedperiod.com), which can save you more than $100 per year.
My Personal Experience with Lunette Cup
I used the Lunette Cup for the first time two periods ago. From the start, I could tell it was quite different from other brands. Here’s why:
My periods have always been painful. They’d often force me to miss school, university or work, and if I was caught out in the middle of town I’d been known to lie down for an hour or two in a cubicle of a public toilet.
I got my period on the second week of my honeymoon on a remote island, and I remember feeling scared one night that there was no hospital on the island, because I was in far too much pain for comfort. So they were really no picnic to begin with.
But one month, out of nowhere, on Day 2 of my period I was suddenly gripped with the worst pain I’d ever felt, and I remained in a state of complete agony for the next two days. My husband had to rescue me from work and help me to bed. I couldn’t stand up straight. I couldn’t walk without holding onto things. It was quite scary.
At this stage my periods were longer than they used to be too: I’d gone from five day to eight day periods. So I did some neurotic late night googling, and canvassed opinions from friends, and also went to a proper doctor. It looked to all concerned like I had endometriosis maybe.
Move over toxic tampons. Take a hike, sweaty pads. There’s a new player in town and it looks like she’s here to stay – 12 hours at a time. It seems women are going crazy for the menstrual cup, a reusable, bell-shaped silicone device inserted into the vagina to collect menstrual blood, and they’re taking it to the web with countless YouTube videos, blog posts and tweets praising its benefits. So what’s all this commotion about?
Throughout its surprisingly long history (early versions of the menstrual cup were patented as far back as in 1932!), the menstrual cup has not been a popular option for period care. Despite several attempts to launch the product in mass markets over the years, it was never able to compete with disposable tampons and sanitary pads. Although it is still a foreign concept to most women, the menstrual cup is slowly claiming its place in mainstream markets. It is no longer a mysterious apparatus only found in natural health stores; the product is now available in some major drugstores and can be easily bought online. An increasing selection of brands is also popping up worldwide: from Lunette, to Mooncup, Meluna, Yuuki, Fleurcup, Sckoon, Ruby, Femmecup and The DivaCup – to name but few.
Diva International Inc., the makers of The DivaCup, one of North America’s most popular menstrual cup brands with over 1 million cups sold to date, have definitely noticed the new trend. For the past 10 years, DivaCup International’s sales have been growing at double digit rates. “In the past ten years we have received great enthusiasm and acceptance around The DivaCup in both natural health and more recently, mainstream markets,” says a spokesperson for The DivaCup.
By Andrina Adams
Until recently, I suffered through heavy periods every month.
On days 2 & 3, I normally had to wear a tampon AND a maxi pad. In addition to this, if I didn’t change that lovely combo every 2 hours, I had the “pleasure” of a major clean-up and possible leakage. — I’d tell you about my pads-only nights; but, I don’t want to make you weep. 🙂
Of course, everything I’ve mentioned so far made me dread, and sometimes skip, work / personal events – especially the ones that required long periods of sitting and / or frequent use of far-away public restrooms…that is, until I stumbled upon menstrual cups on Amazon.com.
MENSTRUAL CUPS – Where have you been all my life?
While checking things out on Amazon one lovely, lazy vacation day, something led me to the sanitary products page. That’s where I saw them for the first time… I’m telling you, angels played harps and sang while a voice (in my head) said, “Behold…the DIVACUP and SOFTCUP.” LOL
By Marcela De Vivo
When I first read Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume, I was still in my pre-teens—so the whole bra-wearing, period-having, growing up angst was something that I related to and wanted to know more about (except the angst part). I honestly believed that you could “increase your bust” with an odd rhyme and even odder exercise—and the fact that the girls were so desperate to get their period made me want mine too.
Boy, did they misrepresent the experience. When I finally got my period, it wasn’t a misty-eyed entrance into womanhood with moderate spotting and a proud mother. No, mine was a hormonal nightmare complete with acne flare-ups, inexplicable rages and tears, and cramping that I wouldn’t wish even on the mean girls who tormented me at school.
I didn’t quite get that they were all PMS symptoms for a while, since I wasn’t regular yet and hadn’t figured out when my period was coming. As I got older, I started making the connection between the awful symptoms and the impending monthly menses.
Once I understood the association, I started trying any number of remedies to relieve my PMS—for my sake and the sake of those around me. What I found was that yoga and meditation did a lot to help alleviate those issues.
This month we are celebrating the revolutionary products that are improving women’s periods everywhere – cloth pads and menstrual cups!
Have you been wondering what all the hype is about? Or maybe you’re the one that is creating the hype in your circle of friends. Either way, we’d love to have you join us in our celebratory tweet chat (December 13th at 11am PST), “Revolutionizing Periods: Menstrual Cups & Cloth Pads.”
Joining us will be special guests GladRags and DivaCup to share why these types of products are growing in popularity, and their benefits over conventional products. Plus, they’ll be sticking around to answer any questions you may think of!
“But what about the giveaway?” you ask.
To help promote the tweet chat, encourage participation and raise awareness about the many options women have today to manage their periods, GladRags has generously donated a $25 GladRags.com Gift Card to giveaway to one lucky participant. This is a perfect opportunity to try them out, add to your collection or even give as a gift – after all, ’tis the season!
So what are you waiting for? Scroll on down and get your entries in!!
Want to stay updated on our giveaway opportunities? Sign up for our giveaway notifications and be notified the next time we are giving away more FREE stuff!
“Click Here” for more details about the chat. To Enter the giveaway: READ MORE… »
As you may know, we love to offer giveaways at www.bepreparedperiod.com.
We find it’s a great way to introduce new, healthy options to women unfamiliar with organic and reusable products.
If you’ve subscribed to our giveaway alerts, you’ve probably noticed most of them are menstrual in nature, like the DivaCup Gift Pack we’ve got going on. (FYI, this would make for an awesome gift for yourself or your favorite gal pal – so make sure to check it out!)
BUT what if you’d like something a little extra this year, or maybe you are running a little low on cash this holiday season? Well, our friends over at voiceBoks have invited us to share in offering you a great opportunity to win a Holiday Cash Bonus of $175 (imagine how many tampons, pads or menstrual cups that could buy!!) 😉 READ MORE… »
Did you know that today, girls are hitting puberty at a younger age than ever before?
With the age of onset of puberty continuing to decline, many girls are starting this very confusing, hormonally charged phase of life extremely young. According to current research, 30% of girls will start puberty by the age of 8.
It is extremely important for parents to recognize these changes, even if they are subtle – and begin communicating regularly about puberty and menstruation. Even if they are not happening to YOUR daughter, there is a good chance they are happening to some of her elementary school classmates. The sooner you can begin the dialect, the easier the facts of life will be to understand for your daughter.