SNORKELING DURING THE PERIODS
Your planned vacation to a great diving spot is getting closer. You might be making a small packing list and wondering whether you must take all your diving equipment along or rather rent it on-site. Then you see the calendar or the pill pack and immediately you develop a bad feeling! In the eagerly awaited holiday season, your periods are announced! Damn!
What now? Diving despite your period? Do tampons stay tight? Can you somehow magic the rule away? And what about sharks?
As a vacation diver, I found the topic anything but funny. Today, I have decided to discuss it – besides, now diving and menstrual periods are no longer a problem. Why? Because I found the perfect solution with these three alternatives for diving, despite your periods, you will find the right solution. Because let’s be honest. Cancel diving just due to your periods? No way!
TIPS FOR SNORKELING DURING THE PERIODS
- DELAY YOUR PERIODS BY TAKING THE PILL
- TAMPON-SEAL IT FIRST BEFORE DIVING
- LADY CUP – PUT IT IN AND YOU’RE GOOD TO GO
TIP #1. DELAY YOUR PERIODS BY TAKING THE PILL
The tip applies to everyone who uses the contraceptive pill. This not only makes the female cycle very calculable but also controllable. It has become possible to bring the menstrual periods forward or to skip them completely.
Incidentally, this type of bleeding is by no means “normal” menstruation but is known as “withdrawal bleeding,” in which the uterus lining built up by the hormones supplied is shed. If you decide to delay your periods by using the pill, you must consider what type of supplement you are using.
Do you utilize a one-step preparation? In that, all 21 pills contain the same hormone content. It is very simple. Instead of the seven-day pill break, you need to take the next strip of pills straight away and stop bleeding. You may also use the pill for 18 or 19 days instead of 21 (skipping a max of seven pills).
Then you will get your period earlier. With a two-phase preparation, it is a bit more complicated but not impossible. You just keep taking the 2nd-phase pills, which contain both estrogen and progesterone. This tip is not recommended for three-step preparations, in which case you can’t take the pill for moving.
However, the long-term cycle, i.e., using the pill over a period of three or four months, is becoming frequently common. So far, no more consequential effects have been scientifically identified than when taken for 21 days—on the contrary, the protection is even better and ill effects of the rule, like, cramps, migraines, and other inconveniences, are avoided from the outset.
TIP # 2. TAMPON-SEAL IT FIRST BEFORE DIVING
Delaying your period cycle can be an option on a week-long diving vacation, but if you avoid taking the pill at all or, dive almost every day, you’ll have to find another solution to snorkeling during the periods. So in the beginning, I recommend using a fresh tampon just before getting into the water.
In principle, the tampon stops the bleeding, even in water. But if you dive wet, it gets wet from both sides, and so it sucks fuller much faster. That means going to the toilet and changing immediately after the dive.
With a bit of bad luck, there can be one or the other stain in the bikini. It will be uncomfortable for some women, or they are afraid that the ribbon will be treacherously hanging out. In 90% of the cases, in my experience, everything is fine and, apart from going to the toilet quickly, there is no major disadvantage.
However, if you are not close to the toilet, it can get silly. Not to mention the space consumption in the toiletry bag, the lack of sources of supply in remote travel areas, or the lack of garbage cans for disposal.
TIP #3. LADY CUP–PUT IT IN AND YOU’RE GOOD TO GO
At first, I was a bit taken aback and couldn’t really imagine it. A lady cup? Moon cup? Menstrual cup? What should it be? The device—as a friend of mine, who has since become a believer, so beautifully calls it, a silicone cup that is inserted into the vagina like a tampon and “sucks” there.
It catches all the blood and can be easily removed for emptying with a small handle at the end. It takes a bit of practice at first, but after a while, you’ll be so proficient that it’s child’s play.
Convenience and protection? Absolutely, I don’t even notice the cup and have to remind myself to empty it. No bloodstains, no feeling that it will slip out. Depending on how heavy your menstrual period is, you have to empty it about twice a day, e.g. in the shower. Rinse briefly, and it’s done.
At the start and after the period, you should briefly boil it or pour boiling water over it. That’s it. Depending on the model, you pay from $14-compared to tampons, and you quickly recoup that. But it is light and small, and therefore easy to stow away.
It is also less harmful to the intimate area, as it dries out less than tampons. Yes, I agree you need a “healthy” or insensitive relationship with your own body, but doesn’t that apply to tampons and scuba diving as well?
In any case, today, no longer waste unnecessary thoughts on the subject of diving despite my period. Just like diving with long hair, it only depends on how you handle it.
FAQS
Conclusion
Take precautions, and if you are feeling severe PMS or other adverse symptoms, you should not go for snorkeling during the periods. If everything is under control, the most important thing to keep in mind is to bring additional tampons with you, replace them as soon as you can after you exit the water, continue to drink plenty of water, and make preparations in advance to prevent any post-dive fluid leaking. Thus you can be snorkeling during the periods.
