Comments on: Question Time: Personal Care Items

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 05:00:14 +0000

I use heating pads pretty often, and I also use a perfume oil from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab called Embalming Fluid (don’t worry, it just smells like oranges) to help quell queasiness and exhaustion.

By: Grafton

Grafton — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 04:42:13 +0000

I use plain coconut oil (it is actually a solid at room temperature) instead of lotions. It does smell rather like a coconut, but is texture and effectiveness-wise by far the best thing I’ve tried for dry skin, itch, or acne.

By: Norah

Norah — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:24:05 +0000

Ooh, forgot about my trusty menstrual cup, newly discovered. Again sensory issues: cloth pads are right out, just can’t deal with the feel of them. Tampons were better but even on the pill I’m still a heavy bleeder (I had way too much pain, way too much blood, way too long a period of bleeding, and way too short a cycle before that. I was fainting a lot just from losing too much blood every 2 to 2.5 weeks), and, well…. they also come right back out, full or not, at so much as a couch or a sneeze for me. Sometimes at rocket-speeds :S.
Menstrual cup stays put better, though still not as much as it should, but still, it’ll do for the night or for going out of the house. It sort of comes out partway and then hangs there… Still it’s the thing I’ve been able to feel the least of all of them. Also I can keep it in for a full day if I like, in the light days, if I…. shove it back in every now and then.

By: lilacsigil

lilacsigil — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 04:49:18 +0000

I so wish I had known about cloth pads earlier. They are the only kind of pad that deal with my heavy clots properly – as a teenager I was using two super tampons, two night pads and a pair of plastic pants all at the same time just to cope with the 90 minutes on the bus to school when I couldn’t go to the toilet. But one cloth pad works beautifully.

Apart from that, the thing that has made the most difference to my self-care is shower rails. I couldn’t rinse shampoo or conditioner from my hair properly because of the head positions needed but if I can hold onto a rail, I’m fine at least 5 days out of 7.

By: Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 04:19:46 +0000

All these comments about pads/cups/period maintenance makes me so happy I don’t have to do that. (Though I think the current hormone is affecting me in some weird ways – acne on my chest?)

In addition to the pain of a period (I think of it as rusty old pipes being forced into work and banging around causing pain), dealing with pads is a pain because of the site of the pain.

By: K

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 04:02:24 +0000

I don’t know if this counts, but I only use Arm n Hammer dye-free, perfume-free detergent. It’s the only detergent I’ve found that doesn’t make me sick. Nothing like when the smell of your clothes triggers a migraine or makes you break out in a rash.

Also, maternity-length pads. I have endo/adenomyosis, so I typically need tampons and “backup”. Maternity-length pads cover everything.

I also use Head-on. I only use it when I have a migraine and have already popped a Relpax and am trying to make myself fall asleep. It doesn’t cure migraines, but the weird burning sensation is a good distraction from the pain for me.

By: SavvyChristine

SavvyChristine — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:46:38 +0000

I’m a fan of the silicone-type earplugs, the squishable ones that are essentially a big ball of antibacterial playdough that you can smoosh into your ears. I can’t remember the brand name, but I bought them at Rite Aid for something like $4.00 (USD) for three sets in a little plastic carrying case. The carrying case is key for when there’s a migraine trigger out and about.

The only downside I’ve found so far is that after about four hours of wearing them, my ears feel faintly not good because the earplugs stay in by a combination of stickiness and suction. And the suction hurts. But four hours is MUCH better than the thirty minutes to a half hour that I got with my last earplugs.

By: lauredhel

lauredhel — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:32:31 +0000

Moisturisers! Argh, the commercial ones with their revolting fragrances and alcohols and who knows what else… I’ve finally come to a body butter formula that really works on my skin. It only contains mango butter, jojoba, lanolin (ultrapurified), sometimes a little olive oil, and a tablespoon of corn cornstarch. I usually add one drop of lavender essential oil per tub.

Ditto my own soap – I’ve only found one or two bought brands (also high in olive oil) that my skin likes, and it’d be a bit too expensive to buy those anyhow; so a couple or three times a year, with help, I make up a big batch of soap.

_Word_ to Tori menstrual pads: bamboo velour is what works with my body, so much nicer than any other fabric or disposable product.

Heating pads: my favourite is a quite big wheat bag that a friend made for me. Little pads lose their heat so quickly. In the winter, I tuck an electric heating pad down at the end of my bed. It keeps the quilt from pressing on my feet (is anyone else sensitive to that?), and warms my feet just enough to stop me needing a full electric blanket or room heater. (It doesn’t freeze here.)

By: thetroubleis

thetroubleis — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:30:15 +0000

Cloth pads are a must for me, long with lotion. If I can manage to make my skin look nice that day, at least I feel like I accomplished something.

I use cloth pads becuase regular products sometimes bother me to the point I can’t concentrate, which is not helpful.

By: Ms. M

Ms. M — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 01:22:01 +0000

Menstrual cup, which I only have to change 2/day (3x/day the first day). Less hassle for my achey hands to deal with, vs. opening all those tampon wrappers. I have less cramping too.

Thermacare heating pads.. I prefer the “menstrual relief” ones, because I can attach them to my clothes and not to my skin. I’ve used that style of my shoulder area, hip, back. If I put one on right before bed, I can often get a good 12 hrs of heat out of them (they rely on oxygen for the chemical reaction, and wearing it under pajamas, under blankets, without a lot of moving aroud, slows the reaction).

Earplugs. Can’t sleep without them…I too prefer the tapered closed cell foam ones… cheap yet work wonders.