Help me, perimenopausal women!

[shewhobikes]

Sorry, I think I might have posted this twice, under the diva cup thread, but my brain is addled due to...below.

OK, so I am getting a diva cup tomorrow and hoping to figure it out before I do the MS150 ride in Florida in 2 weeks.

Sorry if this is TMI, but I am in a bad way with cramps and heavy bleeding off and on for most of 2 weeks now, after not having a period since December. Yes, I've talked to the doc and yes, I've had all the requisite tests (endometrial biopsy--YOUCH!!!--blood work, etc., etc.). And I'm taking my vitamins and slow-release iron.

I was hoping to do the full 150--75 on that Saturday on my bike, 75 on Sunday with my sweetie on the tandem--but I guess I will just have to let Mother Nature fill me in on what's possible at the time.

I guess I'm just discouraged. I've ridden well all summer, including LOTS of climbing on a weeklong trip in Vermont, and now I've not felt like riding for 2 weeks.

OK, I will get off the pity pot and see if anybody has any suggestions or encouragement. I'm 51 years young, been riding 2.5 years, put 2,500 miles on the bike each year, and now I'm frustrated and a bit bummed out...

Thanks!

[Starfish]

I'm not completely clear on what would keep you from doing the ride?

Is it sheer pain from cramps that have you doubled over? Is it the sheer volume of flow? Edited To Add: Or is it that you have been bleeding for 2 weeks, thus weakened, etc?

I have done 60-80 mile rides with a heavy period, although of course have no way to compare your symptoms/tolerance levels to mine?

Maybe describe exactly what part makes you unsure you can do the ride?

[KnottedYet]

My little "events" have been extraordinarily heavy and extraordinarily short. I've gotten by on the bike with "overnight" pads.

At least everything stays in place with lycra, and shorts are black...

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I would just use some heavy duty tampons and change them every two hours or so. Personally, there's no way I could ride long miles on top of a thick pad.
Tuck a few fresh tampons in your jersey pocket or in your waistband if you dont have a saddlebag.
If you use a diva cup, then use that ...if you can judge how often you'd need to empty it, and have figured out the logistics of perhaps having to do that in a porta-potty.

If you have bad cramps take something for that in as low a dose as you can get by with. I'd also use a very thin panty liner in case the tampons leaked a bit. And remember to tuck the tampon string inside while riding- you don't want to be riding with that string shifting around the outside.
Drink lots of healthy juice the day before and the morning of your ride to start out well hydrated.

[OakLeaf]

NBD emptying the Diva Cup in a portajohn. Just have a little bottle of hand sanitizer in your pocket. And maybe another little bottle of KY if you're dry and need to wash the cup just to lube it for insertion. You can get some of those little 1/4-1/2 oz screwtop jars (Walgreen's has them as pill organizers, or The Container Store has them in the travel department) for a pocket- and travel- friendly size container for your KY, chamois cream, facial moisturizer or hair gel for travel, whatever.

You can feel when the Diva Cup is full and starting to seep... just like a tampon. I wouldn't worry about judging that.

The main issue I have with mine is how big it is. I had a much better time with the latex rubber one - don't remember what they used to call it - until the dog ate it The Diva Cup puts a lot of pressure on my bladder. So I wind up having to empty *that* more often than the cup. But I know a lot of women love theirs, and mine's not so bad I don't use it.

Funny how this perimenopause thing works I hadn't had a "real" period in a couple of years - then we take our last trip to Europe and I'm bleeding like an 18 year old. Funky Italian tampons long and skinny, just like the women.

[Over50Newbie]

Just to let you know that at age 51, my periods were SOOOO heavy, that it got to the point that I could barely leave my house. I would soak through an overnight pad in about 30 minutes. I was going through a box of overnight pads every day. It was terrible.

I finally elected to have an endometrial ablation. It is an outpatient procedure that only took an hour to perform.

It changed my life!

I would highly recommend researching it on the Internet and also asking your ob/gyn about it.

I now live a normal life with my ovaries and uterus still intact. So much better than a hysterectomy!

Just thought I would share...

Lynette

[shewhobikes]

I'm not completely clear on what would keep you from doing the ride?

Is it sheer pain from cramps that have you doubled over? Is it the sheer volume of flow? Edited To Add: Or is it that you have been bleeding for 2 weeks, thus weakened, etc?

I have done 60-80 mile rides with a heavy period, although of course have no way to compare your symptoms/tolerance levels to mine?

Maybe describe exactly what part makes you unsure you can do the ride?

Sort of all of the above:cramps, heavy flow (like changing a super tampon and pad every hour, sometimes more) and thus I haven't been on the bike, so I'm losing strength as well as iron, I imagine (though I am now taking a slow release iron pill, so that should help.