Periods and chemicals in pads/tampons

Due to how hard it seems to be to find proper information from time to time about the lady bits and why it does the thing, I will share a personal experience that I have read online that many women experience without knowing why it happens or even believe it can't be solved and just lives with it.

There will be graphic and nasty details in here, but I think that's neccesary for educational purpouses.

I used regular disposable pads ever since I got my first period, they bled a lot and hurt a lot, in school we were tought that during your whole period you bleed about the amount of a tablespoon, as your typically insecure teen I thought something was wrong with me since my periods could be more compared to the niagara falls, which all the other girls also said, and in which we all shared the same insecurity. Most of my years with my period I experience sore little bumps on my inner labias, sometimes they were so sore that it went black in front of my eyes if I accidentaly nudges the toiletpaper against one while wiping after taking a piss, and then again, I thought something was wrong with me.

Once I gathered enough courage to google my problem and face what could be facts that would scare me, I found out many women experience these type of lumps, and that they were hormone lumps, I just went with it because during the period there is hormone changes so why wouldn't it be hormone lumps? However after a year or two after finding that information it got even worse, there was more lumps and what I guess is the bartholin glands started to get clogged by these lumps if they appeared nearby them, it got so bad that one of the glands seemed to totally clog up and got infected, most likely because of one of these little lumps since I had one just by that glands before the infection happened, I had an about 5 cm long and 2 cm wide boil on my inner labia filled to the brim with pus, I googled and found that boils are normal for young women and that I should wash it 3 times a day, so i did and just thought it was because I was a young woman with hormones going on, in total this boil lasted 3 weeks before I could pop it, it took me 3 days to get rid of all the pus and had to squeeze it out 1-2 times a day, certainly not my most pleasant experience.

I healed up and it took about 2 months before I got another boil, in frustration I googled again, and after lots and lots of googeling I found one corner on the internet that described something groundbreaking for me, they described a sensitivity to chemicals in pads in which causes boils and lumps, EXACTLY what I was experiencing! ( unfortunatly I couldn't find that website again )

On that website I read about cloth pads and thought that after all this trouble I was ready to pay those 30$ it cost to buy cloth pads to try, so after my new boil healed AND the one I got on the other gland immediatly after the first one healed ( guess I accidentaly contaminated the gland while popping the first boil ) I tried my cloth pads. Relief is all i can say, there was no lumps, no boils, the bleeding was less and even the pain was less, a bonus was also that it didn't feel like I was wearing a diaper either and just regular clothing since it was cloth.

The thought never really came up before that something that is supposed to be in such a sensitive area is filled with chemicals and causes so much problems, I went years with agonisingly painful lumps on my inner labia and heavy bleedings for naught. There wasn't something wrong with me at all, the teaspoon amount of blood was bogus, I didn't have to suffer through boils and lumps but no one bothered to educate about problems from your sanitary items ( how many believes it's because of money? )

Washing blood out of the pads once a month is totally worth not having to deal with lumps and boils. And it's a weirdly satisfying feeling to choose cute patterns for your pads, knowing that you will bleed on these cute pink heart pattern.

I will never EVER go back to disposable pads, choosing cloth pads was one of the best desitions I ever made and planning to get a menstrual cup so I can even take baths in the summer wearing a bikini during my periods.