TMI Question Regarding Tampons

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I use OB tampons which do not come with applicators or plastic wrapping that a used tampon can be placed into. I flush. I have always flushed. I will likely always flush. They are not expensive and they are flushable. I do not want a nasty blood soaked tampon sitting in my trash can for a few days nor am I interested in taking the trash out every couple of hours to get rid of the smell of rancid blood. Gross. Also, there is zero chance that even if I did use cheap tampax tampons that come with a flimsy paper wrapper that I would take a blood soaked inflated tampon and try (in futility) to jam it back inside that paper wraper which is going to tear from the wetness. Not only that but then your hands are covered in blood and when you come out of the restroom stall you're going to touch a faucet that other people have to touch in order to wash their hands. That's disgusting on so many levels! Come one people...seriously...flush your damn tampons! Anything else is just flat out disgusting. Also, I think all the anti-flushers on this thread are the same 1-2 people. There's no way there are so many people tossing bloody tampons into the trash.

Rarely do I read a DCUM post that makes me laugh out loud as much as this post. And I agree with you.

[Anonymous]

I used to flush until my plumber told me I was keeping him in business! Honestly, since I stopped flushing tampons four years ago, we have not needed to call the plumber. We used to need to call him at least quarterly.

[Anonymous]

Here is a link that explains exactly why tampons should NOT be flushed and what impact flushed tampons have on water treatment facilities.

http://www.water.org.uk/home/resources-and-links/bagandbin

[Anonymous]

I don't care if you flush or if you toss in the trash. Just wondering how many of your flushers consider yourself environmentally conscientious? Do you recycle? Do you try to make green choices?

Your tampons don't just disappear or disintegrate into the water when you flush them. Would that life were so magic. Once they reach the sewage treatment plant, they have to be fished out, where they are either sent to a landfill (same place they'd end up if you'd just toss them correctly in the first place) or incinerated (not great for the environment). It also has the down side of contaminating water with blood and other diseases, which means they have to use that many more chemicals to treat the water. Some slippery little fellows do make it out to the oceans, too.

If you are fine with that, more power to you. Just don't pretend like they just disappear with a flush. It is like thinking chicken and beef just magically appears in little ready-to-cook containers in your grocery store.

[Anonymous]

This is so disturbing to me. Exactly what are you ladies eating that your tampons smell so bad you can't have it the in the house until trash day? I'm dead serious. I'm a nutritionist by training, so am a bit biased in thinking you that all roads lead to nutrition and you really are what you eat, but nothing that comes out of you should smell that bad.

Seriously, what kind of toxins are you filling your body with that your menstrual blood smells so bad??? This is really, really disturbing.

[Anonymous]

22:52 what is your problem?
Blood smells after it's been sitting for a while, as it is "decomposing".

I am an extremely healthy eater, and I exercise a lot. My menstrual blood smells if it is sitting...so I would like you to back up your statement with your "nutritional expertise". Oh, and try to NOT be really, really disturbed!

[Anonymous]

20:17 - what do YOU use if you're so environmentally conscious? tampons that are not flushed end up in land-fills. So what is your solution? How about we eradicate menstruation all together!

[Anonymous]

Maybe she uses the diva cup?

[Anonymous]

If she did, she would have mentioned it as a defense to her holier-than-though argument!

[Anonymous]

20:17 here. I use tampons, but I'm also on the pill that only gives me a period 4 times a year. Not for environmental issues - I just don't see the point of having one more frequently than that.

I throw my tampons in the trash. Because as you said - they are going to end up there anyway, so why not avoid clogging the pipes and making the gvt pay for extra chemicals to treat the water?

As for blood smelling bad . . . I've been in many a public restroom with god knows what in the little stall trash bins and the offensive smells are certainly not from stale blood.

I really don't care what you do with your used tampons. Swallow them, for all I care. I was just trying to understand the mentality of people who flush - you really think they just disappear and disintegrate the moment they swirl down the pipes!! Unbelievable.

[Anonymous]

This is so disturbing to me. Exactly what are you ladies eating that your tampons smell so bad you can't have it the in the house until trash day? I'm dead serious. I'm a nutritionist by training, so am a bit biased in thinking you that all roads lead to nutrition and you really are what you eat, but nothing that comes out of you should smell that bad.

Seriously, what kind of toxins are you filling your body with that your menstrual blood smells so bad??? This is really, really disturbing.

Agreed! It is almost as if these women have body issues - they are afraid and ashamed of their bodies and the fluids that come out. The one lady who is horrified about touching a tampon - it is HER blood! It was just inside her vagina! I think there are deeper issues going on . . . how hard it is to yank on the string, which everyone has to do to get it out, hold it by said string and plop it in a wad of tissues and stick it in the trash?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:22:52 what is your problem?
Blood smells after it's been sitting for a while, as it is "decomposing".

I am an extremely healthy eater, and I exercise a lot. My menstrual blood smells if it is sitting...so I would like you to back up your statement with your "nutritional expertise". Oh, and try to NOT be really, really disturbed!

I am really disturbed that people flush tampons because they can't stand to have it sitting in the trash in their bathroom. It's not necessary and public bathrooms state all the time that you shouldn't flush, and put a special disposable container for you, so it's obnoxious. I have never once, in my almost 20 years of using tampons, have it smell that bad that I've needed to get rid of right away. We do take our our trash regularly so it "decomposing" in the house is not really a concern. If something is coming out of you that is that bad, yeah, that's weird.

And what is with the quotes in "expertise?" I have an MS in nutrition and both have both counseled people with chronic conditions and worked in nutrition policy for years, so yeah, I do have expertise.

[Anonymous]

All you flushers, PLEASE don't come to my house in the country with a septic system. I will ask you to toss (and, yes, I am the one who takes out the trash.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It never dawned on me to toss them. I have been flushing them for 30 years!!!

This statement baffles me.

[Anonymous]

I only use pads. I used tampons in high school briefly, but I don't like them.

Yes pads suck but there is no better alternative for me.