I just can't do it. Feel like giving up.

I got a Green Donna in the mail. I have tried using it, while not on my period, to try to learn how to do it for when my period comes. I am having trouble getting it to open when putting it in. I can't get it to open at all with the C fold, but I think I am getting it to open when I use the punch fold but it doesn't feel totally round. It doesn't feel folded all the way as it does when you put it in, it just feels "caved in" as if there is no air in it. In other words, it feels like it is open at the top and not folded, but that the sides are kind of scrunched in. It's like if you held it in your hand and squeezed it a little bit. Is this ok?
When I insert the cup, sometimes I pull it out slightly and it fills with air when I do that, then I shove it back up and it seems to be totally open, or that's what it feels like.
Other times, I have tried to push the side to get some air in but it won't go in.
I am 31, no kids and using the large Green Donna, if that is any help. Please help me! I don't want to be a slave to tampons all my life!

God help me when my large Yuuki gets here.

Hi Lisa,

Welcome to the forum. I got your Youtube message and sent a reply. But just in case you come here first, I will also post it here:

The cup shoudl have some tiny suction release holes at the top of the cup (which also help it to pop open by draing in air). When you fold it, try to make sure one fo the holes is inside the fold crease. That will keep the hole exposed to air longer, helping it pop open better. If all the holes are right up against skin the etire time, its harder to pop it open. But mostly with softer cups.

Another thing you can do is try inserting with the fold crease facing either downward, or to the side. Some people find this pops open better.

Depending on the shape of our unique insides, sometimes a cup will be more "oval" than round when its popped open. That's ok, as long as the cup is mostly open (not totally flat), and its not leaking.

Let me know if this helps. I also sawy your question on one of the videos, so if a softer cup just won't do it, then a firmer cup is usually pretty easy to pop open.

-- Melissa

yes, afaik green donna is very soft. maybe that's why there are few large soft cups - they're quite hard to open. my large ladycup also is, i find that running it under cold water makes it stiffer..just make sure it really does feel stiff and pour water over the outside of the cup.
also, another way to get air into the cup is to push away the wall of your vagina (especially the back wall, as the pubic bone isn't in the way there), make sure to hold it like that for maybe even 15 seconds or so. you may even hear the air get in
and a very good thing about soft cups is that they won't open if your cervix is in the way, which i've heard can be very painful. so, make sure your cup is below your cervix when you let it open, it can sit around your cervix but don't push it too high before it's open. for me this means letting the cup open practically as soon as i've inserted the rim.

i'm going to get a green donna for my mum soon and try it out myself too, i'll let you know what works for us - a dry run in my case, btw things can be different when you're on your period..for some reason, on dry runs the origami fold works for me but it won't open when i'm on my period. also, you may want to try out more folds, especially the 7 fold which you can sort of unfold manually.. i use a variation of it, not sure whether it's really the 9 fold but that's what i call it... basically like a halfway C-fold, because i can't have a part of the rim below the rest of it since i have enough trouble avoiding trapping my cervix like that.. don't be discouraged though, my cervix is VERY low and as you can read in my cup journal, i'm constantly finding little tricks to make it open easier. but really when my period is about to start (and my cervix is a bit higher than usual), if i just use the cold water trick properly my cup pops open at once

also, although as far as i know large yuuki is also very soft, green donna is softer maybe the difference is enough for you

Thanks for your replies ladies! I haven't tried anything with my cup since I last posted here. I tried it so long last night I got all bloody and sore! I guess there's no way for me to know if I am doing ok until I get my period. I have felt pretty discouraged but I figured it's not the end of the world if I can't get it to work, right? I always have tampons to fall back on I guess. But I really want to use the cup so I am not giving up yet.
Is the Green Donna the softest? What I am looking for is a cup that I can use that has the highest capacity, but that I can get to open easily. Which has the highest capacity and opens easily? I hope Yuuki will work but I won't know for a few days at least. When I get it I will post on here all about it. Serpent, please let me know how the Green Donna works for you.
Here is a picture of the Green Donna I got. It says "Moon cup" on the box. The only difference is that mine is white and it's a size 2. Is it possible that the size 2 is too big? I am not a virgin but have had no childbirth.

I have measurement/capacity/stiffness charts here on my blog, if you're interested:

http://menstrualcupinfo.wordpress.com/cup-stiffness-comparison-chart/

I think the stiffer ones are much easier to pop open. As you can see from the list at the bottom of the chart page, large Yuuki is the 4th softest out of 19 brands/sizes (some brands, the small or large is stiffer).

I'm not sure where Green Donna ranks in stiffness though, because I've decided not to get one. I'm a Lunette distributor, and Green Donna sorta "illegally copied" Lunette pretty much identiaclly as far as casting molds go, that's why they went out of business. There was also a discussion on LiveJournal abotu it and how one girl who owned both a Lunette (blue selene) and a green Donna put up some pictures. She trimmed the stem of her Selene a bti but other than that, its the same: http://community.livejournal.com/menstrual_cups/1744898.html . Now people can only buy the Green Donna leftovers that are floating around online (particularly eBay). Its also why they put "Moon Cup" on the box, because Lunette has been trying to track down wherever they are selling, so they can catch them, lol. I I've even heard rumors that they may still be making them, just no "officially". Although I'm sure the UK Mooncup company and the Keeper company with their Moon Cup probably don't take too kindly to the use of that name, lol.

Ohhhh boy, crazy cup politics

Of coruse, let yoru body heal up from any soreness, but you can practice popping it open until your next period, since cups are ok to test out even when you're not menstruating. Try wetting it with water, or if you can get hold of a good water-based lube (glycerine free), that would help with the soreness. Or some people just use saliva/spit. I find its easier to apply lubrication to the skin, rather than the cup though... Makes the cup too slippery, lol.

well, they're still fairly popular in russia (and i've decided to get one for my mum because large lunette would be a perfect choice for her but she found even the small one too stiff ), and it was rated as the softest in a russian comm - http://community.cup4you.ru/?p=252#more-252 you don't really need to understand russian haha, the first ranking is the body of the cup, the second the rim and the third the bottom. some are rated differently from yours, but other than the "old" mooncup uk and regular meluna these are all quite soft cups, and green donna is the softest of them all
i've also heard that chinese distributors call all brands of menstrual cups moon cups. kinda like hoover used to mean a particular brand of vacuum cleaners

as for size 2 being too big.. well, i'm using a large ladycup although i'm a virgin it's really rather about how comfortable you are with inserting things into your vagina, and if you need a lot of capacity you'll probably have to get a large size, no matter of what brand. large sizes are wider mostly because the kegel muscles can weaken due to age or childbirth. i think if it's too large it might be difficult to insert, but once it's past the pubic bone there should be enough room for it to expand it's not that your vagina is small, there's just no air there before you let some in

while you're letting your body rest you may want to try out more folds

edit: as for capacity, you may find that your flow is not as heavy as it seems:) check the chart here... http://www.lunette.com/index.php?id=28 i thought i had some quite heavy days but i can always leave my ladycup in for 12h (and within this time it fills less than 1/3... but because my cervix takes up a lot of space, 1/3 is the most i can fill it before it starts leaking)

Thanks for your replies, they are both very helpful! I appreciate the links to the charts as well. I want to learn all I can about menstrual cups and I am sure learning a lot!

I was wondering why the box said Moop Cup and then the cup itself said Green Donna on it! I wanted to check and see where the "Moon Cup" was made, and I looked under the box and it said, "Main in China." I was like, "HUH?!" I expected it to say either US or UK. I was going to write the person who sold it and ask them what the heck was going on, but then I saw that the picture on the box said Green Donna on it as well. So I figured somebody was just calling the Green Donna a Moon Cup for some reason. Now I know what. Ebay is in fact where I got mine.

I went and tried my cup again tonight. I didn't want to spend a lot of time on it because I didn't want to get all sore again. I was able to get my cup to work 3 times. At least, from what I can tell, it worked. Who's to say when I don't have my period right now? Anyway, here's how I have to do it in order to get it open. I will post this on another link as well, so if somebody is having troubles they may be able to do this. I am not sure if it would work for a virgin. Perhaps this would work with the Lunette too, since it appears to be the same cup.

I made the punch fold and inserted it. I sort of squeezed the punch out once the cup was inside so that the rim comes open. Then I pull out the cup slightly until I hear it fill with air. Then once it is filled with air, I push it straight in with my finger(s). I can kind of feel that it is much bigger, being that it has the air in it. That's the part I am not sure a virgin could do, unless she has lost her hymen already. Once it is past the pubic bone, I know I have done it successfully. I feel around and it seems like it is round to me all the way around. I can't turn it to get a seal so hopefully that means it is tight enough and a seal is already there. When I take it out, it dents in slightly when it hits the pubic bone, and makes a suction sound.
The only bad thing about this whole thing is that it sounds like a farting sound when it fills with air and when it comes out. I really don't want other people to hear that when I am in the stall.

I will follow up on this when I get my period to let you know if it works.

Sounds like you may have figured out a way.

Shape wise, green donna and lunette are the same, but I think the large green donna might be less firm than large lunette (which is firmer than small, since they added more hardener to the large's material.) Its possible that to save money, green donna may have used the same silicone for for both sizes? Hmmmm, now I'm curious, lol.

Hey Lisa,

I just talked to our member "Serpent" on this thread: http://menstrualcups.friendhood.net/your-cup-journal-f47/my-cup-journal-t296-45.htm#2102 and she says that her Green Donna was actually softer than a LadyCup! Wow! As you can see from the stiffness chart at the bottom of this page: http://menstrualcupinfo.wordpress.com/cup-stiffness-comparison-chart/ LadyCup is pretty soft.

This makes the large Green Donna significanly softer than the large Lunette (although its shaped the same?). So for sure that would be the reason its so hard for you to open. I'm really glad Serpent let me know that, its good for future reference

it's not exactly shaped the same either, it's longer and looks a bit like a diva too.
lol when i got my small lunette i thought "how can a cup be even softer than that?" then i got the ladycup and was wondering again what an EVEN SOFTER cup would be like now wondering whether there's anything even softer than green donna
oh and yeah, i wrote about my dry run, not sure how useful it will be though lolol.

Wow, it's good to know that I am not totally stupid or irregular inside because I can't get the cup to work! I didn't know what a cup was supposed to feel like so I figured the Green Donna was normal. I was going to say that I wouldn't be surprised if the company used the same silicone on both sizes since they basically stole this cup from someone else, but now we have figured out that it isn't the same cup? Melissa, I wish you had this cup so you could compare it to all your others but I can see why you don't want one if they stole from Lunette. Serpent has reassured me basically that this cup is pretty much the worst to pop open so now I don't feel so bad. I certainly hope my Large Yuuki will be better!

It may just be, I mean if large Green Donna is softer than Ladycup, then large Yuuki should be slightly firmer, so hopefully it will help?

I wish I could see one too, but even without the legal issues, I can't justify buying any cup at this point, haha. Well, except Naturcup-- if I were unable to get a sample from them, I probably would buy one just for the sake of showing it to people, because its so mysterious, lol.

Maybe the Green Donna is just a cheap piece of crap? Only time will tell! That could be another reason why they are out of business, because the cup doesn't open right. Who knows.

lol the hilarious thing is that it looks as if it was the most expensive of my cups the pouch is so pretty and the lines from the molding are less obvious than in the lunette
as i've said, it's very popular here in russia, because nobody really cares about copyrights in regard to anything and it opened easily for me, i just rotated it so that the folded part faced my bum and pushed away the wall for maybe 20 seconds to let some air in. just like for Melissa, the C-fold works best for me faced sideways... heh i always thought it's stupid of diva to say you must rotate the cup, but maybe it's ok
idk it really wasn't that different from my ladycup. i think it helped that i was just curious about this cup, i know i have one that works for me so i wasn't stressed at all and i was lying in bed too so i was pretty relaxed i'm also at the time of my cycle when i have the most discharge so that helped, it wasn't at any point painful.

i think it's out of business because they thought they'd be able to avoid legal issues at least in brazil

Yeah, that pouch is really pretty. I'm not pickign on anybody who owns a Green Donna, I hope nobody feels that way... I understand that sometimes price can be an issue, and a cup is one of those things that people REALLY want to try, and not everyone knows abotu nit-picky legal stuff (or gets hyped up about it). I just like to offer information to people so they can choose. Ans also if they are having problems with the quality of the product, then its important they knwo there are many degrees of quality out there

well, i thought "cheap piece of crap" was a bit too much
judging by what i know about diva, i could call it a huge expensive piece of crap but i know it works for many people
in my case, the thing is that my mum doesn't think she'll ever stop using disposables completely - and "how long will i use it before menopause"
so i thought it would be a good option to try, ordering overseas might take ages and shipping to russia is probably expensive, plus there are co-op orders only for green donna and meluna here... and if you order it to be delivered to your home like i did with my ladycup, you may well end up waiting for the whole day they also don't offer the option of going to their office and getting it there, instead of course you have to pay like 10-20% the price for delivery
plus she found even my small lunette too stiff and the ladycup likely doesn't have enough capacity for her while large yuuki might be too long
to me the legal issues are a sort of reassurance because they copied a very good product
i have to admit i threw away the box that says made in china before mum could see it though

Its really amazing to me how different everyone is inside. And how much I never knew until I got involved with cips

I always did have an interest in all human anatomy, I actually wanted to be an doctor / obstetritian when I was younger (delivering babies). But still talking to everyone about cups for 2 years has taught me more than I learned from any text book.

yes i was kinda surprised that we seem to be similar even there with my mum we look a lot like each other too
although maybe it's because we both have tilted uteruses (well, hers corrected itself during pregnancy), though i've heard it can also cause the cervix to sit unreachably high

Well when I got the Green Donna, I didn't know the issues behind it. Oh well, it wasn't that expensive, and maybe it will work. We'll have to see. I am getting better at using it. Melissa, maybe you should make a video about the Green Donna? That will discourage people from buying their illegal products.

I was also told I have a tilted uterus, and when the dr. goes up there she was like, "OK, come on Mr. Cervix." Like she couldn't get it to do whatever it was supposed to do. I wonder what that means. I hope it means I am long up there so the Yuuki will fit!

if she was trying to reach it then yes, sounds like your cervix is high then. although some women can't reach their cervixes at all off the period and then it's quite low when the period comes

Does it feel like a bump? That's the only thing I can really feel. And it is not always there.

there's a hole there where the blood comes out, you should be able to feel it... because mine is low and i had a totally wrong idea that the hymen is somewhere in the middle of the vagina and i knew there's a hole there for period blood to come out, i thought this was my hymen when i first found it when i was maybe 12 or 13
have you tried to reach it on your period? that's the only time you need to know where it is anyway
this hole might feel open and be more obvious when you're passing clots.
my mum describes hers like an apple some said it feels like a small penis and i agree with this because i can reach quite far around mine (otherwise i'd be unable to use my cup!), it's kinda hanging from the top of the vagina a very common description is that it feels like the tip of your nose but this depends on the shape of your cervix and your nose, i guess

A member in another forum described the cervix, and I for me, its kind of accurate too-- like the tip of a smaller penis, round, kinda firm, a dent or hole in the middle.

Hmm, I remember feeling a round thing once (years ago) now that you mention it. How far is it when you say it is short? I have to stick my whole finger up there and then some.

If you can reach it when you're not on your period, and it doesn't move down any further when you are, then its about average. If you can't reach it at all, any time, then its high. If you can reach it fairly easy when you're not on your period, and then its only like 1 inch from the opening on your period (or the the first or middle joint) then its low. I made a video about it a while back that shows how it happens: