Stingray safety and my wife's, er, scheduling conflict

[The Mister]

So, my family is planning to meet the stingrays, but biology is dictating a bit of a ... scheduling inconvenience for my wife. We do have a couple of options that she is willing to try to, well, delay the inevitable, but in case that doesn't work, is there anything to say whether the rays will be "attracted" by the inconvenience? FYI, she wears pads, not tampons.

 

(Worst case, she sits it out, but I am hoping it doesn't come to that.

[bookbabe]

Since you were brave enough to ask, I'll be brave enough to answer... :grin:

 

To meet the stingrays close up, you have to be in the usually waist deep water in swimwear of some type. That would be way easier and a no-problems experience with tampons. Not sure how well that would go otherwise. I don't think it's really dangerous or anything like that, IMO it would more just be uncomfortable and/or awkward.

 

However, it is possible to stay on the boat and watch from there. A number of people do, for a variety of reasons. Usually one of the guides will bring a stingray over so those on the boat can get a good look.

[cb at sea]

Stingrays aren't the problem as much as dolphins would be. Tampons are the way to go.

[mitsugirly]

I'm not sure how you would be able to get around it without tampons, but I just thought I would ask about your "trying to get around it" situation (it's up to you if you want to answer).

 

Is your wife on birth control pills? If so, just simply have her stop her birth control a week early (to start her monthly) and then that would put her back on the pills when it's time for the cruise. That's what they use to recommend to me back in the day when I was on b/c and didn't want to have my monthly during a vacation. :o

[The Mister]

I'm not sure how you would be able to get around it without tampons, but I just thought I would ask about your "trying to get around it" situation (it's up to you if you want to answer).

 

Is your wife on birth control pills?

No, the pill has never been an option for her. They do terrible things to her disposition. (Imagine that, a hormone that affects mood! ;) )

 

Google tells us that other than the pill (skip the placebo week and you'll skip it entirely), her best option is to take (the equivalent of) prescription-strength ibuprofen 3x/day plus a B6 supplement for a week or two prior.

 

Other somewhat-related medical info that I've found seems to imply that ibuprofen increases blood flow in general - and at that dose increases blood flow to the endometrium such that the cells that normally die and bleed off, don't.

 

So if it doesn't work completely, she may end up much lighter than usual, which would still be an improvement.

 

(The B6 supplement helps to counter the effect that ibuprofen can have on nutrient absorption, particularly B6 and folic acid.)

 

P.S.: If she does end up watching from the boat, it may be just as well, in case our DD3 ends up chickening out and needs Mommy to hold her. :)

 

P.P.S.: Yes, we'll talk to her doctor beforehand. :)

[bookbabe]

Any chance she's willing to try a tampon, just for that day? It really will solve the entire problem quite easily... :grin: You may have problems getting the 3yo into the water if mommy isn't going in.

[The Mister]

Any chance she's willing to try a tampon, just for that day? It really will solve the entire problem quite easily... :grin: You may have problems getting the 3yo into the water if mommy isn't going in.

Nope. No chance whatsoever. She just can't get past the idea. It's a VERY exclusive club down there. ;)

 

(Also, DD3 is, for the time being, a daddy's girl. :) So hopefully she'll join me for at least part of the time.)

[The Mister]

:bump:

 

Quick update: The Womanhood Fairy visited late last time, so it looks like the conflict has been averted! Hooray!

 

On the other hand, toward the end of the week, the crew will have to start hiding all of the chocolate... ;)

[Alamogirl]

A friend wore a pad and don't laugh Depends under her suit. No problem.

[JulieRose]

I realize that OP no longer needs this info but for someone looking for it in the future; from personal experience, I am going to confirm the validity of the other responses that said tampons + stingrays= no problem. I have the unfortunate "gift" to NEVER be able to go on a cruise without having to worry about this. :( I will also speak to the dolphin comment made before. We swam with the dolphins and manatee while I had the need for a tampon and had no problems there either. I don't even recall it being a question raised by the staff.

[mitsugirly]

I realize that OP no longer needs this info but for someone looking for it in the future; from personal experience, I am going to confirm the validity of the other responses that said tampons + stingrays= no problem. I have the unfortunate "gift" to NEVER be able to go on a cruise without having to worry about this. :( I will also speak to the dolphin comment made before. We swam with the dolphins and manatee while I had the need for a tampon and had no problems there either. I don't even recall it being a question raised by the staff.

 

The OP was not asking about tampons and any problems using them in the water with the stingrays. The problem is his wife CAN NOT/WILL NOT wear them. So that was not an option. :)

[JulieRose]

Yeah, I can read so I knew that. As you should have read in the first line of my post, I added the info for someone who may be looking for it in the future.