cleaning/sterilizing, a washing machine and BV infection

[sarah_826]

hi all! soo i accidentally left my divacup in the pocket of my robe and sent it to the wash and dryer with it :/ is the cup still ok to use after sterilizing/boiling? i cleaned it with rubbing alcohol before i inserted at the beginning of my cycle, but im starting to wonder if that was the cause of the BV infection i got after i ended my period. i'

Comments

[nickelshoe]

I only ever boiled my cup after dropping it in the toilet. It is not necessary to kill germs, only to scrub them off and rinse them down the drain. You don't boil your hands before you touch your cup, right?

I would think that going through the laundry would clean your cup pretty well. As long as it wasn't linty, sticky, or had soap residue on it, I'd say everything was fine there.

I don't personally use alcohol, but I'm pretty sure it's fine. There is some data that hydrogen peroxide can harm silicone, but I use it anyway. Just use the stuff in the pharmacy section--it's usually a 3% solution and is found in a brown bottle. H2O2 quickly degrades to H2O (water) in the presence of light, so I would not worry overmuch about the 3% solution being too strong if you leave it out on the counter. I dilute to try to stretch my bottle of hydrogen peroxide further. If you dilute more than half, it doesn't work very well at removing stains.

[sarah_826]

well when it came out of the wash it had lint stuck to the inside of it.. i set it on my bathroom counter to rinse the lint of but kind of forgot about it for .. 2 weeks. :S could bacteria from the lint have somehow glued itself onto the cup? i know that sounds ridiculous, but the lint was in the cup for a while before i cleaned it out.

[nickelshoe]

No. Dry lint is not a place bacteria like to hang out, and neither is silicone. Even if the bacteria managed to survive all that, they could not infest your cup in a way that would make you unable to clean it out.

Remember that there are bacteria living in your vagina. It is not a sterile environment. BV is not caused by the introduction of bacteria; it's caused by your normal bacteria losing its foothold against other strains, often because of a pH imbalance.

[quentinwrites]

I've never 'sterilised' my cup (and honestly, nothing is sterile unless it's been autoclaved). I just wash it with hot soapy water, and I've never had a problem. As the other commenter said, you don't boil your fingers before touching your cup, or the inside of your vagina for that matter. And I've never heard of 'sterilising' a penis before PIV sex. ;o)

[serpent_849]

well, you may want to clean it very thoroughly after the infection, but in general it's fine not to boil.

[notxdeadxyet]

I just wash mine thoroughly with Divawash before I use it and wash my hands well before inserting or removing it. I am prone to infections and I've never had a problem with my cup, unlike sea sponges.

[silverdoealways]

I currently use Milton sterilizing tablets for 15 minutes, normally used to sterilize baby bottles & such. I also use their sterilizing wipes if I'm unable to soak it that particular month.

Sterilizing either with boiling, alcohol or something like Milton is important, as the vaginal bacterial flora is so sensitive & easily disturbed, as well as the risk of bacteria traveling up the cervix causing infection, a risk that is higher during periods. After using the cup, Candida & bad bacteria will be on the cup & might have the opportunity to grow. I also wouldn't want soap residue to build up month after month.

I'd prefer boiling if it didn't carry the risk of somewhat shortening the lifespan of the cup or me with the habit of burning everything.

[nickelshoe]

Do you have a source for the importance of sterilization? I don't sterilize my cup, or my fingers, or my husband's penis, and yet I've have no problem with infections.

[naked_beauty_21]

Some people are very prone to infections. I've seen multiple people in the VagPag community who post about multiple/chronic/recurring yeast infections or BV. So maybe for silverdoealways it is important for their cup to be well-cleaned. You might be one of the lucky ones who rarely gets infections but not everyone has it that easy.

[nickelshoe]

I understand if you choose to sanitize your cup in order to minimize your risk of infections. That's different from a blanket statement that sterilization is important.