Are there tampons for heavy menstrual periods?

[cclarke]

I have had seven children, and over the years my periods have an usually heavy second day. Just one or two days I can hardly leave the house now for fear of leaking through -- if I don't use the O.B. Ultra size tampons. This brand and size are the only option that worked for me for almost 30 years. They have discontinued them -- and I need something that can absorb a very heavy flow, and be changed in a public restroom. The cups and pads are more messy and inconvenient for work. What is the next best thing to my favorite O.B.'s?? They were small, very absorbent, and so convenient. Help, I've lost the best protection I relied on for years. Help!!  Heavy bleeders reply only please.

[Ola_]

I always used the Super Plus absorbency, but fortunately found that once I switched to a menstrual cup and cloth pantyliners my flow got noticeably lighter.  However I can tell you that I definitely preferred the Playtex version (they seemed to expand more sideways) to the Tampax kind (which seem to get longer instead and therefore became noticeable in there, especially the Super Plus ones I guess because they're larger).  I also felt that the sideways expanding tampons were less leak-prone, perhaps because this made them more likely to catch the flow?

Another thing that may help, is that I would normally buy a no-name or a store brand version of these, I found they also had similar characteristics to one of these two brands (it was just trial and error to figure out which were the ones I liked, and then hope they don't change the packaging, lol).  Is there a no-name version of OB tampons that might be an option for you?  Maybe some that aren't available in mainstream stores but you could order them online or something?  Good luck!