You Can Still Get Toxic Shock Syndrome From Tampons. Here’s How to Avoid It.

Earlier than her aircraft took off, Kirdar inserted an excellent tampon from a preferred model. When she exited the aircraft, about three hours later, she mustered sufficient power to alter the tampon. Kirdar says she didn’t know a lot about TSS on the time. “We didn’t cowl it in my well being class in school. I had simply turned 15 years previous so I had not been to the gynecologist but,” Kirdar says. “The one factor that I had been instructed from my mom was to not use a single tampon for greater than six to eight hours and to stay awake with a tampon.”

5 days later, after 4 IVs, a number of medicines, and oxygen tubes, Kirdar was identified with TSS. Medical doctors suspected she had the an infection however wanted assessments to substantiate it as they had been skeptical since she wasn’t utilizing tampons for lengthy durations of time. However, leaving a tampon in for greater than six to eight hours straight is only one of some ways to get TSS from tampon utilization.

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How do you get TSS from tampons?

“TSS occurring with tampon utilization is often extra frequent with excessive absorbency tampons, tampons which might be left within the vagina for long periods of time, or utilizing tampons constantly all through your menstrual interval,” says Tiffany Pham, DO, a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist and medical advisor for Flo Health. “When a excessive absorbency tampon is used, they’re usually left in place for longer durations of time. This could permit micro organism to build up on the tampon and when the tampon is finally eliminated, it might trigger abrasions or breaks within the pores and skin contained in the vagina, permitting the micro organism to enter into your bloodstream to trigger TSS.”

What are the signs of TSS?

Whereas TSS symptoms differ, generally the an infection can set off a sudden excessive fever, chills, low blood strain, abdomen ache, nausea, complications, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle aches, fatigue, and disorientation. One other key indicator of TSS could also be a skin rash which Kirdar had, however dismissed as being nothing severe. Her docs stated it was possible her physique’s first signal of an infection. “I had no concept what the [TSS] signs had been and I had no concept that the absorbency degree of a tampon had something to do with growing one’s threat of getting TSS,” expressed Kirdar.