13-Year-Old Dies From Using Tampons.

A story of warning from Yahoo news. http://news.yahoo.com/13-year-old-dies-from-using-1262473630326838.html

I'm too busy to read the article, but I wonder how many days or weeks she forgot she had it in place?

I'm too busy to read the article, but I wonder how many days or weeks she forgot she had it in place?

It does not say how long she had it in but I think her mum had just not talked with her about toxic shock and her dad had never heard of it so he would not have told her either.

I saw a case of this in the '80s. The young woman had only worn the tampon about 18 hours. She arrived septic, shocky and barely conscious. I recognized septic shock and gave her broad spectrum antibiotics and pressors as well as massive amounts of corticosteroids which were in fashion at the time. The steroids are now felt to be harmless but also worthless. It was a desperate hourlong code and she died. It was dreadful.

Oh @liquidsky I am so sorry that must have been awful. It sounds really upsetting.

18 hours is much too long to leave a tampon in. Did she forget?

I believe she did forget. She was only eighteen and the data was just coming out on TSS and tampons. There is nothing more upsetting than to have a patient arrive alive and having them inexorably slip away and die. No matter what you do and believe me it's always the whole nine yards, you just can't save them. Having someone arrive in full cardiac arrest is no big deal in comparison. Except for kids of course.

This was almost common in the 1970's and 80's when the super absorbent tampons came on the market. You could wear them for a long long time because they wouldn't leak, but bacteria kept building up.

TSS is real and I too have seen it a time or two. The one case I saw was of a woman who for some reason or another just couldn't handle tampons. She would put them in and she said within minutes she would start feeling sick and really crampy.

Teenagers are not always the most responsible people and as parents it's our responsibility to parent them, educate them, and protect them. As a mother who had two girls I did my best to do so, as most of us do I"m sure. However, if the mother isn't educated in a certain topic she can't very well educate her daughter either. So as parents again, if we are not educated enough we need to so that we can teach our children. It is our responsibility.

I did not allow my girls to wear tampons until I knew they were old enough to understand and be responsible enough for their own safety when it came to using them. It's different for each child and as a parent you have to decide when the appropriate time is. For my oldest she was 15, for my youngest she was 16. They completely understand, but Momma also educated them.

Mashie

TSS and other adverse effects can be so random. Mashie just mentioned a patient who would start feeling ill just minutes after insertion. Yet sometimes women forget they have one in and it gets lost until they notice a nasty smell and go searching for the cause, without any signs of TSS even after weeks.

Finding lost tampons is one of the true pleasures of being an ER physician. Actually I'm always sympathetic to those who lose them. The fears about where they might go are a bit much though.

Okay, I am going to say something here and really do not mean to be offensive or piss anyone off or what have you, but.........

For the life of me I can't understand how a tampon gets lost in a vagina? If her anatomy is correct and there are not any openings between the rectum and the vagina then it has to be in the vagina. But putting anatomy aside, how do you not know one is in there? They have strings that usually hang out. Also I don't understand how a woman can wear 2 tampons at one time either. I have seen and heard that before as well. This concept baffles me to no end.

I have trouble getting one in and seated correctly so I "can't" feel it as it says they should on all the boxes. When I put them in it doesn't hurt but it's not a good feeling. Taking them out the same thing. They sort of pull and drag a bit. I realize the vagina stretches a lot, if it didn't we couldn't have children and we would even before that we wouldn't be able to accommodate a penis. So I know it's possible, but............It still is beyond my ability to comprehend.

Mashie

Okay, I am going to say something here and really do not mean to be offensive or piss anyone off or what have you, but.........

For the life of me I can't understand how a tampon gets lost in a vagina? . . . . Mashie

I'll give you the answer.

PEOPLE ARE SO STUPID IT ISN'T FUNNY.

Our daughters each learned in slightly different ways about tampons and they NEVER used pads.

We were waiting for our older daughter to get her period. She was going to sleep away camp for the summer and had not had her first period yet. She was sent to camp with a box of junior sized tampons. One morning at camp she woke up in a pool of blood. She knew exactly what happened and what to do. She stripped her bed, changed the sheets and put in a tampon.

How could she be so nonchalant about it? I taught her how to insert them before she ever had a period before she went to camp and she practiced while she was still home.

Our younger daughter learned from her sister, so when the time came for her, she just took some of her older sister's tampons and she was off and running. No problem.

The biggest part of the problem with girls learning about their periods and what to do when they get their periods is STUPID PARENTS.

If parents (and schools) taught sexual topics matter-of-factly, the way they teach digestion, chemistry or social studies, everybody would be much better off. That's how we taught our daughters about their bodies and sex--starting when they were about three years old. By the time they got their periods, the vagina was just another opening in the body.

If you wait till a girl is in puberty to talk about periods then you have waited to long. With my two we didn't have "the talk" but series of natural conversations taken when ever opportunity came up it a question was asked no matter what age.

Both my two new about periods and puberty long before actually physically developed so it was expected and like with your daughter when period came knew what it was and was prepared for it and what to do.

I hate it when read stories etc of girls who didn't know what first time was although thankfully I think times have changed and periods are much more openly talked about.

I agree with switchable, the vagina is normal anatomy and should not be spoken with any sort taboo. My girls new their anatomy long before puberty.

Still at the end of the day it's so sad to hear this happened waste of such young life 😢

To answer Mashie's question, the patients I've seen have usually lost the string inside the vagina or the string has broken off. They are simply unable to reach it. Invariably it is in the posterior fornix behind the cervix. Remember too that I work in a poor people's hospital. They don't know the anatomy and have all sorts of wild ideas of where it could go. I even had one woman who thought it had gone to her heart. Her rapid heart rate from anxiety was attributed to this. I just try to disabuse them of ideas like this. Frequently a lost tampon isn't even there.

The biggest part of the problem with girls learning about their periods and what to do when they get their periods is STUPID PARENTS.

If parents (and schools) taught sexual topics matter-of-factly, the way they teach digestion, chemistry or social studies, everybody would be much better off. That's how we taught our daughters about their bodies and sex--starting when they were about three years old. By the time they got their periods, the vagina was just another opening in the body.

I think that is really true. I think girls should be told well before and not have things kept from them. Then they will be ready when it happens and it is important to tell them when and why they should change their tampons too.

Exactly amethyst. Children are naturally curious. From seeing adverts on tv for pads or tampons or even when doing the shopping for these products they will ask what is it etc instead of saying something silly like it's things for mommy's (which I have overheard before) can tell them in age appropriate way.

I hate the term the talk, some sort of secret sit down chat with piles of information. It creates its own sense of taboo.

But having continued open conversations when they arise makes it more normal everyday thing and promotes open questions and discussion between the family.

I couldn't agree with the above posters any more and I applaud all of you for your openness and candor on the topic with your daughters. I wasn't so lucky, the topic back in the late 70's and early 80's was still taboo, and even more so with the church goers like my parents were.

I knew what a period was, I didn't really understand it but knew it was coming. It wasn't all that big of a deal when I started but I still had tons of questions and what not. I vowed that my kids wouldn't be that way. We had an open door policy for the most part when I was raising my girls. I started talking to them from the time they were born about their bodies, the proper names for their body parts and how their bodies worked. I never sugar coated anything, never ever used baby talk with them, and never ever made them feel insecure, embarrassed or anything else for coming to me with questions they had about anything. And every single time they came to be about anything I made sure to praise them for wanting to learn and I let them know how proud of them I was for doing so.

I have absolutely NO regrets for the way I have raised my little ladies. They are both highly productive members of society, good people, and highly intelligent and responsible women. I respect them both and respect is something that is earned and is not automatically given in my book.

Mashie

. . . .We had an open door policy for the most part when I was raising my girls. I started talking to them from the time they were born about their bodies, the proper names for their body parts and how their bodies worked. I never sugar coated anything, never ever used baby talk with them, and never ever made them feel insecure, embarrassed or anything else for coming to me with questions they had about anything. . . . .

I hate baby talk. I was never talked to that way and we never talked to the girls that way either. We even told our friends and family not to do it. Talk to them in a real voice and they will learn to talk that way much earlier because they haven't been listening to baby talk crap.

They learned about urine, "having to make urine", BM's, "having to make a BM" , vaginas (theirs and mine), penises (their father's) and tushies. etc. (Tushy is just so cute we did use that term.) One thing our older daughter taught me was that the "BM size to body size size ratio" for 18-24 month olds in toilet training was much greater for her than me! There were times when she was around two or three that she would call me to see her mega sized BM that would make a vegetarian proud! These are all good things that openness brings.

Thanks Sue. Yes, I so hate baby talk and incorrect English on purpose too. When the girls were young I made it very clear to everyone that baby talk was not appropriate, nor was hillbilly and or non correct English either. In other words I didn't want to hear things like, "does the baby want a baba?, or "she ain't got no diapee's left" and other such things along those lines. We also used the term tushy or butt, and they did say pee and poop but they do know the correct terms when talking when that is appropriate.

And my daughter who just had her first child has corrected the mother-in-law about talking baby talk to her 2 week old already. I let her know how proud I was of her for that too.

People often forget how smart babies are. If a baby can use sign language at 6 months of age to let you know that they are hungry then it's clear that they understand their native language a lot sooner than previously thought in generations past. Neither of my kids talked early, but when they started talking they were able to express themselves, their wants and needs clearly so that everyone could understand them. Everyone commented on how clear their speech was for their age and how expressive they were. Well it's because we never talked to them like they were mentally deficient. We talked to them with the respect they deserved and didn't treat them differently.

Mashie

Hey, baby talk works great on dogs!

Jimmy, yes, absolutely baby talk works great on the dogs, mine anyway, lol. But, I don't expect my dogs to hold conversations in English or any other language either. Yes, I do talk baby talk to my dogs, especially my "son" Tank.

Mashie

Mashie, then you need a couple cats. Cats will give you an ass chewing without hesitation if they aren't pleased with what you are doing or not doing. They too don't intend it to be a conversation, they talk, you listen.

Quincy, yes, that's the problem with me and cats. It's a power struggle at all times. I am always in charge, except when I am not, (which would be naked and tied up getting my ass spanked by Doc, hehehe).

I had a cat once, loved him to death. His name was Little Man. He was all black and he used to lay up on my chest and suck on my ear and knead me. It was oddly comforting. He only did that to me by the way. I have a toy wiener dog named Pumpkin. She loved Little Man and she used to hang upside down on his chest. The cat got tired of it so when he went out one day to potty he decided he didn't want to come back in. Now he is an outside cat by choice. He has to be staying some place at times because he comes home with of all things, pink collars all the time, which I cut off. He's a boy for one, and he lives outside. Outside cats and collars are a recipe for strangulation and other bad things.

Mashie

I hate baby talk. I was never talked to that way and we never talked to the girls that way either. We even told our friends and family not to do it. Talk to them in a real voice and they will learn to talk that way much earlier because they haven't been listening to baby talk crap.

They learned about urine, "having to make urine", BM's, "having to make a BM" , vaginas (theirs and mine), penises (their father's) and tushies. etc. (Tushy is just so cute we did use that term.) One thing our older daughter taught me was that the "BM size to body size size ratio" for 18-24 month olds in toilet training was much greater for her than me! There were times when she was around two or three that she would call me to see her mega sized BM that would make a vegetarian proud! These are all good things that openness brings.

Baby talk, I have absolutely no patience for it at all. I have always had this attitude towards it.

I have always found it very rewarding to view and observe things through the eyes of children. I spent all of the Christmas and New Year holiday with young children and watching how the magic of the season filled their hearts and minds.

As to the original topic here regarding TSS. I loathe, hate any sort of pad, napkin etc. I won't use them at all. I used them for a few hours with menarche started. I had already learned all about tampons. I was very familiar with inserting them and removing them comfortably and easily. My mom did end up taking me into see my GP as I was doubling over with cramps. His wife worked in the office with him as his RN. He asked her to teach me about tampons and I listened, wondering if she would have more information and advice.

As with some things you cannot be over careful, I take the time to always review the insert about the warning signs regarding TSS so it is completely fresh on my mind. I did have a TSS scare several years ago. It turned out to be a nasty case of the flu with a flare up of my arthritis, thank goodness! My GP was also very relieved!

Mashie said

Jimmy, yes, absolutely baby talk works great on the dogs, . . . .

I think you need to see this:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G7cW7gFG3PI/UxjMiwZek6I/AAAAAAAAEYM/Ea40HNQuT6Y/s1600/FarSide_BlahBlahBlah_Ginger.jpg

Quincy, yes, that's the problem with me and cats. It's a power struggle at all times. I am always in charge, except when I am not, (which would be naked and tied up getting my ass spanked by Doc, hehehe).

Mashie

Cats have staff.

They do not have owners.

That was very funny Susie. I forgot the name of that cartoon, West Side maybe?

Mashie

Mashie, how'd you like to have a dog like, Brian', from the adult cartoon "Family Guy"; he reads the newspaper, sips Martinis and speaks like an English professor?

Jimmy, I love Brian from Family Guy. That show is one of the very very few cartoons I have ever liked and watched both as an adult and child. I'm not sure, I think it might be sort of cool to have a dog like Brian. I would have all kinds of questions for him all the time. After I learned from Brian how dogs really feel and think I would be a better dog whisperer, even better than Cesar Millan. That would be pretty cool I think. I love dogs and I really just wish I knew what they were thinking, or they could talk so I knew exactly what they wanted.

Mashie