Re: Toxic Shock
Asked by Vampy

Question:

Ok i posted a question about thrush remedies and a few mentioned coating tampons in natural yoghurt and inserting them. Thing is i have a mega mega fear of getting toxic shock. I know this can

happen on periods but what about through doing this as i have never used a tampon before. Sorry if you think im being silly but its one of my prime fears :(

My Advice:
 

TSS (Toxic Shock syndrome) was quite a health scare in the late 1970s to mid 1980s and was caused by synthetic materials being used to manufacture super absorbant tampons.  It is also related to levels of staphylococcal bacteria, but most people have a reasonable immunity to it. 

Also, if tampons are changed regularly (about every 4 hours) this is known to lessen the remote chance of you getting TSS, as the old blood is removed with the tampon so toxicity from bacteria is lowered.  In having said that - I rarely use pads or liners, and always sleep with tampons in overnight, and have never had any problems.

At the peak, it affected about 15,000 women.  The company that produced those particular tampons took them off the market and cases dropped dramatically.  However, it is not exclusively suffered by women who used those tampons, and anyone can suffer it if exposed to certain synthetics, chemicals and bacteria - from the elderly to young children, and studies have shown that new mothers are at a much higher risk of having TSS than any other group, including medical patients who have a weakened system after surgery.  TSS still affects about 17 of every 100,000 menstruating women, but only just over half of these cases are in women using tampons.

Interestingly, TSS was first reported in 1978 in 7 pediatric patients!  Also, TSS has been found in males, not just females and is usuall related to an overt staphylococcal infection. Generally, it is found in people who contract TSS (male and female, of all ages) that they have a lack of antibodies in their systems to fight it off.

Personally, I have used tampons since 1980 and I have never had a problem.  TSS was a concern for me too, as I started using them around the time that TSS was making headlines, but I discussed it with my GP years ago and have also asked a gynae about it (I like more than one opinion LOL).  Both of them explained it pretty much as I ahve here and it put my mind at rest considerably.  Tampons are now made with cotton or rayon and incidents of TSS in the past 10 years have dropped dramatically.  This si probably in part attributed to more stringent quality control that what was employed prior to the early 1980s.  If you don't like the idea of bleached cotton, then look for natural fibre tampons which are unbleached and chemical free. 

If you are worried about using tampons, but would like to try them then have a chat with your GP - to put your mind at rest ask for a blood test to check your staph immunity, and ask if you can be assessed for possible TSS susceptibility.

I hope this puts your mind at rest!